Studying a Rebounding Ice Cap

Broquet and his team decided to measure glacial isostatic rebound on Mars under the northern ice cap. It’s about 1,000 kilometers wide and three kilometers thick. They studied its formation by combining models of the planet’s thermal evolution with calculations of glacial isostatic adjustment, along with gravity, radar, and seismic observations.

The team concluded that the Martian northern polar cap is quite young, and it’s depressing the ground underneath. “We show that the ice sheet pushes the underlying ground into the mantle at a rate of up to 0.13 millimetres per year,” said Broquet. That’s a fairly small deformation, according to team member Ana-Catalina Plesa. “The small deformation rates indicate that the upper mantle of Mars is cold, highly viscous and much stiffer than Earth’s upper mantle,” she said.

Understanding Planetary Construction

So, how can measurements of ice weighing down planetary surfaces tell us so much? Remember that rocky planets like Earth and Mars are in constant states of change. Those changes can range from short-lived events like volcanic eruptions to long-lived ones like Ice Ages. Each alteration affects the surface, as does the rate at which the surface deforms and “bounces back”. Earth scientists use techniques such as the study of glacial isostatic adjustment to probe deep beneath the surface to understand the characteristics of those layers.

When ice weighs down the surface, the amount of depression depends on the mantle’s viscosity. That’s a measure of how much the mantle’s rocky materials resist flowing. Earth’s mantle rocks are more than a trillion times more viscous than asphalt. They still deform, however, and flow over geological timescales of millions of years. Using radar data and other methods to study the rate of depression and rebound of Earth’s surface, scientists can find the mantle viscosity. As it turns out, when you apply the same methods to Mars, it presents some surprises, including a seemingly cold north pole and the recently volcanically active equatorial regions.

Estimating Mars’s Interior

To understand why the Mars interior is the way it is, you need estimates of Mars’s gravity field (which varies), seismic measurements made by the InSight lander, and other data. They all help to determine rates of depression and rebound on the Red Planet’s surface and interior. The result? It appears that the surface under the Martian north pole has not had nearly enough time to fully deform under the weight of the ice. Broquet’s group estimates that Mars’s north pole surface area is currently subsiding at rates of up to 0.13 millimeters per year. For it to be that slow, the underlying upper mantle viscosity tells us that the Martian interior is quite cold.

The team’s measurements indicate the ice cap is young—well more than any other large-scale feature seen on the planet. It’s most likely to be between 2 and 12 million years.

Other places on the planet may not be quite so frigid as the polar regions. “Although the mantle underneath Mars’s north pole is estimated to be cold, our models are still able to predict the presence of local melt zones in the mantle near the equator,” said study co-author Doris Breuer.

These findings represent the first time that scientists found glacial isostatic adjustment operating on another rocky planet. Future missions to Mars could include more instruments to measure the rise and fall of the Martian surface in response to glaciation.

For More Information

• Mars’s Northern Ice Cap is Young with a Cold, Stiff Mantle Beneath
• Glacial Isostatic Adjustment Reveals Mars’s Interior Viscosity Structure

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

28-02-2025 om 16:41 geschreven door peter  

28-02-2025 om 16:16 geschreven door peter  

Pentagon Probes UFO Whistleblower Jake Barber’s Explosive Claims

The U.S. Department of Defense has confirmed that it is actively investigating claims made by Jake Barber, a whistleblower who recently spoke on NewsNation about his involvement in the government’s recovery of UFO technology. This investigation marks a significant step forward in the ongoing scrutiny of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), though concerns about transparency remain.

The Pentagon’s Official Investigation

According to investigative journalist Ross Coulthart, the Pentagon’s confirmation of this inquiry is a notable yet incremental development. The director of the Pentagon’s UAP investigation office, Dr. John Kloski, has expressed a serious commitment to investigating the phenomenon. However, he also admitted that his authority is limited by Pentagon regulations, which dictate the extent of information he can disclose.

The Pentagon’s historical reluctance to be forthcoming on matters related to UAPs raises concerns about how much information will be made public. The level of transparency will depend largely on the new U.S. administration and the willingness of Congress to push for further disclosures.

Decades of Alleged Secrecy

For years, there have been allegations of a covert program aimed at retrieving and reverse-engineering non-human technology. Coulthart suggests that U.S. authorities have long suppressed information regarding these recoveries. Notably, key figures in the intelligence community—including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and FBI Director Nash Patel—have indicated their willingness to investigate the UAP issue further.

However, recent contradictory statements from government agencies have fueled skepticism. For instance, the Pentagon recently responded to White House inquiries about drone incursions, attributing them to authorized Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) programs. This claim directly contradicts the FAA’s testimony before Congress in December, leading to further doubts about the credibility of official explanations.

The Role of Congress and the New Administration

The ongoing investigation has gained political traction, with Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna launching a transparency committee to scrutinize the Pentagon’s handling of UAP-related information. Whether she will be permitted to ask tough questions in a public hearing remains uncertain.

Additionally, former President Donald Trump, who has promised to uncover the truth behind the UAP mystery, could play a crucial role in determining the future of UAP disclosures. However, skepticism remains about whether meaningful revelations will occur under the new administration.

Jake Barber’s Experience in Government Operations

Barber claims to have worked on government projects involving UFO technology on a site he refers to as “the range.” According to him, this location was used by the U.S. government and private partners to test advanced technologies, including weapon systems and their resilience against external threats. His account aligns with testimonies from other whistleblowers, further strengthening the argument for an extensive government program related to UAP recovery.

Coulthart, who has extensively reported on UAP-related stories, supports Barber’s credibility, stating that his sources within the Legacy program have corroborated these claims. According to these insiders, the continued secrecy surrounding the UAP issue serves no legitimate purpose and should be lifted to allow public awareness.

A Possible Shift Toward Disclosure?

With increased pressure from whistleblowers like Barber and investigative journalists, the government has an opportunity to provide clarity on UAP encounters. The central question remains: will the Pentagon finally acknowledge the existence of non-human intelligence interacting with Earth, or will secrecy continue to dominate this subject?

As Barber and his team at SkyWatcher work to replicate some of the research conducted at “the range” through private funding, the demand for transparency grows. Whether or not the government will respond with genuine openness remains to be seen.

RELATED VIDEOS

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

28-02-2025 om 15:30 geschreven door peter  

When people imagine Satan, they often picture a red-skinned figure with horns, a pitchfork, and an ominous presence designed to lead people into sin. However, according to theologian Jared Brock, author of the new book A Devil Named Lucifer, such depictions are entirely inaccurate and not based on Scripture. In reality, the truth about Satan is far more unsettling than the cultural stereotypes or movie portrayals suggests.

"I think culture just got so obsessed with this idea of this little red devil on your shoulder haunting you at all times," Brock explained in an interview about his upcoming book with the Daily Mail.

Rather than a monstrous figure, or a purely physical creature, Brock says, the devil is a spiritual being, capable of appearing in appealing forms to entice rather than frighten. Instead of an image drawn from horror movies, Scripture suggests that Satan presents himself in a way that makes his temptations seem desirable. Brock also clarifies that there are two Biblical words used for the devil: one meaning "accuser" and another meaning "adversary," which clarifies how he will manifest his presence

• Baphomet: Was the Diabolical Demon Really Worshipped by Knights Templars?
• Rise of Satanism: Satanic Temple Offers Higher Education Scholarships

But his powers are far from unlimited. There is no scriptural evidence that Satan can be everywhere at once. Unlike God, he is not omnipresent and does not possess the divine ability to be in multiple places simultaneously.

Painting from 1750 by Corrado Giaquinto, entitled ‘Satan Before the Lord.’

(Public Domain).

The Reality of Hell and Satan's Role

Many believe that Satan rules over Hell and torments lost souls by breathing fire, but Brock emphasizes that this is another misconception. The Book of Revelation states that Satan actually spews water, not fire.

"The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood," reads Revelation 12:15.

Hell itself is a subject of debate within Scripture. Brock points out that there are five or six different references to the afterlife’s underworld, leading to uncertainty about its actual nature.

"Are these physical? Are they spiritual? Are they forever? Are they for a limited period of time? And the answer to all of that is we just don't know," he said.

Christian doctrine teaches that Satan was once a powerful angel who fell from Heaven due to his pride and ambition. Revelation 12:7-9 recounts the celestial battle that led to this earth-shattering result:

"And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."

Which means that Satan has had a presence on Earth for a long time, during which he has undoubtedly made himself known through his works (a topic for discussion in Jared Brock’s book).

Painting from 1895 by Ilya Repin, entitled ‘Get Thee Behind Me Satan.’

(Public Domain).

More Myths and Misconceptions

Another common misunderstanding is the name "Lucifer." Many assume it is Satan’s true name, but Brock notes that it appears only once in Scripture.

Isaiah 14:12 states, "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, that didst lay low the nations!" The verse is often linked to Satan's fall, but not all translations include the name "Lucifer," with some instead using "morning star." While nothing definitive can be determined, it seems possible that Lucifer actually refers to a meteor or asteroid that struck the Earth sometime in the distant past, causing a huge amount of destruction that was still remembered in ancient mythologies.

• 13th Century ‘Demon Church’ Attacked With Satanic Black Magic Rituals
• 17th Century Letter Allegedly Written by Possessed Nun Decoded For the First Time

Similarly, the number "666" is frequently associated with the devil, but Brock argues that its meaning is more complex.

Revelation 13:18 reads, "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six." According to Brock, this number might refer to figures such as Goliath, who had six pieces of armor, a specific height, and a heavy spear, or it could symbolize King Nebuchadnezzar or Emperor Nero through a numerical code.

Another misconception is that Satan commands legions of demons. While some believe he leads vast armies, Brock points out that Scripture only mentions a handful of demons. The Bible does, however, state that Satan took a third of the angels with him when he was cast out of Heaven, as referenced in Revelation 12:4.

Recognizing the Devil’s True Face

Jared Brock’s goal is not to simply dispel all traditional ideas about Satan, as a debunker of legends and myths. He believes the Devil is among us and that it is important to know who he is and who he isn’t, in order to protect ourselves and our loved ones from his depredations.

"It’s vital we know what the devil really looks like—in both a material and spiritual sense—so we can more easily spot him at work in the world around us," he said. He explains that Satan rarely takes the form of a monstrous, fire-breathing creature because fear is less effective than seduction.

Roy Thinnes playing a college professor who is really Satan in disguise, surrounded by his sorority sister disciples in the 1973 movie ‘Satan’s School for Girls.’

(Killer Kittens from Beyond the Grave (blog)).

Brock has spoken to numerous individuals who claim to have had demonic spiritual encounters. He believes that spiritual forces operate in the world, one of which is "mammon," an Aramaic term Jesus used to describe money. However, he also emphasizes personal accountability in matters of evil.

"We've all heard the phrase ‘The devil made you do it.’ The devil has never made anyone do anything. The devil can't make you pull the trigger and shoot someone," he said.

But in a world fraught with danger and peril, learning to recognize who the Devil really is and how he really works is a matter of personal responsibility as well, which is why Brock chose this time in our history to contribute to the broader discussion about the true nature of good and evil.

• Top image: Illustration of Al Pacino showing his human and true faces, playing Satan in the movie ‘The Devil’s Advocate.’
• Source: Bill Strain/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0).

By Nathan Falde

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends }

27-02-2025 om 22:47 geschreven door peter  

Humanity may not be extraordinary but rather the natural evolutionary outcome for our planet and likely others, according to a new model for how intelligent life developed on Earth.

The model, which upends the decades-old "hard steps" theory that intelligent life was an incredibly improbable event, suggests that maybe it wasn't all that hard or improbable. A team of researchers at Penn State, who led the work, said the new interpretation of humanity's origin increases the probability of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.

This is a significant shift in how we think about the history of life," said Jennifer Macalady, professor of geosciences at Penn State and co-author on the paper, which was published Feb. 14 in the journal  Science Advances.

"It suggests that the evolution of complex life may be less about luck and more about the interplay between life and its environment, opening up exciting new avenues of research in our quest to understand our origins and our place in the universe."

• Panspermia – The Idea That Life Came From The Stars
• Does Tucker Carlson Have A Point About the Theory of Evolution?

The “Hard Steps” Model Disputed, and Maybe Refuted

Initially developed by theoretical physicist Brandon Carter in 1983, the "hard steps" model argues that our evolutionary origin was highly unlikely due to the time it took for humans to evolve on Earth relative to the total lifespan of the sun—and therefore the likelihood of finding human-like beings beyond Earth is extremely low.

AI-generated illustration of the so-called “primordial soup” out of which life on Earth evolved once the planet had warmed and the necessary chemicals were in the water and the atmosphere

(NASA/Public Domain).

In the new study, a team of researchers that included astrophysicists and geobiologists argued that Earth's environment was initially inhospitable to many forms of life, and that key evolutionary steps only became possible when the global environment reached a "permissive" state.

For example, complex animal life requires a certain level of oxygen in the atmosphere. So the oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere through photosynthesizing microbes and bacteria was a natural evolutionary step for the planet, which created a window of opportunity for more recent life forms to develop, explained Dan Mills, postdoctoral researcher at The University of Munich and lead author of the new paper.

"We're arguing that intelligent life may not require a series of lucky breaks to exist," said Mills, who worked in Macalady's astrobiology lab at Penn State as an undergraduate researcher.

"Humans didn't evolve 'early' or 'late' in Earth's history, but 'on time," when the conditions were in place. Perhaps it's only a matter of time, and maybe other planets are able to achieve these conditions more rapidly than Earth did, while other planets might take even longer."

The central prediction of the "hard steps" theory states that very few, if any, other civilizations exist throughout the universe. This is because steps such as the origin of life, the development of complex cells and the emergence of human intelligence are improbable based on Carter's interpretation of the sun's total lifespan being 10 billion years, and the Earth's age of around 5 billion years.

• Gaia: Recognizing Our Role on a Living Earth
• New Science Addresses a Noisy Problem with the Evolutionary Hypothesis

In the new study, the researchers proposed that the timing of human origins can be explained by the sequential opening of "windows of habitability" over Earth's history, driven by changes in nutrient availability, sea surface temperature, ocean salinity levels and the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere.

“This framework raises the possibility that biospheric evolution generally proceeds in a coarsely deterministic or predictable fashion, governed by long-term biospheric trends like increasing habitat diversity in response to unidirectional changes in Earth’s surface environment,” the study authors wrote in their Science Advances article. “Not only would these trends and processes apply to Earth through time, but their analogs may apply to other inhabited Earth-like worlds in the Universe.”

Given all the interplaying factors, they said, the Earth has only recently become hospitable to humanity—it's simply the natural result of those conditions at work.

"We're taking the view that rather than base our predictions on the lifespan of the sun, we should use a geological time scale, because that's how long it takes for the atmosphere and landscape to change," said Jason Wright, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State and co-author on the paper. "These are normal timescales on the Earth. If life evolves with the planet, then it will evolve on a planetary time scale at a planetary pace."

