The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
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Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld Ontdek de Fascinerende Wereld van UFO's en UAP's: Jouw Bron voor Onthullende Informatie!
Ben jij ook gefascineerd door het onbekende? Wil je meer weten over UFO's en UAP's, niet alleen in België, maar over de hele wereld? Dan ben je op de juiste plek!
België: Het Kloppend Hart van UFO-onderzoek
In België is BUFON (Belgisch UFO-Netwerk) dé autoriteit op het gebied van UFO-onderzoek. Voor betrouwbare en objectieve informatie over deze intrigerende fenomenen, bezoek je zeker onze Facebook-pagina en deze blog. Maar dat is nog niet alles! Ontdek ook het Belgisch UFO-meldpunt en Caelestia, twee organisaties die diepgaand onderzoek verrichten, al zijn ze soms kritisch of sceptisch.
Nederland: Een Schat aan Informatie
Voor onze Nederlandse buren is er de schitterende website www.ufowijzer.nl, beheerd door Paul Harmans. Deze site biedt een schat aan informatie en artikelen die je niet wilt missen!
Internationaal: MUFON - De Wereldwijde Autoriteit
Neem ook een kijkje bij MUFON (Mutual UFO Network Inc.), een gerenommeerde Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in de VS en wereldwijd. MUFON is toegewijd aan de wetenschappelijke en analytische studie van het UFO-fenomeen, en hun maandelijkse tijdschrift, The MUFON UFO-Journal, is een must-read voor elke UFO-enthousiasteling. Bezoek hun website op www.mufon.com voor meer informatie.
Samenwerking en Toekomstvisie
Sinds 1 februari 2020 is Pieter niet alleen ex-president van BUFON, maar ook de voormalige nationale directeur van MUFON in Vlaanderen en Nederland. Dit creëert een sterke samenwerking met de Franse MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP, wat ons in staat stelt om nog meer waardevolle inzichten te delen.
Let op: Nepprofielen en Nieuwe Groeperingen
Pas op voor een nieuwe groepering die zich ook BUFON noemt, maar geen enkele connectie heeft met onze gevestigde organisatie. Hoewel zij de naam geregistreerd hebben, kunnen ze het rijke verleden en de expertise van onze groep niet evenaren. We wensen hen veel succes, maar we blijven de autoriteit in UFO-onderzoek!
Blijf Op De Hoogte!
Wil jij de laatste nieuwtjes over UFO's, ruimtevaart, archeologie, en meer? Volg ons dan en duik samen met ons in de fascinerende wereld van het onbekende! Sluit je aan bij de gemeenschap van nieuwsgierige geesten die net als jij verlangen naar antwoorden en avonturen in de sterren!
Heb je vragen of wil je meer weten? Aarzel dan niet om contact met ons op te nemen! Samen ontrafelen we het mysterie van de lucht en daarbuiten.
24-11-2024
Scientists take the first EVER close-up picture of a star outside our galaxy - and it looks just like the Eye of Sauron
Scientists have taken the first ever close-up image of a star outside our own galaxy - and some fantasy fans might find it strikingly familiar.
The 'Behemoth Star' WOH G64 is located a staggering 160,000 light-years from Earth in a neighbouring galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Although scientists have known about this star for decades, it is only now that technological advances have made it possible to see it up close.
The incredible image reveals a bright core surrounded by an 'egg-shaped' cocoon of dust and gas that looks just like the Eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings.
However, scientists say that the star's iris-shaped ring is actually a sign that this red supergiant could be on the brink of collapse.
The researchers found that the dying star has grown dimmer in the last 10 years as it jettisons its outer layers into space.
Co-author Dr Jacco van Loon, director of the Keele Observatory at Keele University, told MailOnline: 'Other distant supernova explosions often indicate the star had thrown off a lot of material in the years or decades prior to the explosion.
'If this is what WOH G64 is doing at the moment, then we might well see it explode in our lifetime.'
Scientists have taken the first ever close-up image of a star outside our own galaxy (pictured), capturing this stunning image of the 'Behemoth Star' WOH G64
Fans of fantasy might notice that the image of the star bears a striking resemblance to the Eye of Saron from Lord of the Rings
Although stars are massive, the incredible distances that separate them from the Earth make them extremely difficult to image.
Even when it comes to stars inside our galaxy, astronomers have only been able to produce images of around two dozen stars such as Betelgeuse, the nearest red supergiant to the Sun.
To truly image a star outside the Milky Way and hundreds of thousands of light-years from Earth requires the use of a specialised technique called 'interferometry'.
This is where multiple telescopes combine their information to act as if they were a single huge lens as wide as the distance between them.
By combining the data from multiple large telescopes, astronomers can get previously impossible levels of detail from objects incredibly far from Earth.
Using this technique, the researchers merged images from the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) four 8-metre wide telescopes.
This finally allowed the researchers to record a close-up image of WOH G64.
Lead author Dr Keiichi Ohnaka, an astronomer from the Universidad Andrés Bello in Chile, says: 'For the first time, we have succeeded in taking a zoomed-in image of a dying star in a galaxy outside our own Milky Way.'
The star WOH G64 is located in a galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud over 160,000 light years from Earth
This is the first time a star in a neighbouring galaxy, such as the Magellanic Cloud (pictured), has ever been captured. This technique could allow scientists to observe the never-before-recorded processes which take place in dying stars
Capturing an image of the star required using a technique called interferometry to merge images from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) four 8-metre wide telescopes (pictured)
How does interferometry work?
For objects that are too far for normal techniques to see, astronomers need to use a specialised technique called interferometry.
This uses an array of telescopes placed some distance apart to act together as a single telescope.
The light from several telescopes is collected and combined into a single image.
This requires incredibly precise optics but creates a 'virtual telescope' with a diameter equal to the distance between the individual smaller telescopes.
This allows astronomers to see details of distant bodies that would usually be impossible to image.
While the researchers say they were mainly trying to prove these images were possible, they also discovered something unexpected about the Behemoth Star.
Dr Ohnaka says: 'We discovered an egg-shaped cocoon closely surrounding the star.
'We are excited because this may be related to the drastic ejection of material from the dying star before a supernova explosion.'
When a star expends the last of its hydrogen fuel, the balance of forces that keep it stable begins to fail and the star collapses in on itself.
As the outer layers fall inwards, the area around the core becomes so hot that it starts to fuse hydrogen atoms into helium.
The immense amounts of energy generated by this process cause the star to balloon into a vast red giant like WOH G64 and blasts the outer layers away into space.
Compared to observations made in 2005 and 2007, the researchers noted that WOH G64 has become significantly dimmer in the intervening decade.
The researchers believe that this dimming and the egg-shaped cocoon could be due to the star having 'thrown off its mantle' - a critical change that has never before been seen while happening.
The researchers say that the egg-shaped cocoon of dust surrounding the star could be a sign that WOH G64 could blow up in a supernova explosion within our lifetimes
Co-author Professor Gerd Weigelt, of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, says: 'We have found that the star has been experiencing a significant change in the last 10 years, providing us with a rare opportunity to witness a star’s life in real-time.'
While some stars remain red supergiants for tens of thousands of years before exploding, the sudden change suggests there is a chance WOH G64 could blow relatively soon.
This groundbreaking image, therefore, is an unprecedented opportunity to watch the final days of a dying star.
The researchers are already planning further observations of the star to learn more about what is going on.
And, as ESO prepares to further upgrade the VLTI's equipment, even better images may soon be on their way.
Dr Loon concludes: 'To have been able to take the image is a first step to see directly what is going on around some of the rarest types of stars, when they are doing wild things before dying that are hard to catch in the act.
'We had not expected to see this star do something really dramatic, and to have imaged that will help us understand the final phases in the lives of massive stars before they explode.'
A supernova occurs when a star explodes, shooting debris and particles into space.
A supernova burns for only a short period of time, but it can tell scientists a lot about how the universe began.
One kind of supernova has shown scientists that we live in an expanding universe, one that is growing at an ever increasing rate.
Scientists have also determined that supernovas play a key role in distributing elements throughout the universe.
In 1987, astronomers spotted a ‘titanic supernova’ in a nearby galaxy blazing with the power of over 100 million suns (pictured)
There are two known types of supernova.
The first type occurs in binary star systems when one of the two stars, a carbon-oxygen white dwarf, steals matter from its companion star.
Eventually, the white dwarf accumulates too much matter, causing the star to explode, resulting in a supernova.
The second type of supernova occurs at the end of a single star's lifetime.
As the star runs out of nuclear fuel, some of its mass flows into its core.
Eventually, the core is so heavy it can't stand its own gravitational force and the core collapses, resulting in another giant explosion.
Many elements found on Earth are made in the core of stars and these elements travel on to form new stars, planets and everything else in the universe.
Alsof de opwarming van de aarde nog niet vervelend genoeg is, hangt ons nog een donderwolk boven het hoofd: doordat er meer smeltwater in de Atlantische Oceaan belandt, krijgen we in Europa te maken met meer hittegolven en warmere, drogere zomers, blijkt uitnieuw onderzoek.
Hoe dit werkt, legt onderzoeker Marilena Oltmanns uit aan Scientias.nl: “Zoetwater is lichter dan zeewater, omdat het minder zout bevat. Dus blijft het zoete water boven op het diepere zoute oceaanwater liggen waardoor het de warmte-uitwisseling tussen de atmosfeer en het koude diepe oceaanwater tegenhoudt.” Ze vertelt verder: “Het is al lang bekend dat zoetwater invloed heeft op de grootschalige oceaancirculatie, soms AMOC genoemd. Deze nieuwe studie toont nu aan dat zoetwater ook snel en direct consequenties heeft voor de atmosferische circulatie en dus voor ons weer.”
De wind, de Golfstroom en temperatuurverschillen Oltmanns legt uit hoe in de winter een groot temperatuurverschil ontstaat tussen stukken in de oceaan met en zonder zoetwater. “Deze temperatuurverschillen leiden tot een sterkere westenwind – of jetstream – tussen de Noord-Atlantische Oceaan waar zich het meeste zoetwater bevindt en de warmere subtropische oceaan. Deze sterkere wind leidt tot een noordwaartse afbuiging van de Golfstroom en de verlenging daarvan, de Noord-Atlantische Stroom: een sterke stroming die van de westkant naar de oostkant van de Noord-Atlantische Oceaan buigt. In daaropvolgende zomers neemt de windkracht af, maar de veranderde oceaanstromen blijven en versterken het temperatuurverschil in de oceaan. Langs de kust ontwikkelt zich nog een groter temperatuurcontrast, omdat land sneller opwarmt in de lente en zomer. Dit zorgt ervoor dat de wind noordwaarts afbuigt over de Noord-Atlantische Oceaan en langs de Europese kustlijn, waardoor warmer en droger weer naar het continent komt.”
Voorspelbaarder weer En dus kunnen we rekenen op warmere, drogere zomers plus meer hittegolven. Op deze manier is het Europese zomerweer ook al veel langer van tevoren te voorspellen aan de hand van de hoeveelheid zoetwater in de Atlantische Oceaan. Oltmanns, die bij het Britse National Oceanography Centre werkt, noemt als voorbeeld komende zomer: “Terwijl Noord-Europa een ongebruikelijk koude en natte zomer had vorig jaar, was het op Groenland juist erg warm. Dat heeft geleid tot een toename van zoetwater in de Noord-Atlantische Oceaan. Daaruit vloeit dus voort dat we een relatief warme en droge zomer krijgen in Zuid-Europa dit jaar. Afhankelijk van het pad van het zoetwater, verwachten we ook een warme en droge zomer in Noord-Europa binnen vijf jaar. Dit kunnen we beter inschatten in de winter voordat het gebeurt.”
Onduidelijk is hoe groot het effect precies is. “Dat komt omdat de huidige klimaatmodellen nog steeds moeite hebben met het berekenen van de impact van zoetwatervariaties in de oceaan en het effect dus onderschatten. Maar ik verwacht dat Zuid-Europa het hardst getroffen wordt. Het zal er warmer en droger worden. Noord-Europa zal meer extremen meemaken, al is daar nog veel onzeker over.”
Bovenop de normale opwarming
Hoe meer ijs er smelt, hoe meer zoetwater er in de Noord-Atlantische Oceaan stroomt. De afname van de hoeveelheid zee-ijs verstoort bovendien de normale oceaanstromen, waardoor het wereldwijde klimaat verandert. Hittegolven en droogte worden vervolgens heviger in de toekomst, voorspellen de onderzoekers. De opwarming van Europa door het zoetwater in de oceaan komt nog bovenop de algehele opwarming van de aarde.
“Onze bevindingen laten zien hoe belangrijk het is om wat er gebeurt in de oceanen mee te nemen in klimaatmodellen om zo tot betere weersvoorspellingen te komen. Dit is een stap voorwaarts voor betere modellen die beleidsmakers en bedrijven helpen om vooruit te plannen. Denk aan aanpassingen in de landbouw, voorspeld brandstofverbruik en voorbereidingen op overstromingen”, legt de onderzoeker uit.
Beetje eng Je vraagt je misschien af waarom dit effect nooit eerder is meegenomen in klimaatmodellen. “Dat komt omdat het ingewikkeld is. Zoetwater is enerzijds een indicator voor klimaatverandering, omdat meer opwarming leidt tot meer smeltwater in de oceaan, maar het is anderzijds ook een belangrijke aanjager ervan. Daardoor ontstaan er complexe feedbackloops, vooral in de Noord-Atlantische regio en die hebben we nog niet goed in modellen kunnen vatten.”
De onderzoeker was wel gefascineerd door de resultaten. “Ogenschijnlijk ver weg gelegen processen van het klimaatsysteem zijn verbonden met elkaar: het smelten van ijs in het poolgebied heeft invloed op de oceaan en de atmosferische circulaties en dus op ons klimaat en het weer. Dit is opwindend en biedt nieuwe kansen voor betere voorspellingen, maar het is ook een beetje eng.”
Paleontologists have described a new genus and species of trogonophid amphisbaenian (worm lizard) from fossilized specimens found in Tunisia.
Life reconstruction of Terastiodontosaurus marcelosanchezi ready to prey on a large snail of the family Bulimulidae.
Image credit: Jaime Chirinos.
Terastiodontosaurus marcelosanchezi lived in what is now Africa during the Eocene epoch, some 47 million years ago.
The new species belongs to Trogonophidae, a small family of limbless, carnivorous, lizard-like reptiles within the clade Amphisbaenia.
