A structure that large simply has to affect its surroundings, and understanding those effects is critical to understanding the cosmos. According to new research, studying Quipu and its brethren can help us understand how galaxies evolve, help us improve our cosmological models, and improve the accuracy of our cosmological measurements.

The research, titled “Unveiling the largest structures in the nearby Universe: Discovery of the Quipu superstructure,” has been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. Hans Bohringer from the Max Planck Institute is the lead author.

“For a precise determination of cosmological parameters, we need to understand the effects of the local large-scale structure of the Universe on the measurements,” the authors write. “They include modifications of the cosmic microwave background, distortions of sky images by large-scale gravitational lensing, and the influence of large-scale streaming motions on measurements of the Hubble constant.”

Superstructures are extremely large structures that contain groups of galaxy clusters and superclusters. They’re so massive they challenge our understanding of how our Universe evolved. Some of them are so massive they break our models of cosmological evolution.

Quipu is the largest structure we’ve ever found in the Universe. It and the other four superstructures the researchers found contain 45% of the galaxy clusters, 30% of the galaxies, 25% of the matter, and
occupy a volume fraction of 13%.

The image below helps explain why they named it Quipu. Quipu are recording devices made of knotted cords, where the knots contain information based on colour, order, and number. “This view gives the best impression of the superstructure as a long filament with small side filaments, which initiated the naming of Quipu,” the authors explain in their paper.

In their work, Bohringer and his co-researchers found Quipu and four other superstructures within a distance range of 130 to 250 Mpc. They used X-ray galaxy clusters to identify and analyze the superstructures in their Cosmic Large-Scale Structure in X-rays (CLASSIX) Cluster Survey. X-ray galaxy clusters can contain thousands of galaxies and lots of very hot intracluster gas that emits X-rays. These emissions are the key to mapping the mass of the superstructures. X-rays trace the densest regions of matter concentration and the underlying cosmic web. The emissions are like signposts for identifying superstructures.

The authors point out that “the difference in the galaxy density around field clusters and members of superstructures is remarkable.” This could be because field clusters are populated with less massive clusters than those in the superstructure rather than because the field clusters have lower galaxy density.

Regardless of the reasons, the mass of these superstructures wields enormous influence on our attempt to observe, measure, and understand the cosmos. “These large structures leave their imprint on cosmological observations,” the authors write.

The superstructures leave an imprint on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), which is relic radiation from the Big Bang and key evidence supporting it. The CMB’s properties match our theoretical predictions with near-surgical precision. The superstructures’ gravity alters the CMB as it passes through them according to the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect, producing fluctuations in the CMB. These fluctuations are foreground artifacts that are difficult to filter out, introducing interference into our understanding of the CMB and, hence, the Big Bang.

The superstructures can also impact measurements of the Hubble constant, a fundamental value in cosmology that describes how fast the Universe is expanding. While galaxies are moving further apart due to expansion, they also have local velocities, called peculiar velocities or streaming motions. These need to be separated from expansion to understand expansion clearly. The great mass of these superstructures influences these streaming motions and distorts our measurements of the Hubble constant.

The research also notes that these massive structures can alter and distort our sky images through large-scale gravitational lensing. This can introduce errors in our measurements.

On the other hand, simulations of the Lambda CDM produce superstructures like Quipu and the four others. Lambda CDM is our standard model of Big Bang cosmology and accounts for much of what we see in the Universe, like its large-scale structure. “We find superstructures with similar properties in simulations based on Lambda-CDM cosmology models,” the authors write.

It’s clear that these superstructures are critical to understanding the Universe. They hold a significant portion of its matter and affect their surroundings in fundamental ways. More research is needed to understand them and their influence.

“Interesting follow-up research on our findings includes, for example, studies of the influence of these environments on the galaxy population and evolution,” the authors write in their conclusion.

According to the study, these superstructures won’t persist forever. “In the future cosmic evolution, these superstructures are bound to break up into several collapsing units. They are thus transient configurations,” Bohringer and his co-researchers explain.

“But at present, they are special physical entities with characteristic properties and special cosmic environments deserving special attention.”

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

06-02-2025 om 15:11 geschreven door peter  

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{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

06-02-2025 om 14:48 geschreven door peter  

NASA researchers have identified geological structures on Mars that are unlike anything found on Earth. From spider-like formations shaped by underground CO₂ eruptions to towering geysers blasting dark dust over the planet’s poles, these findings continue to puzzle scientists. The discovery provides new insights into the planet’s geological activity and raises intriguing questions about Mars’ dynamic environment.

Dense gravitational structures in the northern hemisphere. 

(Root et al.)

The Enigma of Spider-Like Patterns on Mars

High-resolution images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have captured an extraordinary sight: vast, web-like formations stretching across the Martian southern polar region. These patterns, known as araneiform terrain, are formed through a process unlike anything seen on Earth. Trapped carbon dioxide gas builds up beneath a thick layer of seasonal ice and erupts in sudden outbursts, carving intricate channel-like structures into the surface.

On Earth, landscapes are shaped primarily by water, wind, and tectonic activity. However, Mars’ extreme conditions allow for an entirely different process. During the Martian winter, CO₂ accumulates under the ice cap. When spring arrives and sunlight warms the ground beneath, the trapped gas sublimates—turning directly from solid to gas—until pressure forces an eruption, leaving behind these strange formations.

This colorized image of the surface of Mars was 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.

(NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University)

CO₂ Geysers and the Changing Martian Surface

In addition to the spider-like formations, scientists have observed massive dark patches appearing across Mars’ surface. These marks result from CO₂ geysers—violent gas eruptions that propel dust and sediment into the thin Martian atmosphere. First described in 2006, these “Keiffer geysers” are believed to be seasonal, forming when trapped gas suddenly breaks through the ice cap.

As sunlight penetrates the frozen CO₂ layer, it heats the ground below, creating an increasing buildup of pressure. When this pressure exceeds the ice’s ability to contain it, gas and dust erupt in powerful jets, leaving behind vast dark stains. These seasonal changes challenge previous notions that Mars’ polar caps are static, revealing an active and evolving environment.

The Daedalus crater on the far side of the moon as seen from the Apollo 11 spacecraft NASA

Implications for Future Mars Exploration

Studying these processes is crucial for future Mars missions. By analyzing how CO₂ accumulates and escapes, scientists hope to gain a better understanding of Mars’ atmospheric behavior and subsurface composition. Some researchers speculate that similar gas-trapping mechanisms may have once involved water, offering potential clues about Mars’ past habitability.

This research is also relevant for human exploration. If subsurface gas reservoirs exist, they could impact future settlements, resource extraction, or even strategies for sustaining human life on Mars. These findings not only provide a deeper understanding of Martian geology but could also influence the design of future missions and habitats.

What Else Might Be Hidden Beneath Mars’ Surface?

The discovery of these seasonal Martian eruptions suggests that the planet is far more geologically active than previously assumed. Could these same processes have played a role in Mars’ past climate shifts? Might similar gas-driven eruptions occur elsewhere in the solar system?

These discoveries highlight that Mars is a far more dynamic world than once believed, with seasonal processes actively reshaping its surface. Understanding these unique geological mechanisms could provide valuable insights into Mars’ past climate and the possibility of subsurface resources. Future missions may uncover even more hidden processes, potentially bringing us closer to answering whether Mars once harbored life.Could similar gas-driven eruptions exist on other planets or moons in our solar system? What implications do these findings have for future human exploration of Mars? Share your thoughts in the comments!

• Based on content from www.dailygalaxy.com and own research.

{ https://www.sciencealert.com/  }

05-02-2025 om 22:19 geschreven door peter  

The FBI Just Quietly Revealed That It Has a Real-Life UFO Office

The truth is out there — and under lock and key at the FBI.

Yes, let's get this out of the way: that's basically the plot of the 90s television show "The X-Files." But buried in a new Politico story about concerns that UFO-hunting agents may soon be caught up in a purge is a jarring revelation: that such an office exists within the bureau —the "existence" of which had "not been disclosed publicly before," per the outlet's reporting.

It was previously known that the Pentagon had a similar group. Known as the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), that office deals with UAP sightings from military officials. There doesn't appear to be any other known counterpart in civilian branches of government.

In a statement to Politico, the FBI confirmed the existence of the office but refused to comment further, including to say how many members it has or how long it has been investigating UAPs in an organized manner.

"The FBI investigates Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena when there is potential for a violation of federal law — particularly unlawful acts that could adversely affect our national interests — and to gather, share, and analyze intelligence to combat security threats facing the US," the bureau told Politico.

Former Naval pilot and Congressional UFO whistleblower Ryan Graves spoke at length to the magazine about the importance of the group's work and how deleterious it would be for the office to be gutted due to partisanship.

"I am concerned that the FBI’s UAP Working Group could be affected by transition changes," Graves said, "and these leaders might not be aware of the incredible work these agents are doing and how their investigation could be empowered as part of a formalized intergovernmental effort."

