The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
Zoeken in blog
Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld Ontdek de Fascinerende Wereld van UFO's en UAP's: Jouw Bron voor Onthullende Informatie!
Ben jij ook gefascineerd door het onbekende? Wil je meer weten over UFO's en UAP's, niet alleen in België, maar over de hele wereld? Dan ben je op de juiste plek!
België: Het Kloppend Hart van UFO-onderzoek
In België is BUFON (Belgisch UFO-Netwerk) dé autoriteit op het gebied van UFO-onderzoek. Voor betrouwbare en objectieve informatie over deze intrigerende fenomenen, bezoek je zeker onze Facebook-pagina en deze blog. Maar dat is nog niet alles! Ontdek ook het Belgisch UFO-meldpunt en Caelestia, twee organisaties die diepgaand onderzoek verrichten, al zijn ze soms kritisch of sceptisch.
Nederland: Een Schat aan Informatie
Voor onze Nederlandse buren is er de schitterende website www.ufowijzer.nl, beheerd door Paul Harmans. Deze site biedt een schat aan informatie en artikelen die je niet wilt missen!
Internationaal: MUFON - De Wereldwijde Autoriteit
Neem ook een kijkje bij MUFON (Mutual UFO Network Inc.), een gerenommeerde Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in de VS en wereldwijd. MUFON is toegewijd aan de wetenschappelijke en analytische studie van het UFO-fenomeen, en hun maandelijkse tijdschrift, The MUFON UFO-Journal, is een must-read voor elke UFO-enthousiasteling. Bezoek hun website op www.mufon.com voor meer informatie.
Samenwerking en Toekomstvisie
Sinds 1 februari 2020 is Pieter niet alleen ex-president van BUFON, maar ook de voormalige nationale directeur van MUFON in Vlaanderen en Nederland. Dit creëert een sterke samenwerking met de Franse MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP, wat ons in staat stelt om nog meer waardevolle inzichten te delen.
Let op: Nepprofielen en Nieuwe Groeperingen
Pas op voor een nieuwe groepering die zich ook BUFON noemt, maar geen enkele connectie heeft met onze gevestigde organisatie. Hoewel zij de naam geregistreerd hebben, kunnen ze het rijke verleden en de expertise van onze groep niet evenaren. We wensen hen veel succes, maar we blijven de autoriteit in UFO-onderzoek!
Blijf Op De Hoogte!
Wil jij de laatste nieuwtjes over UFO's, ruimtevaart, archeologie, en meer? Volg ons dan en duik samen met ons in de fascinerende wereld van het onbekende! Sluit je aan bij de gemeenschap van nieuwsgierige geesten die net als jij verlangen naar antwoorden en avonturen in de sterren!
Heb je vragen of wil je meer weten? Aarzel dan niet om contact met ons op te nemen! Samen ontrafelen we het mysterie van de lucht en daarbuiten.
06-04-2025
Ancient garden uncovered at Jesus' crucifixion site in Jerusalem backs up Bible
Ancient garden uncovered at Jesus' crucifixion site in Jerusalem backs up Bible
Archaeologists have discovered an ancient garden beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which confirms the Bible's account of Jesus' burial site
Archaeologists from Sapienza University of Rome have unearthed an ancient garden beneath Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a site mentioned in the Gospel of John as surrounding the crucifixion location of Jesus.
The scripture, John 19:41, states: "Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.There laid they Jesus." The excavation process began during church renovations in 2022, but it was only recently that "evidence of the presence of olive trees and grapevines from around 2,000 years ago' was found.
Lead archaeologist Francesca Romana Stasolla told the Times of Israel, "The Gospel mentions a green area between the Calvary and the tomb, and we identified these cultivated fields." This discovery contributes to the ongoing discussion about Jesus' burial site.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, widely accepted by scholars as Jesus' entombment site, attracts approximately four million visitors annually. The church, spanning nearly 5,400 feet in diameter, was constructed atop a Roman temple dedicated to the goddess Venus in 335AD.
It was during this construction that what is believed to be Christ's tomb was discovered. The findings not only shed light on details of Jesus' burial but also provide new insights into the history of ancient Jerusalem.
"The church stands on a quarry," Stasolla explained, "We discovered pottery, lamps, and other everyday objects dating back to that period."
The quarry later transformed into farmland.
"The archaeobotanical findings have been particularly intriguing for us, considering what is mentioned in the Gospel of John, whose information is believed to have been written or collected by someone familiar with Jerusalem at the time."
The quarry later transformed into farmland.
Stasolla added: "The archaeobotanical findings have been particularly intriguing for us, considering what is mentioned in the Gospel of John, whose information is believed to have been written or collected by someone familiar with Jerusalem at the time."
Woman 'taken by aliens' in 'abduction of century' says how to tell if you have been too
Woman 'taken by aliens' in 'abduction of century' says how to tell if you have been too
Alien abduction stories have been circulating for decades, with some people claiming they were taken by extraterrestrials and subjected to strange experiments on board their spaceship
One of the most talked-about kidnap sagas involves Linda Napolitano from New York and Brit Philip Kinsella, who both believe they were nabbed by aliens in the same calendar year.
Linda made headlines with her "abduction of the century" claim, alleging she was beamed up from her Manhattan flat in November 1989. Apparently, no less than 23 onlookers witnessed her floating above the Brooklyn Bridge, reports the Mirror.
Linda isn't the only person claiming they were abducted by aliens. Pic from The Manhattan Alien Abduction on Netflix(Image: Netflix)
In 2013, she told Vanity Fair: "If I was hallucinating, then the witnesses saw my hallucination." In 2022, her startling story was adapted into the popular Netflix show The Manhattan Alien Abduction.
While extraterrestrial life has yet to be scientifically proven, Linda isn't the only alleged abductee to come forward with chilling details of encounters with beings from outer space.
British man Philip claimed he was abducted by "reptilian" aliens in 1989 after being suddenly awakened at his Bedfordshire home in the middle of the night. Clairvoyant Philip described being levitated and moved through his house before being strapped naked to a board, where he claims a probe was inserted into his body.
Philip spoke about that terrifying night and shared six eerie signs that could indicate you've had an alien encounter-without even realising it.
When recalling his first sighting of the alien figure, Philip told The Sun: "That image was the most raw and unforgettable-I will never forget their faces. They looked like dinosaurs, but they were reptilian, about seven to eight feet tall."
Linda's abduction is featured in a Netflix show(Image: Netflix)
Philip and his twin brother Ronald have had four unnerving UFO encounters, including capturing footage of "three white hovering objects" in 2016.
Although Philip vividly remembers his alleged abduction, he explained that most people's memories are supposedly wiped by extraterrestrial beings.