“Amphisbaenians are a charismatic group of fossorial squamates, with bizarre morphological features and extreme anatomical modifications,” said lead author Dr. Georgios Georgalis from the Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals at the Polish Academy of Sciences and his colleagues.
“In particular, their unique skeletal anatomy has attracted and puzzled researchers since the 19th century.”
“Before the advent and broad acceptance of phylogenetic systematics, amphisbaenians were considered to be the third major group of Squamata, together with Serpentes and the paraphyletic ‘Lacertilia’.”
“Recent phylogenetic analyses, however, have placed them as the sister group of lacertid lizards, a topology that has been supported by both molecular and combined morphological and molecular evidence: a name, Lacertibaenia, was even proposed for the clade Amphisbaenia + Lacertidae.”
“Amphisbaenians have a relatively rich fossil record across the Cenozoic of Europe and North America, coupled with a few Neogene and Quaternary occurrences from South America, a few Palaeogene, Neogene, and Quaternary occurrences from Africa, a very few Neogene occurrences from the Arabian Peninsula, and a very few occurrences from the Neogene of southwestern Asia.”
“Trogonophidae are a rather distinctive group of amphisbaenians that are today distributed in northern and north-central Africa (including Socotra Island, Yemen) and the Middle East,” they added.
“Four living genera are currently recognized, i.e. Agamodon, Diplometopon, Pachycalamus, and the type genus, Trogonophis.”
The most distinctive feature of trogonophids is their acrodont dentition, a feature that, within squamates, is otherwise present solely in the iguanian group Acrodonta.”
“Trogonophids also possess other unique features among amphisbaenians, including locomotion and burrowing patterns, shoulder girdle or hemipenial morphology, chromosomes, vertebral arrangement, the absence of caudal autotomy, and a triangular body in cross-section.”
Several specimens of Terastiodontosaurus marcelosanchezi were found at a fossil-bearing locality in the Natural Park of Djebel Chambi in Tunisia.
“The Djebel Chambi National Park is situated in the Kasserine area, in the Central Western part of Tunisia,” the paleontologists said.
“The material of this study comes from a fossil-bearing site (Chambi locus 1), which consists of fluvio-lacustrine deposits situated at the base of the continental sequence of Chambi.”
“These localities have yielded a diverse assemblage of aquatic and terrestrial vertebrates, including fishes, amphibians, turtles, crocodiles, squamates, birds, and mammals, such as bats, primates, eulipotyphlans, hyaenodonts, hyracoids, an elephant shrew, a marsupial, a rodent, and a sirenian.”
Terastiodontosaurus marcelosanchezi was over 90 cm (35 inches) in length, making it the largest known amphisbaenian to ever live.
“Amongst extant amphisbaenians, Amphisbaena alba is the largest species, reaching a maximum total length of 81 cm (32 inches) and a skull length of over 3.1 cm (1.2 inches),” the researchers said.
Practically all living amphisbaenians represent burrowing animals, which appear only rarely on the surface, outside their subsurface environments.
Nevertheless, certain features in Terastiodontosaurus marcelosanchezi seem to contradict this natural history pattern and suggest instead that the ancient species was likely to be a surface dweller.
This is further supported by the extreme size of Terastiodontosaurus marcelosanchezi, which would render subsurface habits as less likely.
“Terastiodontosaurus marcelosanchezi represents a substantial contribution to the so far poorly known African fossil record of Amphisbaenia, representing only the fifth named extinct species from the continent,” the scientists concluded.
“Moreover, the new material from Chambi adds further to the extremely poor fossil record of Trogonophidae.”
The new species is described in a paper published this week in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
Georgios L. Georgalis et al. 2024. The world’s largest worm lizard: a new giant trogonophid (Squamata: Amphisbaenia) with extreme dental adaptations from the Eocene of Chambi, Tunisia. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 202 (3): zlae133; doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae133
Four tunnel-dwelling cryptids following the same electromagnetic pattern
Four tunnel-dwelling cryptids following the same electromagnetic pattern
Cryptids are mysterious creatures often tied to folklore, mythology, and urban legends. While their existence remains scientifically unverified, the lack of concrete evidence does not necessarily rule out the possibility that they might be real.
Take the Nightcrawler, for instance. According to Native American folklore, these eerie, thin, upright creatures with no arms have been part of legend for centuries. In 2011, several CCTV recordings captured footage of similar beings, walking silently through the night.
Nightcrawlers - screenshots taken from the 2011 videos.
Another example involves a strange, unidentified creature seen climbing the edge of a cliff near Iceland’s Dettifoss waterfall. Such sightings fuel the belief that cryptids may exist.
Images creature photographed climbing cliff near Iceland’s Dettifoss waterfall.
Now, new evidence points to something even more unsettling. Beneath New Jersey's Pine Barrens lies a vast network of caves emitting electrical energy—a phenomenon impossible to explain in sedimentary rock. Scientists discovered similar formations in West Virginia, Oklahoma, and the Congo Basin. Intriguingly, each site is associated with its own legendary cryptid:
The Jersey Devil(New Jersey)
The Jersey Devil - The History Behind New Jersey's Most Famous Cryptid
The Flatwoods Monster (West Virginia)
The Story of The Flatwoods Monster
The Adair Beast(Oklahoma)
Mokele-mbembe(Congo Basin)
Mokele mbembe Documentary
Even more bizarre, these underground grids align perfectly, forming a growing mathematical pattern. The tunnels seem to converge toward a central point, as though following an ancient design.
Government researchers uncovered one last, chilling detail: the electrical patterns aren’t random. They form precise, repeating sequences—far too organized to occur naturally.
Could these tunnels be evidence of a cryptid connection? Or is something even more mysterious lurking beneath the surface?
Astronomen zijn er voor de eerste keer in geslaagd gedetailleerde beelden te maken van een verre ster die zich in de laatste fasen van zijn leven bevindt.
“Voor het eerst is het gelukt om een ingezoomd beeld te maken van een ster die sterft in een sterrenstelsel buiten onze Melkweg.” Aan het woord is hoofdauteur Keiichi Ohnaka, een astrofysicus van de Universidad Andrés Bello in Chili. De foto markeert een belangrijke mijlpaal. Want hoewel astronomen al zo’n twee dozijn close-upbeelden van sterren in ons eigen sterrenstelsel hebben gemaakt, zien we nu pas voor het eerst een ster die verder weg ligt, van heel dichtbij.
Ster WOH G64 Dankzij de eerdere foto’s van sterren in onze Melkweg hebben we al veel geleerd over hun eigenschappen. Maar er bevinden zich ook talloze andere sterren in verre sterrenstelsels die zo ver weg zijn, dat het tot nu toe bijna onmogelijk was om zelfs maar één van hen in detail te observeren. Maar daar hebben onderzoekers nu verandering in gebracht. Op een verbluffende afstand van 160.000 lichtjaar van ons vandaan werd de ster WOH G64 vastgelegd, mogelijk gemaakt door de indrukwekkende scherpte van de Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) van de Europese Zuidelijke Sterrenwacht (ESO).
The New Largest Star in the Universe 2024! WOH G64
De foto De foto is hieronder te bewonderen. De betreffende ster ligt in de Grote Magelhaanse Wolk, een van de kleine sterrenstelsels die de Melkweg omcirkelen. Astronomen kennen deze ster al decennialang en hebben haar de toepasselijke bijnaam ‘behemoth ster’ gegeven. Met een omvang die zo’n 2000 keer die van onze zon is, wordt WOH G64 geclassificeerd als een rode superreus.
De betreffende close-upfoto van de ster WOH G64, gemaakt met het GRAVITY-instrument op de VLTI van de ESO. Het is de eerste close-upfoto van een ster buiten onze eigen Melkweg. De ster bevindt zich in de Grote Magelhaanse Wolk, op meer dan 160.000 lichtjaar afstand. Het heldere ovaal in het midden van de afbeelding is een stoffige cocon die de ster omhult. Een zwakker ellipsvormig ring rondom de cocon zou de binnenrand van een stoffige torus (een ringvormige structuur van stof en gas die de ster omringt) kunnen zijn. Afbeelding: ESO/K. Ohnaka et al.
Het team was al jaren gefascineerd door deze behemoth ster. In 2005 en 2007 gebruikten ze de VLTI om meer te leren over haar eigenschappen en sindsdien hebben ze haar continu bestudeerd. Toch bleef een echte afbeelding van de ster tot nu toe buiten bereik. Voor de gewenste foto moest het team namelijk geduldig wachten op de ontwikkeling van een belangrijk tweede-generatie-instrument van de VLTI: GRAVITY.
Supernova De nieuwe waarnemingen onthullen een ster die gas en stof uitblaast, vlak voor het moment dat het een supernova wordt, zo beschrijven de onderzoekers in het vakblad Astronomy & Astrophysics. “We ontdekten een ei-vormige cocon die de ster strak omhult”, vertelt Ohnaka. “We zijn enthousiast, omdat dit mogelijk verband houdt met de enorme uitstoot van materiaal door de ster voordat hij explodeert als een supernova.”
Verandering Toen ze hun nieuwe bevindingen vervolgens vergeleken met eerdere waarnemingen van WOH G64, waren ze verrast te ontdekken dat de ster de afgelopen tien jaar ingrijpende veranderingen heeft doorgemaakt. “Dit biedt ons een zeldzame kans om het leven van een ster in real-time te volgen”, zegt Gerd Weigelt, mede-auteur van de studie. In hun laatste levensfasen verliezen rode superreuzen zoals WOH G64 hun buitenste lagen van gas en stof, een proces dat duizenden jaren kan duren. “Deze ster is een van de meest extreme in zijn soort”, stelt mede-auteur Jacco van Loon, die de ster al sinds de jaren 1990 observeert. “Elke drastische verandering kan hem dichter bij een explosief einde brengen.”
Links: de allereerste close-upfoto van een ster buiten ons sterrenstelsel. Op de afbeelding is een grote ei-vormige stofwolk te zien. Rechts is een artistieke impressie die de geometrie van de structuren rondom de ster reconstrueert, inclusief het heldere ovale omhulsel en een zwakkere, stoffige torus. Het bevestigen van de aanwezigheid en vorm van deze torus zal aanvullende waarnemingen vereisen. Afbeelding: ESO/K. Ohnaka et al., L. Calçada
Zwakker Eén van de veranderingen die WOH G64 heeft doorgemaakt, is dat de ster de afgelopen tien jaar veel zwakker is geworden. Het team vermoedt dat het uitgeblazen materiaal zowel de verduistering als de onverwachte vorm van de stofwolk rond de ster veroorzaakt. De nieuwe afbeelding toont zoals gezegd een uitgestrekte cocon, wat de wetenschappers verraste, omdat ze op basis van eerdere waarnemingen en computermodellen een andere vorm hadden verwacht. Het team denkt dat de ei-vormige structuur van de cocon verklaard kan worden door de uitstoot van de ster zelf, of mogelijk door de invloed van een nog onontdekte metgezelster.
Hoewel het maken van de nieuwe beelden een uitdaging was, opent het nieuwe mogelijkheden voor het bestuderen van verre sterrenstelsels. Bovendien levert het waardevolle inzichten op in de ingewikkelde processen die plaatsvinden tijdens de laatste levensfasen van een ster. Naarmate WOH G64 verder vervaagt, wordt het overigens wel steeds moeilijker om nieuwe close-upfoto’s te maken, zelfs met de VLTI. Toch zullen de geplande updates van de telescoop, zoals de toekomstige GRAVITY+, daar binnenkort verandering in kunnen brengen. “Vervolgwaarnemingen met ESO-instrumenten zullen cruciaal zijn om te begrijpen wat er met de ster gebeurt,” besluit Ohnaka.
New Supercomputer Simulation Explains How Mars Got Its Moons
Earth and Mars are the only two rocky planets in the solar system to have moons. Based on lunar rock samples and computer simulations, we are fairly certain that our Moon is the result of an early collision between Earth and a Mars-sized protoplanet called Theia. Since we don’t have rock samples from either Martian moon, the origins of Deimos and Phobos are less clear. There are two popular models, but new computer simulations point to a compromise solution.
Observations of Deimos and Phobos show that they resemble small asteroids. This is consistent with the idea that the Martian moons were asteroids captured by Mars in its early history. The problem with this idea is that Mars is a small planet with less gravitational pull than Earth or Venus, which have no captured moons. It would be difficult for Mars to capture even one small asteroid, much less two. And captured moons would tend to have more elliptical orbits, not the circular ones of Deimos and Phobos.
An alternative model argues that the Martian moons are the result of an early collision similar to that of Earth and Theia. In this model, an asteroid or comet with about 3% of the mass of Mars impacted the planet. It would not be large enough to have fragmented Mars, but it would have created a large debris ring out of which the two moons could have formed. This would explain the more circular orbits, but the difficulty is that debris rings would tend to form close to the planet. While Phobos, the larger Martian moon, orbits close to Mars, Deimos does not.
This new model proposes an interesting middle way. Rather than an impact or direct capture, the authors propose a near miss by a large asteroid. If an asteroid passed close enough to Mars, the tidal forces of the planet would rip the asteroid apart to create a string of fragments. Many of those fragments would be captured in elliptical orbits around Mars. As computer simulations show, the orbits would shift over time due to the small gravitational tugs of the Sun and other solar system bodies, eventually causing some of the fragments to collide. This would produce a debris ring similar to that of an impact event, but with a greater distance range, better able to account for both Phobos and Deimos.
While this new model appears to be better than the capture and impact models, the only way to resolve this mystery will be to study samples from the Martian moons themselves. Fortunately, in 2026 the Mars Moons eXploration mission (MMX) will launch. It will explore both moons and gather samples from Phobos. So we should finally understand the origin of these enigmatic companions of the Red Planet.
Gaze at New Pictures of the Sun from Solar Orbiter
The Solar Orbiter has captured the highest resolution images of the Sun ever during a recent close encounter. The detail is extraordinary. Image Credit: ESA - European Space Agency
Gaze at New Pictures of the Sun from Solar Orbiter
74 million kilometres is a huge distance from which to observe something. But 74 million km isn’t such a big deal when the object is the Sun.
That’s how far away from the Sun the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter was when it captured these new images.
The Solar Orbiter was launched in 2020 to investigate the Sun. It’s studying the mechanism behind the Sun’s solar wind, the complex dynamics of its magnetic field, and eruptions like solar flares and coronal mass ejections. That’s just a sampling of its science goals.