Caison Best, a former Army special forces intelligence officer, told Politico that he'd spoken to members of the FBI's UAP office after witnessing an alleged UFO in Colorado. Though it's unclear exactly how many of those agents could be implicated in the alleged purge, Best said it would be "obviously detrimental" if that happened.

"The FBI is one component of the government that is starting to realize what other functions in the government have already known for a long time and have been participating in," the ex-Army intelligence officer said.

In English, he seems to be suggesting that the FBI's previously undisclosed UAP office has been working with the Pentagon's AARO — and, perhaps, with other agencies as well.

With Trump's swiftly-unfolding plans to purge the government of anyone who doesn't fall in line, it's impossible to say whether the FBI's "X-Files" office will continue to exist.

Though given the president's promise to reveal the truth about unidentified objects in the skies, killing the group completely would seemingly go against his "commitment to take the U out of UAP," as Graves put it to Politico.

More on Trump and the truth: 

• UFO Whistleblower Claims Trump Is Being Lied To About Those Drones in New Jersey

{ https://futurism.com/ }

05-02-2025 om 21:46 geschreven door peter  

Antarctic scale worm: The glitzy frilly horror show with giant protruding jaws that look like Alien's xenomorph

• Why it's awesome: With their shimmering golden coats, these worms almost look glamorous — until you see their horrifying jaws, which resemble the mouth of the xenomorph from "Alien."

The worms are named after the scales (known as elytra) that cover their bodies. These scales look a bit like human teeth, adding to the worms' dazzling-yet-gruesome appearance.

Growing up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) long, Antarctic scale worms are a type of ocean-dwelling polychaete, or bristle worm (polychaete is Latin for "many bristles"). Related to earthworms and leeches, there are over 8,000 named polychaete species.

They have segmented bodies, with loads of little bristles sticking out of each section.

Different polychaete species use their bristles for different purposes, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). In this case, Antarctic scale worms' shimmering golden hairs could help them crawl or swim through the water, or defend themselves from threats. It's unclear why their bristles are golden.

Related: 

• Ghostly white giant worms appear to be reproducing under the seafloor where tectonic plates meet

Their most remarkable body part, however, is often hidden. Their purplish "head" isn't actually a head at all but a retractable mouth they keep tucked away until they're ready to feast. The worms unfurl this proboscis to reveal a set of jaws almost 3 inches (7 cm) wide complete with large, sharp teeth, according to Australian Geographic.

We don't know exactly what they eat, but according to "The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of 'Ugly' Animals" (Wren & Rook, 2020) their large teeth mean they are likely "quick and aggressive hunters."

Although it was discovered in 1939, very little is known about this deep-sea species. Like other bristle worms, it probably plays an important role in keeping the ocean healthy. Bristle worms "are fabulous recyclers and builders, creating massive reef structures and tangles of tubes that house a myriad of other animals including crabs, snails, and (of course!) other worms," MBARI representatives wrote.

{ https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth }

05-02-2025 om 21:32 geschreven door peter  

What Ancient Tools and Inventions Shaped Human Civilization?

From the simplest stone tools to sophisticated instruments of navigation, the inventions of our ancestors remain a testament to human ingenuity.

by Justin Gurkinic

 

Why Stone Tools Were Revolutionary

Unlike organic materials like wood or bone, stone tools endured the test of time, leaving behind artifacts that reveal key insights into the lives of early humans. The deliberate crafting of these tools, involving percussive blows to shape sharp edges, demonstrates advanced cognitive and motor skills.

• Fun Fact: Even animals like chimpanzees and crows use basic tools, but the manufacturing of Oldowan tools reflects a unique behavioral innovation among early hominins.

From Oldowan to Acheulean

The Oldowan tools paved the way for the Acheulean Industry, characterized by hand axes, cleavers, and knives. Acheulean tools, associated with Homo erectus, spread from Africa to Asia and Europe, enabling early humans to hunt, build shelters, and thrive in diverse environments. This era represents 99% of humanity’s technological history (Toth & Schick, 2014).

The invention of simple machines transformed how humans manipulated their environment, leading to some of the greatest engineering feats in history. These tools leveraged mechanical advantage to amplify force, making tasks easier and more efficient.

The Lever: An Ancient Power Tool

One of the earliest uses of the lever is evident in the shaduf, a water-lifting device invented in Mesopotamia around 3000 BC. Consisting of a long pole balanced on a pivot, the shaduf allowed farmers to irrigate their crops with minimal effort. Remarkably, it remains in use today in parts of Africa and Asia.

The Wheel: Rolling Into the Future

The wheel and axle mechanism originated in Mesopotamia, with the Sumerians initially using it for pottery around 3500 BC. This invention evolved into wheeled carts, revolutionizing transportation and trade. By enabling the movement of goods over long distances, the wheel played a crucial role in the development of early economies.

The Archimedes Screw: Innovation in Agriculture

Attributed to the Greek mathematician Archimedes, the Archimedes screw was a device designed to lift water for irrigation. Although similar mechanisms existed in Assyria and Egypt earlier, this invention became a cornerstone of ancient agricultural practices and is still used in some industries today.

Building the Impossible: Ramps and Pulleys

Ancient architects relied on ramps, levers, and pulleys to construct monumental structures like the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Colosseum in Rome. Archaeological evidence from the Hatnub quarry in Egypt suggests that ramps and pulleys were integral to hauling massive stone blocks, showcasing the ingenuity of ancient engineers.

The ability to navigate vast oceans and unknown territories was a defining moment in human history. Early navigation tools enabled trade, exploration, and cultural exchange, laying the foundation for global connectivity.

The Compass: Guiding the Way

Invented in China around 206 BC, the magnetic compass was initially used for divination. Over time, it became an essential tool for navigation, allowing sailors to traverse vast seas even when celestial objects were obscured. This innovation revolutionized exploration and expanded trade routes.

Sunstones: The Vikings’ Secret Weapon

According to Norse legend, Vikings used sunstones to locate the sun on cloudy days. Modern research confirms that birefringent crystals like calcite could polarize light, enabling accurate navigation without a magnetic compass. This method might explain how the Vikings conquered the North Atlantic’s treacherous waters.

Austronesian Seafaring

The Austronesians, masterful sailors from Southeast Asia, invented outrigger canoes and catamarans, enabling them to explore and settle the Pacific Islands. Their innovative vessels allowed them to travel vast distances, facilitating the spread of culture and trade across the region.

The development of writing was one of humanity’s most transformative achievements. Recording information allowed civilizations to preserve knowledge, govern societies, and develop literature.

Cuneiform: The First Writing System

The Sumerians pioneered cuneiform writing around 3100 BC. Initially used for accounting, it evolved into a versatile script capable of recording laws, religious texts, and epic poetry. The famous Sumerian poem Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta highlights the importance of writing as a tool for communication and storytelling.

Egyptian Hieroglyphics and Beyond

Inspired by cuneiform, the Egyptians developed hieroglyphics, a pictorial script used for monumental inscriptions and religious texts. Other civilizations, such as the Mesoamerican Olmecs, followed suit with their own writing systems, illustrating the universal need for recorded knowledge.

Timekeeping was essential for agriculture, governance, and religious practices. Ancient societies developed ingenious methods to track time, many of which laid the groundwork for modern clocks.

Sundials and Shadow Clocks

The Egyptians used shadow clocks and sundials as early as 3500 BC to divide the day into hours. These devices were not only practical but symbolized humanity’s growing understanding of celestial mechanics.

Water Clocks: Precision in Timekeeping

Known as clepsydrae, water clocks measured time based on the steady flow of water between vessels. The oldest known example, dating to Amenhotep III’s reign, exemplifies the advanced engineering of ancient Egypt. The Greeks later adapted water clocks for more complex uses, including Plato’s invention of the first alarm clock.

From the stone tools of early hominins to the sophisticated instruments of ancient engineers, these gadgets were more than functional—they were transformative. They enabled humans to conquer their environment, build civilizations, and explore the world. Even today, their influence persists, reminding us of the creativity and resilience of our ancestors.

Artifacts like the Antikythera Mechanism and the Baghdad Battery hint at the technological capabilities of ancient societies that were far ahead of their time. These inventions not only shaped history but continue to inspire innovation in the modern era.

• We published an earlier version of this article in 2024.

{ https://curiosmos.com/ }

05-02-2025 om 21:14 geschreven door peter  

Scientists: Moon’s Grand Canyons Formed In 10 Minutes

The famous Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck formed in a matter of minutes after an impact of monumental proportions created the Schrödinger crater.

The ejecta resulted in multiple secondary impact events, some of which formed long depressions called valleys radiating from the crater. The longest of these are the Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck. They are 270 and 280 kilometres long, about 20 and 27 kilometres wide, and about 2.7 and 3.5 kilometres deep, respectively.