One of the key indicators of abduction Philip mentioned was the presence of implants. He claims that aliens often leave small implants in humans about the size of a grain of rice. Although he doesn't know the purpose of the implant, he described it as being covered in "organic tissue" so that the body doesn't reject it.
"Sometimes they're very tiny, and they have a strange, hard structure-not metallic, but unusual," he said. Philip revealed that his implant, which had been in his body for two years, was located behind his ear. He offered tips on how to spot these potential implants, such as noticing an itchy spot or a specific problem area. He also claimed they could show up on X-rays.
More than 20 people witnessed Linda floating in the air
(Image: Netflix)
American actress Fran Drescher has also publicly spoken about her alleged abduction. In 2012, she claimed that both she and her producer husband, Peter Marc Jacobson, had been implanted with chips, noting that they both had identical scars in the same spot on their hands. She shared this with the Huffington Post, saying, "We both have this scar. It's the exact same scar on the exact same spot."
Philip also shared some physical symptoms he experienced after his alleged abduction, including frequent and severe nosebleeds. "I suffered profuse nosebleeds to my right nostril for two years after the incident," he recalled. "It got to the point where it was so embarrassing. I could be sitting on the train, and it would just start pouring. Doctors were considering cauterizing it."
Interestingly, Linda also claimed to have woken up with a nosebleed after her first abduction experience, along with a strange bump on the side of her nose.
Philip revealed he was left with three triangular marks behind his right ear after the encounter, which he believes could be part of an alleged implantation ritual. He speculates that human tissue may be used to cover the implant.
Linda claims aliens beamed her up
(Image: Netflix)
Although potential abductees may not recall the full details of their encounters, especially if their memories have been erased, Philip believes that fragments of the experience may resurface later. He explained the phenomenon of "screen memory," where subconscious memories of the experience emerge into the conscious mind. "Some people have fragmented memories, but they don't feel like dreams. They feel real."
Where it is: 142 million miles (228 million kilometers) from the sun, on average
How big it is: 4,222 miles (6,795 km) wide, about half the diameter of Earth
How long a day lasts: 24.6 hours
How long a year lasts: 669.6 Martian days (sols), or 687 Earth days
Atmosphere: Extremely thin, about 95% carbon dioxide
Temperature: Minus 225 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 143 to 20 degrees Celsius)
Mars, the fourth planet from the sun, is a dry, rocky world. Its famous red color has earned it the nickname the Red Planet. Mars has fascinated people throughout history, and today, it is one of the most explored places in the solar system, with many rovers and orbiters searching the planet for evidence of past or present life.
Mars orbits at an average distance of 142 million miles (228 million km) from the sun. Its orbit is about 1.5 times the size of Earth's. Sunlight takes about 13 minutes to get to Mars, while it takes around 8 minutes to reach our planet.
Past missions from Earth to the Red Planet have taken anywhere from 128 to 333 days, depending on how far apart the planets were in their orbits at the time. While many robotic missions have visited Mars, no human has ever set foot there. Various missions by the world’s space agencies plan to change this in the coming decades.
5 fast facts about Mars
The name Mars comes from the ancient Roman god of war. Romans could see the planet in the night sky, and its red color reminded them of blood, according to NASA.
Mars is red because the dust that covers the planet's surface is full of iron oxides — in other words, rust.
It's not just rusty, it's also dusty. Mars experiences planet-wide dust storms every few years, and enormous cyclones of dust called "dust devils" on Mars can tower more than a mile above the planet's surface.
Mars is home to the tallest mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons, which is like three Mount Everests stacked on top of each other.
"Martians" (aliens from Mars) aren't real, but scientists used to think they were. Researchers once thought the dark spots they saw on Mars were canals that hinted that there could be advanced cities and intelligent life on Mars.
Everything you need to know about Mars
Is Mars bigger than Earth?
Mars is smaller than Earth. It has a diameter of roughly 4,222 miles (6,794 km) — about half Earth's diameter, according to the European Space Agency (ESA).
The Red Planet is rocky, much like Earth. The inside structure of Mars is also similar to Earth's, NASA rovers have revealed. Mars' outer crust is 6 to 30 miles (10 to 50 km) thick and is composed mainly of iron, magnesium, aluminum, calcium and potassium, according to NASA. Below that is a rocky mantle that's 770 to 1,170 miles (1,240 to 1,880 km) thick, which surrounds a dense core that's made of iron, nickel and sulfur and has a radius of 930 to 1,300 miles (1,500 to 2,100 km).
A composite image showing the comparable sizes of Earth and Mars. Earth's diameter is roughly twice that of Mars. (Image credit: NASA/JPL)
Does Mars have a moon?
Mars has two small, potato-shaped moons, called Phobos and Deimos. These moons are named for two sons of the Greek god of war, Ares, which the Romans called Mars. The names Phobos and Deimos mean "fear" and "panic."
The innermost moon, Phobos, has lots of craters and is roughly 13.8 miles (22.2 km) in diameter. In about 50 million years, it is expected to break up or crash into Mars.
Deimos orbits 2.5 times farther from Mars than Phobos does and is half the size — about 7.8 miles (12.6 km) across. Both moons are made mostly from rock and iron and may have once been asteroids that got captured by Mars' gravitational pull.
A composite image showing Mars and its two moons, Phobos and Deimos. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC/Univ. of Arizona)
Is there life on Mars?
NASA scientists think life may have once been plentiful on Mars, as there is a lot of evidence that the planet used to be much warmer and wetter billions of years ago. Whether there is anything alive today on Mars is not known.
However, scientists can make some educated guesses about the kind of life that might be there or might have lived there in the past. If there is life on Mars today, it is probably microscopic — teeny-tiny organisms living beneath the Martian soil.
NASA's Perseverance rover has spent years drilling into Martian rocks to collect samples, in hopes that scientists can one day test them for signs of life. Scientists are working on plans to bring those samples back to Earth.
Is there water on Mars?
Although Mars is a dry planet today, lots of evidence suggests there were once oceans and rivers all over Mars. Lines carved into rocks show where water once flowed, and there may have even been sandy beaches like we have on Earth today. However, sometime in the past 2 billion years or so, Mars' water dried up.
Some satellites have found signs of water in the form of frost at the top of Mars' tallest volcanoes and in buried frozen lakes deep below the planet's surface. But for now, no liquid water has been spotted on the Red Planet.
A composite image showing some of the NASA vehicles that have explored Mars. Clockwise from top left: Perseverance rover and Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, InSight lander, Odyssey orbiter, MAVEN orbiter, Curiosity rover and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Have humans explored Mars?