One item on the mission’s long list of objectives is high-resolution images of the Sun’s surface. For that, the spacecraft carries different imagers that operate in different wavelengths. This allows the spacecraft to almost peel back the Sun’s layers and uncover relationships between them.
The ESA has released four new images of the Sun, each one giving us a different look at our star: visible light, magnetic, plasma, and UV. These images were captured with the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI-German contribution) and Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI-Belgian contribution) instruments in March 2023. Each image is a composite of 25 images, all captured on the same day. They’re the highest resolution images of the Sun ever taken.
The images are remarkable for their detail. This image shows sunspots, regions that are darker and cooler than their surroundings. They appear where magnetic field lines are concentrated. The magnetic flux inhibits convection. Image Credit: ESA
According to Daniel Müller, Solar Orbiter’s Project Scientist, the Sun’s magnetic field is key to understanding the star.
“The Sun’s magnetic field is key to understanding the dynamic nature of our home star from the smallest to the largest scales. These new high-resolution maps from Solar Orbiter’s PHI instrument show the beauty of the Sun’s surface magnetic field and flows in great detail. At the same time, they are crucial for inferring the magnetic field in the Sun’s hot corona, which our EUI instrument is imaging,” Müller said.
This magnetic map of the Sun from the Solar Orbiter shows how magnetic field lines and sunspots are correlated. Image Credit: ESA.
The Solar Orbiter’s PHI instrument also gives us a map of how plasma is moving around on the Sun’s surface. Blue regions are moving toward the Orbiter, while red regions are moving away.
The map of plasma movement clearly reflects the rotation of the Sun, with blue regions moving toward the orbiter and red regions moving away. However, it also shows how material is disoriented around the sunspots. Image Credit: ESA
The ultraviolet image of the Sun from the Solar Orbiter’s EUI instrument is probably the most visually stunning. It shows what’s happening above the photosphere, where glowing plasma extends out from sunspots. The plasma is superheated and follows the same magnetic lines that encourage the sunspots.
The Sun’s superheated plasma follow magnetic field lines and extends beyond the photosphere in the same regions the sunspots occur. Image Credit: ESA
The Solar Orbiter’s images are truly extraordinary. It’s easy to lose yourself in them, and to wonder about Life, the Universe, Nature, Evolution, How Everything Came to Be, and your own mortality in the face of it all.
Go ahead and lose yourself in these images for a while. The economy won’t grind to halt if you take a few moments. Image Credit: ESA
Now, back to your cubicle.
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Are Fast Radio Bursts Caused by Interstellar Objects Crashing Into Neutron Stars?
This magnetar is a highly magnetized neutron star. This artist's illustration shows an outburst from a magnetar. Neutron stars that spin rapidly and give out radiation are called pulsars, and specific pulsars are rare in the core of the Milky Way. Credit: NASA/JPL-CalTech
Are Fast Radio Bursts Caused by Interstellar Objects Crashing Into Neutron Stars?
Every now and then, astronomers will detect an odd kind of radio signal. So powerful it can outshine a galaxy, but lasting only milliseconds. They are known as fast radio bursts (FRBs). When they were first discovered a couple of decades ago, we had no idea what might cause them. We weren’t even sure if they were astronomical in origin. FRB’s were so localized and so short-lived, it was difficult to gather data on them. But with wide-field radio telescopes such as CHIME we can now observe FRBs regularly and have a pretty good idea of their source: magnetars.
Magnetars are neutron stars with immensely powerful magnetic fields. Now that we can localize FRBs, we have been able to match a few of them to the region of a neutron star. While most FRBs occur in distant galaxies, in 2020 we observed one within the Milky Way. The magnetar source also happened to be a pulsar, and astronomers were able to show that the FRB [correlated with a glitch in the pulsar’s rotation,](https://briankoberlein.com/blog/power-of-magnetism/) thus confirming the source. So we are fairly certain that FRBs are caused by neutron stars, but we are still uncertain about the exact mechanism.
One popular idea is that fast radio bursts are caused by magnetic realignments. This is what drives flares on the Sun. Over time, the Sun’s magnetic field lines can get twisted up until they snap into realignment, releasing energy. If a similar effect occurs on magnetars, the resulting snap would be much faster and more powerful. One difficulty with this idea is that FRBs are so short-lived that they are almost too fast for magnetic field lines to realign. So astronomers keep looking for new ideas, and one recently proposed argues that they are caused by impact events.
Distribution of FRB duration and ISB sizes compared. Credit: Pham, et al
Collisions have long been known as the source of high-energy events. For example, some supernovae are caused by the collisions of neutron stars. We also know that comets and asteroids occasionally impact the Sun, so we would expect similar impacts to occur on neutron stars. In this new work, the authors propose that FRBs are caused when an interstellar body collides with a neutron star. The impact would trigger a powerful electromagnetic burst. To support their argument, the authors looked at the distribution of FRBs arranged by duration. The timing of FRBs follows a distribution similar to the distribution of solar system bodies. Not only that, the duration of an FRB seems to match the hypothetical duration of an impact event based on an object’s size.
While the data does seem to support the idea of impact-based FRBs, the study doesn’t solve all the mysteries surrounding these powerful bursts. We know, for example, that some FRBs are repeaters, meaning they occur multiple times from the same source. Some studies have shown that repeating FRBs are quasi-periodic, which would be difficult to explain through random collisions. It’s possible that repeating and non-repeating FRBs are caused by different mechanisms, though the data is still inconclusive on that point.
What Are Fast Radio Bursts? With Dr. Duncan Lorimer
Is the Government Hiding Alien Technology? Unveiling the UFO Mystery
Is the Government Hiding Alien Technology? Unveiling the UFO Mystery
The question of whether the government is hiding alien technology has fueled countless debates, conspiracy theories, and investigations for decades. From the Roswell incident to recent Congressional hearings on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), the topic remains shrouded in mystery and intrigue. This article explores the history, evidence, and implications of these allegations.
The modern fascination with UFOs began in 1947 with the infamous Roswell Incident. Initial reports claimed that a flying saucer had crashed in New Mexico, sparking global speculation about extraterrestrial visitors. Although the U.S. military later attributed the wreckage to a weather balloon, conspiracy theories persisted, especially after they revised their explanation to a downed nuclear surveillance balloon decades later.
Roswell set the stage for an influx of UFO sightings. In response, the U.S. Air Force launched Project Blue Book in the 1950s. This program investigated thousands of cases, dismissing most as natural phenomena or misidentifications. However, 701 cases remained officially unexplained, fueling speculation that the government was withholding crucial information.
Majestic 12: Fact or Fiction?
One of the most contentious claims surrounding government secrecy is the existence of Majestic 12, an alleged covert group established in the late 1940s to recover and study alien technology. Documents reportedly revealing its existence emerged in the 1980s but were dismissed by many as hoaxes. Despite skepticism, believers argue that this secrecy aligns with broader governmental efforts to conceal evidence of extraterrestrial contact.
The Mystery of Area 51
Area 51, a highly classified U.S. Air Force facility in Nevada, is synonymous with UFO lore. Officially, it is a testing site for advanced aviation technologies. However, whistleblower Bob Lazar claimed in 1989 that he worked at a secretive lab within Area 51, reverse-engineering alien technology. According to Lazar, the recovered materials featured advanced anti-gravity propulsion systems, suggesting technology far beyond human capabilities.
Zeta Reticuli and Alien Origins
Speculation about the origin of alleged alien visitors often points to Zeta Reticuli, a binary star system 39 light-years from Earth. The system gained attention during the 1961 Barney and Betty Hill abduction case, where the Hills described being taken aboard a spacecraft and shown a star map resembling Zeta Reticuli. These claims, while unverified, add a layer of cosmic intrigue to the discussion.
Modern UFO Revelations
In recent years, the U.S. government has shifted its terminology from UFOs to UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena), perhaps signaling a more serious approach to the subject. In 2017, the Pentagon confirmed the authenticity of leaked military videos showing UAPs performing seemingly impossible maneuvers. These incidents, dubbed “Gimbal,” “GoFast,” and “Tic Tac,” reignited public interest and led to further revelations.
Whistleblowers like David Grusch, a U.S. Air Force veteran, have alleged the existence of a multi-decade program aimed at recovering and reverse-engineering alien technology. Grusch also claimed knowledge of “non-human biologics” linked to UAP crashes. His testimony during Congressional hearings in 2023 underscored the gravity of these allegations.
Immaculate Constellation: A Secret Database?
In 2024, journalist Michael Shellenberger reported on an alleged ultra-classified program known as Immaculate Constellation, described as a hidden repository of UAP sightings and evidence. Whistleblowers suggested that this database contains records of alien technology and encounters. If true, it indicates that knowledge of extraterrestrial technology is accessible to only a select few, raising concerns about government transparency and accountability.
The Debate Over Disclosure
Congressional hearings in 2024 and 2025 highlighted increasing demands for transparency regarding UAPs. Witnesses, including experts like former NASA contractor Michael Gold, emphasized the need for scientific investigation into these phenomena. However, allegations of a disinformation campaign to suppress whistleblowers and stigmatize UAP reports suggest systemic resistance to disclosure.
What Lies Ahead?
The evidence remains inconclusive. While some whistleblowers and experts present compelling claims, others argue that much of the speculation is fueled by misunderstanding, misinformation, or deliberate hoaxes. However, the recurring theme of secrecy suggests there is more to the story than meets the eye.
As the conversation around UAPs evolves, one question persists: if the government truly possesses alien technology, what could it mean for humanity? Would such revelations revolutionize science and technology, or would they only deepen societal divisions? Until the government provides definitive answers, the truth remains elusive, buried beneath layers of redacted documents and classified files.
What do you think? Is the government hiding alien technology, or are these stories just elaborate myths? The debate continues, leaving us to wonder: is the truth really out there?
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In the perplexing counterculture of UFO beliefs, individuals with cult-like followings and frequent claims associated with dubious “whistleblowers” aren’t uncommon. But how can you separate genuine voices from those leveraging UFO lore for personal or financial gain?
In a new documentary, Dark Alliance: The Inside Story of the Cosmic Con, filmmaker Darcy Weir dives into one section of the UFO counterculture, narrowing in on two well-known figures: David Wilcock and Corey Goode, presenting them as case studies in manipulation and the spread of misinformation within the UFO community and its associated areas of belief.
In Dark Alliance, Weir takes his viewers on a journey of exploration into how these two controversial figures came to fool not only the community they serve, but also some of the people who brought them to the top.
However, the cautionary tale Weir presents is far from new: the events he chronicles echo the actions of cults and similar groups from over the years, many of which bear a resemblance to some of today’s alleged UFO whistleblowers, self-proclaimed insiders, and cult leaders.
UFO Cults Through the Years
According to psychologist Dr. Steve Eichel, there may be up to 10,000 cults currently operating in America, ranging from those focused on religion, to political groups, and even doomsday cults.
UFO-themed cults, while fewer in number, have nonetheless also been a prevalent fixture in American culture since the years after World War II. Among these, William A. Ferguson founded a religious cult called the Cosmic Circle of Fellowship, elements of which were detailed in his 1947 book My Trip to Mars. In it, Ferguson states that he teleported to Mars and was greeted by “celestial beings who indicated the Martians are ready to help mankind pass through a great crisis.” Ferguson also claimed he could instruct others on how to achieve interdimensional travel through deep relaxation. With time, Ferguson’s claims would become even more wild as he began manufacturing a device he called the Zerret Applicator, which he professed could cure various ailments or diseases through what he called “z-rays,” a concept created by Ferguson and later disproven by the FDA.
In 1954, fresh out of prison after a two-year sentence for selling his “Martian-inspired” medical devices, Ferguson turned his life around in a way that was truly out of this world: he released a quirky, 13-page pamphlet detailing his journey to Mars, sharing several of his curious insights and the teachings he claimed to have received from his Martian associates.
Although similar cults have cropped up throughout the years, few that involved unfounded belief in visitors from beyond Earth have managed to capture so much public attention as Heaven’s Gate, a new religious movement in the United States whose members committed mass suicide in a San Diego suburb called Rancho Santa Fe in 1997. There, a group of 39 dedicated followers of the cult, led by mastermind Marshall Applewhite, died believing that Comet Hale–Bopp was being followed by an alien spacecraft, and only through their death by ritual suicide could they could eventually join it.
More recently, an online subculture referred to as The Alien Cult has emerged on TikTok, centered around themes involving aliens and UFOs. Originating from a popular meme, the group has rapidly grown, showing up en masse in comment sections and sharing mostly humorous content, though some members have been known to spread misinformation at times, while at others debunk outlandish claims.
Another group, the “Starseeds,” believes they are beings from other dimensions meant to guide humanity. While these groups largely seem harmless, their structure—especially when leaders are idolized—can lead to risks of manipulation and echo chambers that discourage critical thinking and individual growth.
The “Whistleblower” Claims of David Wilcock and Cory Goode
In recent years, former Gaia television hosts and on-camera personalities David Wilcock and Corey Goode have created a veritable tidal wave of misinformation within various sections of the UFO counterculture. Among the claims made by Wilcock, in the past he has asserted that a mass ascension would happen on Earth after 2012, and suggested in his book, The Ascension Mysteries, that Earth’s role is to be a battleground in a 500,000-year conflict between positive and negative extraterrestrial forces. For Wilcock’s followers, of course, ascension could be obtained for the low price of $333.
In one YouTube livestream with over 1 million views, Wilcock told his audience that the “Illuminati Deep State” was responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. A week later, Wilcock’s associate Corey Goode joined in with claims that a government insider told him COVID-19 was engineered as a “biological weapon from an American university” and smuggled into China by a student to act as a population control tool.
Wilcock, over time, became a best-selling author telling such fantastical tales, while Goode first appeared onscreen in 2015 during his initial interview on Gaia TV’s popular show Cosmic Disclosure, hosted by Wilcock. Goode has since claimed to possess knowledge of a “Secret Space Program” involving hidden technologies and collaborations between humans and non-humans.
Amid a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) lawsuit between Gaia and Goode, Goode has recently claimed that his extravagant assertions were based on his creative intellectual property (IP) and has expressed a desire for Hollywood to one day adopt these ideas. This claim was made in a legal deposition video leaked by Leon Isaac Kennedy, Goode’s former lawyer, who had his case dismissed after Goode failed to substantiate his allegations.