Spectral studies have revealed heterogeneity of the material in the Schrödinger crater and surrounding areas. This material not only contains traces of later volcanic activity but also carries information about the most ancient events in the geological history of the Moon. The fact is that during the formation of the crater (presumably as a result of the fall of a body with a diameter of about 25 kilometres at a speed of 15 kilometres per second), rocks of the lunar crust were exposed from a depth of up to 30 kilometres. In addition, ancient ejecta from the South Pole-Aitken impact basin, which includes mantle material, were scattered across the surface.

To clarify the distribution of the Schrödinger crater’s ejecta and the model of its formation, American and British planetologists used photogeological and topographic mapping of its secondary structures, the Schrödinger and Planck valleys, based on data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The diameters, depths, and distances to the centre of the Schrödinger crater and to the intersection point of the rays that continue the valleys were measured for all secondary craters that form the valleys. Based on the results obtained, the scientists calculated the speeds and directions of material ejecta from the Schrödinger crater.

It took approximately 10 minutes for the Moon’s Grand Canyons to form

For the ejecta that formed Vallis Schrödinger, the ejecta velocity ranged from 0.95 to 1.05 kilometres per second, and the angle at which the material was ejected ranged from 45 to 20 degrees (given the circular shape of the secondary craters, the ejection angle was probably closer to the upper limit of this range). The flight time of the debris ranged from 4.9 to 15.0 minutes.

The maximum velocity of the ejecta that formed Vallis Planck was higher (1.23–1.28 kilometres per second), and the material travelled a greater distance in a time of 5.2 to 15.4 minutes. The duration of the secondary bombardments in both cases did not exceed five minutes.

At such ejection velocities, theoretical estimates of the average size of the ejected fragments range from 0.02 to 0.05 times the diameter of the primary impactor, in this case from 0.5 to 1.25 kilometres. This is consistent with the diameters of the secondary craters in Vallis Planck, as most of them are less than two kilometres. On the other hand, the estimated sizes of the debris that resulted in the formation of Vallis Schrödinger are significantly larger than theoretical: 2.3–5.2 kilometres.

Apparently, this valley, located closer to the point of the asteroid impact, was formed as a result of a nearly simultaneous impact of an entire cluster of ejected fragments, rather than a series of individual falls. The debris was tightly grouped since the secondary craters overlap each other greatly. In contrast, in the remote part of Vallis Planck, the secondary craters were formed as a result of the falls of individual fragments, rather than a continuous stream of ejecta.

Calculations have shown that for the formation of Vallis Schrödinger, the kinetic energy of the ejected material must have been 3.39×10 ²⁰ joules, and for Vallis Planck – about 1.21×10 ²¹ joules. The axes of the valleys, indicating the direction of the emissions, converge not in the centre of the Schrödinger crater, but at its edge, where the primary impact occurred.

The direction of the asteroid’s flight was also established along the line connecting the centre with this point: south-southeast-north-northwest. Its fall at a small (less than 45 degrees) angle caused not a point explosion, but the appearance of a distributed impact zone and an asymmetric pattern of the distribution of emissions.

Clarification of this pattern will help to detail the stratigraphy of impactites in the region and more effectively plan the collection of soil samples during future missions, in particular, within the framework of the Artemis program.

{ https://curiosmos.com/ }

05-02-2025 om 20:50 geschreven door peter  

The moon has a secret underground CAVE: Scientists discover an empty lava tube beneath the lunar surface - and say it could be the perfect base for future settlers

• A pit on the moon has a 'subsurface cave conduit, tens of metres long'
• READ MORE: Hole spotted on Mars could be a gateway to ancient alien life

By JONATHAN CHADWICK FOR MAILONLINE 

NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX are planning to send humans back to the moon later this decade. 

But on the lunar surface, astronauts will be exposed to potentially deadly cosmic rays and extreme temperatures.

Now, scientists may have found a suitable hiding place from these unforgiving conditions.

The experts in Italy say they have identified the first cave on the moon, which extends from inside a pit located in the Sea of Tranquility. 

It could be a promising site for a lunar base, as it offers shelter from 'the harsh surface environment' and could support long-term human exploration of the moon. 

The cave extends from inside Mare Tranquillitatis Pit (pictured) which is located at the moon's famous Sea of Tranquillity - close to where humans landed in 1969

The pit leads to a 'lava tube' - a natural conduit formerly occupied by flowing molten lava - which could provide shelter for astronauts 

'These caves have been theorized for over 50 years, but it is the first time ever that we have demonstrated their existence,' said study author Lorenzo Bruzzone, professor at the University of Trento in Italy. 

Since pits were first discovered on the moon by JAXA's SELENE spacecraft in 2009, scientists have wondered if they led to caves that could be explored or used as shelters. 

There are more than 200 pits moon, around 16 of which are thought to be collapsed 'lava tubes' – natural conduits formerly occupied by flowing molten lava.

If the ceiling of a solidified lava tube collapses, it opens a pit – but whether these pits provide access to caves has long been uncertain. 

The team focused on a roughly cylindrical pit in a part of the moon's northern hemisphere, known as the Sea of Tranquility, or Mare Tranquillitatis.

Tranquility Base, the location of the first manned landing on the moon in July 1969,  is located in the south-western corner of the Sea of Tranquility. 

Researchers focused on a roughly cylindrical 100-meter-deep depression, about the length and width of a football field, in an area of the moon, known as the Sea of Tranquillity or Mare Tranquillitatis (marked here with a red circle) 

Researchers processed images from the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment - a thermal camera on NASA's robotic Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (depicted here in space)

Mare Tranquillitatis Pit is the deepest known pit on the moon – an estimated depth of 328 feet (100 meters) and up to 377 feet (115 meters) across – about the length of a football pitch. 

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which launched in 2009, captured radar data from the pit during a flyover more than a decade ago. 

But the team have now reanalysed the radar data with new 'complex signal processing techniques'. 

According to the findings, a portion of the radar reflections originating from the put can be identified as a 'subsurface cave conduit, tens of metres long'. 

'Thanks to the analysis of the data we were able to create a model of a portion of the conduit,' said Leonardo Carrer, researcher at University of Trento. 

'[We] have discovered radar reflections from the area of the pit that are best explained by an underground cave conduit. 

'This discovery provides the first direct evidence of an accessible lava tube under the surface of the moon.'

Pictured, the researchers' illustration of the shape of the cave descending from Mare Tranquillitatis Pit 

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which launched in 2009, captured radar data from the pit during a flyover more than a decade ago. But the team have now reanalysed the radar data with new 'complex signal processing techniques'

This new research has implications for the development of missions to the moon, where the environment is hostile to human life. 

The moon is know for temperatures that are too extreme to sustain life – up to a scorching 260°F during the day and down to an icy -280°F at night. 

But temperatures in a shady cave such as this are thought to be a 'comfortable' 63°F (17°C) – suggesting they could be the perfect locations for lunar base camps.

They could also provide shelter from cosmic rays and the thousands of meteorites that are thought to hit the moon every year. 

It also opens up the possibility of other lunar pits leading to cave, which would give spacefarers more options when planning to establish settlements. 

NASA hopes to develop a sustainable lunar exploration program starting from 2028. This artist's illustration shows what NASA's Artemis base camp could look like

Tranquility Base, the location of the first manned landing on the moon in July 1969, is located in the south-western corner of the Sea of Tranquility. Pictured is Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969

Rather than going to the Sea of Tranquility, NASA's upcoming Artemis III mission plans to land a crew at the moon's south polar region in a SpaceX craft. 

Eventually as part of its Artemis programme, NASA plans to have set up a base camp in the lunar south region by the end of this decade.

READ MORE

• Mysterious hole spotted on Mars could be a gateway to ancient alien life

Building a lunar base in a pit or cave is not currently part of the official plan, but the study authors suggest it will be worth considering in the future. 

'A complete survey of all known lunar pits would allow us to identify the most promising accesses for subsurface lunar exploration and provide information on the potential for installing human lunar base in environments protected from cosmic radiation and with stable temperatures,' they conclude. 

Their new study has been published today in the journal Nature Astronomy.  

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

05-02-2025 om 17:59 geschreven door peter  

The lunar Grand Canyon: Our moon has two gigantic basins that were carved out in just 10 MINUTES (despite being even bigger than the one in Arizona!)

• READ MORE: The moon has a secret underground CAVE, scientists say 

By WILIAM HUNTER

A visit to the Grand Canyon is a true bucket list item for anyone on a US road trip.

But Arizona isn't the only place where an ambitious explorer can find a Grand Canyon.

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has snapped pictures of two gigantic basins on the lunar surface.

Named Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck, these measure 168 miles (270 km) long and 1.7 miles (2.7 km) deep, and 174 miles (280 km) long and 2.2 miles (3.5 km) deep, respectively.