AI-generated illustration of the so-called “primordial soup” out of which life on Earth evolved once the planet had warmed and the necessary chemicals were in the water and the atmosphere.

Moving Beyond Astrophysics

Wright explained that part of the reason that the "hard steps" model has prevailed for so long is that it originated from his own discipline of astrophysics, which is the default field used to understand the formation of planets and celestial systems.

The team's paper is a collaboration between physicists and geobiologists, each learning from each other's fields to develop a nuanced picture of how life evolves on a planet like Earth.

"This paper is the most generous act of interdisciplinary work," said Macalady, who also directs Penn State's Astrobiology Research Center. "Our fields were far apart, and we put them on the same page to get at this question of how we got here and are we alone? There was a gulf, and we built a bridge."

The researchers said they plan to test their alternative model, including questioning the unique status of the proposed evolutionary "hard steps." The recommended research projects are outlined in the current paper and include such work as searching the atmospheres of planets outside our solar system for biosignatures, like the presence of oxygen.

The team also proposed testing the requirements for proposed "hard steps" to determine how hard they actually are by studying uni- and multicellular forms of life under specific environmental conditions such as lower oxygen and temperature levels.

Beyond the proposed projects, the team suggested the research community should investigate whether innovations —such as the origin of life, oxygenic photosynthesis, eukaryotic cells, animal multicellularity and Homo sapiens—are truly singular events in Earth's history. Could similar innovations have evolved independently in the past, but evidence that they happened was lost due to extinction or other factors?

"This new perspective suggests that the emergence of intelligent life might not be such a long shot after all," Wright said. "Instead of a series of improbable events, evolution may be more of a predictable process, unfolding as global conditions allow. Our framework applies not only to Earth, but also other planets, increasing the possibility that life similar to ours could exist elsewhere."

• Top image: View from the International Space Station, looking down at a blue and fertile Earth where life has blossomed.
• Source: NASA.
• This is an edited version of an article published by Penn State University entitled ‘Does planetary evolution favor human-like life? Study ups odds we're not alone.’

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/science-space }

27-02-2025 om 22:30 geschreven door peter  

Wetenschappelijke Analyse van Ontvoeringen door Buitenaardsen

Inleiding

Ontvoeringen door buitenaardsen, ook wel bekend als "alien abduction", zijn een onderwerp dat zowel nieuwsgierigheid als scepsis oproept. Dit fenomeen is door de jaren heen onderwerp geweest van talloze onderzoeken, boeken en documentaires. In deze analyse wordt gekeken naar de geloofwaardigheid van deze claims, mogelijke verklaringen voor de ervaringen van ontvoerde personen, en de rol van bewijs en fraude in deze context.

1. Geloofwaardigheid van Ontvoeringen door Buitenaardsen

Inleiding

Het fenomeen van vermeende ontvoeringen door buitenaardsen heeft de afgelopen decennia veel aandacht gekregen, zowel in de media als in de populaire cultuur. Persoonlijke getuigenissen van mensen die beweren ontvoerd te zijn door buitenaardse wezens vormen een belangrijk aspect van deze discussie. Maar hoe geloofwaardig zijn deze verhalen? In dit artikel analyseren we de geloofwaardigheid van deze ontvoeringen, de psychologische verklaringen erachter, culturele invloeden, en de rol van implantaten en getuigen.

Persoonlijke Getuigenissen

Persoonlijke getuigenissen spelen een cruciale rol in de narratieven rond buitenaardse ontvoeringen. Veel mensen beschrijven gedetailleerde ervaringen waarin ze worden ontvoerd, vaak met specifieke elementen zoals het zien van ruimteschepen, interacties met buitenaardse wezens, en medische onderzoeken. Een bekend voorbeeld is het verhaal van Betty en Barney Hill, die in 1961 beweerden ontvoerd te zijn door buitenaardse wezens. Hun verhaal werd één van de eerste goed gedocumenteerde gevallen van een vermeende ontvoering en heeft veel invloed gehad op de publieke perceptie van het fenomeen.

Toch is het belangrijk om te erkennen dat persoonlijke getuigenissen subjectief zijn en vaak beïnvloed kunnen worden door verschillende factoren, zoals suggestie en sociale druk. Psychologisch onderzoek toont aan dat mensen zich gebeurtenissen kunnen herinneren die nooit werkelijk hebben plaatsgevonden, vooral in stressvolle of traumatische situaties. Dit fenomeen, bekend als 'valse herinneringen', kan een verklaring bieden voor sommige getuigenissen van ontvoeringen.

Psychologische Verklaringen

De psychologische verklaringen voor ontvoeringen door buitenaardsen zijn divers en complex. Een van de meest voorkomende theorieën is dat deze ervaringen voortkomen uit slaapparalysie. Tijdens een episode van slaapparalysie kan een persoon zich bewust zijn van zijn omgeving maar niet in staat zijn om te bewegen of te spreken. Dit kan leiden tot intense angst en visuele of auditieve hallucinaties. Veel mensen die deze episodes ervaren, rapporteren een gevoel van aanwezigheid, wat kan worden geïnterpreteerd als een buitenaardse entiteit.

Daarnaast spelen culturele en sociale factoren een rol in de manier waarop mensen ontvoeringen interpreteren. In samenlevingen waar buitenaardse levensvormen prominent aanwezig zijn in films, boeken en andere media, is de kans groter dat mensen hun ervaringen in deze context plaatsen. Dit kan leiden tot een grotere neiging om hun ervaringen als ontvoeringen door buitenaardsen te beschouwen.

Culturele Invloeden

Culturele invloeden zijn een belangrijke factor in de perceptie van buitenaardse ontvoeringen. De populariteit van sciencefiction en de opkomst van het UFO-fenomeen in de jaren vijftig en zestig hebben bijgedragen aan de manier waarop mensen deze ervaringen interpreteren. Films zoals "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" en "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" hebben een beeld gecreëerd van buitenaardse wezens die zowel vreedzaam als bedreigend kunnen zijn. Dit kan de verwachtingen en interpretaties van mensen beïnvloeden die beweren ontvoerd te zijn.

In verschillende culturen zijn er ook vergelijkbare verhalen van ontvoeringen door niet-aardse wezens, wat suggereert dat dit fenomeen niet beperkt is tot de westerse wereld. In sommige inheemse culturen zijn er verhalen over 'spirituele' ontvoeringen door entiteiten die op buitenaardsen lijken. Dit benadrukt de rol van culturele context in de interpretatie van deze ervaringen.

Implantaten

Een ander controversieel aspect van het fenomeen van buitenaardse ontvoeringen is de bewering dat ontvoerden implantaten in hun lichaam hebben. Sommige getuigen hebben aangedrongen op de aanwezigheid van vreemde objecten, die naar verluidt door buitenaardsen zijn geïmplanteerd voor onderzoek of controle. Er zijn enkele medische onderzoeken uitgevoerd die deze beweringen hebben onderzocht, maar de resultaten zijn vaak inconclusief en kunnen ook verklaard worden door natuurlijke oorzaken zoals cysten of andere medische aandoeningen.

De discussie over implantaten heeft geleid tot een grotere fascinatie en speculatie rond ontvoeringen. Dit aspect kan zowel de geloofwaardigheid van getuigenissen ondermijnen als versterken, afhankelijk van hoe men deze bewijzen interpreteert. Kritici wijzen erop dat het ontbreken van solide wetenschappelijk bewijs voor de aanwezigheid van buitenaardse implantaten de geloofwaardigheid van deze verhalen kan aantasten.

Meerdere Getuigen

In sommige gevallen zijn er meerdere getuigen van dezelfde ontvoering. Dit kan de geloofwaardigheid van een verhaal versterken, maar het roept ook vragen op over groepsdynamiek en sociale beïnvloeding. Wanneer meerdere mensen een vergelijkbare ervaring beschrijven, kan dit zowel wijzen op een gezamenlijke realiteit als op de kracht van groepssuggestie. In het geval van de Phoenix Lights, waar duizenden mensen in 1997 een ongewoon lichtverschijnsel in de lucht meldden, is er veel discussie geweest over wat precies werd waargenomen en hoe de getuigen hun ervaringen interpreteerden.

Conclusie

De geloofwaardigheid van ontvoeringen door buitenaardsen is een complex en veelzijdig onderwerp. Persoonlijke getuigenissen, hoewel vaak aangrijpend en overtuigend, zijn onderhevig aan een scala aan psychologische en culturele invloeden die de manier waarop mensen deze ervaringen interpreteren kunnen beïnvloeden. Psychologische verklaringen zoals slaapparalysie en valse herinneringen bieden mogelijke inzichten in waarom mensen geloven dat ze zijn ontvoerd.

Daarnaast spelen culturele factoren een cruciale rol in hoe deze verhalen worden gevormd en gedeeld. Het fenomeen van implantaten voegt nog een laag van mysterie en speculatie toe aan de discussie, terwijl meerdere getuigen zowel de geloofwaardigheid als de complexiteit van deze ervaringen onderstrepen. Al met al blijft het onderwerp van buitenaardse ontvoeringen een fascinerend, hoewel controversieel, gebied van onderzoek en discussie.

De geloofwaardigheid van ontvoeringen door buitenaardsen is een onderwerp van discussie binnen de wetenschappelijke gemeenschap. Dit kan worden onderverdeeld in verschillende categorieën:

2. Voorbeelden en Bewijzen

Er zijn verschillende bekende gevallen van vermeende buitenaardse ontvoeringen. Enkele van de meest besproken zijn:

• Het geval van Travis Walton (1975): Walton, een boswerker, beweerde dat hij was ontvoerd door een UFO terwijl hij met zijn collega's aan het werk was. Zijn verhaal werd een populaire film en leidde tot veel discussie. Hoewel Walton zijn ervaring in detail heeft beschreven, blijven sceptici twijfels uiten over de waarheidsgetrouwe aard van zijn verhaal.

  Inleiding

  In de wereld van UFO-waarnemingen en buitenaardse ontmoetingen is het geval van Travis Walton een van de meest intrigerende en besproken verhalen. Hoewel het oorspronkelijke incident zich in de Verenigde Staten voordeed, is het van belang om de impact en de implicaties van dergelijke gevallen ook in een Nederlandse context te onderzoeken. Dit rapport biedt een overzicht van het geval van Travis Walton, de reacties daarop en de bredere betekenis in de discussie over UFO-verschijnselen.
  Het Incident
  Op 5 november 1975, tijdens een houtkapproject in de bossen nabij Snowflake, Arizona, was Travis Walton, een 22-jarige boswerker, samen met zijn collega's aan het werk. Toen ze op weg waren naar huis, zagen ze een fel licht dat hen aantrok. Walton stapte uit de vrachtwagen om een beter kijkje te nemen. Wat volgde was schokkend: de mannen zagen hoe Walton door een onverklaarbare lichtstraal werd opgetild en vervolgens verdween. De overige boswerkers waren in shock en renden weg uit angst.
  Na het voorval meldden de mannen het incident bij de autoriteiten, maar werden als leugenaars beschouwd; vooral omdat Walton zelf niet meer terug te vinden was. Bijna vijf dagen later werd hij op mysterieuze wijze teruggevonden, verward en uitgeput, maar levend. Walton vertelde een verhaal over een ontmoeting met buitenaardse wezens aan boord van een ruimteschip, wat leidde tot een golf van publieke belangstelling en speculatie.
  Reacties en Impact
  Het verhaal van Travis Walton heeft wereldwijd aandacht gekregen, en in Nederland was dat niet anders. De media spraken uitgebreid over het voorval, en er werden talloze artikelen en documentaires aan gewijd. De combinatie van de mysterieuze verdwijning en de beweringen van buitenaardse ontmoetingen sprak tot de verbeelding van veel Nederlanders, en het leidde tot een hernieuwde belangstelling voor UFO-onderzoek.
  In de jaren '70 en '80 waren er in Nederland ook verschillende UFO-waarnemingen en organisaties die zich bezighielden met het onderzoeken van dergelijke fenomenen. De getuigenissen van Walton en zijn collega's hielpen om een breder publiek te interesseren voor de mogelijkheid van buitenaardse levensvormen en de vraag of de mensheid alleen is in het universum.
  De Wetenschappelijke Benadering
  Wetenschappers en skeptici hebben het geval van Travis Walton onder de loep genomen. Veel onderzoekers hebben gesuggereerd dat de ervaring van Walton het resultaat kan zijn van psychologische factoren, zoals een nachtmerrie of een hallucinerende toestand. Er zijn ook theorieën die suggereren dat het een geval van massahysterie was onder de boswerkers. De moeilijkheid om het verhaal wetenschappelijk te verifiëren heeft geleid tot een voortdurende discussie over de geloofwaardigheid van UFO-verschijnselen en de ervaringen van degenen die beweren te zijn ontvoerd.
  In Nederland zijn er ook verschillende wetenschappers en organisaties die zich bezighouden met het onderzoeken van UFO-verschijnselen. Het lijkt erop dat, hoewel er weinig concrete bewijzen zijn die de claims van Walton ondersteunen, de discussie over UFO's en buitenaardse levensvormen blijft voortduren.
  Conclusie
  Het geval van Travis Walton blijft een fascinerend onderwerp, niet alleen in de Verenigde Staten maar ook in Nederland. Het roept belangrijke vragen op over de aard van onze werkelijkheid, de grenzen van de menselijke ervaring en de mogelijkheden van buitenaards leven. Terwijl skeptici en wetenschappers zich blijven buigen over de feiten, blijven de verhalen van mensen die beweren UFO's te hebben gezien of ontvoerd te zijn een belangrijk onderdeel van de populaire cultuur.
  In een tijd waarin technologie en wetenschap steeds verder vooruitgaan, is het essentieel om open te staan voor nieuwe ideeën en om de mysteries van het universum te blijven onderzoeken. Het verhaal van Travis Walton herinnert ons eraan dat er nog veel onbekend is en dat de zoektocht naar antwoorden ons kan leiden naar onverwachte en intrigerende ontdekkingen.

• De Pascagoula-ontvoering (1973): Charles Hickson en Calvin Parker beweerden dat ze waren ontvoerd door een UFO terwijl ze aan het vissen waren. Hun getuigenissen werden opgenomen en zijn sindsdien onderwerp geweest van discussie, maar ook hier blijft het bewijs voor hun beweringen beperkt.