Seeking to clarify matters, Jay Weidner, former head of content at Gaia TV, decided to share his perspectives on-camera during an appearance in Weir’s documentary. Weidner recounts his first encounter with Wilcock, explaining that he was initially drawn to Wilcock’s essays on 2001: A Space Odyssey.
“He was a very charming guy, very articulate,” Weidner told Weir, adding that Wilcock “is good at taking ideas from alternative science and explaining them well” although noting that Wilcock possessed “an ego the size of the Empire State Building.”
Jay Weidner (left) meets Darcy Weir while filming Dark Alliance (Credit: Darcy Weir).
While working at Gaia and developing Cosmic Disclosure with Goode and Wilcock, Weidner shares that Wilcock introduced Goode as a prospective co-host, advocating for the show’s focus on Goode’s claims. “This was strictly David and Corey coming up with the content. I’m not paid to vet people,” he explains. “I was just trying to make it look good and credible,” adding that the content being put forward by Goode and Wilcock was nothing he “hadn’t seen on the internet already.”
With time, Weidner says a darker reality beyond just the pair’s extraordinary claims began to become apparent.
“When you’ve been conned, you don’t want to admit it,” Weidner tells Weir. “That’s the truth of the matter. I mean, I’m admitting that I got conned. But that is really painful to admit. I was totally taken by this guy, and a lot of other people were too.”
Weir, who has spent the last four years creating this documentary, explained to The Debrief what inspired him to tell this story.
“I’ve been chasing down tales from the UFO community since 2009, and let me tell you, it’s been a wild ride,” Weir recounts. “When I first heard about blue alien bird people and David Wilcock’s ‘new star’ Corey Goode, they were lighting up the screen on Gaia TV, dishing out a story that was, well, beyond this world.”
“Back then, I was friends with Kerry Cassidy (I still am), who runs Project Camelot—a site where conspiracy theories are born and go to thrive. The idea of a secret space program with child recruits? People living a life in space fighting aliens and then coming back to live a regular life? My mind was blown.”
“Over the last decade, I kept an eye on David and Corey, and in 2021, I knew it was time to dive in and document the whole story,” Weir told The Debrief. “To get the full picture for audiences to understand, I had to start at the beginning with David Wilcock at Gaia, where he worked under Jay Weidner, then head of production. David’s rise, Gaia’s role in making him a household name in, you know, certain UFO and New Age spiritual households, and the introduction of Corey Goode.”
“That narrative seemed like a natural flow of how things progressed. Essential to understanding the wild twists of this story,” Weir says.
In a recent podcast interview with The Debrief, Weidner claims Goode and Wilcock both exhibited “cult leader” behavior. “I learned a lot about cults through this. If you watch the last 20 minutes of Cosmic Secret, their last movie, they’re [Goode and Wilcock] laying out how to make their cult,” Weidner says.
Weidner further describes working on Cosmic Disclosure, saying that team members were “naive and hopeful,” likening it to “almost like a cult.”
“After the three-hour talk, we were chosen by the Secret Space Program to present all of this information to the world. We were chosen. We were the ones,” Weidner recounts of how Goode convinced him and the team that they were the “chosen” insiders.
Jay Weidner (left) appears on camera speaking with Darcy Weir while filming Dark Alliance (Credit: Darcy Weir).
Weidner also shared with The Debrief that Goode at times displayed violent tendencies behind the scenes. “Corey was consistently talking about violence, constantly talking about how to hurt people. Gave me a whole exposition on how to kill someone with our iPhone.”
“No one would listen to me,” Weidner said when asked if these behaviors were ever reported. “I did go to Gaia and said that Corey Goode is radioactive, and I got laughed at.”
Real Whistleblowers vs Questionable Claims
Weir’s documentary presents a cautionary tale detailing how Wilcock and Goode promoted baseless claims that, for most viewers, would seem nonsensical, and yet gained significant traction among their audiences. Despite such concerns, Weir nonetheless cautions against lumping all alleged whistleblowers into the same category.
“Whistleblowers are real, and they’re out there,” Weir told The Debrief. “We’ve got real-deal cases like those of Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, Lue Elizondo, and David Grusch, who had access to high-security clearance info during their time with high-level U.S. defense or intelligence agencies.”
However, not everyone who makes sensational claims should be taken seriously simply because they claim to be a whistleblower, Weir concedes.
“Some of these, let’s call them creative storytellers, have ended up with quite a megaphone. And in the right hands, like the extensive subscriber base reach of Gaia’s UFO-friendly streaming network, even the most out-there claims have caught fire,” says Weir.
“Now, I do believe the Defense and Intelligence communities have some big secrets on UFOs stashed away. Whether it’s non-human interaction or something equally mind-bending, the truth seems to not be fully disclosed to mainstream media. But sometimes, when a story gets hot, certain folks decide they just have to be part of the action, blue alien bird people and all,” Weir says.
Weir told The Debrief that one of the challenges revealed to him while creating the new documentary had been that even when information seems obviously outlandish, it can still be difficult to distinguish simple lies and bad information from genuine cult activities.
“Recognizing cult-like behavior is tough, especially for those caught up in it,” Weir told The Debrief.“Cult leaders often keep followers hooked using a blend of fear and love. They introduce fears of doomsday scenarios like catastrophic solar events, then ease these anxieties by offering salvation—of course, with a catch: true transcendence requires financial commitment through classes, workshops, or other paid programs.”
Cults and certain whistleblower communities often share similar characteristics that foster dependency and obedience among followers, frequently using manipulative tactics to control beliefs and behavior. Leaders within these groups often project themselves as charismatic figures with “exclusive” knowledge, claiming insights only they possess. They discourage trust in mainstream information and promote isolation, suggesting that science, media, and government cannot be trusted. Members are discouraged from questioning group beliefs under threat of punishment or exclusion, while the leader’s authority is portrayed as absolute, often invoking apocalyptic or fear-based messaging that intensifies loyalty by positioning the group as the only path to safety.
These leaders may also create a sense of urgency and dependency by portraying themselves as “chosen” or uniquely connected to higher intelligence, often introducing extreme or even violent rhetoric to maintain control. This environment fosters extreme beliefs, restricts followers’ access to outside information, and manipulates members into donating significant portions of their income, all under the guise of supporting the group’s mission. In many cases, these strategies culminate in a closed ecosystem where followers are expected to support the leader’s vision without question, creating an echo chamber that hinders critical thinking and facilitates emotional or even physical abuse.
“Historically, this pattern seems all too common,” Weir told The Debrief.
In contrast to the assurances of “truth,” secret insider knowledge, and freedom that such individuals often promise their followers, for Weir advocates for asking questions, critically thinking, and not following those who appear to display a desire to exploit others for their own personal gain.
“You know what they say about truth,” Weir adds. “It sets you free.”
Chrissy Newton is a PR professional and founder of VOCAB Communications. She currently appears on The Discovery Channel and Max and hosts the Rebelliously Curious podcast, which can be found on The Debrief’s YouTube Channel on all audio podcast streaming platforms.
The new director of the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office(AARO) confirmed to lawmakers on Tuesday that the U.S. is investigating what he characterized as “some very anomalous objects,” while providing an update on the Defense Department’s ongoing investigations into unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP).
In his opening statements, Kosloski pledged that his office would continue to share information about AARO’s findings at the unclassified level, discussing several UAP cases his office has investigated, including a series of incidents which AARO says have now been resolved.
One of these, referred to as “The Puerto Rico Object,” involved a video of a purported UAP filmed in April 2013 from a U.S. Customs and Border Protection aircraft near Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. The video has been been a subject of independent public investigation and debate now for many years.
A still from a video captured by a U.S.-operated drone in 2018 while flying above Mt. Etna appears to show an anomalous object, but the Pentagon's UFO chief says his office was able to solve the case.
(Image credit: AARO/DOD)
Kosloski told lawmakers the object in the video was assessed with high confidence by his office not to display any evidence of anomalous speeds or flight characteristics, and was “likely a pair of balloons or sky lanterns,” which Kosloski said had been “floating at about seven knots over the airport.”
Examples of AARO’s resolved reports also included a now-famous U.S. Navy video commonly known as “Go Fast” that first came to public knowledge in 2017, which Kosloski says represents an example of parallax.
“Through a very careful geospatial and intelligence analysis using trigonometry, we assess with high confidence that the object is not actually close to the water, but is rather closer to 13,000 feet,” Kosloski said.
“A trick of the eye called parallax makes it look like the object is moving much faster,” Kosloski added, referencing a report on parallax previously uploaded to AARO’s official website.
Another resolved UAP case, filmed in the Mediterranean from a drone observing the eruption of Mount Etna in 2018, appears to show a small object passing through the plume of superheated gas and ash produced by the volcano.
“This was a rather difficult case to resolve,” Kosloski said. “Through very detailed 3D modeling and pixel by pixel analysis of the object as it’s traversing across the clouds, the assess that the object was actually 170 meters away from the plume, and not flying through it.”
However, while many cases have been resolved by AARO, Dr. Kosloski cautioned against any perception that his office does not find at least some of the reports it receives genuinely anomalous.
A still from a video reportedly showing a "transmedium" UAP that appears to travel between air and water and split in half. During testimony on Nov. 19, the head of the Pentagon's UFO office says it actually shows an infrared camera's inability to tell two objects' temperature apart from the ocean behind them.
(Image credit: AARO/DOD)
“To be clear, AARO does not believe that every object is a bird, a balloon, or a UAV,” Kosloski said, adding that “we do have some very anomalous objects.”
Kosloski also said that his office has worked to ensure that U.S. personnel with information related to UAP or alleged U.S. government programs associated with such phenomena feel comfortable coming forward and speaking to AARO.
“We take that responsibility and those authorities very seriously,” Kosloski said, adding that he and his staff “have been reaching out to the broader community, encouraging folks who had talked to AARO personnel in the past, and maybe felt uncomfortable to come back to us.”
Prior to Kosloski’s appointment as AARO Director, the office’s investigations were led by Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, who is currently the Chief Technology Officer for Defense and Intelligence Programs within the National Security Sciences Directorate (NSSD) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
It was unclear during Tuesday’s hearing whether Kosloski’s references to past instances where U.S. personnel may have felt uncomfortable speaking with AARO investigators had occurred during Kirkpatrick’s tenure. However, Kosloski told lawmakers that AARO has recently been “making great progress,” adding that several firsthand witnesses his office had spoken to about their UAP sightings “do feel comfortable coming back to us.”
Asked by Senator Gillibrand about UAP cases that merit further investigation, Kosloski explained that while some cases with insufficient data are placed into an active archive, there are others involving reportedly anomalous objects that AARO deems to be worthy of additional analysis.
One particularly intriguing unresolved case that Kosloski described involved a large orange orb or sphere observed floating several hundred feet above the ground by a law enforcement officer in the Western United States. As the officer approached the location believed to be directly beneath the object, he observed another object described as “blacker than black” and roughly the size of an automobile.
“As he got 40 to 60 meters away from the object, it tilted up about 45 degrees and then it shot up vertically,” Kosloski said, “and then it shot up vertically, he says 10 to 100 times faster than any drone he’s ever seen before.
“And it did that without making a sound, as far as he could tell from inside his vehicle,” Kosloski said. The object reportedly emitted very bright red and blue lights as it departed the scene, which illuminated the inside of the officer’s vehicle.
Another unresolved case involved a stationary cylinder that was observed for a short period hovering over a U.S. facility in the American southwest before abruptly disappearing. The object, observed by U.S. government contractors who were leaving the facility at that time, was described as being comparable in size to a commercial airplane, and was accompanied by a very bright white light.
“Obviously, an object that large [and] stationary—unless it’s a blimp—is unusual,” Kosloski said. “But then disappearing, we can’t explain how that would happen.”
In another instance, an aircraft flying parallel to another aircraft while filming it captured imagery of a much smaller object that appears to have passed between them at high speed.
Kosloski said AARO may be nearing a resolution with one of these three cases, but added that there are several others that are still currently under analysis by his office.
Asked by U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) what the U.S. needs to be doing about UAP and what precautions should be taken by U.S. officials, Kosloski warned about stigmas that have long prevailed against the subject, which he said “opens the opportunity for an adversary… to come in and conduct some activity.”
“We need to do that, and we need to have more persistent monitoring,” Kosloski also told lawmakers of the challenges AARO faces with regard to collecting information about UAP, adding that in particular, monitoring at high security facilities should be a main priority.
“Whether it is a UAP, or it is a counter-UAS issue, that we need to have that complete domain awareness around our national security facilities,” Kosloski said.
Next year, Kosloski said AARO plans to roll out a public reporting mechanism at AARO’s website where members of the general public can download a reporting form and submit details about possible UAP sightings, along with attachments such as imagery. This simple reporting interface, Kosloski said, was chosen due to its cost effectiveness, in addition to being a system that he said could ensure the privacy of those members of the public who file reports.
“I think that the authorities that we have are remarkable,” Kosloski said at the conclusion of the short public session, thanking Gillibrand and other lawmakers, and adding that he believes AARO to be “well-resourced as an office.”
“The only ask that I would have is that you continue to champion us, particularly with witnesses,” Kosloski said. “Encourage them to come forward and report to us so we that we can have a more fulsome investigation of the potential historic or ongoing legacy programs,” Kosloski said.
Speaking with members of the media on a call last week following the release of AARO’s new report, Kosloski said that his office currently has “several particularly interesting cases.”
“We’re working on within the office, working with our partners to downgrade several of those cases, so we can talk about them publicly,” Kosloski said during the call.
“But there are interesting cases that I, with my physics and engineering background and time in the IC, I do not understand.”
“And I don’t know anybody else who understands them either,” Kosloski added.
VIDEOS
'I do not have an explanation': Pentagon official shows video of unidentified object
UFO hearing: Eyewitnesses describe encounters with "non human" entities to Congress | FULL
Luis Elizondo discusses new book "Imminent" and the Pentagon's UAP investigations
The latest congressional UFO hearing featured testimony from former military personnel who said that government secrecy hides the fact that we are not alone in the cosmos.
UFO whistleblower tells Congress the US government is hiding evidence of 'non-human intelligence'
UFOs came to Washington again last week.
The U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Oversight and Accountability held a hearing titled "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth" at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. at 11:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT) on Wednesday, Nov. 13. Unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) is a relatively new catch-all term that includes sightings of unexplained objects or events that take place in the air, underwater, in space, or that travel between those domains.