That makes them just as long as the Grand Canyon and more than three times as deep at their lowest points. 

While Earth's canyon was formed by the Colorado River over six to seven million years, the researchers say these were carved out in just 10 minutes.

The moon's canyons stretch out from the Schrödinger impact basin, a 200-mile-wide (320 km) crater located near the moon's south pole, which was formed when a meteor slammed into the lunar surface.

The researchers think that these lunar valleys were cut into the rock by a stream of rocks thrown out from that violent impact 3.81 billion years ago. 

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has snapped stunning pictures of the moon's answer to the Grand Canyon (pictured), two enormous valleys carved into the lunar surface  

The canyons, named Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck, are just as long as the Grand Canyon (pictured) and over three times as deep at their lowest points 

The Schrödinger impact basin is located on the outer margins of the moon's 1,500-mile-wide (2,400 km) South Pole–Aitken basin.

Scientists believe it was formed when a large meteor tore into the lunar surface, creating an extremely violent explosion and tossing debris up to 310 miles (500km) from the crater rim.

Lead author Dr David Kring, a space geologist from the Lunar and Planetary Institute, told MailOnline: 'Variations in the crust of the Moon may have generated concentrated streams of rock within the curtain of debris that was ejected to form the crater.'

This led to debris falling in long, straight lines called ejecta rays which created deep channels of overlapping craters like Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck.

'Such rays are commonly observed on the Moon. For example, backyard astronomy enthusiasts will be familiar with the rays around Tycho and Copernicus craters on the near side of the Moon,' says Dr Kring.

Now, using photographs from NASA's probe, researchers have created a three-dimensional map of these valleys to model the direction and speed of the debris flow.

In their paper, published in Nature Communications, the researchers calculate that the debris must have been travelling at speeds between 2,125 and 2,863 miles per hour (3,420-4,608 kmph).

In turn, this velocity suggests that the fragments which formed the canyon would be between two and five per cent the size of the original meteor.

The Schrödinger impact basin (right and down from centre) is extremely close to the South Pole. On this map you can also see the two Lunar Grand Canyons stretching away from the crater to the right and downwards 

Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck measure 168 miles (270 km) and 174 miles (280 km) long respectively. On average Vallis Plank is almost a kilometre deeper than the Grand Canyon, as shown in this diagram 

That means each fragment could have been up to 1,250 metres wide - more than 60 times larger than the Chelyabinsk meteor which exploded over Russia in 2013.

Dr Kring says: 'The energy to produce the two grand canyons of the moon was equal to 130 times the energy of the world’s total inventory of nuclear weapons.

'The research shows that lunar canyons the size of Earth’s Grand Canyon can form in minutes rather than millions of years. Impact-generated streams of rock on the Moon are far more capable of carving canyons than is water on Earth.'

By tracing the ejecta rays back to the point where they meet, the researchers have also been able to identify the meteor's probable impact location.

Interestingly, this point is not at the centre of the Schrödinger crater as you might expect, but rather further to the South at 78.2° South and 143.7° East.

This detail implies that the meteor probably hit the lunar surface at a fairly low angle, spraying debris away from the moon's South Pole.

Beyond being an interesting geological detail, this is extremely good news for NASA's upcoming Artemis moon landing mission currently scheduled for 2026.

The intended Artemis landing site is just 77 miles (125 km) from the rim of the Schrödinger basin.

Researchers say these canyons were carved into the moon by streams of rock ejected by a meteor impact which formed the Schrödinger crater (pictured) 

As the debris from the impact fell down to the moon, it produced long lines of overlapping craters (highlighted green) which formed the canyons in just ten seconds 

The researchers estimated that the canyons (pictured) were formed using 130 times the energy of the world’s total inventory of nuclear weapons

By tracing the canyons back to where they overlap, the researchers predict the original meteor's likely impact point. This suggests that most of the debris would have been thrown away from the South Pole, this is good news for NASA which plans to land its Artemis Missions to the south of the Schrödinger basin 

If the meteor impact had sprayed debris evenly over the surrounding area, it would have made landing a spacecraft more difficult and made it harder for explorers to get samples from the original lunar surface below.

However, this study suggests that this isn't likely to be too much of a problem.

Dr Kring says: 'The research suggests most of the debris ejected from the Schrödinger basin landed outside the Artemis exploration zone.

'Artemis astronauts will find it easier to collect rocks older than the Schrödinger impact.

'The Schrödinger impact formed near the end of a period of early Solar System bombardment. Geologic samples collected by missions to the lunar south polar region should help decipher the magnitude and duration of that bombardment of asteroids and comets.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

05-02-2025 om 17:24 geschreven door peter  

First-ever recording of a dying human brain reveals what happens right before death

• READ MORE:  Paramedic who died for 11 minutes reveals 'tranquil' experience

By ELLYN LAPOINTE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

What happens to the brain as people transition from alive to dead has puzzled scientists for centuries - until now.

A team of neuroscientists have captured the first-ever brain activity of a dying human brain, which suggests people go experience 'life review.' 

Life reviews have been widely reported by those who have had near-death experiences who said they saw their entire life history play out in a rapid manifestation of autobiographical memory.

Many describe this as the experience of seeing their life 'flash before their eyes.' 

The recording was made when an 87-year-old patient underwent cardiac arrest while being treated for epilepsy.

Doctors had strapped a device on his head to monitor brain activity, but the man died during the process. 

However, the neuroscientists captured 900 seconds of brain activity around the time of death, allowing them to see what happened in the 30 seconds before and after his heart stopped beating.

The measurements of brain waves before and after showed areas involved with memories and retrieval were still active.

Dr Ajmal Zemmar of the University of Louisville, Kentucky said: 'Through generating brain oscillations [brain waves] involved in memory retrieval, the brain may be playing a last recall of important life events just before we die, similar to the ones reported in near-death experiences.

Scientists have found new clues about what happens moments after death 

'These findings challenge our understanding of when exactly life ends and generate important subsequent questions, such as those related to the timing of organ donation.' 

Dr Zemmar and his colleagues published their data in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience in 2022.

The Canadian patient was being treated for epilepsy, prompting doctors to place an electroencephalography (EEG) to study brain waves related to seizure activity.

This device attaches to the scalp via electrodes that detect and amplify brain waves, with the neurological activity showing up as wavy lines on what's known as an EEG recording. 

Later on, the patient went into cardiac arrest and died while the EEG was still monitoring his brain, providing the first evidence of what happens in the brain moments before death.

'Just before and after the heart stopped working, we saw changes in a specific band of neural oscillations, so-called gamma oscillations, but also in others such as delta, theta, alpha and beta oscillations,' Dr Zemmar said in a statement. 

Brain oscillations, or brain waves, are repetitive patterns of electrical impulses normally present in living human brains.

Different types of brain waves reflect different brain functions and states of consciousness. 

Gamma waves are involved in high-cognitive functions such as memory retrieval, which is associated with memory flashbacks. 

'Through generating brain oscillations involved in memory retrieval, the brain may be playing a last recall of important life events just before we die, similar to the ones reported in near-death experiences,' Zemmar said.  

The neuroscientists captured 900 seconds of brain activity around the time of death, allowing them to see what happened in the 30 seconds before and after his heart stopped beating 

Researchers suggested that the brain could be biologically programmed to manage the transition into death, potentially orchestrating a series of physiological and neurological events rather than simply shutting off instantly.

'On the metaphysical side, if you have these things, it is intriguing to speculate to say that these mechanisms – these brain activity patterns that occur when we have memory recall and dreaming and meditative states – they recall just before we go to die,' said Zemmar.

'So maybe they're letting us have a replay of life in the last seconds when we die.

 'On the spiritual side, I think it is somewhat calming. I face this at times when you have patients that pass away and you talk their families; you have to be the bearer of bad news. 

'Right now, we don't know anything about what happens to their loved one's brain when they're dying. 

Dr Ajmal Zemmar, a neurosurgeon at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, was one of the doctors who treated the 87-year-old patient. He organized the study of the patient's brain wave recordings

'I think if we know that there is something happening in their brain, that they are remembering nice moments, we can tell these families and it builds a feeling of warmth that in that moment when they are falling, this can help a little bit to catch them.'

Scientists still aren't sure exactly how and why the life review phenomenon happens, but they do have some theories. 

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One suggests that oxygen deprivation during a life-threatening event can trigger the release of neurotransmitters, or chemical messengers that transmit signals between neurons.

This causes neurons to fire rapidly, and this heightened activity may lead to the perception of vivid memories and images. 

Another possible explanation is based on where memories are stored in the brain. 

Scientists believe some highly emotional memories are stored in the amygdala, which is the same part of the brain that is responsible for the fight or flight response.

The activation of this brain region during a life-threatening experience may therefore release these vivid memories, causing them to flash before your eyes. 