  Inleiding
  De Pascagoula-ontvoering is een van de meest besproken en controversiële UFO-incidenten in de geschiedenis. Het vond plaats op 11 oktober 1973 in Pascagoula, Mississippi, en wordt vaak aangehaald als een van de meest geloofwaardige gevallen van een vermeende ontvoering door buitenaardse wezens. Dit rapport onderzoekt de gebeurtenissen, getuigenissen, en de impact van deze gebeurtenis op de UFO-gemeenschap en de bredere maatschappij.
  De Gebeurtenissen
  Op de avond van 11 oktober 1973 bevonden twee mannen, Charles Hickson en Calvin Parker, zich aan de oever van de Pascagoula-rivier. Terwijl ze aan het vissen waren, merkten ze een fel licht op dat van bovenaf naar hen toekwam. Dit licht transformeerde zich in een object dat boven hen zweefde en uiteindelijk landde nabij de oever. De mannen waren aanvankelijk in de veronderstelling dat het misschien een militaire oefening was, maar al snel veranderde hun nieuwsgierigheid in angst.
  Volgens de getuigenissen van Hickson en Parker, werd het object vergezeld door drie ongewone wezens. Deze wezens waren ongeveer 1.20 meter lang, hadden een grijze huid, en grote, zwarte ogen. De mannen beweerden dat ze in een trance werden gebracht en gedwongen werden om aan boord van het object te gaan. Binnenin het vaartuig ondergingen ze een aantal vreemde en onbekende procedures. Na enkele minuten werden ze weer vrijgelaten, en het object steeg op en verdween.
  Getuigenissen en Onderzoek
  Na hun ervaring keerden Hickson en Parker terug naar de kust en meldden hun ontvoering onmiddellijk aan de lokale autoriteiten. Hun verhaal werd met argwaan ontvangen, maar de mannen ondergingen een leugendetectortest, die een positieve uitkomst gaf. Dit droeg bij aan de geloofwaardigheid van hun getuigenissen.
  De politie van Pascagoula en verschillende UFO-onderzoekers, waaronder de Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), begonnen het geval te onderzoeken. Ondanks de aanvankelijke scepsis, waren er diverse getuigen die ook onverklaarbare lichten en geluiden in de omgeving hadden waargenomen. Dit gaf het verhaal een extra laag van legitimiteit.
  Impact op de Maatschappij
  De Pascagoula-ontvoering heeft een significante impact gehad op de UFO-cultuur en de publieke perceptie van buitenaardse verschijnselen. Het incident werd breed uitgemeten in de media, wat leidde tot een toename van interesse in UFO's en ontvoeringen. Hickson en Parker werden zelfs uitgenodigd om te verschijnen op televisieprogramma's en conferenties, waar ze hun verhaal deelden met een breed publiek.
  Ondanks de aandacht en het onderzoek, bleef het verhaal van de Pascagoula-ontvoering omstreden. Skeptici wijzen op verschillende factoren die de geloofwaardigheid van de getuigen in twijfel trekken, zoals de mogelijkheid van hallucinaties of een gezamenlijke grap. Toch blijft het verhaal een belangrijk onderdeel van de UFO-geschiedenis en wordt het nog steeds besproken in verschillende documentaires en boeken.
  Conclusie
  De Pascagoula-ontvoering blijft een fascinerend en mysterieus verhaal dat de verbeelding van mensen over de hele wereld heeft gevangen. Of men nu gelooft in de getuigenissen van Charles Hickson en Calvin Parker of niet, het incident heeft bijgedragen aan de bredere discussie over buitenaards leven en de mogelijkheid van contact met andere werelden. Het blijft een onderwerp dat zowel skeptici als gelovigen blijft intrigeren, en het roept vragen op over de grenzen van menselijke ervaring en de onbekende mogelijkheden van het universum. De Pascagoula-ontvoering is meer dan alleen een verhaal van een vermeende ontvoering; het is een reflectie van onze diepgewortelde nieuwsgierigheid naar het onbekende.

3. Analyse van Bedrog en Scepsis van Ontvoeringen door Buitenaardsen

Het fenomeen van ontvoeringen door buitenaards leven heeft jarenlang de verbeelding van mensen gevangen. Verschillende getuigenissen, boeken en documentaires hebben bijgedragen aan de populariteit van dit onderwerp. Echter, naast de fascinerende verhalen van vermeende ontvoeringen, is er een groeiende scepsis en een kritische blik op de geloofwaardigheid van deze claims. Dit artikel analyseert de thema's bedrog en scepsis rondom ontvoeringen door buitenaardsen, en de maatschappelijke implicaties daarvan.

De Oorsprong van Ontvoeringen

Het idee van ontvoeringen door buitenaardsen is niet nieuw. Het kreeg een grote impuls in de jaren vijftig en zestig van de vorige eeuw, vooral met het verhaal van Betty en Barney Hill, de eerste gedocumenteerde ontvoering door buitenaardsen in de Verenigde Staten. Sindsdien zijn er talloze meldingen van vergelijkbare ervaringen, die variëren van bizarre medische experimenten tot spirituele inzichten. Deze verhalen zijn vaak indrukwekkend en emotioneel, maar de vraag rijst of ze op waarheid berusten of onderdeel zijn van een groter psychologisch of cultureel fenomeen.

Psychologische Factoren

Een belangrijke factor in het fenomeen van ontvoeringen door buitenaardsen is de psychologische impact op de getuigen. Verschillende psychologen hebben gesuggereerd dat deze ervaringen voortkomen uit slaapverlamming, hallucinaties of zelfs trauma. De mens is van nature geneigd betekenis te geven aan onverklaarbare gebeurtenissen, en het idee van buitenaardsen kan een manier zijn om met angst en onzekerheid om te gaan. Dit verklaart misschien waarom sommige mensen vastberaden zijn in hun geloof in ontvoeringen, ondanks het gebrek aan bewijs.

Media en Cultuur

De rol van de media en populaire cultuur is ook cruciaal in het verspreiden van het geloof in buitenaardse ontvoeringen. Films, boeken en televisieprogramma's hebben bijgedragen aan de normalisering van het idee dat buitenaards leven ons heeft bezocht. Deze representaties zijn vaak sensationalistisch en dragen bij aan de mythevorming rondom ontvoeringen. De populariteit van het onderwerp leidt vaak tot een vicieuze cirkel: hoe meer aandacht het krijgt, hoe meer mensen geneigd zijn om te geloven in hun eigen ervaringen of die van anderen.

Bedrog en Valse Getuigenissen

Naast oprechte overtuiging zijn er ook gevallen van bedrog en valse getuigenissen. Sommige individuen hebben bewust onjuiste verhalen verteld om aandacht te krijgen, financieel gewin te behalen of zelfs om psychologische redenen. Dit roept ethische vragen op over de impact van zulke claims op de bredere discussie over buitenaards leven. Wanneer de nadruk ligt op sensationele verhalen, kunnen serieuze wetenschappelijke onderzoeken naar de mogelijkheid van buitenaards leven in het gedrang komen.

Scepsis en Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek

Wetenschappers zijn over het algemeen sceptisch ten aanzien van claims van ontvoeringen door buitenaardsen. De meeste wetenschappelijke studies hebben tot nu toe geen overtuigend bewijs geleverd voor het bestaan van buitenaards leven, laat staan voor het idee dat ze ons bezoeken en ons ontvoeren. De zoektocht naar buitenaards leven richt zich voornamelijk op astrobiologie en het bestuderen van exoplaneten, waarbij de focus ligt op het vinden van levensvatbare omgevingen in plaats van het onderzoeken van onverklaarbare menselijke ervaringen.

BESLUIT

De discussie over ontvoeringen door buitenaardsen is complex en gelaagd. Aan de ene kant zijn er oprechte getuigenissen die de nieuwsgierigheid van de mens aanwakkeren en de verbeelding prikkelen. Aan de andere kant zijn er psychologische verklaringen, culturele invloeden en gevallen van bedrog die de scepsis voeden. Hoewel de fascinatie voor buitenaards leven blijft bestaan, is het belangrijk om kritisch te blijven kijken naar de claims en de context waarin ze worden gepresenteerd. De zoektocht naar waarheid in deze verhalen vereist een evenwichtige benadering, waarbij zowel de menselijke ervaring als de noodzaak voor wetenschappelijk onderzoek worden gerespecteerd.

EINDBESLUIT

De vraag naar de geloofwaardigheid van ontvoeringen door buitenaardsen blijft een complex en controversieel onderwerp. Terwijl sommige getuigenissen overtuigend kunnen lijken, ontbreekt het vaak aan empirisch bewijs om deze claims te verifiëren. Psychologische factoren en culturele invloeden spelen een belangrijke rol in de interpretatie van deze ervaringen. Hoewel de fascinatie voor buitenaardse ontvoeringen voortduurt, is het belangrijk om kritisch te blijven en onderscheid te maken tussen anekdotisch bewijs en wetenschappelijk onderbouwde feiten. De zoektocht naar waarheid in deze mysterieuze verhalen blijft een intrigerende uitdaging voor zowel wetenschappers als het publiek.

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{ PETER2011 }

27-02-2025 om 22:13 geschreven door peter  

This Man Has One of the Most Convincing UFO Encounters: Abducted, Tracked, and Experimented on at Devil’s Den State Park

This Man, who served in the U.S. Air Force, has one of the most convincing UFO encounter stories. He had a terrifying experience at Devil’s Den State Park, claiming to have been repeatedly abducted by aliens, fitted with a tracking device, and experimented on.

Terry Lovelace found something strange in his leg during a doctor’s visit in 2012. He had felt a sharp pain, lost his balance, and fallen. When the doctor took an X-ray, he discovered a small square object deep inside Terry’s leg. The doctor was confused because Terry had never had surgery or an accident that could explain it. Then, Terry remembered something he had tried to forget for 40 years—a terrifying experience at Devil’s Den State Park. The object in his leg was not man-made.

In 1973, Mr. Lovelace joined the U.S. Air Force immediately after graduating from high school. He received training as a medic/EMT and was stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, which was previously called Sedalia Air Force Base. The base served as a B-2 bomber base and missile base and was home to the 351st Strategic Missile Wing, with many Minuteman II nuclear-armed ICBM silos scattered across the rural area.

Lovelace worked as a medic at an Air Force base and drove an ambulance at night with his partner, Toby. One night in June 1977, while taking a break, they looked at the stars. Toby, who loved astronomy, pointed out planets and constellations. Their night shifts were usually quiet, but this night changed their lives forever.

Later, Lovelace and Toby went camping at Devil’s Den State Park in Arkansas. As they sat by the fire, the sounds of crickets and frogs suddenly stopped, making everything eerily silent. Then, they saw three bright lights moving toward them. As the lights got closer, they realized they were coming from a huge, black, triangular-shaped UFO.

A blue laser beam quickly scanned over them, and the next thing they knew, they had lost consciousness. When Lovelace woke up, Toby was staring outside the tent. Lovelace looked too and saw the UFO floating above a group of about twelve children standing in a field. Confused, he asked, “Why are those kids out here at this time of night?”

Toby responded, “They aren’t kids. Don’t you remember? They took us and hurt us.”

Hearing this triggered Lovelace’s memory. Over the years, he used hypnosis to recover more details about what happened that night. He remembered being taken inside the UFO, where strange-looking beings performed medical experiments on him.

These beings looked somewhat human but were also very different. They didn’t speak but communicated using thoughts (telepathy). Lovelace recalled lying on an examination table, trying to scream, but no sound came out. Through telepathy, he could hear the beings telling him not to be afraid and that they would return him safely.

As the UFO hovered over them, Lovelace felt an overwhelming sense of calm, almost like he was sedated. A bright white light shone down from the craft for about 30 seconds, lighting up the whole campsite. Then, a thin blue laser scanned the entire area, sweeping over them, their tent, and the fire. After a few minutes, everything went dark again. Toby casually said, “Show’s over,” and the two men went back to their tent and fell asleep—something that seems impossible given the situation. But they were still being affected by the ship’s technology, which kept them calm and made them tired.

Lovelace later woke up in a terrifying place. He wasn’t in the tent anymore. He was naked, lying on a cold rubber floor with his clothes folded on his chest. The air smelled like chemicals, and a low humming sound filled the space. Panic set in when he realized he couldn’t move—his body was paralyzed, but his mind was racing. He could only watch. Somewhere in the distance, he heard a woman scream in terror. As his eyes adjusted, he saw he was in an enormous room, much larger than the spacecraft above their camp should have been able to hold.

To his right, at least ten other people—men, women, even children—lay paralyzed like him, their eyes darting in fear or staring blankly at the ceiling. Small, floating vehicles carried children around the space. Then, he saw them—small, gray-skinned beings with large black eyes, wearing gray flight suits. They moved quickly and mechanically. But what shocked him even more was that there were humans among them—people wearing beige uniforms with orange insignias, seemingly part of the crew. They ignored the abductees and went about their tasks.

Then, Lovelace locked eyes with a strange, pink-skinned being that stood about six feet tall. Unlike the smaller Grays, this one had an intense presence. As it stared at him, Lovelace felt it reading his mind, downloading his thoughts and memories. He felt completely exposed and violated. Before he could process what was happening, several Gray beings lifted him and carried him down a hallway.

Along the way, he saw glass tanks lining the right side of the corridor. Some were empty, but others contained strange creatures—some familiar, others completely alien. In one tank, he noticed pink water and what looked like a newborn puppy. But when the tiny creature opened its eyes, Terry realized it wasn’t a puppy at all, and he panicked.

At the end of the hallway, the Grays took him into a dome-shaped medical examination room. The entire room was white, gray, or stainless steel, resembling a hospital. They placed him on a table that, oddly, felt warm. But then he realized—it wasn’t heated for his comfort. It was warm from the bodies that had been there before him.

Then, two new aliens entered—9-foot-tall beings resembling praying mantises. The smaller Grays turned Lovelace onto his side, and the Mantis-like beings began operating on his lower back. The pain was unbearable. He screamed, but no sound came out. One of the Mantis aliens seemed annoyed and telepathically told him, “Why are you screaming? Stop screaming. You know we don’t hurt you. You know we take you back.” Then, with a tap on his forehead, everything went black.

Moments later, Lovelace and Toby found themselves lying near their car. Terry wasn’t scared at first—he was annoyed that they hadn’t been put back in their tent. But then, a group of six Grays appeared, dragging them across the grass and tossing them into the tent. Everything was still unnaturally silent. Terry wanted to speak but was too exhausted. His vision blurred, and he passed out.

He woke up again to blinding flashes of green light piercing through the tent, making his body ache. Toby peeked through the tent flap, mumbling something. Lovelace’s watch had stopped at midnight, but the tent’s clock showed 3:00 a.m.—three hours had passed, but they had no memory of what happened during that time.

Terry Lovelace reached for his flashlight, but Toby stopped him, whispering for him to stay quiet. Terry then noticed that Toby was crying. They heard footsteps and movement around their campsite. When they finally dared to look outside, they saw a huge craft hovering nearby, the size of a tall office building. It had small windows, and Terry saw figures moving inside. Below the craft, he saw what looked like children walking around—but Toby whispered that they weren’t children. They weren’t human.

Toby then started crying again, saying, “They took us. They hurt us.” Suddenly, memories hit Lovelace—bright lights, small creatures, a giant insect, medical instruments, and terrible pain. He tried to push the images away. Then, a white beam of light came from the craft, and the strange figures walked into it and disappeared. The ship then rose, rotated, and silently flew away at high speed.