Like previous congressional UFO hearings, the event featured testimony from current U.S. military personnel who claim the American government has for decades hidden evidence of advanced technologies and otherworldly visitors from the public. A multitude of anecdotes were presented about flying orbs coming out of the ocean, disc-shaped objects, and craft "exhibiting flight and structural characteristics unlike anything in our arsenal." While such claims are nothing new, what is noteworthy about the hearing are the pedigrees of some of the whistleblowers who testified, including a former U.S. counterintelligence officer, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral and a former NASA associate administrator. All of them stressed the need for more government transparency, less stigma about the UFO topic and new policies to bring UAP data out of the "black" classified world and into the public domain.
A still from a video titled "Go Fast" recorded by a U.S. Navy aircraft reportedly showing a UAP that was discussed in the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing titled "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth" on Wednesday (Nov. 13). (Image credit: U.S. Dept. of Defense)
This isn't the U.S. government's first attempt to investigate the recent wave of UFO claims that began in 2017. A similar hearing was held last year, in which a whistleblower told Congress the U.S. government is hiding evidence of 'non-human intelligence.'
The Pentagon also created the All-Doman Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in 2022 to investigate UAP reports and government data about UFOs, but critics, including some government officials, are skeptical of the office's aims and methods.
"AARO is unable, or perhaps unwilling, to bring forward the truth about the government's activities concerning UAPs," Representative Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) said during the hearing's opening remarks. "I'm disturbed that AARO itself lacks transparency; even its budget is kept from the public. So if there is no 'there' there, then why are we spending money on it? And by how much? Why the secrecy?"
Other representatives stressed the need for transparency and data analysis, a common theme of other recent UAP studies. "We have evidence that what we are detecting things, and we know that we don't understand them, and this is worth investigating," Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) said. "I believe we can always be more transparent. To me, this hearing and others are simply about the truth and getting to the facts of what these UAPs actually are."
Luis Elizondo, a former U.S. counterintelligence officer who has been vocal about such claims in recent years, told the assembled representatives at the hearing that "excessive secrecy has led to grave misdeeds against loyal civil servants, military personnel and the public — all to hide the fact that we are not alone in the cosmos."
We are "in the midst of a multi-decade, secretive arms race — one funded by misallocated taxpayer dollars and hidden from our elected representatives and oversight bodies," Elizondo stated during his testimony.
Elizondo, who claims to have previously investigated UFOs as part of a secret Pentagon program, suggested that the U.S. government create a "whole-of-government" approach to studying UAP, create a national UAP strategy and offer protections so that whistleblowers who are "desperate to do the right thing can come forward without fear."
During questioning, Elizondo was asked if some of the "advanced technologies" that have been seen monitoring sensitive military installations around the globe could be operated by aliens or private companies. "Maybe both," Elizondo replied.
Elizondo also stated point-blank to Rep. Mace's questioning that the U.S. government has programs to retrieve crashed UAP and reverse-engineer them, but avoided giving any specifics in an unclassified public setting such as the hearing.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) then questioned Elizondo, asking the former counterintelligence agent about a document he signed that limits him from speaking publicly about crash retrieval programs. "The document said you can't talk about crash retrieval. Well, you know, you can't talk about Fight Club if there's no Fight Club, correct?"
Like other witnesses, Elizondo stated that the alleged excessive government secrecy around UFOs harms national security. In response to questioning from Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), Elizondo stated that, if UAP sightings turned out to be technologies operated by adversarial nations, it would be "an intelligence failure eclipsing 9/11 in order of magnitude."
A still from footage shot by an MQ-9 reaper drone showing an unidentified spherical object soaring through the air shown to the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services during an April 2023 hearing. (Image credit: U.S. Dept. of Defense)
Retired U.S. Navy rear admiral Tim Gallaudet offered similar testimony as Elizondo. "We know from last year's UAP hearing and recent statements and publications by credible whistleblowers that UAP, NHI [non-human intelligence], and their technology of unknown origin (TUO) represent a new realization that we are not the only advanced intelligence in the universe," Gallaudet said on Wednesday, according to his published remarks.
"Unelected officials in the U.S. government do not have an exclusive right to this knowledge about the nature of reality. The American people have a right to that knowledge," Gallaudet said. The retired rear admiral also stressed the national security and airspace safety concerns related with UAP sightings, calling them "extensive."
When Rep. Garcia asked Gallaudet and other witnesses what UAP might represent, the retired rear admiral said he believes they are evidence of a "non-human higher intelligence."
Former NASA Associate Administrator for Space Policy and Partnerships Michael Gold also testified at the hearing, and previously served on NASA's UAP study team. Gold's testimony was more grounded; for example, he stressed the need for NASA to contribute its authority and expertise toward analyzing what UAP data it might already possess and helping dispel the stigma associated with the UFO topic.
"Our best tool for unlocking the mystery of UAP is science, but we cannot conduct a proper inquiry if the stigma is so overwhelming that just daring to be part of a NASA search team elicits such a vitriolic response," Gold said during the hearing. "Therefore, one of the most important actions that can be taken, relative to exposing the truth of UAP, is to combat the stigma, and this is where I believe that NASA can be eminently helpful."
Gold added that NASA has a massive archive of data that could possibly contain evidence of UAP, and suggested that artificial intelligence/machine learning algorithms could help sort through the agency's trove of data to help shine light on the UFO phenomenon. In addition, the former NASA associate administrator said the agency should develop specialized instruments that might be able to gather useful data about UAP.
UFO whistleblower says U.S. recovered nonhuman "biologics" from crash sites
Journalist Michael Shellenberger also testified, telling the representatives that there's a "growing body of evidence that the government is not being transparent about what it knows about unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), formerly called UFOs, and that elements within the military and IC [intelligence community] are in violation of their Constitutional duty to notify Congress of their operations."
Shellenberger stated that there is a secret program within the U.S. government known as "Immaculate Constellation" whose sole purpose is to collect UFO and UAP reports from military personnel and sensor data and quarantine them away from the rest of the government and military. While he noted that a Pentagon spokesperson has stated no such program exists, Shellenberger recounted prior examples in which the Department of Defense has initially denied knowledge of UAP-related information only to later change its stance and either admit the information exists or release it to the public.
"The U.S. government appears to know significantly more about UAPs than it is revealing," Shellenberger said at the hearing. "But even those who believe the U.S. government has revealed all that it knows should have no objection to Congressional demands for greater transparency."
To conclude the meeting, Rep. Mace asked each of the witnesses to define what non-human biologics or non-human intelligence mean to each of them.
"I don't think it's a stretch, when you look at the diversity of life on this planet and the size of this universe, to think that there will be more diverse, higher-order, non-human intelligence throughout the universe, and that's probably what's visiting us," Gallaudet said.
Elizondo stated he would take a scientific approach: "The definition would be the ability to react to a stimulus in a manner that requires an intellectual thought process."
Gold, meanwhile, questioned whether non-human intelligence necessarily implies life, suggesting sophisticated artificial intelligence might be responsible for some UAP encounters. Shellenberger simply stated he did not know what they might be.
In the hearing, as in other UFO hearings, there was a lot of telling and not a lot of showing. One of the core tenets of these whistleblower testimonies is that much of the credible UFO data is classified and can't be revealed to the public based on the military capabilities that some of that data could reveal.
Whistleblowers have attested for years that, because advanced or classified sensors and satellites sometimes capture footage or photos of unexplained phenomena or advanced craft, those photos or videos are likewise classified by the U.S. government in order to not reveal America's full surveillance or sensing capabilities.
Such was the case in 2023 when U.S. military aircraft shot down a mysterious object off the coast of Alaska. The American government has yet to release any imagery from the event, but a Canadian freedom of information request unveiled a photograph earlier this year of a balloon-like object.
Those incidents and others like it, such as a weeks-long drone incursion above Langley Air Force Base in Washington, D.C., were discussed in the hearing. "The origin of these drones and their operators remains a mystery," Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) said. "This incident and other sightings near sensitive military installations highlights the complexity of the UAP challenge facing our intelligence, defense and homeland security committees."
Starship’s Booster (and Donald Trump) Make a Splash With Sixth Flight Test
SpaceX’s Starship launch system went through its sixth flight test today, and although the Super Heavy booster missed out on being caught back at its launch pad, the mission checked off a key test objective with President-elect Donald Trump in the audience.
Trump attended the launch at SpaceX’s Starbase complex in the company of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who has been serving as a close adviser to the once and future president over the past few months. In a pre-launch posting to his Truth Social media platform, Trump wished good luck to “Elon Musk and the Great Patriots involved in this incredible project.”
Starship is the world’s most powerful rocket, with 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines providing more than 16 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. That’s twice the power of the Saturn V rocket that sent Americans to the moon in the 1960s and early ’70s. The two-stage rocket stands 121 meters (397 feet) tall, with a 9-meter-wide (30-foot-wide) fairing.
Super Heavy had an on-time launch at 4 p.m. CT (22:00 UTC) and was set up to fly itself back to the launch tower to be caught by the giant “Mechazilla” arms that were successfully used during last month’s flight test. But four minutes after liftoff, mission controllers said the booster had to be diverted instead to make a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
In a recap of the flight, SpaceX said that “automated health checks of critical hardware on the launch and catch tower triggered an abort of the catch attempt.”
“It was not guaranteed that we would be able to make a tower catch today,” launch commentator Kate Tice said during today’s webcast. “So, while we were hoping for it … the safety of the teams and the public and the pad itself are paramount. We are accepting no compromises in any of those areas.”
While the booster settled majestically into the Gulf, the Starship second stage — known as Ship for short — continued on a track that sent it as high as 190 kilometers (120 miles). A plush banana was placed in Ship’s cargo bay as a zero-gravity indicator, and Tice wore a T-shirt bearing the words “It’s Bananas!” to play off the lighthearted theme.
Ship successfully relit one of its methane-fueled Merlin engines while in space, which was a key objective for today’s suborbital test. Relighting the engines under such conditions will be required in the future for Ship’s orbital maneuvers.
A little more than an hour after launch, Ship’s engines fired for a final time to make a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The daylight visuals, plus other data collected during the flight, will help SpaceX’s team fine-tune Starship’s design for future tests.
SpaceX plans to use Starship to accelerate deployment of its Starlink broadband satellites, as well as to fly missions beyond Earth orbit. The company has a $2.9 billion contract from NASA to provide a version of Starship that’s customized for lunar landings, starting as early 2026. And Musk has said Starship could take on uncrewed missions starting that same year — with the first crewed mission set for launch in 2028 if everything goes right.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson referred to those future flights in a message on Musk’s X social-media platform:
Check out these other postings tracking the progress of the flight test:
The Lafayette Meteorite was chipped off the surface of Mars and then sped through space for roughly 11 million years. It eventually found its way into a drawer at Purdue University in 1931 and has since been teaching scientists about Mars. (Photo provided by Purdue Brand Studio.)
11 million years ago, Mars was a frigid, dry, dead world, just like it is now. Something slammed into the unfortunate planet, sending debris into space. A piece of that debris made it to Earth, found its way into a drawer at Purdue University, and then was subsequently forgotten about.
Until 1931, when scientists studied and realized it came directly from Mars. What has it told them about the red planet?
11 million years ago, the Himalayas were rising on a warmer, more humid Earth. Early ape species made their home in an Africa covered by tropical forests. Diverse mammal species roamed the continents.
At the same time, on Mars, the frigid wind blew across a desiccated, forlorn world. The planet’s thin atmosphere is a weak barrier to meteorites, and the planet’s cratered surface bears witness to its nakedness. Some impacts were powerful enough to launch debris into space beyond the planet’s gravitational pull. The meteorite in the drawer is one such piece of debris.
“Many meteoroids are produced by impacts on Mars and other planetary bodies, but only a handful will eventually fall to Earth.”
Marissa Tremblay, Purdue University
The meteorite was long forgotten in its storage place until 1931. Scientists identified it as a piece of Mars, and now new research is uncovering clues about Mars’ past hidden in the 800-gram piece of rock.
This image shows a page from an article published in Popular Astronomy in 1935. Image Credit: Popular Astronomy.
11 million years ago is not a long time in geological and planetary terms, and the number fits neatly into most people’s imaginations. But rock has deep temporal roots, and the meteorite that reached Earth is an igneous rock that dates back 1.4 billion years. That much time is more difficult to understand, but science is at its best when it opens human minds to a more fulsome understanding of nature.
The meteorite, named “Lafayette” after the city in Indiana that’s home to Purdue University, is the subject of new research published in Geochemical Perspectives Letters. It’s titled “Dating recent aqueous activity on Mars,” and the lead author is Marissa Tremblay. Tremblay is an assistant professor with the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) at Purdue University.
There’s ample evidence that some minerals on Mars formed in the presence of water. Though Lafayette itself is an igneous rock 1.4 billion years old, some of the minerals it contains are younger.
“Dating these minerals can therefore tell us when there was liquid water at or near the surface of Mars in the planet’s geologic past,” Tremblay said. “We dated these minerals in the Martian meteorite Lafayette and found that they formed 742 million years ago. We do not think there was abundant liquid water on the surface of Mars at this time. Instead, we think the water came from the melting of nearby subsurface ice called permafrost, and that the permafrost melting was caused by magmatic activity that still occurs periodically on Mars to the present day.”
Lafayette is one of the Nakhlite meteorites, an igneous rock that formed from basaltic lava around 1.4 billion years ago. Scientists think these rocks formed in one of Mars’ large volcanic regions: Elysium, Syrtis Major Planum, or the largest one, Tharsis, which is home to the three shield volcanoes, Tharsis Montes.
A colourized image of the surface of Mars taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The line of three volcanoes is the Tharsis Montes, with Olympus Mons to the northwest. Valles Marineris is to the east. The researchers think that the Lafayette meteorite came from the Tharsis volcanic region, or one of Mars’ other, smaller volcanic regions. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ Arizona State University
Ancient rocks and their embedded minerals contain information about Mars’ ancient past. The history of Mars’ hydrological cycle is a key objective in our ongoing study of Mars. This research is focused on a particular mineral in Lafayette called iddingsite. It forms when basalt is weathered in the presence of water.
The difficulty with meteorites and the clues they contain about ancient Mars is that they’ve been exposed to and potentially altered by the heat of the initial impact and the heat of entry into Earth’s atmosphere. The chemical signals inherent in rock can become muddied. But Lafayette is different. It’s clear that it was blasted off of Mars 11 million years ago.
“We know this because once it was ejected from Mars, the meteorite experienced bombardment by cosmic ray particles in outer space that caused certain isotopes to be produced in Lafayette,” Tremblay says. “Many meteoroids are produced by impacts on Mars and other planetary bodies, but only a handful will eventually fall to Earth.”