Humans have never been to Mars, but we've been studying it for hundreds of years — starting with British astronomer William Herschel, who watched the Red Planet through an early telescope in the late 1700s.
The first spacecraft to successfully reach Mars was NASA's Mariner 4 probe, in July 1965. Flying without any humans aboard, the probe soared past Mars and sent back photos of the planet's surface, according to NASA.
In 1971, NASA's Mariner 9 became the first mission to successfully orbit Mars. The Viking 1 and 2 landers were the first human-made objects to make it to the Red Planet's surface and survive for more than a few minutes, when they touched down in 1976, according to The Planetary Society. From the surface, they took photos and conducted the first search for life on the planet.
The current group of robots on Mars includes NASA's Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, both of which have made incredible scientific discoveries. Perseverance carried Ingenuity, the first helicopter to fly on Mars, which took many incredible images before several of its rotor blades broke during a rough landing in 2024. China's Zhurong rover successfully landed on Mars in 2021, and it has sent back beautiful pictures, and even sounds from the surface.
Many other missions, both past and present, have revealed amazing insights about the planet's history, and future planned missions should help continue this progress. NASA aims to send humans to explore the Red Planet in the 2030s, though there is no specific plan to do so yet.
Mars pictures
(Image credit: NASA/JPL/USGS)Mars from spaceA global view of Mars from orbit, showing one of the planet's frosty polar ice caps on top.
(Image credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems)Snow on MarsA close-up of one of Mars' polar ice caps, covered in white frost.
(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)A Martian dust devilA satellite image of a dust devil raging across the surface of Mars. These cyclones of dust can tower a mile high and are visible from orbit.
(Image credit: NASA/JPL)The surface of MarsThe rocky, dusty surface of Mars photographed by NASA's Viking lander.
(Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell)Meteor on MarsA NASA rover snapped this photograph of an iron meteorite sitting on the Martian surface.
(Image credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin)Martian volcanoes, and the tallest mountain ever knownFour Martian volcanoes seen by the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. The top volcano is Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain in the solar system.
Discover more about Mars
See how NASA is currently exploring Mars, as well as the agency's plans for Mars exploration, on this website dedicated to Martian probes.
Dive into this stunning map of different regions on the Red Planet, courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Browse even more amazing images from NASA's Mars missions on the agency's multimedia page.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has teamed up with the MeerKAT radio telescope array to explore how magnetic fields affect star formation at the chaotic center of the Milky Way.
The Milky Way captured by the MeerKAT radio telescope array, with the James Webb Space Telescope's image inset.
(Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, SARAO, Samuel Crowe (UVA), John Bally (CU), Ruben Fedriani (IAA-CSIC), Ian Heywood (Oxford))
What it is:Sagittarius C (Sgr C) region of the Milky Way.
Where it is: 25,000 light-years from the solar system in the constellation Sagittarius.
When it was shared: April 2, 2025
Why it's so special: The Milky Way often appears as a reddish, pinkish and bluish-white arc across the night sky, but this new super-long exposure image from South Africa's ground-based MeerKAT radio telescope shows our home galaxy in a completely new way.
Colored in blue, cyan, yellow and white, the main image — whose many bubbles of color are remnants of supernovas — span 1,000 light-years of the Milky Way.
The new radio image helps to put in context the inset infrared image by the James Webb Space Telescope from 2023 of Sagittarius C (Sgr C). This is a 44 light-year-wide region about 200 light-years from the Milky Way's central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, where stars are being formed.
JWST's image revealed more than 500,000 stars, but in this Central Molecular Zone — an extreme environment — stars are not being formed as quickly as astronomers expect. One reason may be the strong magnetic fields around that supermassive black hole, which are shaping the filaments seen by MeerKAT and JWST. These magnetic fields may also be strong enough to resist the gravity that causes dense clouds of gas and dust to collapse to create stars, thus suppressing star formation in Sgr C.
"A big question in the Central Molecular Zone of our galaxy has been, if there is so much dense gas and cosmic dust here, and we know that stars form in such clouds, why are so few stars born here?" said John Bally, an astrophysicist at the University of Colorado Boulder and one of the principal investigators of a related paper published April 2 in The Astrophysical Journal. "Now, for the first time, we are seeing directly that strong magnetic fields may play an important role in suppressing star formation, even at small scales," Bally said in a NASAstatement.
MeerKAT is a radio telescope made up of 64 dishes in South Africa's Karoo region. It will eventually form part of a far larger radio telescope called the Square Kilometre Array, the world's largest and most sensitive radio telescope that will also use more than 130,000 Christmas tree-shaped antennas on the traditional lands of the Wajarri Yamaji, in Murchison, Western Australia.
Varda Space Industries' W-2 space capsule reentered Earth's atmosphere and touched down in the Australian outback last month, becoming the first commercial spacecraft to land Down Under.
Varda's W-2 capsule is the first commercial spacecraft to land in Australia.
(Image credit: Photo by William Godwin, Courtesy Varda Space Industries.)
A saucer-like space capsule touched down in the Australian outback last month, marking the first time a commercial spacecraft has landed Down Under.
Varda Space Industries' Winnebago-2 (W-2) space capsule reentered Earth's atmosphere and dropped down in South Australia on Feb. 28. In doing so, W-2 also set a world first by becoming the first commercial spacecraft to return to a commercial spaceport, according to a statement released by the Australian Space Agency.
The successful return of W-2 was a "landmark moment for the Australian space sector," Australian Space Agency representatives wrote in the statement.
The company behind W-2, Varda, is an American startup based in California. W-2 originally left Earth from California on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Jan. 14 as part of the Transporter-12 rideshare mission — the Transporter carries satellites from various customers into space. W-2 then spent 45 days in orbit, carrying payloads from the U.S. Air Force and NASA before dropping down to the Koonibba Test Range, run by Australian aerospace company Southern Launch.
W-2 weighed 265 pounds (120 kilograms) and had various technologies onboard to advance space research. For example, W-2 carried Varda’s expanded pharmaceutical reactor, which allows for the production of medicine in space, according to a statement released by Southern Launch.
The space capsule was also equipped with a heatshield developed with NASA and a spectrometer built by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. The spectrometer, known as Optical Sensing of Plasmas in the ReEntry Environment (OSPREE), measured the environment around the capsule as it reentered at speeds exceeding Mach 25, which is 25 times the speed of sound, or around 19,000 miles per hour (31,000 kilometers per hour), according to a statement released by Varda.
The W-2 space capsule re-entering Earth’s atmosphere last month.(Image credit: Photo by William Godwin, Courtesy Varda Space Industries.)
"We are ecstatic to have W-2 back on our home planet safely and are proud to support significant reentry research for our government partners as we continue building a thriving foundation for economic expansion to low Earth orbit," Varda CEO Will Bruey said in the statement.