While Zemmar's finding does not directly point to one of these explanations or another, it does offer evidence to suggest that the life review phenomenon is real.

What's more, 'These findings challenge our understanding of when exactly life ends and generate important subsequent questions, such as those related to the timing of organ donation,' Zemmar said. 

'When do you go ahead with organ donation? When are we dead? ... Should we record EEG activity in addition to EKG to declare death? 

'This is a very, very interesting question for me. When is exactly the time when we die? We may have tapped the door open now to start a discussion about that exact time onset.' 

But more case studies will be needed in order to begin answering these questions. 

'Scientifically, it's very difficult to interpret the data because the brain had suffered bleeding, seizures, swelling – and then it's just one case. So we can't make very big assumptions and claims based on this case,' Zemmar said. 

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05-02-2025 om 16:56 geschreven door peter  

UFO-believing congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna's cryptic message has everyone saying the same thing

• READ MORE:  UFO whistleblowers to expose 80-year cover-up of aliens

By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

A Florida congresswoman who believes some UFOs are of non-human origin has teased a major announcement in the coming days.

Rep Anna Paulina Luna (R) - who was privy to classified UAP files - posted she has 'an announcement next week that will impact the entire nation.'

Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna says she 'absolutely believes' in technology 'not of human origin' after working on House committee that deals with whistleblowers and investigate UFO sightings.

Americans filled the comments with a single idea that 'UAP disclosure is finally coming.' UAP, or Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, has replaced UFO to reduce stigma and encourage scientific study.

Florida Congressman Jared Moskowitz (D) also commented on the post with a simple. 'I know.'

DailyMail.com asked Moskowitz if Luna's statement was about UAP disclosure, to which the representative said he did not 'want to get ahead of her.'

While Luna has not provided further details about what is to come, she and Moskowitz were part of a secret UFO briefing last month to investigate claims from a high-profile whistleblower.

Reports suggested that members of Congress were left with little clarity about what the government knows about extraterrestrial life.

However, Luna, Moskowitz and the other lawmakers were banned by law for relaying what they heard during the closed-door briefing. 

Rep Anna Paulina Luna (R) posted a cryptic message on X Monday, saying she has a big announcement next week

Americans filled the comments with a single idea that 'UAP disclosure is finally coming.' Luna is in the group of lawmakers who believe some UFO sightings are non-human life

DailyMail.com has reached out to Luna for comment.

Luna is a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, which has been investigating claims about UFOs and carrying out historic hearings with military whistleblowers.

She and Moskowitz are also cosponsors of the UAP Transparency Act introduced in 2024, which requires the president to direct all federal agencies and departments to make all documents relating to UAPs available to the public within 270 days.

Luna's post, shared Monday, has more than 3,000 comments, many of which suggest the big announcement about UAPs.

One X user asked if she would be 'announcing it through the UAP Disclosure Act,' while many other comments just asked if it was 'aliens?'

Several X users raised the fact that Luna said the announcement would impact the world, questioning the idea of alien life being exposed.

'If it was related to UAP disclosure, it would have a worldwide impact. Therefore, this is not related to UAP disclosure,' shared UAP Juan.

While many people agreed with him, another user shared: 'Her responsibility is to our nation not the world. 

'It would be inappropriate to assume world-changing things even if it was US disclosure. Other nations could have disclosed if they had the means too long ago.'

DailyMail.com asked Jared Moskowitz if Luna's statement was about UAP disclosure, to which the representative said he did not 'wanna get ahead of her,' but 'you are warmish.'

The secret briefing in January reportedly focused on claims by David Grusch who said the government has recovered non-human bodies from UFO crash sites.

Grusch - a former high-ranking intelligence official - was one of three military whistleblowers who testified under oath in 2023 that they had firsthand encounters or knowledge about secret government programs involving technology that is 'non-human.'

He claimed that the US has been in possession of UFOs since 'the 1930s' and has been secretly back-engineering them and carrying out a public disinformation campaign to prevent the details from leaking publicly.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) held the hearing with Luna and asked Grusch: 'Personally, have you heard anyone [has] been murdered?'

Grusch replied: 'I have to be careful answering that question. I directed people with that knowledge to the appropriate authorities.'

The Pentagon has denied the claims.

The January briefing was said to provide some evidence to support Grusch's testimony was factual, but lawmakers did not reveal exact details.

'This is the first real briefing that we've had that we've now made, I would say, progress on some of the claims Mr. Grusch has made,' Moskowitz told the New York Times.

 'This is the first time we kind of got a ruling on what the I.G. thinks of those claims.'

Luna echoed the statements, saying lawmakers 'are continually being stonewalled.'

'We are authorizing money that is supposed to be spent on certain programs, and yet there is compartmentalization in which Congress doesn’t have access to oversight in those programs,' she added. 'And that’s a problem.' 

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{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

05-02-2025 om 16:22 geschreven door peter  

Incredible images capture US Navy testing its new laser weapon that NEVER runs out of power

• READ MORE: US military launches missile tests hours after 2024 election 

By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

The US Navy has released stunning images showing its incredible new drone-destroying laser weapon in action for the first time.

The HELIOS system was tested aboard the USS Preble, with photos capturing its bright beam shooting an unmanned aerial vehicle out of the sky.

HELIOS, which stands for High Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance, was developed by Lockheed Martin in 2021 and delivered to the Navy a year later.

The system blasts more than 60 kilowatts of directed energy, enough to power up to 60 homes, at the speed of light and can hit targets up to five miles away.

It is designed to counter a range of threats, including drones, small boats, and potentially incoming missiles.

HELIOS was also designed to disrupt the intelligence and reconnaissance sensors on enemy vessels.

The testing comes as threats against America's warships are growing as foreign nations stock their arsenals with drones and anti-ship missiles.

The US Naval Institute said in a recent report: 'The drone threat has been around for years, but the Navy has yet to prioritize defending against these easily acquired weapons.'

The US Navy conducted the first tests of its drone-kill laser weapon. HELIOS can fire for as long as it has power, which it collects from the ship

'Expecting sailors who shoot shotguns, rifles, or machine guns twice a year on a range to be able to engage multiple small, fast-moving targets is unreasonable, 'the report added.

'Even if a few sailors were expert shooters capable of shooting down drones, it likely would take a few minutes from the first report of a potential drone to identify the drone, raise the alarm, and bring key weapons and associated ammunition to bear against the threat—time the ship might not have.'

But the Navy sees its new HELIOS as a way to fight back, showing off its capabilities on the open ocean.

The US Center for Countermeasures (CCM) released details on the testing, SWNS reported.

'CCM supported the Navy’s demonstration on USS Preble (DDG 88) to verify and validate the functionality, performance, and capability of the HEL with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance system against an unmanned aerial vehicle target, it shared in a report. 

The weapon was integrated into the ship's combat system, enhancing its target detection and tracking capabilities. 

HELIOS can fire for as long as it has power, which it collects from the ship.

The system blasts more than 60 kilowatts of directed energy, enough to power up to 60 homes, at the speed of light and can hit targets up to five miles away

The HELIOS system was tested aboard the USS Preble, with photos showing its bright beam shooting an unmanned aerial vehicle out of the sky

And because the ship's power source is constantly replenished, the laser has an unlimited supply of power. 

The test comes as a Homeland Security Advisor and billionaire Marc Andreessen suggested AI-powered jets will be the main fighters in future wars.

Speaking on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast in November, Andreessen said jets that travel five times the speed of sound, Mach 5, are going to be more common 'within a few years.'

'Image a thousand of these things coming over the horizon right at you,' Andreessen said. 'It really changes the fundamental equation of war.' 

He explain that instead of needing the most soldiers and material to win, people with the most technology and money will take over.

Andreessen also noted that there are 'a bunch of reasons' why he believes a future of AI-piloted fighter jets is all but inevitable.

'Part of it is simply the speed of processing,' Andreessen explained.

'But the other big thing is, if you don't have a human in the plane, you don't have [...] 'the Spam in the Can.''

'You don't have the human body in the plane to keep alive, which means you can be a lot faster,' the billionaire White House advisor continued, 'much higher G-forces.'

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05-02-2025 om 15:53 geschreven door peter  

NASA warns three giant asteroids will skim past Earth TODAY

• READ MORE:  Scientists warn 'city-destroying' asteroid is hurtling towards Earth

By ELLYN LAPOINTE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

NASA is keeping a close eye on three giant asteroids that are set to make close approaches to Earth today.

One of them will come within just 77,200 miles of our planet, which is roughly one-third of the average distance between Earth and the moon.

That asteroid, called '2025 CF,' is an estimated 12 feet wide and has not had a close encounter with Earth since 2013.

The space rock will make another fly-by of our planet in January 2033.

The other two space rocks, 2025 CD and 2025 CE, are an estimated 22 feet and 43 feet wide, respectively.

That makes each of them approximately the size of a bus, but they will keep further away from our planet when they pass by today.