“The age could have been affected by the impact that ejected the Lafayette Meteorite from Mars, the heating Lafayette experienced during the 11 million years it was floating out in space, or the heating Lafayette experienced when it fell to Earth and burned up a little bit in Earth’s atmosphere,” Tremblay said. “But we were able to demonstrate that none of these things affected the age of aqueous alteration in Lafayette.”
Study co-author Ryan Ickert is a senior research scientist in Purdue’s EAPS. Ickert uses heavy radioactive and stable isotopes to study geological processes over time. He showed how isotope data used to date water-rock interactions on Mars were problematic and that the data had likely been polluted by other processes. According to Ickert, he and his colleagues got it right this time.
“This meteorite uniquely has evidence that it has reacted with water. The exact date of this was controversial, and our publication dates when water was present,” he says.
This figure from the research shows a cross-section of the Lafayette meteorite. Ol is an olivine grain surrounded by augite crystals (Px). Iddingsite (Id) is present in veins that travel through the rock. Though Lafayette formed over 1.3 billion years ago, the Iddingsite veins formed later, about 742 million years ago, when water seeped through the cracks. Image Credit: Tremblay et al. 2024.
The researchers used a novel technique involving the isotopes Argon 40 and Argon 39 to date Lafayette’s exposure to water and its formation of Iddingsite. That showed them that the exposure occurred 742 million years ago. Their explanation is that magmatic activity melted subsurface ice, and the water subsequently found its way into cracks in the igneous rock, altering some of the olivine into Iddingsite.
All this from a meteorite that was lost in a drawer.
The Solar System is a puzzle. It’s an artifact of Nature’s ordered complexity, but at the same time, it’s shaped by Nature’s steadfast chaos. Each molecule, each tiny piece of rock, including the Lafayette meteorite, is a part of it. Each piece holds a clue to the puzzle.
“We can identify meteorites by studying what minerals are present in them and the relationships between these minerals inside the meteorite,” said Tremblay. “Meteorites are often denser than Earth rocks, contain metal, and are magnetic. We can also look for things like a fusion crust that forms during entry into Earth’s atmosphere. Finally, we can use the chemistry of meteorites (specifically their oxygen isotope composition) to fingerprint which planetary body they came from or which type of meteorite it belongs to.”
Dating these rocks, these pieces of the puzzle, is difficult. However, this research has made progress by developing a novel way to date minerals in the Lafayette meteorite.
“We have demonstrated a robust way to date alteration minerals in meteorites that can be applied to other meteorites and planetary bodies to understand when liquid water might have been present,” Tremblay concluded.
Mysterious and rare meteorite from Mars at the Smithsonian
Mighty Martian meteorite lands at the Museum | Natural History Museum
EXCLUSIVE - NASA claims it has FINALLY debunked one of the most famous UFO videos that was captured by Navy fighter jets off the coast of Florida - but not all scientists are convinced
EXCLUSIVE - NASA claims it has FINALLY debunked one of the most famous UFO videos that was captured by Navy fighter jets off the coast of Florida - but not all scientists are convinced
NASA estimated that GOFAST UFO coasted at 40 mph 'consistent' with wind
But critics point out that Navy UFO witnesses recorded a 120-knot wind speed
A simulation of the GOFAST event, created by UFO skeptics, contradicts NASA
NASA report admits it 'neglected wind effects' ignoring publicly available data
NASA expert now tells DailyMail.com '100-knot' 115mph UFO speed is 'plausible'
It was one of the pivotal UFO videos captured by the US military that helped thrust the once-fringe topic into the mainstream — the so-called 'GOFAST' infrared video filmed by US Navy fighter pilots off the coast of the Atlantic in January 2015.
But NASA claims it has debunked any exotic or extraterrestrial theories for GOFAST, boasting new analysis that 'reveals a less extraordinary interpretation.'
In a landmark advisory report released Thursday, the US space agency said — among other findings — that the GOFAST UFO was 'most likely' nothing more than a conventional object 'drifting with the wind.'
But meteorological records, climate scientists, US Navy witnesses, and even computer simulations developed and tested by diehard UFO skeptics have cast doubt on the likelihood that NASA's GOFAST explanation will hold fast much longer.
At the heart of the issue: NASA's experts, by their own admission, failed to check their math on the UFO's possible 'wind drift' against the global climate science community's public wind-speed data from the likely time of the GOFAST sighting.
Public interest in UFOs heightened in 2017 with the leak of three Navy pilot infrared videos that captured 'unidentified anomalous phenomena' (UAP). Above, a still from one of these videos, GOFAST, which NASA's expert UAP advisory panel attempted to explain as terrestrial this week
NASA UAP panelist Josh Semeter, director of Boston University's Center for Space Physics, used technical details from the military infrared video's user interface to calculate the altitude and speed of the 'GOFAST' UFO. But Semeter's analysis 'neglected' wind data from the event
To be sure, despite their own skepticism, NASA's UFO advisory panel did otherwise leave plenty of room for UFO true believers, noting in their final report that 'alien technology operating in Earth's atmosphere' was 'at least plausible.'
But, while the panel expressed hope that their efforts would help reduce the stigma around the reporting and scientific analysis of UAP, NASA's experts put forth a theory in their final report apparently intended to bring GOFAST back down to Earth.
In doing so, the space agency ignored voices from the squadron of Navy pilots that filmed GOFAST and the no-less-famous GIMBAL infrared UFO video, recorded that same evening in January 2015.
At the NASA group's open meeting last May, one of its UAP advisory panel members Josh Semeter — an engineering professor and director of Boston University's Center for Space Physics — presented his preliminary analysis of the GOFAST video.
Semeter made his case that the GOFAST was likely an object coasting in a strong breeze primarily by working with data present on the infrared video's display: the same intel a Navy weapons systems officer would use in the backseat of a fighter jet.
'Fortunately the information needed to determine the altitude and velocity of this object is contained on the display,' Semeter explained.
NASA's study group of 16 experts ranging from physicists to astronauts was formed in June 2020 to study unclassified UFO sightings from civilian, government and commercial sectors
Based on his trigonometric calculations of the fighter jet's flight path as the jet filmed the 'GOFAST' UAP, itself a moving target, Semeter estimated that the mystery object was cruising at just about 40 miles per hour (mph).
'That's a velocity that is consistent with wind speeds at 13,000 feet,' Semeter told his fellow NASA-appointed advisors this May. And, in fact, the calculated altitude for the GOFAST UAP, according to Semeter and others, was indeed about 13,000 feet.
Semeter's calculations emerged largely unchallenged in the NASA panel's final UFO report published this past Thursday — except for one significant caveat.
'Our calculation has neglected wind effects on the aircraft,' NASA's UFO report stated, 'and thus there is uncertainty in this result.'
But this dry note of caution might drastically understate the importance of these wind effects, to judge from both Semeter's critics and his allies.
Crucially, the Navy pilot witnesses heard in the GIMBAL video, which was filmed in the same area within approximately 15 minutes of the GOFAST video, state that the wind at their altitude of about 25,000 feet was then blowing '120 knots to the west.'
The skeptic's most conservative run of the simulation would have the GOFAST UFO traveling at 100 knots or 115 mph.
'This suggests that the object could not be a balloon,' as one Metabunk poster noted, 'because it needs intrinsic speed in addition [to] wind speed at 13,000 ft.'
As the US National Weather Service notes, 'wind speed generally increases with increasing height,' and the Metabunk simulation estimates that 120 knots of wind at 25,000 feet could correspond in this case to 50-to-80 knots of wind at 13,000 feet.
But even with this 50-to-80 knots of wind helping the GOFAST sail along, the UFO would still be going too fast: twice as fast as the air pushing at its back.
While Mick West praised Semeter's work for NASA last May, calling it a rare example of 'peer review' in UFO research, the prominent UFO skeptic also felt compelled to note that the wind issue left the GOFAST case still far from identified.
'There are some open questions (and unknowns) re wind,' West posted to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, 'but I think this basic analysis is correct.'
While the prominent UFO skeptic Mick West praised NASA UFO advisor Josh Semeter's work last May, calling it a rare example of 'peer review' in UFO research, West also felt compelled to note that the wind speed issue left the Navy's GOFAST UFO case far from resolved
Other observers, however, were less forgiving of the gaps in this NASA analysis.
One, a former Obama-era appointee to the US Department of Defense named Marik von Rennenkampff, called Semeter's omission of the reported wind conditions a 'significant error.'
'The 'GOFAST' video shows a small, sphere-like object with no wings, engines or thermal signature demonstrating 'very interesting apparent maneuvers.'' von Rennenkampff wrote in an opinion piece for The Hill.
But accurate wind speed data for the time of the GOFAST sighting need not be investigated solely via computer models and the recorded statements of the pilots present themselves that day.
Meteorologists and climate science researchers use ERA5 to obtain reliable, global, hour-by-hour weather information for academic research, commercial aviation and government policy making purposes.
It was exactly this kind of data that NASA's UAP advisory panel leader, astrophysicist David Spergel, referenced when introducing the panel's final report this Thursday.
'We looked at NASA's assets,' Spergel said. 'While they provide a comprehensive picture of the ocean, the Earth's surface and atmosphere for studying our evolving planet, they typically do not have the resolution needed for UAP events.'
'However,' he added, 'by providing data on environmental conditions, they can complement other data on UAP.'
In this case, such data would have complimented the infrared video data taken by the Navy and the Navy pilots' witness testimony.
It is not clear from NASA's UFO report whether or not they even tasked the agency's military liaison Mark McInerney, now NASA's first director of UAP research, with requesting more detailed information on the time or place of the GOFAST event.
Such efforts might have assisted the panel in obtaining ERA5 data proximate to the date, region and elevations of the GOFAST UFO episode — like those obtained by the DailyMail.com from a PhD climate researcher who wishes to remain anonymous.
Data from the ERA5 reanalyzed climate dataset, for both January 21st (left) and January 24th (right), show that only the later date had wind speeds approaching 120 knots near the region or cruising elevation of 25,000 feet reported by the Navy pilots
The ERA5 maps are marked with a red dot off the lower Eastern seaboard near Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Florida — in an effort to approximate where the Navy fighter pilots reported witnessing the GIMBAL and GOFAST UAP in January 2015
Two likely dates have emerged as the most probable candidates for the Navy's GIMBAL and GOFAST UFO events, which occurred in late January 2015.
In a 2019 statement to Freedom of Information Act researcher John Greenewald, an official spokesperson for the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare, Joseph Gradisher, stated that both sightings occurred on January 21, 2015.
But metadata embedded within the original GIMBAL video, as well as an unclassified Department of Defense email, reviewed for a conference paper presented to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics place both sightings on the evening of January 24th, 2015.
The DailyMail.com can confirm the likelihood of these two dates from previous interviews with retired Navy fighter pilot Lt. Ryan Graves, whose squadron reported the GIMBAL and GOFAST events.
Data from the ERA5 reanalyzed climate dataset, for both the 21st and 24th of January, show that only the later date had wind speeds approaching 120 knots near the region or cruising elevation of 25,000 feet reported by the Navy pilots.
The ERA5 maps are marked with a red dot off the lower Eastern seaboard near Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Florida — in an effort to approximate where the Navy fighter pilots reported witnessing the GIMBAL and GOFAST UAP in January 2015.
These ERA5 maps, alongside the DoD email and the infrared video metadata, help to corroborate the Navy witness heard in the GIMBAL video who describes the wind speed at 25,000 feet as '120 knots to the west.'
The period for high winds at high altitude persisted from, at least, 4:00 PM ET (21:00 UTC) to 8:00 PM ET (01:00 UTC).
The ERA5 data helps confirm pilot testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee that the sightings occurred 'toward the end of one of the night flights.' These records were obtained by Freedom of Information Act researcher John Greenewald, owner of theblackvault.com
When the agency first announced its UAP advisory panel in June 2022, NASA's Assistant Deputy Associate Administrator for Research Daniel Evans told CNBC that the budget would be 'certainly no more than $100,000.'
Evans said that NASA's budget for the UAP study would be 'very consistent' with standard grant review panels.
It's unclear how much of the 16-person team's modest six-figure budget went toward Semeter's analysis of the GOFAST UAP video.
Perhaps significantly, Semeter's trigonometric analysis (right) largely echoed work that had already been previously posted to the skeptics' forum Metabunk in 2018 (left)
Josh Semeter of NASA's UAP advisory panel told the DailyMail.com via email (above), 'Yes, a 100-knot object ground speed is within the range of plausible solutions.' Semeter noted that NASA's report was meant to 'highlight challenges and limitations in current UAP investigations'
Christophe Spitzer Isbert — a French UFO researcher whose work on a UAP event near Hessdalen in Norway was cited by the French government's UFO research body Geipan — told the DailyMail.com that he believes NASA should have not rushed its GOFAST opinions into publication
'A small set of assumptions replaced hypothesis testing,' Isbert said.
'Assuming the object was lighter than air because it was slow and did not radiate heat does not constitute evidence to support the balloon hypothesis,' he added.
Isbert expressed his opinion that the US space agency should have attempted to collect a wider set of undisputed evidence on the GOFAST case, perhaps in the form of an official Navy report, before leveraging its stature with these public comments.
As an example, he recommended one possible method to help confirm NASA's wind-blown hypothesis, a method that also used only data available in the video itself.
'Tumbling on any axis would be visible as aspect ratio changes (length vs height),' Isbert noted. 'This would also be predicted by the balloon hypothesis since the object is not [perfectly] spherical.'
When reached for comment Monday morning, Josh Semeter of NASA's UAP advisory panel told the DailyMail.com via email, 'Yes, a 100-knot object ground speed is within the range of plausible solutions.'
'But based on uncertainties in wind vectors and trajectory model,' Semeter noted, 'a speed below 40 knots cannot be ruled out.'
The NASA panelist emphasized that the advisory group's intention by including this top-down or overhead 2-dimensional analysis of the GOFAST video, 'with wind effects left as an uncertainty, range data assumed reliable, etc.' was intended to 'highlight challenges and limitations in current UAP investigations.'
In the GOFAST, as in many other tantalizing and vexing UAP cases, Semeter said, 'critical data and confidence intervals are lacking.'
'This is, in fact, a central theme of the report.'
The unknown object was captured in the grainy, black and white 'Go Fast' video taken by a fighter pilot's head-up display, with him saying: 'Ohhh, go it!'