Lovelace said that they had a terrible experience that left their skin red and sore like a bad sunburn all over their body, even the soles of their feet. They had to go to the hospital at the base for two days because they were very dehydrated.

Back at the Air Force base, Lovelace dropped Toby off and went home, where his wife saw his condition and took him to the medical clinic. He told the doctors about his burns but left out what happened between 9 PM and 3 AM, fearing they’d think he was crazy. The doctors confirmed that his burns were from radiation, and his clothes were taken away as biohazard material.

Then, on the third night, two men in black suits from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) showed up at Terry’s hospital room. They questioned him, acting as if they already knew what had happened. One of them read him his military rights, making it clear he was in serious trouble. They pressured him to tell them everything, but he only admitted to seeing lights. The men accused him of hiding the truth, then made him sign documents he wasn’t allowed to read. They warned him never to speak of the incident and forbade him from ever contacting Toby again.

Soon after, Toby was transferred to Japan, and they never spoke again. The whole experience traumatized Terry, so he kept quiet, trying to forget everything. Over time, the memories faded, though he continued to suffer from PTSD. Despite this, he built a successful career, became a lawyer, and led a seemingly normal life.

Read also:

• Tucker Carlson Says ‘There Are Forces That Are Not Human, Existing in a Spiritual Realm We Cannot See’
• Ex-DARPA Manager Claims Encounter with 7-Foot Humanoid Who Told him Human Body Is A Machine Designed To House Soul For Lifetime
• This Man Claims Ex-Military Officer Worked At Area 51 Reveals UFOs Run on Space-Harnessed Electricity, Creating a “Void” for Travel

Terry Lovelace was profoundly disturbed by his encounter and left with numerous unanswered queries. Subsequently, he authored a book titled “Incident at Devils Den: A True Story,” with the intention of uncovering the facts about extraterrestrial abductions and inspiring others to share their experiences.

In 2012, during a routine X-ray of his leg, doctors found a strange object above his knee. It was about the size of a fingernail and had two wires attached. The radiologist thought it looked like a small tracking device.

They also found a group of other foreign objects in his calf muscle but were shocked that there were no scars—meaning there was no sign of surgery or injury.

This discovery made Lovelace remember a disturbing event from 1977 that he had never planned to talk about. The most shocking part was that since there were no scars, the radiologist suggested that Lovelace might have had this object in his leg since birth.

On his personal blog, Lovelace writes:

“September of 2017, I was a guest speaker at a UFO event in Houston. It was my first public appearance and opportunity to speak candidly on the topic of alien abduction. This was the time when I decided to write a book. It’s an important topic. We deserve to be informed and not mislead.

I fear we’ve been desensitized about the UFO phenomena by the media, especially the motion picture industry. Close Encounters of the Third Kind was released in November 1977. my experience happened in June that same year. Now, YouTube provides a flood of valid information mixed with confabulation and deception. Know the truth. Aliens really exist and some live and walk among us without so much as a second look. There are probably many species from different worlds or different dimensions here on Earth today.

Some aliens may actually be our ‘benign space brothers’ as some have claimed. Here to join hands and walk mankind into a new era of peace and higher consciousness. Maybe so, but not the ones we met. The beings we met were monsters. They kidnap people and subject them to terror and brutality in pursuit of their agenda. They are 100% purpose-driven and void of empathy for human or animal suffering. We are their lab rats. Once you’re tagged as their specimen you’re tagged for a lifetime. Like a wild animal on the Serengeti Plane.”

Six years ago, Terry Lovelace wrote a book that caused trouble for him. For a whole year, strange things happened around his home near Dallas. He noticed military planes, including small two- and four-person aircraft and large Airbus 350s, flying over his house. These planes had no visible registration numbers and were painted dark green. They flew over his home at least twice a week, sometimes every day. Lovelace took many pictures, and in one of them, a UFO appears in the same shot as one of these planes.

After his book was published, Tom DeLonge (founder of To The Stars Academy), General Neil McCasland, and Lue Elizondo contacted him. They were interested in X-rays of Lovelace’s leg, which had been injured during his UFO encounter.

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{ https://howandwhys.com/ }

27-02-2025 om 20:53 geschreven door peter  

New information is pushing Asteroid 2024 YR4 off of our front pages. Initial estimates gave it a 2.8% chance of striking Earth in 2032. Now, the European Space Agency says the chance of it striking our planet is down to a paltry 0.001%.

Scientists dislike expressing things in absolute terms because Nature can make fools of us all, so this is as close to zero as it’s likely to get.

2024 YR4 was discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in Chile a couple of days after Christmas. ATLAS is an early-warning system for smaller asteroids. When it detected the asteroid on December 27th, 2024, it sent out an alert. Follow-up observations indicated the asteroid’s impact probability was greater than 1%, and that triggered our planetary defence response, which at this point consists of a greater effort to understand the rock and its trajectory.

It’s easy to get used to these asteroid warnings. However, it’s a bad idea to ignore the threat they pose. 2024 YR4 is not very large, only between 40 to 90 metres (130 to 300 ft) in diameter. Its small mass doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. An asteroid that large can cause serious damage in a populated area. Earth has been struck many times in the past, and there are more impacts in its future.

More worryingly, follow-up observations at first showed the asteroid’s impact probability rising. At its highest rating on 18th February, it had a 2.8% chance of striking Earth. The spike of concern was dulled the next day when observations with the ESO’s Very Large Telescope cut that number in half. People unfamiliar with space, Earth, and asteroids have asked why there’s so much uncertainty. The simple answer is that everything in space is moving. The object is also tiny and dark.

The Very Large Telescope is one of the world’s most advanced telescopes and even it could barely see the asteroid, as the GIF below shows.

via GIPHY

In the two months following its detection, the ESA’s Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre—along with other institutions—monitored the asteroid. More data is better data in this case, and observations allowed astronomers to refine its orbit to determine how much of a threat it posed.

2024 YR4 follows an elliptical orbit around the Sun and crosses Earth’s path, making it a near-Earth Object (NEO). It takes almost four years to complete an orbit, and its last perihelion was on 22 November 2024. Its closest approach to Earth was on Christmas, two days before its discovery. At that time, it came to within 830,000 km of Earth. In December 2028, it will make its next closest approach at just more than 8 million km of Earth. Unfortunately, between this April and leading up to the next approach, none of our ground-based telescopes will be able to see it.

One problem in determining the impact threat is that everything in space is moving. Nothing is still. So, each time the asteroid comes near the Earth or the Moon, the gravity from both bodies has a chance of changing 2024 YR4’s orbit. These are called gravitational keyholes, and they complicate efforts to determine its orbit.

This rising and then falling impact probability is an established pattern in asteroid detection and monitoring. At first, there’s more uncertainty, but as astronomers continue to observe it, uncertainty is reduced.

What it boils down to is this: We spotted another small yet potentially dangerous rock with a chance to strike Earth. We watched it and saw that its chance of striking us shrank. Now, the rock will disappear into the blackness of space for three years.

Where does that leave us?

Each time another asteroid approaches, it triggers concern about protecting Earth. Should we launch a nuke and blow it to pieces? How about a kinetic impactor to change its orbit slightly? How about evacuating people from the impact zone?

We’re developing ways to protect the planet. NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) showed that a relatively small mass can deter an approaching asteroid. Nukes are not needed and, in fact, can create an unpredictable shower of debris.

One proposal for asteroid redirection envisions kinetic impactors waiting to be launched on short notice. They can be at a Lagrange point or possibly on the lunar surface, on standby until needed. The more advance notice we have, the smaller the kinetic mass needed to deter an asteroid.

The main effort right now is centred on finding all dangerous asteroids and constraining their orbits. The upcoming Vera Rubin Observatory will detect many asteroids and will help us identify which ones are hazardous.

The type of massive asteroid that rocked the dinosaurs is increasingly unlikely. It was between 10 and 15 km in diameter, and large asteroids like it tend to remain stable in the asteroid belt. But the smaller ones in the decameter size range are more likely to be perturbed out of their orbits and become NEOs. It’s those ones we really have to worry about.

Asteroids are like pandemics. There’s always another one in the future. It’s simply nature. The danger from this one seems to have diminished, but another one will eventually come close.

Though the danger posed by 2024 YR4 has diminished, the overall threat posed by the asteroid population remains the same. In a sense, it’s not about any individual asteroid. It’s about our understanding of the risks in our space environment and how we can protect ourselves and Earth.

We’re not fully prepared to deflect an incoming asteroid if necessary, but we’re working towards it. In the meantime, get used to the occasional news article about asteroids with tiny yet real chances of striking Earth. 0.001% is tiny, but it’s not zero.

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

27-02-2025 om 20:30 geschreven door peter  

On Earth, geologists regularly study rock that has made itself easy to examine by coming up from the deeper crust and presenting itself. The same thing happens on Mars, though impacts do the lifting, not plate tectonics. Perseverance is studying the rocks on the crater rim in its current Crater Rim Campaign. The location it’s exploring is an exposed outcrop named Tablelands.

One type of rock that can teach us a lot about Mars’ ancient history is serpentine. It’s common on Earth and Mars and forms in the presence of water. Its presence on Mars is some of our strongest evidence that the planet was once wet.

Perseverance sampled Silver Mountain, a rock in the Tablelands. The rover used its abrasion tool on its robotic arm to create a fresh surface it could analyze. That analysis showed Silver Mountain is rich in pyroxene, a type of silicate found in almost every igneous and metamorphic rock. The rover also collected a core.

After that, it visited a rock named Serpentine Lake that showed telltale signs of serpentine. Perseverance used its abrasion tool to clean the rock for a detailed investigation. Serpentine Lake has an intriguing texture, described in a press release as “cookies and cream.” It’s also high in serpentine and other minerals that form in the presence of water.

After that, Perseverance doubled back to revisit a rock named “Cat Arm Reservoir.”

It was the first rock the rover studied on the canyon rim. The rover analyzed its composition and detected coarse pyroxene and feldspar crystals, indicating an igneous origin. Unfortunately, Perseverance’s sample tube was empty. Sometimes, the rock the rover tries to sample is weak and turns to dust. This is rare, but it did happen during the rover’s very first sampling attempt, and it happened again with Cat Arm Reservoir.

Perseverance travelled a small distance and tried to collect a core sample from Cat Arm Reservoir again. That attempt also failed. Then the rover chose a different spot nearby named “Green Gardens” and successfully collected a core sample. It’s next to the abrasion patch on Serpentine Lake.

Like the Serpentine Lake rock, Green Garden is also green, which is a characteristic of the mineral serpentine. Serpentine forms in the presence of water when hydrothermal vents alter ultramafic rocks. Scientists are interested in these minerals because their structure and composition can reveal the history of water on Mars. On Earth, serpentine rock also hosts microbial life, so the same may have been true on Mars. Unfortunately, it’s not clear how much evidence of this life can be preserved.

Perseverance will spend some more time exploring the Tablelands outcrop. It may re-examine the Serpentine Lake abrasion patch and analyze the debris from the Green Gardens drilling and coring. This could take a couple of weeks.

Next on its agenda is “Broom Point,” further down the crater rim. Broom Point contains a spectacular formation of layered rock, which is also intriguing to scientists.

Mars’ ancient history is told in its ancient rocks, but it’s impossible to know in advance which rock holds which clues and how everything will fall into place.

We don’t know what Perseverance will discover about Broom Point. But the rock will tell us something. It always does.

• Press Release: Cookies, Cream, and Crumbling Cores
• Press Release: Gardens on Mars? No, Just Rocks!
• Press Release: Assessing Perseverance’s First Sample Attempt
• NASA: Where is Perseverance?

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

27-02-2025 om 18:48 geschreven door peter  

• READ MORE: Elon Musk calls for the destruction of NASA's prized possession

By WILIAM HUNTER

Since leaving Earth on January 15, NASA's Blue Ghost lander has been sending back some stunning images of space.

Now, the autonomous lander has captured a truly jaw-dropping view as it records a unique close-up of the moon. 

In an incredible video, you can see the distant Earth rising and setting behind the curve of the lunar surface.

Taken on February 18, the timelapse reveals the stunning view from the Blue Ghost lander as it completed its second orbit, from about 75 miles (120 km) away. 

Having now circumnavigated the moon three times, the lander's operator, US private firm Firefly Aerospace, is making final preparations before touchdown on March 2.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Firefly Aerospace wrote: 'Earth rise, Earth set, repeat!'

Meanwhile, on social media, space fans have been wowed by the incredible glimpse of our lunar satellite, with its incredible patchwork of deep craters.  

One commenter wrote: 'What a cool time to be alive! The Moon up close once again!'

NASA's Blue Ghost moon lander has captured a jaw-dropping video of the Earth (indicated by red arrow) rising and setting behind the curve of the lunar surface 

Taken on February 18, the timelapse reveals the stunning view from Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander as it completed its second orbit prior to a touchdown 

The close-up images also show the lunar lander's solar panel and some scientific instruments 

The robotic Blue Ghost lunar lander was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

On board are 10 NASA science investigations and technology demonstrations as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.

These include instruments to record data on the lunar surface and experimental GPS tracking systems.

Over a weeks-long journey, the lander travelled roughly 238,855 miles (384,400 km) and entered lunar orbit on February 13 where it was scheduled to wait for 16 days.

On its way, Blue Ghost captured incredible images of Earth as it shrunk into a small pale dot in the distance.

While orbiting the moon, Blue Ghost has been completing a series of engine burns to bring it into a tighter orbit.

On February 18, the lander completed a three-minute and 18-second burn to push itself into a significantly lower elliptical orbit around the moon.

Shortly after lowering itself down, Blue Ghost recorded a flyby of the far side of the moon (usually hidden from Earth) at an altitude of just 75 miles (120km).

Blue Ghost was constructed by Firefly Aerospace and is carrying 10 NASA science and technology payloads as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative

Blue Ghost (pictured) is carrying a number of scientific instruments including devices which will gather vital data for NASA's upcoming Artemis missions 

The craft has been designed to conduct the final movements of its landing autonomously and is equipped with advanced navigation instruments and thrusters to control its movement 

After leaving Earth on January 15, the lander made a weeks-long journey to the moon (seen here above Earth) in order to attempt a landing on the lunar surface

On social media, space fans rushed to share their amazement with the stunning views

One commenter called the video 'the coolest thing I've seen in weeks' 

Another amazed commenter said that the footage of the Earth rising over the moon was their favourite video 

Although it is commonly referred to as the 'dark side' of the moon because it always faces away from Earth, this side receives just as much light from the sun as the near side.

On social media, many commenters rushed to share their admiration and amazement.

'Good luck! One small landing, one giant leap', one commenter wrote on X.

Another wrote: 'Well this is the coolest thing I've seen in weeks', while one impressed commenter chimed in: 'This is my favorite video now'. 