Asteroid 2025 CD's closest approach will be 396,000 miles, and 2025 CE's will be 680,000 miles.

Two more bus-sized asteroids will also zip through Earth's cosmic neighborhood today, but will remain millions of miles away. 

NASA is keeping a close eye on three vehicle-sized asteroids that will make close approaches to Earth today

These recently discovered space rocks likely hail from the main asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter.

According to NASA, more than one million asteroids travel around the sun within this belt, following elliptical orbits and often rotating erratically as they go.

Occasionally, the massive gravitational force of Jupiter can pull asteroids out of the belt and send them hurtling in random directions.

Sometimes they shoot toward the inner solar system and enter Earth's vicinity, encountering our planet in what's known as a 'fly-by.'

These fly-bys are harmless the vast majority of the time. None of the asteroids that will approach Earth today pose any threat to our planet, according to NASA. 

But the agency's Planetary Defense Coordination Office always keeps a watchful eye on any Near Earth Objects (NEOs), including asteroids, to monitor their impact risk.

Recently, the agency detected one space rock that does have a slight chance of hitting Earth in the near future.  

That asteroid, called 2024 YR4, is estimated to be nearly 200 feet wide and currently has a more than one percent chance of directly hitting Earth on December 22, 2023, according to NASA.

One of them will come within just 77,200 miles of our planet, which is roughly one third of the average distance between Earth and the moon

Astronomers have also calculated a predicted impact zone that stretches from South America across the Atlantic Ocean to sub-Saharan Africa.

The asteroid has the potential to cause significant damage, especially if it lands in a densely populated area like a major city.

Astronomers believe it is roughly the same size as the Tunguska asteroid, which entered Earth's atmosphere and exploded in the air over Siberia in 1908.

The blast was equivalent to detonating 50 million tons of TNT. 

If 2024 YR4 infiltrates Earth's atmosphere, it could cause a similar event, astronomers say. 

Alternatively, it could remain intact during the descent and slam into the ground, creating a massive crater and decimating human communities in the impact zone.

But the odds of a direct-hit are very slim, with astronomers estimating a 1.2 to 1.3 percent chance. 

It is much more likely that 2024 YR4 safely whizzes by our planet just like these three smaller asteroids will today.

Astronomers have calculated a predicted impact zone for 2024 YR4 that stretches from South America across the Atlantic Ocean to sub-Saharan Africa.

Analysis of 2024 YR4's orbit indicates that the asteroid will come within 66,000 miles of Earth on December 22, 2032. Though there is a slight chance it could hit Earth, it is much more likely that this asteroid safely passes by our planet, astronomers say

That's not to say that a large asteroid could never impact our planet though, which is why NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office is developing strategies to  protect Earth from an incoming threat. 

The agency's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission launched from California in November 2021 and finally completed its 10-month journey when it hit the asteroid Dimorphos in September 2022.

Dimorphos, around 560 feet in diameter, orbits a larger asteroid called Didymos, both of which are around 6.8 million miles away from our planet.

DART hit the space rock at more than 14,000 miles per hour and was destroyed upon impact, while Dimorphos received a 'small nudge' intended to alter its trajectory by a fraction.

The mission demonstrated that the kinetic impactor technique - which involves deliberately ramming a spacecraft into an asteroid - is an effective way to alter an asteroid's trajectory.

In the event that a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) were headed towards Earth, NASA could one day use this technique to save our planet.

But scientists are still studying DART's aftermath to ensure that NASA could do this safely.

That's why the European Space Agency (ESA) is launched the Hera mission in October last year.

The Hera spacecraft is currently on its way to Dimorphos to perform a detailed survey of the damage and debris created by the DART.

This will help astronomers on Earth verify that the kinetic impactor technique can be used safely and responsibly to save our planet from an approaching asteroid. 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

05-02-2025 om 15:24 geschreven door peter  

Ancient Vimana: 5 Important Things to Know About India’s Mythical Flying Machines

by Ivan Petricevic

 

An illustration of the mythical ancient vimana

Unraveling the Secrets of Ancient Indian Mythological Technology

The Vimana, flying machines of ancient India, have long captured the imagination of historians, scientists, and enthusiasts alike. These mysterious aircraft are mentioned in ancient Indian texts, leading many to wonder if they hold the key to understanding advanced technologies from a bygone era. This article will explore five essential facts about these fascinating Vimana and their significance in ancient Indian history.

1. Origins in Ancient Indian Texts

The concept of Vimana can be traced back to ancient Indian scriptures called the Vedas, dating as far back as 1500 BCE. The most notable mention of these flying machines comes from the Sanskrit epic, the Ramayana, which details the story of the divine prince Rama and his aerial vehicle, the Pushpaka Vimana. Other texts, such as the Mahabharata and the Rigveda, also reference the Vimana, further adding to their mystique.

2. Descriptions and Capabilities

Ancient Vimana were described as being powered by advanced propulsion systems, allowing them to soar through the skies, traverse vast distances, and even travel between planets. These flying machines were reportedly made of various metals, including gold, and their engines functioned on the principles of solar energy, mercury vapor, and other complex mechanisms.

Descriptions of Vimana often mention their ability to cloak themselves, hover in midair, and reach incredible speeds.

3. Ancient Indian Science and Vimana Technology

The Vimana’s advanced technology is often linked to the scientific achievements of ancient India, a civilization known for its contributions to mathematics, astronomy, and medicine.

This connection has led some researchers to propose that the Vimana could be evidence of an ancient Indian civilization with knowledge of advanced technologies such as anti-gravity propulsion and nuclear power. However, this theory remains unproven and is still the subject of much debate.

4. Vimana and Extraterrestrial Theories

The astonishing capabilities attributed to Vimana have fueled speculation about possible extraterrestrial origins or influence. Some researchers believe these ancient flying machines might be evidence of alien contact or ancient astronauts visiting Earth. This theory is based on the notion that such advanced technology would have been impossible for humans to develop independently during the time period in question. While these ideas are compelling, they remain unconfirmed and are often met with skepticism from mainstream scholars.

5. Modern Interpretations and Popular Culture

In recent years, the Vimana have gained renewed interest in academia and popular culture. These ancient flying machines have inspired works of fiction, movies, and television series, often blending science fiction and historical intrigue elements. Additionally, some researchers continue to explore the possibility that Vimana technology could provide insights into developing new forms of transportation and energy sources in the modern era.

The Vimana, ancient India’s mysterious flying machines, have left a lasting impression on the world’s imagination. The Vimana continue to captivate and inspire with their origins in sacred texts and their purported advanced capabilities. Whether viewed as evidence of advanced ancient technology, extraterrestrial encounters, or simply as fascinating stories from a rich cultural history, the Vimana remain an enduring enigma worth exploring.

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04-02-2025 om 22:04 geschreven door peter  

15 Fascinating Facts About the Mysterious Lost Continent of Kumari Kandam

Deep beneath the waves of the Indian Ocean, legends whisper of a sunken land that once flourished with life, culture, and unparalleled knowledge. Known as Kumari Kandam, this mythical continent is said to have existed south of present-day India, serving as the cradle of the Tamil people—a civilization renowned for its ancient language, rich traditions, and far-reaching influence.

While modern science has found no evidence of this lost landmass, the story of Kumari Kandam continues to intrigue, blending elements of mythology, cultural pride, and historical speculation. Some say the Tamil people, facing a cataclysm that swallowed their homeland, spread across the globe, planting seeds of civilization in far-off lands.

Similar to the tales of Atlantis or Lemuria, Kumari Kandam invites us to explore the boundaries between myth and reality. Is it purely a creation of folklore, or does it carry echoes of forgotten history? Regardless of its factual basis, this captivating tale provides a fascinating glimpse into humanity’s enduring quest to understand its origins and preserve its stories for generations to come.

The Myth of Kumari Kandam: A Tale of Lost Civilizations

1. A South Indian Atlantis?

Kumari Kandam is often likened to the legendary Atlantis. Both are said to have been advanced civilizations that were lost to the sea, leaving only whispers of their existence in ancient texts.

2. The Tamil Connection

The Tamil people, one of the world’s oldest known cultures, are believed to have called Kumari Kandam their home. Legends suggest they migrated globally, establishing other civilizations after the catastrophic loss of their homeland.

3. More Than Atlantis and Lemuria

While Atlantis and Lemuria are well-known tales of lost continents, Kumari Kandam adds another layer to the mystery, specifically tied to Tamil history and mythology.

4. Location Below the Indian Ocean

The mythical land is said to have been located south of modern India, beneath the Indian Ocean.

Ancient Texts and Historical Claims

5. A Name from Sacred Texts

The term “Kumari Kandam” first appeared in a 15th-century version of the Skanda Purana, a major Hindu text. It was authored by Kachiappa Sivacharyar and remains central to Tamil cultural identity.