Dr Jon Kosloski, director of the Defense Department's All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), testified under oath in a hearing held by the Armed Service Committee, saying the infrared UFO video showed nothing more than 'a trick of the eye.'
He attributed the UFO's apparent high-speed skimming over the ocean to an optical illusion, called 'parallax,' but the office did not identify the object otherwise.
Kosloski only discussed the UFO's apparent speed, citing unspecified information contradicting public meteorological data.
'The Go Fast,' Dr Kosloski testified under oath, 'looks like an object flying very fast over the water, very close to the water.'
However, climate scientists, meteorological data, veteran Navy witnesses and even a computer simulation continue to cast doubt on the validity of the government's 'parallax' theory.
'I don't think everything is being taken into account,' former US Navy lieutenant and F/A-18F fighter pilot Ryan Graves said of AARO's new explanation.
'If the AARO office actually spoke with the pilots that were involved in that incident, they would know the objects were part of a larger formation of objects, and thus very anomalous to be operating 300 miles off the coast and within 50 miles of a US aircraft carrier.'
Public interest in UFOs heightened in 2017 with the leak of three Navy pilot infrared videos that captured 'unidentified anomalous phenomena' (UAP). Above, a still from one of these videos, 'Go Fast,' which the Pentagon tried to explain this week as a prosaic object blowing in the wind
Dr Jon Kosloski (above) - the new director of the Defense Department's All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) - told lawmakers that the US Navy's famous 'Go Fast' infrared UFO video shows nothing more than 'a trick of the eye called 'parallax''
The 'Go Fast' footage was made public two years after pilots captured it from the USS Theodore Roosevelt off the east coast of Florida.
Lt Graves told NBC News after the AARO hearing that the 'Go Fast' UFO was just one of multiple swarms of UFOs cited by aircrew with the USS Roosevelt as a flight safety risk, including the equally famous 'Gimbal' UFO video.
But Kosloski assured the court that there was a reasonable explanation for what the pilots saw that day.
The Pentagon official said a geospatial intelligence analysis, using trigonometry, what 'very carefully done.
'We assess with high confidence that the object is not actually close to the water, but is rather closer to 13,000 feet,' he continued.
The speed of the F/A-18 Navy fighter jet that recorded the 'Go Fast' video, Kosloski argued, created the illusion that the object was traveling at an inexplicably high speed.
Dr Kosloski - a former scientist with the National Security Agency (NSA) - is the second person to serve as director of the Pentagon's UFO hunting All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). Above, the new AARO boss shows the Senate a slide of 'trigonometry' analysis
Above, the key slide on the 'Go Fast' UFO from AARO's presentation before the US Senate
Data from the ERA5 reanalyzed climate dataset, for both January 21st (left) and January 24th (right), show that only the later date had wind speeds approaching 120 knots near the region or cruising elevation of 25,000 feet reported by the Navy pilots
'As the platform is flying and capturing the object, if it is closer to the platform at a higher altitude,' Dr Kosloski told the Senate, 'a trick of the eye called 'parallax' makes it look like the object is moving much faster.'
'Analysis of contemporaneous weather patterns in the area at the time of the event,' according to one of the AARO director's slides, which were presented under oath, 'indicate winds were approximately 60 knots at 13,000 feet.'
Crucially, however, Navy pilot witnesses heard in the GIMBAL video, filmed in the same area roughly 15 minutes after the 'Go Fast' video, stated that the wind at their altitude of about 25,000 feet was then blowing '120 knots to the west.'
The skeptic's most conservative run of the simulation would have the UFO traveling at 100 knots or 115 mph.
Public wind speed data from the time and place of the 'Go Fast' sighting confirms this analysis collated from multiple systems by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.
The data is publicly available through the organization's ERA5 reanalyzed climate dataset, which is used by researchers to obtain reliable, global, hour-by-hour weather information.
The ERA5 maps are marked with a red dot off the lower Eastern seaboard near Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Florida - in an effort to approximate where the Navy fighter pilots reported witnessing the GIMBAL and GOFAST UAP in January 2015
ERA5 data proximate to the date, region and elevations of the 'Go fast' UFO episode were obtained by the DailyMail.com in September of 2023 by a PhD climate researcher who wished to remain anonymous.
When this ERA5 data pointing toward a 100-knot 'Go Fast' UFO was shown to Josh Semeter of NASA's UAP advisory panel, the Boston University professor told the DailyMail.com via email: 'Yes, a 100-knot object ground speed is within the range of plausible solutions.'
'But based on uncertainties in wind vectors and trajectory model,' Semeter added, 'a speed below 40 knots cannot be ruled out.'
Regardless of the object's speed, Lt Graves noted that the object was not only still a UFO but that its presence with 'a whole fleet' of other UFOs in restricted US airspace remains not only a mystery but a serious flight safety concern.
'I would argue that [...] specifically the 'Go Fast' video itself was never really interesting because it was 'going fast,'' Lt Graves said.
'The pilot certainly didn't say that, nor did they name the video,' the veteran Navy fighter pilot added. 'If anything, the Pentagon simply debunked their own naming for that video.'
Planetary Scientists Create Geological Map of Moon’s Oriental Basin
Planetary Scientists Create Geological Map of Moon’s Oriental Basin
Researchers at the Planetary Science Institute have compiled a 1:200,000-scale geological map of the lunar Orientale basin, focusing on identifying the most widespread and accessible occurrences of impact melt deposits from the basin-forming impact to help guide sample-return missions.
1:3M mapping (originally mapped at 1:200,000) of a portion of the Orientale basin. The small craters near ‘Pa’ (red and yellow stars) excavate Orientale melt from beneath the mare and serve as a useful type example for similar small craters in similar basins. Maunder, the large crater in the NW part of the map, is Eratosthenian in age.
Image credit: Runyon et al., doi: 10.3847/PSJ/ad862f.
Billions of years ago, a giant asteroid struck the Moon with so much energy that it melted rock until it was super-heated and white-hot, or what scientists call impact melt.
This eventually cooled and hardened, creating a multi-ringed impact crater that is known today as Orientale basin.
Having samples of impact melt is valuable because scientists can use laboratory techniques to determine the exact time of the melt’s solidification, and therefore the age of the impact.
The problem is, geologic processes after impact — such as lava flows and smaller impacts — have buried and mixed up much of the original impact melt.
But parsing out the impact crater from which a rock originated is worth the effort because that knowledge can help scientists understand how the impact rate changed throughout the Solar System’s history, as well as how impacts shaped the Moon, the Earth and early life on our planet.
To identify original basin impact melt, Planetary Science Institute researcher Kirby Runyon and colleagues created a new high-resolution geologic map of the Orientale basin.
“We chose to map Oriental basin because it’s simultaneously old and young,” Dr. Runyon said.
“We think it’s about 3.8 billion years old, which is young enough to still have its impact melt freshly exposed at the surface, yet old enough to have accumulated large impact craters on top of it as well, complicating the picture.”
The Moon’s Orientale basin is a massive lunar crater that looks like a bullseye and is about the size of Texas. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
“We chose to map Orientale to test melt-identification strategies for older, more degraded impact basins whose ages we’d like to know.”
The scientists used BFsc — shorthand for smooth, cracked basin floor material — to map original, unpolluted impact melt from the Orientale basin’s formation.
Those rocks record the age of the basin, and parts of this melt deposit would have been buried beneath other geologic units, such as the lava flows mapped in red.
Stars mark rims and debris from smaller impact craters that have unearthed previously buried Orientale melt.
So, if rocks from starred locations turn out to be the same age as rocks from the BFsc areas, geologists know they can rely on rocks from similar small craters on other, more degraded basins to record the ages of those basins’ formation.
“We hope that our mapping method can be used in other impact basins across the Moon so that future sample return missions could test this approach by sampling rocks from areas similar to those highlighted on the map,” the authors said.
“If samples collected from any of the starred areas on our map are the same age as samples collected from the BFsc areas that denote original impact melt, then we have confidence that we can apply the impact melt sampling technique to other basins.”
The Moon: Mare Orientale
The team’s map appears in a paper published in the Planetary Science Journal.
Kirby Runyon et al. 2024. Orientale Basin as a Guide for Identifying Lunar Basin Datable Impact Melt and Assessing Impact Melt Differentiation. Planet. Sci. J 5 (11): 249; doi: 10.3847/PSJ/ad862f
This article is a version of a press-release provided by the Planetary Science Institute.
Mystery in Arkansas: Alien Lights, Bigfoot, and Underground Bases Revealed!
Mystery in Arkansas: Alien Lights, Bigfoot, and Underground Bases Revealed!
The Ozark region of Arkansas is no stranger to peculiar tales, but the events surrounding the Broad Camp Crystal Mine take the concept of strangeness to a new level. From glowing orbs to claims of underground alien bases, the mine has become a hotspot for paranormal enthusiasts. The story doesn’t end there—it intertwines with near-death experiences, Bigfoot sightings, and unexplainable phenomena, painting a surreal tapestry of mystery and intrigue. Let’s dive deeper into the unfolding enigma.
The Mysterious Broad Camp Crystal Mine
Located in the heart of Arkansas, the Broad Camp Crystal Mine was initially purchased by Cheryl and Orville Murphy with the intention of developing a campground and music venue. However, plans shifted when they discovered that their property was rich in quartz crystals. Along with the crystals, the couple began experiencing unexplained phenomena that led them to reimagine their venture as a crystal tourism destination.
Their experiences began in 2017 when beams of light inexplicably appeared on the hilltop. These lights defied conventional physics, emitting no shadows and displaying unusual magnetism, which left fence posts and other metallic objects magnetized.
Levitating Rocks and Magnetic Mysteries
Adding to the intrigue, levitating rocks have been reported at the mine. These aren’t mere optical illusions; videos have captured objects inexplicably moving or hovering. The phenomenon has led some to speculate about an energy source beneath the ground, potentially linked to the region’s quartz-rich geology.
Researchers and witnesses have also noted the absence of shadows around these mysterious beams of light. Additionally, metallic objects in the vicinity have shown evidence of magnetization, further fueling theories about advanced, unearthly technology or natural geological forces at play.
A Link to the Paranormal
The events at the Broad Camp Crystal Mine are not isolated. Witnesses have reported glowing orbs and strange occurrences, phenomena often associated with other paranormal hotspots. Josh White, the son of the Murphys, described seeing orbs appearing and disappearing among the trees—a common feature in areas linked to high strangeness.
Furthermore, the phenomenon extends beyond Arkansas. In Bailey, Colorado, another site tied to paranormal activity features a “portal tree” linked to alleged interdimensional gateways. Researchers suggest that these sites may be connected through a vast underground network of energy points, adding another layer of mystery to the puzzle.
The Role of Bigfoot
Bigfoot has also made its presence felt in the Arkansas saga. Visitors to the mine have reported sightings of Sasquatch-like creatures. One notable account described a creature peering into a truck before disappearing up a hill with ease. Others have claimed encounters with entities resembling Bigfoot that exhibit red eyes and appear to guide or interact with humans.
The connection between Bigfoot and orbs has been noted in other paranormal research, suggesting a possible link between these enigmatic beings and the unexplained energy phenomena observed at the mine.
Underground Bases and Alien Connections
A recurring theory among investigators and witnesses is the presence of an underground base beneath the Broad Camp Crystal Mine. Some, like Navajo medicine man Garrett Fowler, claim the site houses an ancient “star base” powered by crystal technology. According to Fowler, this base utilizes the energy of the quartz crystals to support advanced systems, including anti-gravitational technology.
Orville Murphy himself described an otherworldly experience when he encountered a mysterious beam of light. He claimed the light transported him through a tunnel-like structure filled with vibrant colors and dropped him off at a different location. Both he and a companion reported disorientation and described being “tagged” by human-like beings during the event.
The Worldwide Meditation Event
One of the most recent and dramatic incidents occurred during a worldwide meditation event in 2023. Participants, including Orville, lit bonfires as part of the collective ritual. During the event, a massive column of light appeared, captured on trail cameras. Witnesses described the light as otherworldly, emitting an intense glow that failed to illuminate its surroundings—a stark contrast to normal light sources.
Science, Speculation, and Skepticism
While the stories are undeniably compelling, skeptics question the validity of the claims. Some suggest the lights and magnetism could be natural phenomena, such as piezoelectric effects from the quartz crystals. Others remain unconvinced, pointing to the possibility of hoaxes or elaborate marketing tactics.
However, the recurring themes of portals, underground bases, and interdimensional beings are consistent with accounts from other global hotspots of high strangeness. The consistency of these reports adds weight to the idea that something extraordinary may indeed be happening in Arkansas.
The Broad Camp Crystal Mine stands as a beacon of mystery, drawing those intrigued by the paranormal and the unexplained. Whether the events are the result of geological anomalies, advanced extraterrestrial activity, or interdimensional phenomena, the mine continues to captivate and mystify.
For now, the Broad Camp Crystal Mine remains a place of questions rather than answers. Its beams of light, magnetized objects, and alleged underground base challenge our understanding of reality and invite further exploration into the unknown.
Underground Bases and Alien Lights – What’s Really Happening in Arkansas? - 32.19 - MU Podcast
The Bigfoot Alien Connection Revealed - Full Movie
The topic of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) and the possibility that some form of alien or non-human intelligence is visiting Earth has captured immense public interest in recent years.
However, in a thought-provoking paper accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, Scottish philosopher, and professor at King’s College London, Dr. Tony Milligan, argues that this increased belief in alien visitation is fast becoming a widespread societal issue, posing challenges to science communication, government policy, and even cultural integrity.
In his forthcoming paper, Equivocal Encounters: Alien Visitation Claims as a Societal Problem, Dr. Milligan suggests the rise of social media and the increasing influence of UAP claims in public and political discourse demands a more robust response than the periodic debunking efforts traditionally employed by the scientific community.
“This belief is slightly paradoxical as we have zero evidence that aliens even exist,” Dr. Milligan wrote in an article published by The Conversation. “If beliefs of this sort, in conspiracy, concealment, and collaboration, have made it into the mainstream, then periodic debunking has simply not worked.”
Dr. Milligan contends that the alien visitation narrative, once confined to countercultural fringes and conspiracy theorists, is now making serious inroads into the political mainstream.
In the past year, the belief in alien visitation has only intensified, largely fueled by several former government officials who have claimed that the U.S. government has secretly recovered crashed vehicles of non-human origin.