The Southern Launch team watched the W-2 reentry from the ground with advanced tracking telescopes and led the recovery operations, which included representatives from the Far West Coast Aboriginal Corporation, the traditional owners of the land where the capsule landed, according to the Southern Launch statement.
"For Australia, this mission ushers in a new era of space capabilities for the nation," Southern Launch representatives wrote in its statement. "The W-2 mission was the first time a commercial space craft re-entry was granted under Australian legislation and is just the first of many scheduled to return to the Koonibba Test Range."
A sudden stratospheric warming event reversed the winds that make up the northern polar vortex on March 9. A new animation shows the vortex also moved away from the Arctic towards Europe.
Between March 1 and March 20, the polar vortex traveled from above the Arctic to above Northern Europe.
(Image credit: NOAA Climate)
A major disruption to the Arctic polar vortex has bumped the ring of wind that circles the North Pole off its perch and towards Europe, a new animation shows.
The migration could trigger colder-than-average temperatures in parts of the continent and across the eastern U.S. over the coming week, climate scientists say.
The polar vortex started wandering off course March 9, when its high winds suddenly switched from blowing west to east to blowing in the opposite direction. This switch normally happens each year, but it tends to occur in mid-April — meaning this year's reversal struck unusually early, according to a blog post published April 3 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
"For much of this winter season, the polar vortex has been strong," NOAA officials wrote in the blog post. "But like a true atmospheric diva, the polar vortex had one last trick up its sleeve, breaking down in a spectacular fashion and bringing some cold air with it."
The Arctic polar vortex is a circle of strong, cold winds that picks up every winter over the North Pole. The vortex is always present, but it strengthens in the winter due to a redistribution of heat from the tropics. During the winter, the winds that make up the polar vortex blow from west to east. In spring, as Earth's tilt changes and the North Pole receives more sunlight, the direction of the winds changes to blow from east to west. The winds also become weaker as a result of less heat wafting from the tropics to the pole.
These winds are located in the stratosphere — a layer of the atmosphere that extends between around 6 and 31 miles (10 to 50 kilometers) above Earth's surface.
Occasional "sudden stratospheric warming" events can disrupt the polar vortex. These events happen when large-scale atmospheric waves, called Rossby waves, get pushed into the stratosphere from below, triggering sudden spikes in temperature. Like ocean waves,Rossby waves can "break"on top of the polar vortex, weakening it and — in extreme cases — reversing the direction of its winds.
Last year, a sudden stratospheric warming event hit the polar vortex and reversed its winds in early March, but the vortex recovered. This time, "the vortex does not seem likely to gain a foothold again," NOAA officials wrote.
The switch in wind direction doesn't mean the polar vortex will immediately drop off for the summer, however. The reversed polar vortex has simply "moved off the pole, meandering around over Northern Europe," officials wrote.
NOAA's latest forecasts suggest the polar vortex is unlikely to wander back to its normal position over the North Pole. It probably won't regain its wintertime strength either, officials said, so the likelihood is that it will dissipate and eventually "enter hibernation" over Northern Europe.
As it dissipates, the polar vortex will bring below-average temperatures to Northern Europe, parts of Asia and the eastern U.S., NOAA officials wrote. "Temperatures for the last week of March were pretty normal across the eastern U.S., but the latest forecasts do predict increased chances of below-normal temperatures for the next week," they wrote.
A Glimpse of the Stunning Full Image Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Benjamin F. Williams (University of Washington), Zhuo Chen (University of Washington), L. Clifton Johnson (Northwestern University);
Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI).
The Andromeda Galaxy, our closest large galactic neighbor, has just revealed its breathtaking secrets in an image so detailed it feels like stepping into the cosmos itself. Captured through over a decade of meticulous observations by the Hubble Space Telescope, this 2.5-billion-pixel masterpiece isn’t just a pretty picture—it’s a cosmic treasure map exposing Andromeda’s dramatic past and chaotic evolution.
A Visual Marvel That Took Over 10 Years to Create
The monumental task of creating this image required stitching together data from 600 individual views, forming a mosaic of unparalleled clarity. Spanning an incredible 2.5 billion pixels, this image allows astronomers to analyze approximately 200 million stars, each shining brighter than our Sun.
While this is just a small fraction of Andromeda’s estimated trillion stars, the data has unlocked a deeper understanding of the galaxy’s structure and history. Ben Williams, the project’s lead scientist, explained, “With Hubble, we can examine the entire disk of the galaxy in extraordinary detail. No other galaxy this large offers such an opportunity.”
The image also uncovered a tumultuous story. Hubble detected streams of stars and a unique stellar population that indicate Andromeda has endured cosmic collisions, likely with neighboring galaxies.
Andromeda as We’ve Never Seen It Before Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Benjamin F. Williams (University of Washington), Zhuo Chen (University of Washington), L. Clifton Johnson (Northwestern University); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI).
“Andromeda looks like it’s been through a massive event—like a train wreck,” said Daniel Weisz of the University of California, Berkeley. “This collision triggered intense star formation but then shut down quickly afterward.”
One prime suspect in this intergalactic drama is Messier 32, a small satellite galaxy. Researchers believe Andromeda siphoned Messier 32’s gas, fueling the formation of countless stars before transitioning into its current, less active state.
A Cosmic Puzzle Waiting to Be Solved
Andromeda now sits in a transitional phase, straddling the line between a vibrant, star-forming spiral galaxy and an elliptical galaxy dominated by aging stars. Its central bulge glows with the light of older stars, while its outer regions show surprisingly limited star formation.
Hubble’s decade-long mission not only provides insights into Andromeda’s chaotic history but also offers a roadmap for understanding how galaxies like our own might evolve. “Every resolved star tells us more about the galaxy’s history of mergers and interactions,” Williams added.
This astonishing image is available to view in full resolution, and experts recommend experiencing it on the largest screen possible.
Amazing Jellyfish UFO Over Spain On March 25, 2025, UAP Drone Sighting News.
Amazing Jellyfish UFO Over Spain On March 25, 2025, UAP Drone Sighting News.
Date of sighting: March 25, 2025
Location of sighting: Andalusia, Spain
Sources: Email report send to scwaring @yahoo.com
This UFO was seen over Spain last week and it's not a typical UFO, but a jellyfish type UFO. Its lower bottom like tentacles glow as it moves through the sky. Very strange, like a living creature less like an intelligently made UFO. Is it possible that some entities can travel through space and enter atmospheres of planets flying around...existing and then moving to the next planet? Yes, the answer is yes, there are thousands, maybe millions of living animals existing in the cold vacuum of space. Surprised? Well, ask ai about the possibilities of it.