Of course, not everyone online was so impressed and some conspiratorially-minded commenters even questioned whether the footage was real.

One conspiracy theorist wrote: 'What a joke. gotta be a serious sheep to think this is real footage. hilarious'.

'It looks like cheap plastic moon', wrote one commenter.

Another claimed: 'If you believe this, you are not thinking critically. Good luck.'

Since leaving Earth on January 15, NASA's Blue Ghost lander has been sending back some stunning images of space, including this photo of Earth

As the lander moved further away from Earth, images showed our planet disappearing into the distance 

Blue Ghost captured its first image of the moon on February 14 after reaching lunar orbit

Some conspiracy theorists rushed to share wild claims that the footage had been faked 

One commenter wildly claimed that people who believed in the reality of space travel were 'not thinking critically' 

One conspiracy theorist claimed that the footage looked like a 'cheap plastic moon' 

The Blue Ghost lunar lander was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Aboard are 10 NASA science investigations and technology demonstrations as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative

The lander is expected to land on March 2, on the far eastern side of the moon's near side. It will operate for 14 days before the cold lunar night damages its electronics. Pictured, Blue Ghost's view of the moon's far side

Blue Ghost completed its third and final lunar orbit as of Monday and is making preparations for its last manoeuvres.

Next, the lander will perform a 16-second burn to enter a very low and nearly circular orbit around the moon.

Finally, once the spacecraft falls to 62 miles (100km) above the surface, it will fire its engines for 19 seconds to drop its path down to the landing site.

Blue Ghost is expected to land on the eastern edge of the moon's Earth-facing side near an ancient volcanic feature called Mons Latreille within the 300-mile-wide (483 km) basin of the Mare Crisium, or 'Sea of Crises'.

From there, it will use its scientific payloads to gather information about the moon.

This includes making use of a lunar sunset to study a phenomenon called 'dust levitation' in which dust appears to float above the surface.

This was first sketched by Apollo 17 astronaut Eugene Cernan during NASA's last mission to the moon over 50 years ago.

Blue Ghost will then operate for 14 Earth days until the near side of the moon is cast into shadow, plunging the lander into the freezing lunar night.

With temperatures as low as -130°C (-208°F) and no light to charge its batteries, this is expected to break the lander's electronics and put an end to the mission.

NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the moon in 2026 as part of the Artemis mission

Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo and goddess of the moon in Greek mythology. 

NASA has chosen her to personify its path back to the moon, which will see astronauts return to the lunar surface by 2026 -  including the first woman and the next man.

Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, was the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration to the moon and Mars. 

The uncrewed flight, which successfully launched in November last year, travelled more than 1.4 million miles on a path around the moon and back to Earth. It splashed down in the Pacific Ocean in December 2022, 25-and-a-half days after launch.

Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, was the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration to the moon and Mars. This graphic explains the various stages of the mission

Orion stayed in space longer than any ship for astronauts has done without docking to a space station, while it also returned home faster and hotter than ever before. 

It will now be followed by Artemis II, a manned mission which is scheduled for launch next year.

The crew will fly around the moon and back to prepare for Artemis III, which NASA is targeting as the mission to return humans to the lunar surface. 

Eventually NASA seeks to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon by 2028 as a result of the Artemis programme.

The space agency hopes this colony will uncover new scientific discoveries, demonstrate new technological advancements and lay the foundation for private companies to build a lunar economy. 

Who is Victor Glover? The man set to become NASA's first black astronaut to orbit the moon

Victor Glover (pictured) was selected as an astronaut in 2013 and became the first African American ISS expedition crewmember to live on the ISS seven years later

NASA is set to send the first-ever black astronaut to the moon.

Victor Glover, 46, was selected to take part in the space agency's Artemis II mission — the US' first lunar mission in a half-century.

The Pomona, California, native will be the first person of color to travel into deep space, hundreds of thousands of miles beyond the low-Earth orbiting International Space Station (ISS).

NASA officials say the diverse crew assignments signify the cultural shifts that have taken place since the original Apollo missions, which ended in 1972, at a time when white men dominated space exploration.

Glover was also the first black man to ever live on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2020 and is among 15 African Americans to be selected as an astronaut.

In his esteemed career since being selected as an astronaut in 2013, Mr Glover has logged over 3,000 flight hours in 40 different aircraft.

Artemis II - which will launch in November 2024 - will see the four-man crew orbit the moon in the Orion spacecraft but not land.

Their goal is to test new technology, including heat shields that protects Orion as it travels 24,500 mph in 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit on its way back.

If successful, NASA plans to launch an expedition to land on the moon titled Artemis III. Another success would spell out a trip to Mars for NASA. 

‘I wanna thank God for this Amazing opportunity,’ Mr Glover said during a new conference Monday.

‘This is a big day. We have a lot to celebrate. It’s so much more than the four names that have been announced. We need to celebrate this moment in human history.

'Artermis II is more than a mission to the Moon and back. It’s more than a mission that has to happen before we send people to the surface of the moon. It is the next step on the journey that gets humanity to Mars.

‘This crew will never forget that.’

Mr Glover was born in 1976 in Pomona, around 30 miles east of Los Angeles.

The city is far from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, known for its high poverty rate and relatively high crime. 

Mr Glover grew up in Ponoma, CA, 30 miles east of Los Angeles

He said his parents and teachers served as mentors as him growing up.

'Early on in life it had to be my parents; they encouraged me and challenged me and held me to high standards. Outside of home, I had teachers that did the same,' he told USA Today in 2017.

'They all challenged me, and they encouraged me.'

Mr Glover continued that his teachers and parents urged him to go the engineering school and eventually become a test pilot — leading to him becoming an astronaut. 

He graduated from Southern California's Ontario High School in 1994, and went on to attend California Polytechnic State University, before completing his graduate education at Air University and the US Naval Academy.

'I’m the first person in my family to graduate from college, and being at graduation with my mom and my dad and my stepdad and my little brothers and my grandparents,' he said to USA Today.

'That was unreal, that was cool and it was special for me.'

In 1999 he was commissioned as part of the US Navy. After completing flight training in Corpus Christy, Texas, he was 'given his wings' and awarded the title of pilot in 2001.

He then moved to San Diego to learn to fly the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, known as one of the Navy's more versatile aircraft.

After spending the next two years training in Florida and Virginia, he was deployed to Iraq in 2004 for six months.

Mr Glover was working in the office of the late Sen John McCain as a legislative fellow when he was selected by NASA to become an astronaut in 2013.

NASA only selects a handful of the thousands of people that apply to be a member of the nation's astronaut corps each year. Only 15 black astronauts have ever been selected out of 348.

A vast majority of the 41 current astronauts have a military background, like Mr Glover.

He completed his astronaut training in 2015. Three years later, he was selected to be a part of the first ever operational flight of SpaceX's Crew Dragon, a reusable aircraft designed by the firm Elon Musk found in 2002.

As part of that mission, he would live on the ISS from November 17, 2020 to May 2, 2021.

The nearly six-month-long stay on the station makes him the first black astronaut to inhabit it.

Jeanette Epps, 52, who was selected to be an astronaut in 2009 is set to become the second African American, and first black woman, to live on the ISS after the launch of Boeing Starliner-1 in 2024 or later.

In 2020, Mr Glover said it was an honor to be the first black person selected to the ISS.

'It is something to be celebrated once we accomplish it, and I am honored to be in this position and to be a part of this great and experienced crew,' he said during a news conference. 

'I look forward to getting up there and doing my best to make sure, you know, we are worthy of all the work that's been put into setting us up for this mission.'

In an interview with The Christian Chronicle later that year, he said there were qualified black astronauts that should have earned the honor before him.

'I've had some amazing colleagues before me that really could have done it, and there are some amazing folks that will go behind me,' he said. 

'I wish it would have already been done, but I try not to draw too much attention to it.' 

Who is Christina Koch? The first female NASA astronaut set to orbit the moon

Christina Koch is set to become the first woman to go around the moon when NASA's Artemis II mission takes off next year.

Christina Koch, 44, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, is set to become the first woman to go around the moon

The Grand Rapids, Michigan native, 44, is already the record-holder for the longest amount of time a woman has spent in space, 328 days, and for taking part in the first all-female spacewalk in 2019.

Selected to become an astronaut in 2013, Ms Koch said she has not followed a 'checklist' in order to become an astronaut — but instead chased her passions whether this be rock climbing, sailing or even learning to surf in her 40s.

She said in 2020: 'I really don't remember a time when I didn't want to be an astronaut. 

'For me, I learned that if I was going to be an astronaut, it was because my passions had turned me into someone that could contribute the most as someone contributing to human space flight.'

While she's exploring space, her husband Robert will be left taking care of housework and the couple's puppy, LBD. It is not believed that they have children.

'Am I excited? Absolutely!' she said at a news conference at the crew's announcement Monday.

‘The one thing I'm most excited about is that we will carry your excitement,your aspirations, your dreams, on this mission.’

She also said: ‘We are going to launch from Kennedy space center, we are going to here the words “go for launch” on top of the most powerful rocket NASA’s ever made.’

NASA has sent a total of 355 people to space so far, of which some 55 have been women — or 15 percent. It has also sent 24 people to orbit the moon and 12 to walk on the lunar surface who were all men.

Russian Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to ever leave the earth's atmosphere — setting off in 1937. American women did not get sent to space until 1983.

Ms Koch, however, will make history on the Artemis II mission when she completes her long-awaited trip around the moon.

She revealed her love of space in a video when she was announced as a member of the Artemis I team in 2020.

The astronaut said: 'I am someone who has loved exploration on the frontier since I was little. 

'I used to be inspired by the night sky and throughout my career,  it's been this balance between engineering for space science missions and doing science in really remote places all over the world.

'I loved things that made me feel small, things that made me ponder the size of the universe, my place in it and everything that was out there to explore.'

She added: 'I didn't necessarily live my life following check boxes of how you could become an astronaut.

'But I followed those passions and one day I looked at what I had become and the skills I had gathered and I asked "could I sit across from a table and present myself as someone who could do this well?". And I thought, I'm going to give this a shot.' 

She went to North Carolina State University in Raleigh to get a bachelor's and a master's in Electrical Engineering.

She then became an Electrical Engineer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, before becoming a research associate for the United States Antarctic Program — living an entire year in the Arctic.

Ms Koch was one of eight selected as part of NASA's 21st class of astronauts in 2013. After two years of training, she became a full-fledged astronaut.

Her first space flight came in 2019 when she was sent to the International Space Station (ISS) to work as a flight engineer.

She stayed up there for 328 days, taking the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman. The previous record holder, Peggy Whitson, was in space for 288 days.

While in space she also took the record for the first all-women space walk — when an astronaut gets out of a vehicle while in space — with Jessica Meir.

The pair spent seven hours and 17 minutes on the side of the ISS as they worked to replace a power controller. The walk also included a brief call with President Trump.

Upon her return to Earth in 2020, Ms Koch said she felt 'like a baby' who was two weeks old and working hard to hold up its head.

Back on Earth, she lives in Galveston, Texas, just outside of the Houston area.

Among her interests are backpacking, running, yoga, photography and travel.

Now she will be a part of a groundbreaking mission in NASA's goal towards putting a man on Mars. 

The Artemis II mission marks NASA's first trip to the moon in half a century. It says it will be performed to help test kit in preparation for getting humans onto Mars.

The agency sent an empty Orion capsule around the moon last year before it returned to Earth in a long-awaited dress rehearsal.

If this latest mission goes well, then another flight to land people on the moon will be sent in 2025 — as part of tests ahead of getting people onto Mars.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

26-02-2025 om 23:43 geschreven door peter  

• READ MORE:  Air Force pilot encounters UFO during secret mission

By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Christians attending mass at a religious landmark in Mexico were stunned when a mysterious 'UFO' appeared above a Jesus statue.

Visitors at the Cerro del Cubilete in Silao, located northwest of Mexico City, captured images of what they said looked like a 'Saturn-shaped object' in the clear blue sky.

The UFO was seen hanging near the left hand of the 65-foot-tall statue, called Christ the King. One local visiting the landmark said: 'It's an alien navigator.' 

The recent sighting appeared similar to another captured last October at a gas station in Cuernavaca, located south of Mexico City, which is about 275 miles from the Cerro del Cubilete. 

Footage shows at least two motorists gawping at the alleged spacecraft in the sky at 'the corner of Teopanzolco Avenue and Plan de Ayala Avenue.'

While one spectator can be heard saying it was 'wobbling on a piece of string, so it is fake,' another added: 'It's a UFO, they say they live in nearby Tepoztlán.'

Tepoztlán is a mountain town known for its 800-year-old Tepozteco pyramid, an ancient Xochimilca temple built by the Aztecs.

The site, however, has become a place of pilgrimage for UFO enthusiasts, attracted by stories of numerous otherworldly sightings and occurrences. 

Visitors of Mexico's  Cerro del Cubilete in Silao, located northwest of Mexico City, claimed to have seen a UFO soaring near a statue of Jesus 

They said the UFO appeared like a Saturn-shaped object in the blue sky

The Cerro del Cubilete sits on a mountain more than 8,460 feet above sea level.

The statue represents the figure of Jesus standing with his arms outstretched and an angel at either side, one holding a crown of thorns and the other a royal crown. 

The spherical building that serves as the base of the statue was built in art deco style and houses a circular altar. There is also a museum atop the summit. 

While tens of thousands of people flock to the site each year, the recent UFO sighting may be one of the first.

As the crowd turned to the flying object, spectators feared they were 'going to be abducted, JAM Press reported.

Another local said: 'It sure looks like a UFO.'

While this is the first reported 'Saturn-like' object spotted near the religions site,  another appeared over the the western city of Zitácuaro on September 8, 2024 that looked nearly identical.

Following the videos, some users took to X  to share their belief that aliens had made their way to Mexico.

'That's that eye diamond UFO shape,' one person commented. '(Must) be some kind of organic ship.'

The UFO was seen hanging near the left hand of the 65-foot-tall statue, called Christ the King. One local visiting the landmark said: 'It's an alien navigator'

The recent sighting appeared similar to another captured last October at a gas station in Cuernavaca, located south of Mexico City, which is about 275 miles from the Cerro del Cubilete

'Spectacular video, contact between humans and alien races is getting closer and closer,' another X user chimed in. 'Anyone who continues to believe that it is a balloon, a drone, a hologram or something else is either blind or does not want to see reality.'

However, others were quick to dispel the claims, pointing out that it was most likely just one of the many sky lanterns that float across the Mexican skies during the Globos de Cantoya festival.

'It may have been a test of a hot air balloon, as these balloons are very common in central Mexico and from a distance they can be confused with other objects,' another user explained.

Another similar sighting was captured in September 2024 over the the western city of Zitácuaro

One X user questioned the quality of the video but conceded that life probably exists outside our solar system.