6. Etymological Roots

Contrary to popular belief, the name derives from the Sanskrit term Kumarika Khanda, emphasizing its connection to ancient Hindu traditions.

7. The Cradle of Civilization

Kumari Kandam is described in Tamil texts as the origin of human civilization, where humanity and culture first flourished.

8. Geological Theories of Lemuria

The continent was initially theorized in the 19th century to explain geological and biological similarities between India, Africa, and Madagascar, sparking connections with ancient Tamil legends.

Controversies and Modern Perspectives

9. Continental Drift vs. Myth

Modern geology dismisses the idea of Kumari Kandam as a landmass, citing the theory of continental drift, which explains the distribution of continents without invoking submerged continents.

10. Ancient Texts Speak of Submerged Lands

Despite scientific skepticism, Tamil and Sanskrit writings consistently refer to lands submerged in South India, fueling the legend of Kumari Kandam.

11. Rama’s Bridge: A 1.7-Million-Year-Old Clue?

A structure known as Rama’s Bridge, or Adam’s Bridge, in the Palk Strait has been cited as potential evidence for the lost land. Some claim this natural formation was a man-made link to Kumari Kandam.

Cultural and Historical Legacy

12. The Tamil Diaspora

Many believe the Tamil people’s migrations post-catastrophe were responsible for founding other ancient civilizations, making their cultural impact global.

13. A Tale Interwoven with Myth and Reality

Kumari Kandam blends mythological lore with historical speculation, capturing the imagination of those intrigued by ancient mysteries.

14. A Symbol of Tamil Pride

For the Tamil people, Kumari Kandam represents their ancient heritage and enduring legacy, celebrated through stories, texts, and art.

15. Unraveling the Mystery

While modern science may refute its existence, Kumari Kandam continues to be a subject of fascination, bridging the gap between legend and history.

The tale of Kumari Kandam taps into our fascination with ancient mysteries and lost civilizations. Much like the stories of Atlantis or Lemuria, it blurs the line between history and myth. While there’s no scientific evidence to confirm its existence, such legends continue to capture imaginations, reflecting how cultures across the world create narratives to explain their past. Kumari Kandam, like many other myths, serves as a reminder of our collective desire to make sense of the unknown.

{ https://curiosmos.com/ }

04-02-2025 om 21:41 geschreven door peter  

This Stunning Green Aurora Filmed by an Astronaut Is Unlike Anything You’ve Seen Before

Over the past weeks, the Sun has been hyperactive, releasing massive bursts of energy, including solar flares and coronal mass ejections.

“Flying over aurora; intensely green.” 

(Don Pettit/X)

Capturing Rare Auroral Moments

Astronauts aboard the ISS have a unique vantage point for observing auroras, providing insights unattainable from Earth’s surface. Don Pettit’s video is part of a growing collection of auroral imagery shared from space, following iconic photos by astronauts like Thomas Pesquet, Josh Cassada, and Koichi Wakata.

As the Sun approaches its solar maximum—a peak in its 11-year activity cycle—auroras are becoming more frequent and intense. With advanced satellite technology and high-resolution cameras, future observations will likely unveil even more extraordinary views of this natural phenomenon.

The northern lights over Iceland.

(Arctic-images/Stone/Getty)

{ https://curiosmos.com/ }

04-02-2025 om 21:19 geschreven door peter  

It seems everyone is talking about the Moon and everyone wants to get their foot in the door with the renewed passion for lunar exploration. ESA too have jumped into the lunar landing game having just signed a contract with Thales Alenia Space to build its Argonaut Lunar Lander. Compared to other landers, it will be unique in its ability to handle the harsh night and day conditions on the lunar surface. Each mission is planned to have a 5 year life and will have a standard descent and cargo module but with different payloads determined by the Moon. If all goes to plan then the first lander will fly in 2031. 

The Moon, Earth’s only natural satellite, is a celestial body that has fascinated us for centuries. It orbits Earth at an average distance of about 384,400 kilometres and is a barren, rocky surface covered in craters, mountains, and vast plains of solidified lava. Its lack of atmosphere results in extreme temperature fluctuations, with daytime temperatures reaching up to 127°C and nighttime temperatures plummeting as low as -173°C. 

Since the Apollo missions of the 1960’s lunar exploration has become a central part of space science.  The first major milestone was achieved in 1959 when the Soviet Luna 2 mission became the first human-made object to impact the Moon. This was followed by Luna 9, which successfully landed and transmitted images from the surface. This was followed by Apollo 11 and humanity’s first steps on another celestial body. Since then robotic missions like China’s Chang’e program, India’s Chandrayaan missions, and NASA’s Artemis program have aimed to study lunar water ice, geology, and sustainability for long-term human presence. 

The European Space Agency have got in on the act now with their plans to build Argonaut, an autonomous lunar lander. It will launch on regular missions to the moon and can be used for delivering rovers, infrastructure, instrumentation or resources to the Moon for lunar explorers. The lander will compose of the descent module, the payload and the cargo platform which will act as the interface between the lander and the payload and will integrate operations between the two. 

ESA signed their contract with Thales Alenia Space in Italy, a joint venture and prominent player in the global space market. They have been delivering high-tech solutions for navigation, telecommunication and Earth observation for over 40 years. They will be leading the European group to build the descent module with the remaining core team from the Group’s UK and France. 

Once complete, Argonaut will become a key part of ESA’s lunar exploration strategy and will integrate with their Lunar Link on the new lunar Gateway. This new international space station is planned to orbit the Moon as part of the NASA Artemis programme. Argonaut will become one of Europe’s main contributions to international lunar exploration as nations work together to establish permanent presence on our nearest celestial neighbour. 

Source : 

• Argonaut: a first European lunar lander

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

04-02-2025 om 21:01 geschreven door peter  

Modern astronomy generates vast volumes of data and algorithms and automated processing are needed to comb through it all. So far, COSMIC has observed more than 950,000 objects, and the results of the effort are in a new paper. It’s titled “COSMIC’s Large-Scale Search for Technosignatures during the VLA sky Survey: Survey Description and First Results” and will be published in The Astronomical Journal. The lead author is Chenoa Tremblay from SETI.

“The place of humanity in the Universe and the existence of life is one of the most profound and widespread questions in astronomy and society in general,” the authors write. “Throughout history, humans have marvelled at the starry night sky.”

In our modern technological age, we marvel not only with our eyes but with powerful telescopes. The Karl G. Jansky Array is one of those telescopes, though it’s actually 28 radio dishes working together as an interferometer. Each one is 25 meters across, and they’re all mounted on movable bases that are maneuvered around railway tracks. This gives the system the ability to change its radius and density so it can balance its angular resolution and its sensitivity.

The Array is used to observe astronomical objects like quasars, pulsars, supernova remnants, and black holes. It’s also used to search trillions of systems quickly for signs of radio transmissions.

Currently, the VLA is engaged in the VLA Sky Survey (VLASS), a long-term effort to detect transient radio signals in the entire visible sky. The elegance of the COSMIC system is that it can “tag along” as VLASS progresses. “COSMIC was designed to provide an autonomous real-time pipeline for observing and processing data for one of the largest experiments in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence to date,” the authors write.

One of the problems facing modern astronomy is the deluge of data. There aren’t enough astronomers or students to possibly manage it. “The idea is that we are receiving increasing quantities of data that must be sorted in new ways in order to find information of scientific interest,” the authors write. “Developing algorithms to search through data efficiently is a challenging part of searching for signs of technology beyond our solar system.”

COSMIC is a digital signal processing pipeline that VLASS data flows through. It searches for signals that display temporal and spectral characteristics consistent with our idea of what an artificial technological signal would look like.

The sky is full of radio signals from astrophysical objects. In order for a signal to be considered a technosignature, it needs to be a narrowband signal, and its frequency should change over time as a result of the Doppler effect. That still leaves potentially millions of hits. Researchers are forced to make other assumptions about what might constitute a technosignature, and COSMIC filters through signals based on those assumptions. “In this pipeline, extraterrestrial technosignatures are characterized by a set of assumptions and conditions that, if not met, are used to eliminate hits that do not meet these assumptions,” Tremblay and her co-authors write. “The output of this search is a database of “hits” and small cutouts of the phase-corrected voltage data for each antenna around the hits called “postage stamps.”

COSMIC examined more than 950 million objects in space for technosignatures and found nothing. But that’s okay. SETI scientists still learned things from the effort by testing their system.

“As shown in <Figure 15>, within the last 11 months of operation, COSMIC has observed over 950,000 fields and is rapidly becoming one of the largest SETI experiments ever designed,” the authors write.

Though COSMIC has observed almost 1 million sources, researchers focused on a small subset to rigorously test the postprocessing system. In a test field of 30 minutes of data, they searched toward 511 stars from the Gaia catalogue. “In this search, no potential technosignatures were identified,” the authors write.