TicTac UAP Over South Florida, April 4, 2025, UFO Drone Sighting News.
TicTac UAP Over South Florida, April 4, 2025, UFO Drone Sighting News.
Date of sighting: April 4, 2025
Location of sighting: South Florida, USA
Source: Email report at scwaring @yahoo.com
Hey all check this out. This is an actual tictac UFO seen over South Florida. The object is seen moving out of cloud over some people and they debate about what it could be. Now Florida actually has a base under it that extends from the Gulf to the Bermuda Triangle. I know, I know, how would you know Scott? Well, two decades of hard core research and a mass of UFO sightings in Florida that outnumber any other state in the US by far. I believe Dr Steven Greer would agree with me on this one.
I was searching a Mars photo on Gigapan when I encountered something really good. I found ancient alien writing on a Mars
mountain side. There are three distinct characters so it's three different words. Sadly not even the NSA could decipher an alien language with only three words, however we are left to imagine what it might have said. Perhaps to make a powerful tribe which once ruled this area, or a royal family who owned the land. We may never know, but that okay, because not knowing is what keeps us seeking the truth.
0
1
2
3
4
5
- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:Ruins, strange artifacts on other planets, moons, ed ( Fr, EN, NL )
Perseverance Watched a Dust Devil Eat Another
Perseverance Watched a Dust Devil Eat Another
By Matthew Williams
Martian dust devil captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
Mars is well known for its seasonal dust storms, which occur when the southern hemisphere experiences summer. Periodically, these storms grow to engulf the entire planet and can last for months, wreaking havoc on robotic missions. Smaller regional storms are far more common on Mars, as are swirling columns of air and dust (aka. dust devils). NASA's Perseverance rover recently took pictures of several dust devils on the rim of the Jezero crater. Some of these images were stitched together to create a short video of a larger dust devil consuming a smaller one.
These images were taken by the rover's navigation camera on January 25th when the rover was exploring the location called "Witch Hazel Hill." The rover was about 1 km (0.6 mi) from the two dust devils, the larger of which was approximately 65 m (210 ft) wide, while the smaller, trailing dust devil was roughly 5 m (16 ft). The captures were part of an imaging experiment conducted by Perseverance's science team to learn more about the planet's atmospheric dynamics. Two other dust devils can also be seen in the background at the left and center of the video (shown below).
Like dust devils on Earth, these weather patterns are formed by rising and rotating air columns. They begin close to the ground, where the air is heated by contact with the warmer ground, then rises through the cooler air above. Meanwhile, cooler air moves in to occupy the space near the surface, which causes the rising air to rotate and pick up speed. This process also kicks up dust from the surface, creating the swirling columns of dust and air that meteorologists call "convective vortices" or dust devils.
Mark Lemmon, a Perseverance scientist at the Space Science Institute (SSI), explained in a NASA press release:
"Convective vortices — aka dust devils — can be rather fiendish. These mini-twisters wander the surface of Mars, picking up dust as they go and lowering the visibility in their immediate area. If two dust devils happen upon each other, they can either obliterate one another or merge, with the stronger one consuming the weaker. If you feel bad for the little devil in our latest video, it may give you some solace to know the larger perpetrator most likely met its own end a few minutes later. Dust devils on Mars only last about 10 minutes.”
Martian dust devils were first photographed from space by NASA's Viking orbiters, which studied Mars in the 1970s. The Pathfinder mission, consisting of a lander and the Sojourner rover,was the first to image a dust devil on the surface. Subsequent orbiters and rovers, like the Spiritand Opportunityrovers and theMars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), have taken images of these weather patterns from the surface and space. The Curiosity rover also took multiple images of dust devils in the Gale Crater, some of which were used to create a video.
Since landing in the Jezero Crater in 2021, Perseverance has also observed dust devils and even recorded what they sound like using its SuperCam microphone. Said Katie Stack Morgan, a project scientist for the Perseverance rover at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory:
"Dust devils play a significant role in Martian weather patterns. Dust devil study is important because these phenomena indicate atmospheric conditions, such as prevailing wind directions and speed, and are responsible for about half the dust in the Martian atmosphere."
Learning more about these swirling columns of air is vital to understanding the dynamics of Mars' atmosphere. It could also lead to predictive models, allowing scientists to know where they might occur in advance. Capturing these features is presently a matter of luck and timing, which is why Perseverance routinely monitors in all directions for them.
Wat Oude UFO-waarnemingen Onthullen Over de Obsessie van de Mensheid met het Onbekende
Wat Oude UFO-waarnemingen Onthullen Over de Obsessie van de Mensheid met het Onbekende
Inleiding
De fascinatie van de mensheid voor het onbekende is een onderwerp dat door de eeuwen heen terugkomt in mythologieën, folklore, en moderne wetenschap. Een bijzonder intrigerend aspect van deze obsessie zijn de meldingen van onidentificeerbare vliegende objecten (UFO's) die in de geschiedenis zijn geregistreerd. Dit rapport onderzoekt oude UFO-waarnemingen en hoe deze ons inzicht kunnen geven in de menselijke psychologie, de sociale dynamiek en de culturele context van verschillende tijdperken. Door middel van historische analyses, sociologische theorieën en psychologische inzichten, trachten we de betekenis van deze fenomenen te ontrafelen.
Hoofdstuk 1: Geschiedenis van UFO-waarnemingen
1.1 Vroegste Meldingen
De geschiedenis van UFO-waarnemingen is als een spannend verhaal dat door de eeuwen heen is verteld. Een van de vroegste bekende beschrijvingen van een UFO komt uit de Bijbel, specifiek in het boek Ezechiël. Daar wordt gesproken over een ‘vuurwiel’ dat zich in de lucht beweegt, wat door sommige interpretators wordt gezien als een mogelijk bewijs van buitenaardse technologie. Deze oude teksten zijn vaak onderwerp van discussie geweest en hebben geleid tot verschillende interpretaties. Sommigen geloven dat dergelijke beschrijvingen niet anders kunnen dan wijzen op een vorm van geavanceerde technologie, terwijl anderen ze beschouwen als symbolische of religieuze ervaringen van de tijd.
In andere oude culturen, zoals die van de Egyptenaren en Maya’s, zijn ook soortgelijke verschijnselen gerapporteerd. Deze meldingen suggereren niet alleen dat mensen in het verleden opmerkelijke dingen aan de hemel hebben gezien, maar ze wekken ook de hypothese dat er herhaaldelijk interactie heeft plaatsgevonden met andere beschavingen. De verhalen die in deze oude teksten worden verteld, kunnen ons helpen begrijpen hoe de mensheid altijd al gefascineerd is geweest door het onbekende, en hoe deze fascinatie door de eeuwen heen is geëvolueerd.