'So much technology, cell phones with too many mega pixels and images like that,' they said. 'I do believe that there is life on other planets, but some tests like this don't help much.'

Some found humor in the alleged UFO sighting.

'They went searching for atoles,' another X user said, referring to the traditional Mexican beverage that is made with water, masa (corn flour), piloncillo, (unrefined cane sugar), cinnamon and vanilla.

'We will see more and more UFOs. And the government will make contact with them,' another person jokes. 'We will obey in fear as always. But we will never see them.'

• https://youtu.be/zoVgMDq1itI

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

26-02-2025 om 23:21 geschreven door peter  

Pentagon issues bombshell announcement about egg-shaped UFO case

• READ MORE:  Army Green Beret claims alien tech is stored at underground base

By CHRIS MELORE, ASSISTANT SCIENCE EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

The Pentagon has revealed that it is now investigating claims made by a government contractor that he retrieved a crashed 'egg-shaped' UFO.

Jake Barber came out as a whistleblower in January, saying he piloted helicopters during secret missions to collect alien technology.

Speaking to NewsNation, Barber said he flew 150 feet above an 'egg-shaped' object with no engine or thermal signatures.

'I saw an egg, a white egg,' the pilot explained. 'It's inconsistent with anything I'd ever seen before,' Barber said in January.

Now, the US Department of Defense (DoD) has confirmed it is looking into the case.

It's the latest report of UAPs (unidentified anomalous phenomena) the Pentagon admits they're actively investigating - adding this case to 21 others.

Those 21 UAP investigations were part of a stunning report which revealed that the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) received 757 cases of UAP encounters from US authorities mainly between May 1, 2023 and June 1, 2024.

That bombshell total included 272 incidents which occurred prior to 2023 but had never been reported publicly.

AARO is the defense department's group in charge of investigating reports of UFOs and UAPs made by government agencies.

Whistleblower Jake Barber's claims about the egg-shaped UFO he was ordered to retrieve are now being investigated the Pentagon

Jake Barber, now a chief helicopter pilot in California, said he has witnessed alien craft while working for a secret UFO retrieval program

According to AARO, it is the first government office that synchronizes the efforts of the DoD and other agencies to collect, report, and analyze all data on UAPs.

At the moment, only military personnel can make a UAP report to AARO, which must be first sent to their commanding officers or agencies.

For civilian pilots who see a UFO, AARO says they should tell air traffic control and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will send those reports to the DoD.

As for everyday people who see something strange in the sky, AARO does not have a way for them to report their experiences, adding that 'we will announce when a reporting mechanism is available for others to use.'

The public can still send information about their sightings to the National UFO Reporting Center, which is a non-governmental group documenting UFO encounters since 1974.

Not everyone is convinced the Pentagon and AARO will finally reveal everything Washington knows about UFOs and the possibility of alien encounters.

Investigative journalist Ross Coulthart noted that the new director of AARO, Dr. Jon T. Kosloski, has very limited power when it comes to revealing government secrets.

Before taking over AARO, Dr. Kosloski previously worked for the Research Directorate of the National Security Agency and as a subject matter expert, advising several agencies within the DoD.

'The Pentagon dictates what he is allowed to reveal and what he's allowed to say publicly, and there isn't a very proud history of the Pentagon wanting to be very forthcoming,' Coulthart told NewsNation.

AARO, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, is reportedly investigating over 20 cases involving UAPs reported to the US Department of Defense

Many military personnel claimed to have witnessed UFOs. This image, obtained April 28, 2020, was taken by Navy pilots in 2017.  Navy Cmdr David Fravor, who saw it, testified under oath in a hearing where he discussed the experience

Coulthart went on to claim that he believes the US government has been covering up its retrieval of what he called 'non-human technology' for decades.

Moreover, he cited the 'mixed messages' members of the Trump Administration have been putting out when it comes to being transparent about UAP.

That includes the administration's handling of the swarms of mysterious drones over New Jersey and other states in 2024 - which officials dismissed as simply 'FAA-authorized drones.'

As for the 757 UAP reports revealed to the public in November, AARO said it expected to or has already dismissed nearly 300 as balloons, birds, or drones.

Over 400 allegedly didn't have enough data to keep the investigations open, leaving just 21 for AARO to continue probing - along with Jake Barber's egg-shaped craft.

Coulthart noted that a lot of what the public can expect to hear about Barber's encounter will depend on the new Trump Administration.

'It really does rest with the president and also, to some degree, with the Congress whether or not we're going to get any movement on any further disclosure about this alleged covert program,' Coulthart said Sunday.

For those hoping for more disclosure, however, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida was recently appointed to lead a new task force focused on declassifying 'government secrets' - including the origin of UFOs.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said, 'Rep. Luna is committed to shining a light on the truth and ending the era of secrecy.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

26-02-2025 om 23:00 geschreven door peter  

What would really happen if the Gulf Stream collapsed? Scientists warn major global current is WEAKENING - raising concerns of a real-life Day After Tomorrow

• READ MORE: The Gulf Stream could COLLAPSE as early as 2025, study predicts 

By JONATHAN CHADWICK FOR MAILONLINE 

As anyone who has seen 'The Day After Tomorrow' can attest, the world would look dramatically different if the Gulf Stream gave way. 

In the 2004 blockbuster film starring Jake Gyllenhaal, an enormous 'superstorm' triggered by the collapse of the Gulf Stream sets off catastrophic natural disasters.

Around the world, people are frozen under layers of snow, drowned in massive tsunamis and dramatically crushed under vehicles thrown by tornados. 

Now, scientists at the Met Office warn that Earth's system of ocean currents is 'weakening', although it is unlikely to collapse this century. 

The Gulf Stream is only a small part of a much wider system of currents, officially called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation or AMOC. 

Described as 'the conveyor belt of the ocean', it transports warm water near the ocean's surface northwards from the tropics up to the northern hemisphere, keeping Europe, the UK and the US east coast temperate. 

Lead author Dr Jonathan Baker, a senior scientist at the Met Office, said: 'The AMOC has a crucial role in regulating our climate; without it, northwest Europe’s temperatures would be much cooler.

'Although our study shows that collapse over the next 75 years is unlikely, the AMOC is very likely to weaken, which will present climate challenges for Europe and beyond.'

In the 2004 blockbuster film starring Jake Gyllenhaal , an enormous 'superstorm' triggered by the collapse of the Gulf Stream sets off catastrophic natural disasters

Characters are frozen under layers of snow, drowned in massive tsunamis and dramatically crushed under vehicles thrown by tornados

'If the AMOC were to collapse, it could also lead to significant cooling in northwest Europe and chaotic weather patterns worldwide, affecting crops yields and ecosystems,' Dr Baker said. 

The academic stress that his study found the AMOC is unlikely to collapse this century, but a weakened AMOC poses 'serious climate challenges'.

'A weaker AMOC could alter global rainfall patterns, disrupt marine ecosystems, reduce the ocean's ability to store carbon, and accelerate sea level rise along the US east coast,' he said. 

Professor David Thornalley, a climate scientist at University College London who was not involved with the study, said temperatures would plummet if the AMOC collapsed.

'An AMOC collapse could cause more weather extremes, so as well as overall colder-than-average conditions, we also expect that there would be more winter storms caused by stronger westerly winds,' he told MailOnline. 

'Unfortunately people would die due to stronger winter storms and flooding, and many old and young would be vulnerable to the very cold winter temperatures.' 

However, in the UK, the effects would be 'minor' compared with elsewhere around the world, Professor Thornalley added. 

'A collapse in AMOC would cause a shift in the tropical rainfall belt which would massively disrupt agriculture and water supplies across huge swathes of the globe,' he said.

The Gulf Stream is only a small part of a much wider system of currents, officially called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). This map indicates surface currents (solid curves) and deep currents (dashed curves) that form a portion of the AMOC. Colours of curves indicate approximate temperatures

In the Hollywood blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow (pictured), ocean currents around the world stop as a result of global warming, triggering a new ice age on Earth

'Many millions would be affected and suffer from drought, famine and flooding, in countries that are already struggling to deal with these issues. There would be huge numbers of climate refugees, geopolitical tensions would rise.'

Jonathan Bamber, a professor of Earth observation at the University of Bristol, agreed that if the AMOC were to collapse, the climate of northwest Europe would be 'unrecognisable compared to what it is today'. 

'It would be several degrees cooler so that winters would be more typical of Arctic Canada and precipitation would decrease also,' he told MailOnline. 'Very harsh, cold winters would certainly be a threat to life.'

In 'The Day After Tomorrow', a collapse of the AMOC takes place over a matter of days and the fictional weather immediately switches to extreme cold. 

Thankfully, such a rapid transition will not happen in real life, said Penny Holliday, head of marine physics and ocean circulation at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton. 

'If the AMOC does reach a tipping point it will happen over several decades at least,' she told MailOnline.

'However a slowdown of the AMOC, whether it is fast-acting or takes place over many decades, will lead to the generation of more extreme and violent weather systems that have the potential to cause deaths and major damage.'   

Already, researchers have suggested that AMOC will weaken or collapse at some point in the 21st century as greenhouse gas emissions increase.

This illustration from the new Nature study depicts the AMOC’s upwelling pathways - where deep, cold water rises toward the surface - in the present day

Formally known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), it powers the Gulf Stream that brings warm water from the Gulf of Mexico to the northeastern US coast

However, the extent of AMOC weakening is uncertain with wide variation across climate models, according to the researchers at the Met Office. 

To find out more, the team, led by Dr Jonathan Baker, used 34 computer models to assess the AMOC’s response to extreme changes in greenhouse gas concentrations and rising sea levels. 

Their findings, published in the journal Nature, reveal the AMOC would weaken, but is likely to withstand future global warming and won't collapse this century. 

This is because strong Southern Ocean winds act like a powerful pump, continuously pulling deep water to the surface, keeping the system running even under extreme climate change.

Met Office says that the effect of a weaker AMOC is included when making projections of future climate change for the UK. 

Interestingly, a weaker AMOC will bring less warm water northwards, and this will partly offset the warming effect of the greenhouse gases over western Europe. 

For the gradual weakening that is likely over the 21st century, but the overall effect is still a warming. 

Professor Rowan Sutton, director of the Met Office Hadley Centre who was not involved with the study, said it brings 'important new insights' into AMOC's future. 

'The Day After Tomorrow' is based on the 1999 book The Coming Global Superstorm by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber

Professor Rowan Sutton, director of the Met Office Hadley Centre who was not involved with the study, said it brings 'important new insights' into AMOC's future.

'It shows that aspects of the AMOC may be more robust to a changing climate than some previous research has suggested,' he said. 

'However, it doesn’t change our expectation that the AMOC will weaken over the twenty first century, and that this weakening will have important impacts on climate.' 

But study author Geoff Vallis, climate scientist at the University of Exeter, said it does 'not in any way mean that global warming is not a severe problem for society and our planet'. 

'I think it very unlikely that my house will burn down in the coming years; however, I still buy insurance to guard against that risk,' Professor Vallis said. 

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{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

26-02-2025 om 22:45 geschreven door peter  

Archaeologists find 'extraterrestrial metal' in 2,700-year-old cemeteries

• READ MORE: 'Alien weapon' made 3,000 years ago is found in Switzerland

By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Archaeologists have discovered 'extraterrestrial metal' in ancient burials in Poland.

They uncovered four artifacts, three bracelets and a pin, containing a metallic iron found only in meteorites.

The pieces were pulled from two Early Iron Age cemeteries, dating between 750 to 600 BC, in southern Poland.

The team used different techniques, including X-rays to peer inside objects and another that uses a beam of electrons to create high-resolution images of objects, to determine the elemental composition of the artifacts.

The results showed high concentrations of smelted ore and meteoric iron that appeared to have come from a single space rock.

The high nickel levels in the iron suggested the jewelry was made from an ataxite meteorite that feature a mirror-like finish.

The researchers also said that the mixing of the iron sources was likely done on purpose to create patterns on the pieces. 

If the hypothesis can be proven, it would make these artifacts the the oldest known version of patterned iron.

Archaeologists identified four artifacts from ancient cemeteries that feature iron from a meteorite 

Using fallen meteorites to fashion objects was a common practice thousands of years ago, as a similar artifact was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. 

Meteorite iron is found in certain types of stony meteorites, composed mainly of silicates - a salt made of silicon and oxygen. 

The discovery was made in Poland's Częstochowa Museum collection by Polish and French scientists who analyzed burial objects from two early Iron Age graveyards, Częstochowa-Raków and Częstochowa-Mirów.

Researchers analyzed the jewelry in the 1960s, but the artifacts were reanalyzed by Professor Albert Jambon a meteorite specialist from Sorbonne University and Dr Karol Dzięgielewski from Jagiellonian University.

'This modest number of specimens nevertheless forms one of the biggest collection of meteoritic iron products at one archaeological site worldwide, they shared in the study. 

The team studied a total of 26 artifacts, including bracelets, ankle rings, knives, spearheads, and necklaces, housed at the museum.  

Using several analytical techniques, they were able to determine the artifacts' elemental distribution and material composition, Phys.org reported.

This allowed them to identify four pieces were at least partially composed of meteoric iron.

The pieces were pulled from two Early Iron Age cemeteries, dating between 750 to 600 BC, in southern Poland

While only four of the artifacts contained meteoric iron, researches said the discovery is on par with some from ancient Egypt where archaeologists have found troves of pieces dating back 5,000 years

The bracelets were pulled from Częstochowa-Raków cemetery and the pin from Częstochowa-Mirów.

While only four of the artifacts contained meteoric iron, researches said the discovery is on par with some from ancient Egypt where archaeologists have found troves of pieces dating back 5,000 years. 

Because the type of meteorite used, the team believes the iron was locally sourced. 

'We can conclude that there is a high likelihood that there was a witnessed fall rather than a lucky find,' said Dr Jambon.

'Iron meteorites may be large (hundreds of kg), but this may actually be a problem. 

'Large pieces are not workable, and you need to separate small pieces (less than one kg), which is hardly possible with the tools of the Iron Age (see, e.g., the pieces of iron worked by the Inuits).'

Researchers in Spain made a similar discovery in 2024, finding artifacts were made with 'alien metals' 3,000 years ago 

Researchers in Spain made a similar discovery in 2024, finding artifacts were made with 'alien metals' 3,000 years ago.

Scientists conducted a new analysis of the Treasure of Villena, a hoard of 59 gold-plated objects found in 1963, finding two objects featured meteoric iron. 

A gold-coated cap and bracelet contained the extraterrestrial material from a meteor that crashed into Earth one million years ago, according to the team's estimates. 

The artifacts were discovered by archaeologist José Maria Soler in December 1963, while he and his team were excavating a dry river bed called the 'Rambla del Panadero' - about seven miles from Villena. 

The study explained that meteorite iron is found in certain types of stony meteorites, composed mainly of silicates - a salt made of silicon and oxygen.