In 2023, The Debrief was the first media outlet to report that David Grusch, a former Air Force officer and intelligence specialist with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), had filed an official complaint with the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG).
Grusch alleges that the U.S. government has recovered several vehicles “of exotic origin—attributed to non-human intelligence, whether extraterrestrial or otherwise unknown—based on their unique vehicle morphologies, material science analyses, and distinctive atomic arrangements and radiological signatures.”
In July 2023, Grusch reiterated his claims under oath before the Congressional Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs. In response, the Pentagon has denied that the Department of Defense (DoD) has recovered any “exotic technologies” or operates secret alien reverse engineering programs.
Because Grusch’s assertions of recovered alien craft are closely tied to classified information and national security programs, it remains virtually impossible for journalists, scientists, or the general public to verify or refute his statements.
While much of the fascination with aliens is harmless or confined to bickering on social media, Dr. Milligan argues that its expansion into mainstream belief systems can also have troubling consequences.
The persistence of these beliefs—and the increasing pressure on governments and scientific institutions to address them—has stretched beyond simple curiosity into a problem that touches various societal sectors.
Dr. Milligan suggests that the traditional approach to handling alien visitation claims—periodic public debunking—is no longer sufficient. He further argues that dismissing alien visitation narratives without engaging in deeper discourse may even be counterproductive.
“If we hold that the practice of science in a democratic society requires the answerability of the science community to sustained public concerns, then something more robust may be due,” Dr. Milligan asserts. “This will be the case even if the end story that is told (‘no aliens, no cover-up, no conspiracy’) is likely to be the same.”
The exponential rise in social media platforms has amplified the potential for unsubstantiated claims, making it harder for scientific facts to break through the “background noise” that detracts from serious scientific discourse. The focus often shifts to debunking sensational claims rather than fostering meaningful scientific dialogue.
Dr. Milligan acknowledged that social media or news outlets, like The Debrief, have played a particular role in shaping the conversation surrounding alien visitation beliefs. However, he says that science, as a whole, could do a better job addressing unscientific populism.
“There are responsibilities that all of us have. I don’t think that we could police social media even if we wanted to. It’s too big, too varied and too entrenched,” Dr. Milligan explained to The Debrief in an email. “But people from the sciences could do much more outreach and aim for a stronger ongoing presence so that people can start to see the difference between real science and plausible imitations.”
“I also think that analytic skills (especially argument building and recognition of the difference between good and bad arguments) could be taken more seriously across academia,” he added. “In recent years, it has been watered down. Pseudoscience thrives upon bad argumentation, weak analogies, fallacies, and grudge argumentation. But without a solid analytic background, it is hard for younger academics to recognize the box of tricks that get used, and so rather than being easily recognized as bad reasoning, pseudoscience can sound a lot like fearless thinking.”
In fields like biology and astronomy, where public understanding is already limited, the intrusion of alien visitation narratives can further complicate the communication of scientific findings.
“Particular difficulties get in the way of astrobiology outreach,” Dr. Milligan notes. “We are making progress towards understanding the origins, emergence, distribution, and survival of rudimentary life forms. However, discussions about ‘life’ and ‘space’ can easily be confused with storytelling about aliens crashing into hillsides.”
For Dr. Milligan, this is particularly concerning in the context of cultural astronomy—where astronomy intersects with indigenous cultures. He points out that Indigenous storytelling, which is deeply respected by many astronomers, is increasingly being muddled with alien visitation narratives. This fusion of indigenous origin stories with modern UFO claims can distort traditional narratives, making it difficult to separate fact from fiction.
“Astronomy faces a specialized problem because it requires ground infrastructure in indigenous areas where local people may have been worked over pretty badly by the ‘ancient aliens’ people and convinced that ‘the scientific establishment’ is concealing the truth about ancient indigenous technologies,” Dr. Milligan said. “Responsible siting of astronomy infrastructure draws upon a sense of the importance of cultural astronomy, but that becomes really tough when authentic cultural astronomy gets intermingled with new age tales and suspicions.”
Despite his criticisms, Dr. Milligan does not call for an immediate dismissal of the legitimate study and investigation of unidentified aerial phenomena or possible near-Earth evidence of alien life.
Instead, he advocates for a more measured yet engaged response. He suggests that while current responses may not be sufficient for much longer, it is not yet time for a full-scale paradigm shift in how science tackles the issue.
In his paper, Dr. Milligan points to scientists like Harvard’s Dr. Avi Loeb, and his establishment of the Galileo Project, or Dr. Martin Elvis, who have advocated for scientific research programs exploring alien visitation claims in a more structured manner.
In his paper, Dr. Milligan notes about the Galileo Project and Dr. Loeb, “Rather than targeting the wilder horizons of dubious testimony about abduction, they have focused upon equivocal material evidence in forms such as possible derelict craft and possible physical residues.”
Critics have suggested that Dr. Loeb’s scientific approach to hunting for alien visitors is “shaped too much by wanting to believe” and “too entangled in the kinds of populist narratives.”
However, Dr. Milligan points out that based on current attitudes towards topics like UAP or alien visitation, “it may simply be difficult to build any robust SRP program dedicated to [the] evaluation of artifact claims without involving a disproportionate number of people who also want to believe, and who have a certain attitude towards the conservatism of more mainstream lines of scientific research.”
Belief in alien visits to Earth is spiraling out of control – here's why that's so dangerous
While Dr. Milligan does not necessarily endorse scientific research programs focused solely on hunting for near-Earth alien life, he acknowledged that such programs could have merit, provided they maintain scientific rigor.
“If someone comes to me and says, ‘I have a research group of properly trained people, none of us are here because we believe in a range of weird stuff. Everyone has been screened, and nobody believes in parapsychology, Bigfoot, or a conspiracy at Roswell. What we are going to do is to look at objects like ‘Oumuamua and ask ‘is this an artifact or natural object?’ Well, that sounds ok, and they might turn out decent conference papers,” Dr. Mulligan told The Debrief. “Research programs of this sort are fundable, they add to a sense within the science community that we really have looked at what should be looked at. Really, it is just an extension of SETI, with a broadly similar set of limited expectations.”
“But this sort of program does not need massive or questionable levels of funding. The research does not need a big consortium, or the colossal effort required to image black holes,” Dr. Milligan adds. “I wouldn’t recommend that anyone devote their career to this sort of monitoring, but it would be scientific monitoring rather than pseudoscience, and even when it keeps saying ‘we looked and there is still nothing to see,’ it would still contribute to our wider understanding of why some celestial objects move in odd ways.”
Although Dr. Milligan expresses skepticism about the likelihood of alien contact, he stresses that societal beliefs around these matters are social phenomena worthy of serious attention. Even in the absence of actual visitation, the fact that so many people believe in the possibility creates ripple effects in science, government policy, and public discourse.
The philosopher cautions that any scientific programs dedicated to investigating alien visitation claims should remain firmly within the boundaries of natural science.
He proposes that future scientific inquiries meet specific minimal requirements. First, any such endeavor must hold independent value and contribute to scientific knowledge, even if no alien artifacts are found.
Second, efforts must minimize the noise surrounding these claims, maintaining a clear and objective communication strategy to prevent further sensationalism. Finally, evidential standards must be high, ensuring that any scientific claim of alien visitation adheres to the rigorous standards typically demanded by scientific inquiry.
In other words, any scientific inquiry into alien visitation should be rigorous and grounded in the same evidentiary standards applied to any other area of research. With this rigor, such programs avoid becoming entangled in pseudoscience and speculation, which would only exacerbate the societal problem he believes needs to be addressed.
Still, Dr. Milligan warns that any scientific effort to seriously examine alien visitation claims must tread carefully to avoid fueling further sensationalism. He highlights the risk that initial phases of research could inadvertently give credence to unfounded claims, leading to more noise and misinformation.
“Legitimizing pseudoscientific beliefs is a real risk. Anything that we can do might go bad. But it may be easier now, rather than later, to separate out legitimate scientific inquiry from everything else,” Dr. Milligan told The Debrief. “One way to do this is to take the most likely option for a human-alien encounter and then investigate it in line with proper scientific norms.”
Dr. Milligan concludes that while we may not need a full-scale paradigm shift just yet, scientists and policymakers must start thinking seriously about how to respond to the growing influence of alien visitation claims. The challenge, it seems, will be to address these societal beliefs without lending them undue credibility.
In an age where misinformation spreads faster than facts, Dr. Milligan’s call for a more thoughtful, robust response to alien visitation claims is more relevant than ever.
Dr. Milligan’s paper is expected to attract criticism from steadfast believers who assert that alien visitations to Earth have already occurred or are currently taking place. Recent data indicates that this group of “believers” may comprise as much as 34% of the U.S. population.
However, his core argument emphasizes the need for more verifiable scientific evidence and a reduction in unsubstantiated beliefs surrounding alien visitations. He advocates for a disciplined, evidence-based approach that prioritizes empirical data over anecdotal accounts and speculative theories.
Dr. Milligan asserts that this focus on rigorous scientific inquiry is essential not only for skeptics and debunkers who seek factual accuracy but also for devoted alien “believers” who desire credible proof to support their convictions.
By calling for a shift away from belief-driven narratives and toward systematic research, Dr. Milligan advocates for a more informed and rational discourse that benefits all parties interested in the truth behind alien visitation claims.
“I think that the first thing we do is to address the spread of these ideas within the scientific and broader academic communities by separating out what we can do real research around from all the other stuff,” Dr. Milligan explained. “We probably need a couple of working groups with interdisciplinary skills (expertise in populism and its spread, some people from the space sciences, and so on) looking at the spread of this stuff.”
“Beyond that, we can certainly have worthwhile programs looking at novel interstellar objects like ‘Oumuamua, or considering how we might remotely detect an advanced technological civilization across the immense distances of space. Work of this sort has value even when it turns out that all objects are naturally occurring objects and no known star system is showing known signs of intelligent life.”
“That’s all Carl Sagan stuff rather than Mulder stuff.”
Tim McMillan is a retired law enforcement executive, investigative reporter and co-founder of The Debrief. His writing typically focuses on defense, national security, the Intelligence Community and topics related to psychology. You can follow Tim on Twitter:@LtTimMcMillan. Tim can be reached by email: tim@thedebrief.org or through encrypted email:LtTimMcMillan@protonmail.com
Space is not what we see at night or what NASA has shown us for years. Amid stars, planets, and other celestial bodies, there are much more vivid, bizarre, and strange things hidden from our eyes. Several astronauts strongly believe in the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations including Gordon Cooper, Buzz Aldrin, and Story Musgrave.
Many conspiracy theorists believe that NASA knew that Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong had an encounter with aliens, which is why they erased 40 rolls of film from the Apollo 11 mission. It was claimed by Bob Dean, a United States Army Command Sergeant Major.
The crew Of Sts-80, Seated (From Left-to-right) Kent V. Rominger, Pilot; Kenneth D. Cockrell, Commander. Standing (Left To Right) Mission Specialists Tamara E. Jernigan, F. Story Musgrave, And Thomas D. Jones. Photo Credit: Nasa
According to a report shared by Gaia, there is a transcript between Aldrin and Armstrong where the two had witnessed extraterrestrial activities on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission.
Apollo 11: “Those are giant things. No, no, no, this is not an optical illusion. No one is going to believe this.”
NASA: “What… what…. what? What the hell is happening What’s wrong with you?”
Apollo 11: “They’re here, under the surface.”
Apart from this, what former NASA astronaut Franklin Story Musgrave said about his experience in space would shock anyone. He claimed to have seen an 8-foot-long snake, white in color, floating through space. It is hard to explain how a snake could reach space, but Musgrave has never denied it.
Here is Musgrave’s quote from the TV series “Sightings, ” Sunday, April 9, 1995:
“On two of my missions, and I still don’t have an answer, um, I have seen, a snake out there, six seven eight feet long. It is rubbery because it has internal waves in it and it follows you for a rather long period of time. The more you fly in space the more you see an incredible amount of things out there and THAT sorta brings to you, really a certainty, that other living creatures are out there. Some incredibly primitive, more primitive, some just ah just proteins coming together, amino acids and some just single-cell organisms and other civilizations that have been around for a million years that are doing unimaginable kinds of things.”
Fig 1: Alleged Photograph of snake-like UFO captured during NASA STS-61 mission
Fig 2: Alleged Photograph of snake-like UFO captured during NASA STS-61 mission
There is even a video (see below) where a snake-like creature is floating in the Earth’s stratosphere. Musgrave said: “Some are incredibly primitive – some just proteins coming together, amino acids, and some just single-celled organisms. And other civilizations have been around for millions of years that are doing unimaginable kinds of things.”
Musgrave (85) is also a retired colonel of the United States Marine Corps, physician, and mathematician, holds six academic degrees, and is simply a legendary figure in US history. He spent a total of 1,281 hours, 59 minutes, and 22 seconds during his six space shuttle missions in space including 27 hours of spacewalk. Besides, he developed a spacesuit for space shuttle astronauts.
This is not the end of strange anomalies watched by the astronauts in space. Retired astronaut Leroy Chiao, a commander of Expedition 10, along with his crew members witnessed a set of bright lights in the formation of an upside-down tick mark in space.
The description of an unknown snake-like creature or craft given by Musgrave was also spotted in March 2019, when one of the passengers on a commercial airline flight from Phoenix to Portland captured two long dark objects, having long tails or tentacles. Some viewers compared it with the squid lime sentinels from the Matrix series, while others believe that it was possibly something from another dimension that slipped through momentarily.
Similarly, the New York Post shared a video of a UFO in 2018, shot by a passenger while cruising over the Aegean Sea that also shows a creature with a long tail. The opinions were divided into two groups, where people from one group believed it was just a hoax while others also witnessed the same encounter while flying in the plane.
Beste bezoeker, Heb je zelf al ooit een vreemde waarneming gedaan, laat dit dan even weten via email aan Frederick Delaere opwww.ufomeldpunt.be. Deze onderzoekers behandelen jouw melding in volledige anonimiteit en met alle respect voor jouw privacy. Ze zijn kritisch, objectief maar open minded aangelegd en zullen jou steeds een verklaring geven voor jouw waarneming! DUS AARZEL NIET, ALS JE EEN ANTWOORD OP JOUW VRAGEN WENST, CONTACTEER FREDERICK. BIJ VOORBAAT DANK...
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Alvast bedankt voor al jouw bezoekjes en jouw reacties. Nog een prettige dag verder!!!
Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 74 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
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