1.2 De Middeleeuwen en de Renaissance
Tijdens de middeleeuwen veranderde de manier waarop mensen naar de lucht keken. UFO-waarnemingen werden vaak geïnterpreteerd als goddelijke boodschappen of als tekenen van het einde der tijden. In deze periode werden dergelijke verschijnselen vaak gezien als manifestaties van engelen of demonische wezens. De religieuze context van die tijd beïnvloedde sterk hoe mensen deze mysterieuze verschijnselen begrepen. Het was een tijd waarin de wetenschap nog in de kinderschoenen stond en de meeste mensen hun wereldbeeld baseerden op religieuze overtuigingen.
De Renaissance markeerde echter een keerpunt in de menselijke geschiedenis. Deze periode bracht een nieuw wereldbeeld met zich mee, waarbij de mensheid zich begon te richten op wetenschap en rede. Astronomen zoals Nicolaus Copernicus en Galileo Galilei begonnen de sterren en planeten te bestuderen met een wetenschappelijke benadering. Dit leidde tot een verandering in de interpretatie van UFO’s; wat vroeger als bovennatuurlijk werd gezien, kreeg nu vaak een astronomische uitleg. Mensen begonnen kritisch te kijken naar de hemel en de fenomenen die zich daar afspeelden, zoals kometen en meteoren. Deze verschuiving in denken heeft bijgedragen aan de ontwikkeling van de moderne astronomie en een beter begrip van ons zonnestelsel.
1.3 De 19e en 20e Eeuw
Met de opkomst van moderne technologie en de luchtvaart in de 20e eeuw nam het aantal UFO-meldingen exponentieel toe. De term ‘UFO’ (Unidentified Flying Object) werd in 1953 geïntroduceerd door de Amerikaanse luchtmacht. Dit markeerde een belangrijk moment in de geschiedenis van UFO-waarnemingen, omdat het de basis legde voor een meer gestructureerde en systematische benadering van het fenomeen. De beroemde Roswell-incident in 1947, waarbij naar verluidt een UFO zou zijn neergestort in New Mexico, fungeerde als een katalysator voor de publieke fascinatie met UFO’s. De verhalen rondom Roswell, waarin een “vliegend schotel” werd ontdekt, leidden tot een golf van meldingen en speculaties.
De daaropvolgende publieke fascinatie leidde tot een breed scala aan theorieën over buitenaardse aanwezigheid. Van samenzweringstheorieën tot wetenschappelijke onderzoeken, mensen deelden hun ervaringen en ideeën over het onbekende. Deze theorieën omvatten alles van de mogelijkheid van extraterrestriële levensvormen tot speculaties over geheime overheidsprojecten die zich bezighouden met het bestuderen van UFO’s. De mediaberichtgeving rond UFO-waarnemingen droeg ook bij aan de populariteit van het onderwerp, met talloze boeken, documentaires en films die het thema verder verkenden.
Tegelijkertijd ontstonden er verschillende organisaties en onderzoeksinstellingen die zich richtten op het bestuderen van UFO-waarnemingen. Een van de bekendste is het Project Blue Book, dat tussen 1952 en 1969 door de Amerikaanse luchtmacht werd uitgevoerd. Dit project had als doel om UFO-incidenten te onderzoeken en te analyseren, en leidde tot de publicatie van verschillende rapporten die de bevindingen documenteerden. Hoewel het project in 1969 werd stopgezet, heeft het bijgedragen aan de ontwikkeling van de UFO-onderzoeksgemeenschap en heeft het veel mensen aangespoord om hun eigen ervaringen te delen.
In deze periode zagen we ook een toename van de belangstelling voor buitenaardse levensvormen in de populaire cultuur. Films, boeken en televisieprogramma's over UFO’s en extraterrestriële wezens bloeiden op, wat de fascinatie van het publiek verder aanwakkerde. Iconische titels zoals “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” en “The X-Files” hebben bijgedragen aan de mythologie rondom UFO’s en de mogelijkheid van leven buiten de aarde. Deze mediarepresentaties hebben het discours over UFO-waarnemingen veranderd, waardoor het onderwerp niet alleen werd gezien als een wetenschappelijk fenomeen, maar ook als een intrigerend cultureel en sociaal fenomeen.
In de volgende hoofdstukken zullen we dieper ingaan op de verschillende theorieën rond UFO’s, de impact van deze waarnemingen op de samenleving, en de hedendaagse ontwikkelingen in het onderzoek naar ongeïdentificeerde vliegende objecten. De geschiedenis van UFO-waarnemingen is een verhaal vol mysterie, speculatie en culturele betekenis, en het blijft een onderwerp dat de verbeelding van mensen over de hele wereld blijft prikkelen.
Hoofdstuk 2: Psychologische Aspecten van UFO-waarnemingen
2.1 De Menselijke Psychologie en het Onbekende
De menselijke behoefte om het onbekende te begrijpen is diep geworteld in onze psychologie. Van oudsher zijn mensen gefascineerd door fenomenen die buiten de normale ervaring vallen. Deze fascinatie kan worden gezien als een natuurlijke reactie op het onbekende, dat ons uitdaagt om te onderzoeken, te begrijpen en te verklaren. Psychologen suggereren dat de aantrekkingskracht van UFO’s voortkomt uit een combinatie van nieuwsgierigheid, angst en de behoefte aan betekenis.
Wanneer mensen geconfronteerd worden met iets dat ze niet kunnen verklaren, zoals een UFO-waarneming, wordt er vaak een psychologisch proces op gang gebracht. De geest probeert de gebeurtenis te contextualiseren, en dit kan leiden tot verschillende interpretaties. Voor sommigen kan een UFO worden gezien als een teken van buitenaardse levensvormen, terwijl anderen het misschien interpreteren als een spirituele ervaring of een symbolische manifestatie van hun angsten en verlangens.
Bovendien speelt de cognitieve dissonantie een belangrijke rol in hoe mensen omgaan met UFO-waarnemingen. Wanneer iemand getuige is van een gebeurtenis die niet overeenkomt met zijn of haar wereldbeeld, ontstaat er een spanning tussen de waargenomen realiteit en de bestaande overtuigingen. Deze dissonantie kan leiden tot een zoektocht naar alternatieve verklaringen of zelfs tot de ontwikkeling van nieuwe overtuigingen die beter passen bij de ervaring. Dit proces kan op zijn beurt de sociale dynamiek rondom UFO-waarnemingen beïnvloeden, waarbij individuen zich aansluiten bij gemeenschappen die deze ervaringen delen.