'Since they come from outer space, are composed of an iron-nickel alloy with a variable nickel composition greater than five percent by weight,' researchers wrote.

'They also contain other minor and trace chemical elements, cobalt being one of the most significant.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

26-02-2025 om 22:24 geschreven door peter  

Randall Carlson is a geological researcher and renegade scholar with extensive knowledge of ancient mythology, sacred geometry, and the Earth’s history of catastrophes. For over four decades he has been relentlessly pursuing the truth about the history of this planet and its human inhabitants, and his independent and interdisciplinary approach to knowledge synthesis has put him firmly outside the mainstream as a thinker and a theorist.

The breadth and scope of Randall Carlson’s research is immense, and one of his most startling theories that ancient civilizations across the world, such as the Egyptians, Sumerians, Mayans, and Megalithic builders, all had access to a universal system of advanced knowledge. He asserts that this knowledge was not confined to one specific culture, but instead was a shared inheritance passed down through generations.

This idea points to an origin story for human society and culture that predates known history, stretching far back into the remote mists of what we mistakenly refer to as “prehistory.” When researchers are willing to evaluate the evidence without prejudice or fear of being sanctioned by the academic gatekeepers, Carlson argues, the amazing truth about our past becomes obvious.

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Mythical History and the Atlantis Connection

Randall Carlson links his ideas to Plato’s account of Atlantis, a story relayed by Solon, an Athenian statesman who traveled to Egypt around 600 BC. According to Solon, Egyptian priests spoke of an advanced civilization, Atlantis, which existed 9,000 years before his time and met its demise in a catastrophic event.

Moving back 9,000 years from Solon’s era, the suggested timeline places Atlantis’s destruction at approximately 11,600 years ago—a time Carlson believes is profoundly significant.

As Carlson points out, this date aligns with findings from geology and climatology that mark the end of the Younger Dryas, a period characterized by sudden cooling followed by rapid warming. Carlson argues that this connection is not coincidental; rather, it serves as evidence that Plato’s Atlantis may have been a real civilization that was lost in a major cataclysm.

Map of the Younger Dryas and its impact on climate in Europe and the surrounding region.

(Offthemapz/CC BY-SA 4.0).

From Carlson’s perspective, Plato’s story of Atlantis plus the geological evidence indicate a shared ancient knowledge that civilizations may have inherited from this glorious but lost era. And his analysis of the legend of Atlantis sets the template for his larger analysis of the planet’s history as a whole, which has included many catastrophic events that had a profound impact on the people living on earth at those times.

Catastrophes and the Disappearance of Historical Records

Carlson’s theory addresses a fundamental question: if anatomically modern humans have existed for at least 150,000 years, why do we lack a continuous historical record of their civilizations? He attributes this absence to repeated catastrophic events that effectively erased entire societies and their accumulated knowledge, leaving virtually nothing behind for archaeologists to find (except perhaps on the ocean floor, where ancient flooding would have left ruins and artifacts hidden but preserved under the earth’s seas).

According to Carlson, modern human skeletons dating back 150,000 to 180,000 years confirm that people of equivalent intelligence to contemporary humans lived through these vast time spans. The lack of surviving records, he states, is due to the overwhelming scale of the destruction caused by these cataclysms. He has identified at least 16 significant catastrophes that have taken place over the last 150,000 years—events powerful enough to dismantle civilizations entirely. He warns that if such disasters were to occur today, modern industrial society would be equally vulnerable to obliteration, potentially leaving behind only minimal traces of its existence for future generations to find.

Cosmic Cycles and the Great Year

Carlson ties these catastrophic events to cosmic cycles, particularly the concept of the Great Year—a 25,920-year cycle corresponding to the Earth’s axial precession. He believes that ancient cultures, including those that built the pyramids and megalithic structures, understood these cycles and encoded their knowledge into their architectural and mythological traditions.

• Giza, The Time Keeper of the Ages: Alignments, Measurements, and Moon Cycles
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He further suggests that certain disasters, such as the onset of the Younger Dryas around 12,900 years ago, are connected to these cosmic cycles. He theorizes that the Earth’s movement through space influences the periodic arrival of cosmic materials, such as asteroids and comets, into the inner solar system. This process, he posits, follows a predictable rhythm, much like the precessional cycles observed in ancient traditions. Carlson contends that early civilizations recognized these patterns and attempted to warn future generations by preserving this knowledge in their myths, sacred geometries, and monumental structures.

Exposed ice sheet in the Garwood Valley of Antarctica, the type of thick sheet that would have covered huge sections of the planet following the onset of an ice age.

(James O’Connor, USGS/Public Domain).

The Scarcity of Physical Evidence

One of the main challenges in proving the existence of these lost civilizations is the lack of surviving physical evidence. Carlson attributes this scarcity to the sheer magnitude of past disasters, which would hae been truly epic. If modern civilization were to face an event of similar proportions, he theorizes, much of its technological and historical record would be wiped out, leaving only scattered remnants that would be extremely difficult to find.

He illustrates this concept by pointing to modern disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. These events, though localized, caused immense destruction. Carlson extrapolates from these examples, asking what would happen if a disaster were 100 times, a 100 times, or even a 1,000 times more severe. He concludes that such large-scale catastrophes could erase nearly all traces of our civilization, burying it or sweeping it out to sea—just as he believes happened in the past, probably many times.

While discovering the remains of these ancient civilizations presents an immense challenge, Carlson is hopeful that modern tools like Google Earth will help researchers identify patterns of destruction and remnants of ancient landscapes that might otherwise go unnoticed. These tools, he argues, provide an opportunity to piece together the effects of these ancient upheavals and uncover evidence of lost worlds.

Significant Catastrophic Events in Human History

Carlson identifies several major events that he believes would have inevitably wiped out ancient human civilizations. Some of the most impactful include:

• Toba Supereruption (~72,000 BP): A massive volcanic eruption in Sumatra that likely triggered a volcanic winter, reducing human populations to critically low numbers.

• Heinrich Events (Various Dates): Iceberg discharges into the North Atlantic, disrupting ocean currents and triggering abrupt climate changes, occurring around 65,000, 52,000, 39,000, and 23,000 years ago.

• Younger Dryas Climate Catastrophe (~12,900 to 11,700 BP): A period of severe cooling, possibly linked to a cosmic impact, which coincides with the proposed timeline for Atlantis’s destruction.

• Late Wisconsin Ice Age (~26,000 BP): The peak of the last Ice Age, affecting global climate and human migration patterns.

• End of the Wisconsin Ice Age (~10,000 BP): Marking the transition from hunter-gatherer societies to the rise of early agricultural civilizations.

• Burckle Crater Event (~4,320 BP): A proposed meteor impact in the Indian Ocean, potentially connected to flood myths from various cultures.

• Australian Megafauna Extinctions (~40,000 BP to ~26,000 BP): A mass extinction event possibly caused by a combination of human activity and climatic changes.

• Greenland Blitz (~104,000 BP): A proposed climatic event that Carlson links to significant environmental shifts in the region.

• Salien Climate Shift (~144,000 BP): A large-scale climate change event that he believes influenced early human development.

• Osis Events (~52,000 BP and ~8,400 BP): Speculative catastrophic events that may have played a role in shaping early civilizations

Illustration from a book written in 1552 by Hans Burgkmair der Jüngere depicting the great flood written about in Genesis, which from Randall Carlson’s perspective would represent a mythologized version of a flood that wiped out civilization after the end of the last ice age.

(Public Domain).

The Quest for Hidden Knowledge

Based on his decades of research, and the work of other rogue researchers like his good friend Graham Hancock, Carlson is convinced that ancient civilizations were not only aware of catastrophic cycles, but also sought to preserve their knowledge for future generations. He believes that their myths, sacred geometries, and monumental structures serve as a record of past events and a warning of periodic cosmic destruction.

With each disaster, civilizations were wiped out, forcing survivors to rebuild from a near-primitive state. Despite the loss, Randall Carlson contends that fragments of this ancient knowledge endured, passed down through traditions, oral histories, and architectural legacies. By studying geological evidence and ancient records, Carlson suggests that we may yet uncover the lost wisdom of these early civilizations, learning the secrets of creation as we anticipate and prepare for future cosmic events.

• Top image: Illustration of the landscape of the great lost city of Atlantis.
• Source: Soothsayer/CC BY-SA 4.0.

By Nathan Falde

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{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/human-origins }

26-02-2025 om 22:13 geschreven door peter  

Titan’s thick atmosphere gives it an orange haze that obscures its surface from direct view. This haze is caused by photochemical reactions in the upper atmosphere, where sunlight breaks down methane into more complex organic molecules. The presence of such an atmosphere makes Titan an excellent natural laboratory for studying atmospheric processes, weather patterns, and potential prebiotic chemistry.

The Role of Atmospheric Pressure and Weather

Unlike the thin atmospheres found on other moons, Titan’s atmospheric pressure is about 1.5 times that of Earth’s at sea level. This means that if a human were to stand on Titan’s surface, they wouldn’t require a pressure suit – only an oxygen mask and protection from the cold. The atmosphere also supports weather patterns, including methane rain, seasonal changes, and even massive storm systems that resemble those found on Earth. This dynamic climate makes Titan an extraordinary candidate for future exploration.

A World with Liquid Lakes and Seas

Titan is the only known celestial body in the solar system, apart from Earth, to have stable liquids on its surface. However, instead of water, these lakes and seas are composed of liquid methane and ethane. The most notable of these bodies of liquid are Kraken Mare, Ligeia Mare, and Punga Mare, located in Titan’s northern hemisphere.

The Hydrological Cycle on Titan

Titan’s hydrological cycle is similar to Earth’s water cycle but operates with hydrocarbons instead of water. Methane and ethane evaporate, form clouds, and eventually precipitate as rain. This cycle plays a crucial role in shaping Titan’s landscape, creating river channels, shorelines, and even seasonal weather patterns. The presence of these liquid reservoirs raises intriguing questions about the possibility of exotic life forms that could survive in liquid methane rather than water.

A Complex Organic Chemistry Resembling Early Earth

Another compelling reason why Titan is so intriguing is its rich organic chemistry. Scientists believe that Titan’s atmosphere and surface processes closely resemble conditions on early Earth before life emerged. The Cassini-Huygens mission provided detailed insights into Titan’s atmospheric chemistry, revealing the presence of complex organic molecules, including hydrocarbons and nitriles, which are essential building blocks for life.

Implications for Prebiotic Chemistry

Titan’s environment provides a unique opportunity to study prebiotic chemistry – the chemical processes that might have led to the emergence of life. The interactions between sunlight, methane, and nitrogen in Titan’s atmosphere result in the production of tholins, complex organic compounds that could play a role in the development of life. By studying Titan, scientists hope to gain a better understanding of how life might arise elsewhere in the universe.

A Subsurface Ocean That Might Harbor Life

While Titan’s surface is dominated by ice and hydrocarbon lakes, evidence suggests the existence of a vast liquid water ocean beneath its icy crust. This subsurface ocean is believed to contain water mixed with ammonia, which acts as an antifreeze, allowing the ocean to remain in a liquid state despite Titan’s frigid temperatures.

Comparison with Other Ocean Worlds

Titan is not the only moon suspected to harbour a subsurface ocean – Europa and Enceladus also have hidden oceans beneath their icy shells. However, Titan’s ocean is unique because of its potential interaction with the organic-rich surface. If material from the surface can mix with the subsurface ocean, Titan could have the necessary conditions for life to develop. The presence of a liquid water ocean beneath an organic-rich environment makes Titan an extremely promising target for astrobiology.

Future Missions That Could Unlock Its Mysteries

Titan’s unique characteristics make it a prime target for future space missions. One of the most anticipated upcoming missions is NASA’s Dragonfly, a drone-like rotorcraft designed to explore Titan’s diverse landscapes and search for signs of prebiotic chemistry.

What Dragonfly Will Explore

Scheduled for launch in the late 2020s, the Dragonfly mission will land on Titan and travel across its surface, investigating dunes, lakes, and potentially even cryovolcanic regions. The mission’s primary goal is to study Titan’s chemistry and assess its habitability. By directly sampling the organic compounds and surface materials, Dragonfly could provide groundbreaking insights into the building blocks of life beyond Earth.

Dragonfly will also help scientists understand Titan’s meteorology, geology, and potential subsurface interactions. Since Titan’s atmosphere is dense and gravity is low, the drone will be able to fly efficiently, covering long distances to explore multiple sites. This mobility will allow NASA to study various environments and compare their chemical compositions.

The Cassini Mission and Its Impact on Our Understanding of Titan

NASA’s Cassini-Huygens mission, which explored Saturn and its moons from 2004 to 2017, played a crucial role in expanding our knowledge of Titan. The Cassini spacecraft performed over 100 flybys of Titan, using radar to penetrate the thick atmosphere and map the moon’s surface.

The most groundbreaking event was the Huygens probe landing in 2005, the first successful landing on Titan. The probe transmitted data for over 90 minutes, revealing a world with river channels, icy pebbles, and an atmosphere rich in organic compounds. Cassini’s radar also confirmed the existence of methane lakes and provided evidence for Titan’s subsurface ocean.

The Cassini mission fundamentally changed our understanding of Titan, showing it to be one of the most Earth-like worlds in the solar system and a key target for future exploration.

Frequently Asked Questions

Could Humans Survive on Titan?

While Titan’s atmospheric pressure is hospitable, its extreme cold (around -290°F or -179°C) and lack of oxygen make it inhospitable for humans without specialized equipment. However, its dense atmosphere and low gravity make it a relatively easy place to land and explore compared to other celestial bodies.

What Makes Titan Different from Europa and Enceladus?

Europa and Enceladus are known for their subsurface oceans and potential hydrothermal activity. However, Titan stands out due to its thick atmosphere, surface lakes, and complex organic chemistry, making it a unique target for studying both atmospheric and prebiotic processes.

How Does Titan’s Weather Compare to Earth’s?

Titan experiences methane rain, seasonal weather changes, and wind-driven dunes, all of which resemble weather patterns on Earth. However, instead of water, methane dominates the climate, creating a fascinating and alien environment unlike anything else in the solar system.

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£{ https://curiosmos.com/ }

26-02-2025 om 20:32 geschreven door peter  

Well that’s ruined all my lectures! I’ve spent years talking about space and a go to fact is the red colour of Mars. It’s been long believed that it was caused by the same chemical process that creates rust on Earth, a new paper suggests this is not the case! The team of researchers simulated conditions of Mars in a lab and now think a chemical called ferrihydrite, an iron oxide that contains water. It now looks like the planet’s characteristic red colour is due to a time when Mars was covered in water! 

Mars, often called the Red Planet is the fourth planet from the Sun. With a thin atmosphere composed mostly of carbon dioxide, Mars features a stark landscape of vast plains, huge volcanoes including Olympus Mons (the largest in our solar system), and deep canyons like Valles Marineris. Its surface has evidence of ancient rivers and lakes, suggesting Mars once had conditions that could have been suitable for microbial life. Its extreme temperature changes and frequent global dust storms are typical of this harsh world. 