However, this is just the beginning and constitutes a successful test of the system. Future efforts with COSMIC will be both faster and more automated, which is necessary to manage the vast volume of data in modern astronomy.

“This work overall represents an important milestone in our search,” the authors write in their paper’s conclusion. “With the rapidly growing database, we need new methods for sorting through the data, and this paper describes a rapid and viable filtering mechanism.”

Research: 

• COSMIC’s Large-Scale Search for Technosignatures during the VLA Sky Survey:
  Survey Description and First Results

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

04-02-2025 om 18:39 geschreven door peter  

PREMIUM

Kopfoto Lieve Scheire © UAntwerpen, GTT, montage HLN

Lieven Scheire toert momenteel door Nederland en het Verenigd Koninkrijk met zijn theatershow over AI. Daarin krijgt DeepSeek ook meteen aandacht. 

© VTM

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

04-02-2025 om 17:20 geschreven door peter  

How Betty and Barney Hill’s Alien Abduction Story Defined the Genre

Their account, recovered with the help of hypnosis, detailed extensive medical exams, including a crude pregnancy test.

Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

Is it chasing us? That thought coursed through Betty and Barney Hill’s minds as they drove down the empty winding country road in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. It was a September night in 1961, they hadn’t seen a car for miles, and a strange light in the sky seemed to follow them.

When they finally got home to Portsmouth at dawn, they were far from relieved. They felt dirty. Their watches stopped working. Barney’s shoes were strangely scuffed and Betty’s dress was ripped. There were two hours of the drive that neither one of them could remember. What had happened?

With the help of a psychiatrist, the quiet couple eventually revealed a startling story: Gray beings with large eyes had walked them into a metallic disc as wide, Betty said, as her house was long. Once inside, the beings examined the couple and erased their memories.

Their experience would kick off an Air Force inquiry, part of the secretive initiative Project Blue Book that investigated UFO sightings across the country. The incident would also become the first-ever widely publicized alien-abduction account and shape how stories like it were told—and understood—from then on. Debate continues as to whether the husband and wife were liars, fantasists, crackpots or simply sleep-deprived people who later recovered seriously scrambled memories.

The Hills Saw Strange Lights Pursuing Their Car

The Hills’ road trip was spontaneous, a well-earned break Barney decided the couple needed, as explained in The Interrupted Journey, a 1966 book they collaborated on with author John G. Fuller. Barney worked a grueling night shift at the post office, driving 60 miles each way. Betty’s job handling state child-welfare cases was no easier. The little free time this biracial couple had was devoted to their church and activities related to the civil-rights movement. After 16 months of marriage, Betty and Barney saw this trip through Montreal and Niagara Falls as their delayed honeymoon. They left so impulsively they had no time to go to the bank before it closed for the weekend. They got in their car with less than $70 in their pockets.

On the last night of their three-day trip, the tired couple sipped coffee in a Vermont diner to recharge before driving back. Barney figured if they pushed through, they could beat the wind and rains from an approaching hurricane. They left the diner around 10 p.m., estimating they could reach their red-framed house in Portsmouth, New Hampshire between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. at the latest.

As they drove, strange light in the sky gave another reason to hurry. At first it looked like a falling star, but grew larger and brighter with each mile. Barney, an avid plane watcher and World War II vet, was sure they had nothing to worry about. It’s just a satellite, he assured Betty. It probably went off course.

The light seemed to move with the car as Barney steered down the curving mountain road. The light zigged and zagged, ducking past the moon and behind trees and mountain ridges, only to reappear moments later. Sometimes it seemed to move toward them in a game of cat-and-mouse. It had to be an illusion, they thought. Maybe the car’s movement made it seem like the light, too, was moving.

Curiosity overcame them. The couple pulled over at road stops and picnic turnouts to get a closer look. Through binoculars, Betty saw that the white light was really an object spinning in the air.

“Barney,” she told her husband, “if you think that’s a satellite or a star, you’re being completely ridiculous.”

Betty and Barney Hills’ Close Encounter

He knew she was right. Barney had an IQ of 140, noted Fuller in his book. Barney was also a pragmatic man who wouldn’t give flying saucers a second thought, remembered his niece Kathleen Marden in her work, Captured: The Betty and Barney Hill Experience. The night was too quiet for a helicopter, a commercial plane or even military jet with a hotshot pilot. He didn’t want to spook Betty, but he was becoming concerned. What was this light and why was it toying with them?

About 70 miles past the diner, the object hovered just above the treetops, approximately 100 feet above them. Barney abruptly stopped the car, keeping the engine running. He shoved a handgun he’d hidden beneath the seat into his pocket and rushed into a dark field, leaving Betty in the car. What he saw was as big as a jet but as round and flat as a pancake. “My God, what is this thing?” he recalled thinking. “This can’t be real.”

API/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images

An illustration of Betty and Barney Hill’s 1961 alien abduction

Behind rows of windows, gray uniformed beings seemed to look right at him, Barney recalled. He tried to lift his hand to his pistol but somehow couldn’t. A voice told him not to put down his binoculars.

He had a startling thought: We’re about to be captured. Yelling hysterically, he ran back to the car and barreled down the road as Betty tracked the craft, craning her head outside the car window. Without explanation, loud, rhythmic beeps sounded from the car’s trunk. The couple felt instantly drowsy and lost consciousness.

They came to around two hours later and 35 miles down the road.

Using Hypnosis to Recover the Hills’ Abduction Memory

Back home in Portsmouth, they tried to make sense of the night. Barney felt compelled to examine his body’s lower half. Both seemed aware of a puzzling presence.

In the weeks and months after, Betty, an avid reader, checked out books from the library discovering the civilian UFO group National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). She also reported the sighting to the Air Force, worried about radiation.

University of New Hampshire/Gado/Getty Images

Image depicting an alien space ship, at 200 feet and 100 feet above the Earth’s surface, drawn by alleged alien abductee Betty Hill and regarded as one of the first examples of the Flying Saucer alien spaceship archetype, September 20, 1961.

In coming years, with Betty suffering from disturbing dreams and Barney developing an ulcer and anxiety, the couple sought mental help. The two met with Benjamin Simon, a psychiatrist and neurologist who specialized in hypnosis, a mainstream technique at the time.

Through months of weekly sessions, Simon helped the couple piece together what they think had happened: A vessel had landed on the Hill’s car, putting them to sleep. Afterward, gray beings walked them up a long ramp and into the spacecraft.

Once inside, the Hills were separated, taking turns in an examination room that had curved walls and a large light hanging from the ceiling. Each was asked to climb up on a metal table. The table was so short, Barney’s legs hung over the side.

During the examinations, the beings removed Betty and Barney’s clothes, plucked strands of their hair, took clippings of their nails and scraped their skin. Each sample was placed on a clear material, not unlike a glass slide. Needles, connected to long wires, probed their heads, arms, legs and spines. One large needle, around 4 to 6 inches long, was inserted into Betty’s belly. This pregnancy test left her twisting in pain. Throughout, a being Barney and Betty called “the leader” watched from the side.

After Betty’s examination ended, the beings rushed back into her room, excited. They discovered that Barney’s teeth could be removed. Betty laughed, explaining that Barney had dentures, a fact of human aging the beings struggled to understand.

Later, alone with the leader, Betty asked where the craft had flown, admitting she knew little of the universe. The being joked with her, saying “if you don’t know where you are, there wouldn’t be any point in telling you where I am.” Later, under hypnosis, she drew a star map shown to her on the ship.

In 1965, the Hills’ story was picked up by a Boston newspaper. After that, everything changed. The quiet couple’s story became the subject of a best-selling book and a movie starring James Earl Jones. The upstanding civil servants had become celebrity abductees.

The Hills’ Story Became a Model for Alien Abductions

Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

Barney holding up a diagram explaining the alien abduction

The Hills weren’t the first to spot a UFO or even to report an abduction. But their story did capture the nation’s imagination and was so widely publicized, it has helped shape how we talk about alien encounters and abductions to this day.

Before the Hill’s story, alien encounters were friendly, according to Christoper Bader, a professor of sociology at California’s Chapman University. Some aliens even lived on earth and commuted back on weekends. But once the Hills’ story became better known, abduction accounts shared certain characteristics, such as medical examinations and missing time. Aliens with large heads and big eyes—dubbed “grays” in UFO circles—became classic sci-fi staples in personal accounts and pop culture, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and shows like the X-Files.

The Hills’ story—and those that came after—helped pave the way for a new understanding of human experience. Richard J. McNally, a Harvard psychologist, puts it this way: “The ‘alien-abduction’ phenomenon, in my opinion, shows how sincere, non-psychotic individuals can develop beliefs about, and false memories of, incredible experiences that never happened.”

• Read More – How Betty and Barney Hill’s Alien Abduction Story Defined the Genre

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04-02-2025 om 17:01 geschreven door peter