2.2 Bijgeloof en Reflectie van de Maatschappij
UFO-waarnemingen kunnen ook worden gezien als een reflectie van de sociale en culturele context waarin ze plaatsvinden. In tijden van politieke onrust, technologische vooruitgang of sociale verandering wenden mensen zich vaak tot het onbekende als een manier om hun angsten te verkennen en te uiten. Dit verklaart waarom UFO-meldingen vaak pieken tijdens perioden van crisis of onzekerheid.
Historisch gezien zijn er verschillende momenten geweest waarop UFO-waarnemingen toenamen, zoals tijdens de Koude Oorlog. De angst voor nucleaire vernietiging en de constante dreiging van een oorlog zorgden ervoor dat mensen zich meer dan ooit zorgen maakten over het onbekende. In dergelijke contexten kunnen UFO’s dienen als een symbolisch voertuig voor de angst en onzekerheid die in de samenleving heersen. Mensen projecteren hun angsten op deze fenomenen, wat de aantrekkingskracht ervan vergroot.
Daarnaast speelt de media een cruciale rol in de verspreiding van verhalen over UFO-waarnemingen. De manier waarop deze verhalen worden gepresenteerd kan de publieke perceptie van UFO’s beïnvloeden. Sensatiebeluste berichten kunnen de nieuwsgierigheid aanwakkeren en een gevoel van urgentie creëren, wat leidt tot een toename van meldingen. Dit creëert een vicieuze cirkel: hoe meer aandacht er aan UFO’s wordt besteed, hoe meer mensen geneigd zijn om zelf meldingen te doen of te geloven in de mogelijkheid van buitenaards leven.
Het bijgeloof rondom UFO’s is ook een weerspiegeling van bredere maatschappelijke thema’s. In een wereld die steeds complexer en onvoorspelbaarder wordt, kunnen UFO-waarnemingen dienen als een manier voor mensen om betekenis te vinden in hun leven. Ze fungeren als een soort modern mythe, waarin mensen hun angsten, dromen en verlangens kunnen projecteren. Dit kan hen een gevoel van controle geven in een anders chaotische wereld, wat verklaart waarom de fascinatie voor UFO’s niet alleen aanhoudt, maar ook steeds weer opbloeit.
In conclusie zijn UFO-waarnemingen niet alleen de resultaten van onverklaarbare gebeurtenissen, maar ook complexe psychologische fenomenen die diep geworteld zijn in de menselijke psyche en de sociale context. Deze waarnemingen bieden ons inzicht in de manier waarop mensen omgaan met angst, onzekerheid en de zoektocht naar betekenis in een wereld vol mysteries.
Hoofdstuk 3: Culturele Impact van UFO-waarnemingen
3.1 UFO's in de Populaire Cultuur
De fascinatie voor UFO's heeft een diepgaande invloed gehad op de populaire cultuur. Deze fenomenen zijn niet alleen onderwerp van speculatie en onderzoek, maar hebben ook geleid tot een overvloed aan culturele producten. Films, boeken, kunst en muziek zijn allemaal beïnvloed door de mysterieuze allure van ongeïdentificeerde vliegende objecten. Iconische films zoals "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" en "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" hebben niet alleen bijgedragen aan de populariteit van UFO-mythologieën, maar hebben ook ons begrip van het onbekende vormgegeven.
In "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" worden thema's van verbinding en communicatie met buitenaardse wezens verkend, wat de nieuwsgierigheid van het publiek prikkelt. De film combineert elementen van wetenschappelijke nieuwsgierigheid met menselijke emotie, waardoor kijkers worden aangemoedigd om na te denken over hun plaats in het universum. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" daarentegen benadrukt de vriendschap tussen een mens en een buitenaards wezen, wat bijdraagt aan een meer positieve en hoopvolle visie op UFO's en buitenaards leven. Deze films hebben niet alleen de manier waarop we naar UFO's kijken veranderd, maar ook de culturele perceptie van buitenaardse wezens in het algemeen.
Naast film zijn er talloze boeken geschreven over UFO’s, variërend van fictie tot non-fictie. Auteur Erich von Däniken, met zijn boek "Chariots of the Gods?", stelt dat oude beschavingen in contact stonden met buitenaardse wezens, wat de basis heeft gelegd voor een hele subcultuur van UFO-geloven. Kunstenaars, van schilders tot muzikanten, hebben ook inspiratie gehaald uit UFO-thema’s, wat leidt tot een rijke variëteit aan creaties die de verbeelding prikkelen en gesprekken stimuleren over het onbekende.
3.2 UFO-gelovigen en de Samenleving
De opkomst van UFO-gelovigen en organisaties zoals MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) weerspiegelt de sociale dynamiek rondom deze fenomenen. Deze groepen fungeren als gemeenschappen waar individuen hun ervaringen kunnen delen en waar een gevoel van saamhorigheid en begrip heerst. Het delen van getuigenissen en ervaringen leidt vaak tot een versterking van de overtuigingen binnen deze gemeenschappen, waarbij de grens tussen wetenschap en geloof vervaagt.
UFO-gelovigen voelen vaak een diepere verbinding met het onbekende en zijn vaak op zoek naar antwoorden op vragen die de reguliere wetenschap niet altijd kan beantwoorden. Dit kan variëren van de zoektocht naar buitenaards leven tot het begrijpen van de betekenis achter mysterieuze gebeurtenissen. De sociale media hebben een belangrijke rol gespeeld in het samenbrengen van deze gelovigen, waardoor ze hun ervaringen en theorieën kunnen delen met een wereldwijd publiek. Hierdoor is er een grotere zichtbaarheid en acceptatie van UFO-cultuur ontstaan, wat op zijn beurt weer invloed heeft op de mainstream media en de populaire cultuur.
Bovendien hebben UFO-waarnemingen en de bijbehorende theorieën invloed gehad op bredere sociale en politieke discussies. Thema's zoals de zoektocht naar extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), militaire geheimen en de transparantie van overheden zijn nauw verweven met de UFO-discussie. De groeiende belangstelling voor deze onderwerpen kan leiden tot een grotere vraag naar openheid van informatie en een kritischere blik op wat als waarheid wordt gepresenteerd door autoriteiten.
In conclusie, de culturele impact van UFO-waarnemingen is zowel diepgaand als veelzijdig. Ze reiken verder dan enkel vermaak en vormen een brug tussen wetenschap, geloof en sociale dynamiek. De fascinatie voor het onbekende blijft een krachtig onderwerp in de hedendaagse samenleving, met implicaties die de grenzen van onze verbeelding verkennen.