The distinctive red colour goes back centuries; the ancient Egyptians called Mars ‘Her Desher’ which translates to ‘the Red One’, the Romans named it after the God of war and the Chinese called it ‘the fire star.’ Even Babylonian records that go back to 2000 BC noted its red colour. In 1610, when Galileo first observed Mars through a telescope, he confirmed its planetary nature but also noted a more red/brown hue. This was largely due to the poor quality optics of the day and it wasn’t until optics improved that its red colour was observed in all its glory.

A team of researchers led by Dr Adomas Valantinas from Brown University in USA have published a paper in Nature Communications that has analysed the red colouration of Mars and challenge the common view that it’s a rust like material that is responsible. They used data from a number of different Mars missions from NASA’s Reconnaissance Orbiter to ESA’s Mars Express and ExoMars (which has the Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System onboard.) The data from the orbiters was supported by data from various rovers too and further supplemented by analysis of artificial Mars-like materials in a laboratory.

The analysis, which included experiments and measurements at the University of Grenoble, Brown University and the University of Winnipeg revealed the presence of Ferrihydrite. Not only was it present in the Martian dust, it seemed to be widespread across the Martian landscape. Ferriydrite is an oxyhydroxide mineral (one that contains oxygen, hydrogen and at least one metal.)

The widespread discovery of ferrihydrite on in Martian dust helps us to understand more about the geological history of Mars and its potential habitability. The existence of the ferrihydrite tells us that there were once cooler, wet conditions on Mars since that is a neccessity for the formation of the mineral. It’s an exciting discovery because its one more reason to believe that Mars was once a hospitable world. 

The team are keen to learn more and are now waiting for Martian samples to study directly and for that, they are waiting for the Perseverance rover. It has been systematically collecting core samples of Martian soil from the Jezero Crater and storing them in titanium tubes ready for transport home. Once the team has these, they will be able to check whether their theory about ferrihydrite is correct.

Source : 

• Why Mars could be red

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

26-02-2025 om 18:25 geschreven door peter  

Perseverance rover exploring Mars, analyzing the terrain for signs of ancient life.

Frontiers

• A high-energy laser is fired at a rock sample, causing a small portion to vaporize. This process is known as laser ablation, it removes only a tiny fraction of the material allowing it to analyze samples with little to no thermal damage. 
• The vaporized material is then ionized, meaning the atoms are electrically charged. 
• The mass spectrometer sorts and measures these ions, having the ability to identify their composition down to a micrometer scale. 
• Scientists then look for specific biosignatures, such as the presence of carbon, minerals associated with biological activity, such as dolomite or clay, and microscopic fossil structures. 

Before sending this technology to Mars, scientists needed to prove that it could detect ancient life here on Earth. They chose gypsum samples from the Sidi Boutbal quarry in Algeria, a region rich in sulfate minerals that formed during the Messinian Salinity Crisis when the Mediterranean Sea partially dried up. This event left behind mineral deposits similar to those found on Mars. 

Using the mass spectrometer and high-resolution optical microscopy, scientists discovered long, twisting fossil filaments embedded in the gypsum. These filaments were surrounded by dolomite, clay, and pyrite – minerals known to form in the presence of microbial life.

{ https://interestingengineering.com/ }

26-02-2025 om 17:59 geschreven door peter  

If life ever appeared on Mars, it also likely occurred billions of years ago when the planet was warm and wet. There’s a strong possibility that it was also confined to water for a long time. If it did, then ancient sediments could hold fossilized evidence of microbes.

NASA’s Perseverance rover landed in Jezero Crater, an ancient paleolake with deep sediments, in an attempt to detect evidence of ancient life. Jezero also contains an ancient river delta, an excellent place for sediments to collect and potentially preserve microbial evidence.

Perseverance carries a laser as part of its Supercam instrument, an improved version of MSL Curiosity’s Chemcam instrument and laser. Supercam analyzes rocks and soils and searches for organic compounds that are biosignatures of ancient microbial life.

Now, scientists are working on a new laser that could detect microbial fossils on Mars. The device will examine gypsum deposits for signs of these fossils. The device has already been tested in Mars-analogue gypsum deposits in Algeria.

The method is explained in new research published in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences. Its title is “The search for ancient life on Mars using morphological and mass spectrometric analysis: an analog study in detecting microfossils in Messinian gypsum.” The lead author is Youcef Sellam, a PhD student at the Physics Institute at the University of Bern.

“Our findings provide a methodological framework for detecting biosignatures in Martian sulfate minerals, potentially guiding future Mars exploration missions,” said Sellam. “Our laser ablation ionization mass spectrometer, a spaceflight-prototype instrument, can effectively detect biosignatures in sulfate minerals. This technology could be integrated into future Mars rovers or landers for in-situ analysis.”

Sellam is referring to sulphate minerals, including gypsum, left behind when bodies of water dry up. The minerals precipitate out and collect as deposits, as has happened repeatedly in the Mediterranean Sea during the Messinian salinity crisis.

“The Messinian Salinity Crisis occurred when the Mediterranean Sea was cut off from the Atlantic Ocean,” said Sellam. “This led to rapid evaporation, causing the sea to become hypersaline and depositing thick layers of evaporites, including gypsum. These deposits provide an excellent terrestrial analog for Martian sulfate deposits.”

We know something similar happened on Mars because gypsum deposits are plentiful. Since these deposits form rapidly, there’s a chance for fossils to be preserved before they can decompose.

“Gypsum has been widely detected on the Martian surface and is known for its exceptional fossilization potential,” explained Sellam. “It forms rapidly, trapping microorganisms before decomposition occurs, and preserves biological structures and chemical biosignatures.”

Gypsum deposits on Earth have been extensively studied for evidence of microbes.

“Prokaryotic communities are often found dwelling within modern evaporites, such as gypsum, forming in sabkhas, lacustrine, and marine terrestrial sediments,” the authors explain in their paper. “They mainly participate in carbon, iron, sulphur, and phosphate biogeochemical cycles, extracting water and using various survival strategies to avoid ecological stresses. Consequently, investigating these fossil filaments may enhance our comprehension of the cryptic conditions that led to the formation of the Primary Lower Gypsum unit during the Messinian Salinity Crisis, the biosignature preservation potential of gypsum, and the possible preservation of such fossils in ancient, hydrated sulphate deposits on Mars.”

Detecting evidence in Earth’s gypsum deposits is relatively simple. However, doing it on Mars is rife with challenges. Since scientists already know that Mediterranean gypsum deposits hold evidence of life, Sellam went to test the method there.

Sellam and his co-researchers tested their method at the Sidi Boutbal (SB) quarry in the Lower Chelif basin in Algeria. “The Chelif Basin is one of the largest Messinian peripheral sub-basins, characterized by an elongated and ENE–WSW oriented structure spanning over 260 km in length and 35 km in width,” the authors explain in their paper. The quarry contains gypsum deposits that are tens of meters thick.

The researchers used several methods in their work, including optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and spatially resolved laser ablation mass spectrometry (LIMS). These aren’t new technologies, but combining them into an instrument that can be carried by a rover is new.

In their tests in Algeria, the researchers used a miniature laser-powered mass spectrometer, which can analyze the chemical composition of a sample in detail as fine as a micrometre. They also sampled gypsum and analyzed it using the mass spectrometer and an optical microscope. Many natural rock formations can mimic microbial fossils, so they followed criteria to distinguish between potential microbial fossils and natural rock formations. Microbial fossils display morphology which is irregular, sinuous, and potentially hollow.

In their paper, the authors report finding “a densely interwoven network of brownish, sinuous, and curved fossil filaments of various sizes.”

Their method also detects the presence of chemical elements necessary for life, carbonaceous material, and minerals like clay or dolomite, which can be influenced by the presence of bacteria. “The inner layer of the filament is morphologically and compositionally distinct from the gypsum, mainly composed of Ca, S, O, and traces of Si,” the authors write.

The authors found not only fossil filaments, but also dolomite, clay minerals, and pyrite surrounding the gypsum they were embedded in. This is important because their presence signals the presence of organic life. Prokaryotes supply elements that clays need to form and also help dolomite form, which often forms in the presence of gypsum. The only way that dolomite can form without life present is under high pressures and temperatures. To scientists’ knowledge, those conditions weren’t present on early Mars.

This is interesting progress, but there’s still lots of work to do.

It starts with identifying clay and dolomite in Martian gypsum. Along with other biosignatures, this indicates that fossilized life is there. If the system can identify other chemical minerals, that would help, too. Ultimately, finding organically formed filaments at the same time would be solid evidence that the planet once supported life.

“While our findings strongly support the biogenicity of the fossil filament in gypsum, distinguishing true biosignatures from abiotic mineral formations remains a challenge,” cautioned Sellam. “An additional independent detection method would improve the confidence in life detection. Additionally, Mars has unique environmental conditions, which could affect biosignature preservation over geological periods. Further studies are needed.”

If this method proves to be reliable, it’ll have to wait a while before being implemented.

The ESA’s Rosalind Franklin rover will launch to Mars in 2028. It will look for subsurface chemical and morphological evidence of life. Its instruments have already been chosen. Other nations and agencies have missions to Mars in the planning and proposal stages, but none of them are full-featured rovers like Curiosity and Perseverance.

However, another rover mission to Mars in the future is almost a certainty. Maybe this technology will be ready to go by then.

“Although the Messinian Salinity Crisis, during which the Primary Lower Gypsum formed, remains only partially understood, future astrobiological investigations on Mars should consider hydrated sulphate deposits as promising indicators of ancient Martian environmental conditions. This contribution underscores that hydrated sulphates serve as archives of biological history on Earth and potentially on Mars, should evidence of past life be found,” the authors conclude.

• Press Release: Laser-powered device tested on Earth could help us detect microbial fossils on Mars
• Published Research: The search for ancient life on Mars using morphological and mass spectrometric analysis: an analog study in detecting microfossils in Messinian gypsum

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

26-02-2025 om 17:44 geschreven door peter  

A Tantalizing Worldlet

Certainly, asteroid Kamo’oalewa is an intriguing space rock. An Apollo Group Near Earth Asteroid, Kamo’oalewa is a rare quasi-satellite of the Earth. Discovered on the night of April 27^th, 2016 from the Haleakala Observatory, the asteroid received the provisional designation 2016 HO3. The formal name means ‘oscillating fragment’ in the Hawaiian language. The asteroid currently fluctuates from being a quasi-satellite and horseshoe orbit between the Sun-Earth L1-L2 and L4-L5 Lagrange points, respectively. One day—perhaps a 100 million of years or so in the future—Kamo’oalewa may ultimately strike the Earth or the Moon.

A reddish object, Kamo’oalewa is either an S- or L-type asteroid, about 40 to 100-meters in size. The asteroid also bears a striking spectral resemblance to Apollo 14 and Luna 24 soil returns, suggesting it may in fact be ejecta from the impact that formed the Giordano Bruno crater on the Moon. The farside crater is thought to be about 4 million years old.

Following Asteroid Kamo’alewa

A recent study out of the European Space Agency’s Near-Earth Objects Coordination Centre (NEOCC) entitled Astrometry, Orbit Determination and Thermal Inertia of the Tianwen-2 Target Asteroid (469219) Kamo’oalewa is looking to better understand the tiny world ahead of the mission’s arrival. Specifically, the study looks to refine the orbit of the asteroid, and understand how the Yarkovsky and YORP (Yarkovsky-O’Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack) effects act on the orbit and rotation of the asteroid over time. The Yarovsky Effect is the result of how sunlight alters the path of small asteroids over time, as they absorb solar energy and re-emit it as heat. YORP is a similar phenomena, but includes the scattering of sunlight due to the shape and surface structure of the asteroid. Kamo’oalewa is a fast rotator, spinning on its axis once every 27 minutes. This will add to the challenge of grabbing a sample.

“We observed Kamo’oalewa and precisely measured its position in the sky,” lead researcher on the study Marco Fenucci (ESA/ESRIN/NEO Coordination Centre) told Universe Today. “Thanks to these new measurements, we were able to determine the Yarkovsky effect with a signal-to-noise ratio of 14, and the overall accuracy of the orbit was improved.”

The study used current observations from the Calar Alto Observatory in Spain and Loiano Astronomical Station based in Italy, as well as pre-discovery observations found in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) from 2004. These were especially challenging for the team to incorporate, as SDSS used a unique drift scan method to complete images. Also, an NEO asteroid like Kamo’oalewa has a relatively fast proper motion against the starry background. These two factors presented a challenge to pinning the asteroid’s time and location down in earlier images.

An Enigmatic World

“Thanks to the accurate measurement of the Yarkovsky effect on Kamo’oalewa, we were able to estimate the surface thermal inertia,” says Fenucci. “Our best estimate indicates that the thermal inertia is smaller than that of Bennu and Ryugu (the target for JAXA’s Hayabusa2 mission). A low value of thermal inertia is usually due to the presence of regolith on the surface of the asteroid. The presence of regolith was not expected on such fast rotators.”

Certainly, the tiny world is worthy of further scrutiny. Any information will be handy leading up the Tianwen-2’s arrival. Like NASA’s OSIRIS-REx, which sampled asteroid 101955 Bennu in 2020, Tianwen-2 will use a touch-and-go sample technique, in addition to an anchor-and-attach method to acquire its samples of asteroid Kamo’oalewa.

“Kamo’oalewa will be the smallest asteroid visited by a spacecraft, and also the one with the shortest rotation period,” says Fenucci. “In terms of composition, the spectrum is similar to that of S-type asteroids, for example, Itokawa or Eros.” The reddish aspect of the asteroid in the visible-to-near infrared part of the spectrum, however, remains a mystery. “This is a typical feature of lunar regolith,” says Fenucci. “However, this particular feature can also be caused by space weathering. The Tianwen-2 mission should give an answer to the question of the origin of Kamo’oalewa.”

Tianwen-2 Mission Timeline

Currently rendezvous with the asteroid is set for 2026, with a departure in 2027. The CNSA team hopes to nab about 100 grams of Kamo’oalewa, about the mass of medium-sized apple. After that, the mission will dispatch its return capsule on Earth flyby in late 2027. Then, it will head onward to explore periodic comet 311/P PanSTARRS. The mission will reach the comet in 2034.

China has certainly taken a prudent, incremental path to space exploration. CNSA’s Chang’e program has returned samples of the lunar near and far side. Tianwen-1 was successful at Mars, scoring a combination orbiter, lander and rover on the Red Planet, all in one mission. China also has long term plans to combine these proven techniques in a Mars sample return mission of their own. This could launch as early as 2028.

It will be exciting to see asteroid Kamo’oalewa up close, as Tianwen-2 attempts to unravel the origin story for this elusive world.

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

26-02-2025 om 17:30 geschreven door peter