Hoofdstuk 4: Wetenschappelijke Benaderingen van UFO's
4.1 Het Onderzoek naar UFO's
Wetenschappers benaderen UFO-waarnemingen vanuit verschillende disciplinaire perspectieven. Astronomen zijn vaak de eersten die kijken naar de lucht om te begrijpen wat er zich boven ons afspeelt. Zij analyseren de bewegingen van sterren en planeten en proberen vast te stellen of objecten in de lucht daadwerkelijk van buitenaardse oorsprong zijn of dat ze natuurlijke fenomenen, zoals meteorieten of satellieten, zijn. Fysici daarentegen onderzoeken de mogelijkheden van ruimtevaart en de theorieën die aan de basis liggen van intergalactische reizen. Ze stellen vragen over de fysische wetten die van toepassing zijn op de ruimte en de beperkingen die deze wetten opleggen aan de mogelijkheid van leven buiten de aarde.
Sociologen bieden een ander perspectief door te kijken naar de sociale implicaties van UFO-waarnemingen. Zij onderzoeken de impact van deze fenomenen op de maatschappij en hoe culturen reageren op het idee van buitenaards leven. Dit kan variëren van angst en wanhoop tot nieuwsgierigheid en fascinatie. De rol van de media is hierbij cruciaal, omdat zij vaak de publieke perceptie van UFO's vormgeven. Documentaires, films en nieuwsberichten kunnen de manier waarop mensen naar deze verschijnselen kijken sterk beïnvloeden.
Er zijn echter ook critici binnen de wetenschappelijke gemeenschap die beweren dat veel UFO-meldingen eenvoudigweg kunnen worden verklaard door natuurlijke of door de mens gemaakte fenomenen. Deze critici wijzen vaak op de psychologische factoren die een rol spelen bij waarnemingen, zoals de neiging van mensen om betekenis te geven aan onverklaarbare gebeurtenissen. Ze stellen dat de menselijke geest geneigd is om patronen te herkennen, zelfs waar die niet bestaan. Dit kan leiden tot valse rapportages van UFO's, vooral in tijden van sociale spanning of onzekerheid.
Een voorbeeld van een natuurlijk fenomeen dat vaak wordt verward met UFO's is de zogenaamde 'ballon’-effect, waarbij weerballonnen of andere luchtobjecten ten onrechte worden geïdentificeerd als buitenaardse ruimteschepen. Daarnaast zijn er talloze gevallen van militaire oefeningen of proeven met nieuwe technologieën die als UFO's worden gerapporteerd. Het belang van kritisch onderzoek en de toepassing van de wetenschappelijke methode zijn essentieel om de waarheidsgetrouwe aard van UFO-waarnemingen te achterhalen.
4.2 De Rol van de Wetenschap in de Publieke Perceptie
Het wetenschappelijk onderzoek naar UFO's heeft een aanzienlijke invloed op hoe de samenleving deze verschijnselen waarneemt. Wanneer er nieuwe wetenschappelijke bevindingen worden gepresenteerd, kan dit leiden tot een verschuiving in de publieke opinie. Het publiek neigt naar een grotere acceptatie van UFO-meldingen wanneer ze worden ondersteund door wetenschappelijk bewijs, zoals gegevens van telescopen of andere meetinstrumenten. Dit versterkt de relatie tussen wetenschap en geloof, waarbij mensen eerder bereid zijn om de mogelijkheid van buitenaards leven te overwegen als er een wetenschappelijke basis voor is.
Echter, deze dynamiek complicateert ook de relatie tussen wetenschap en geloof. Terwijl sommige mensen openstaan voor wetenschappelijke verklaringen, blijven anderen vasthouden aan hun overtuigingen, ongeacht het beschikbare bewijs. Dit kan leiden tot een kloof tussen wetenschappelijke inzichten en populaire overtuigingen, waarbij de wetenschap wordt gezien als dogmatisch of beperkend.
Bovendien kan de rol van de wetenschap in het UFO-debat ook leiden tot een grotere nieuwsgierigheid naar ruimteonderzoek en de zoektocht naar leven op andere planeten. Het publiek kan zich meer betrokken voelen bij ruimteprogramma's en wetenschappelijke initiatieven die gericht zijn op het ontdekken van leven buiten de aarde. Dit kan op zijn beurt een positieve invloed hebben op de financiering en ondersteuning van wetenschappelijk onderzoek.
In conclusie, het onderzoek naar UFO's vanuit verschillende wetenschappelijke disciplines biedt een waardevolle lens om deze intrigerende fenomenen te begrijpen. De interactie tussen wetenschap en publieke perceptie blijft complex en dynamisch, en de voortdurende zoektocht naar antwoorden op de vragen rond UFO's zal ongetwijfeld blijven voortduren.
Hoofdstuk 5: De Toekomst van UFO-onderzoek en Menselijke Obsessie
5.1 De Rol van Technologie
Met de snelle vooruitgang in technologie heeft de menselijke mogelijkheid om UFO's te bestuderen een ongekende sprong voorwaarts gemaakt. Drones, satellieten en geavanceerde beeldtechnologieën stellen onderzoekers in staat om de lucht op een manier te observeren die voorheen ondenkbaar was. Traditionele methoden van waarneming, zoals het observeren met het blote oog of het gebruik van eenvoudige camera's, zijn vervangen door geavanceerde technologieën die in staat zijn om gedetailleerde beelden te maken en data te verzamelen op grote hoogtes en in moeilijk bereikbare gebieden.
Bijvoorbeeld, drones uitgerust met camera's en andere sensoren kunnen nu gebieden verkennen die moeilijk toegankelijk zijn voor mensen. Hierdoor kunnen onderzoekers potentiële UFO-waarnemingen beter documenteren en analyseren. Satellieten bieden ook een nieuw perspectief; ze kunnen breed gebiedsmonitoring uitvoeren en ongebruikelijke luchtbewegingen vastleggen die anders misschien onopgemerkt zouden blijven.
Daarnaast hebben sociale media en internetplatforms de verspreiding van informatie over UFO's versneld. Mensen kunnen hun ervaringen delen en samenwerken met anderen wereldwijd, waardoor een bredere gemeenschap van UFO-enthousiastelingen en onderzoekers ontstaat. Dit heeft geleid tot een toename van het aantal waarnemingen en rapporten, wat op zijn beurt weer meer aandacht en onderzoek naar dit fenomeen stimuleert.
De combinatie van deze technologische vooruitgangen en de groeiende toegankelijkheid van informatie biedt een unieke kans voor wetenschappers en hobbyisten om het mysterie van UFO's te ontrafelen. Maar het roept ook vragen op over de betrouwbaarheid van de verzamelde gegevens. Met de opkomst van deepfake-technologieën en andere digitale manipulaties is het cruciaal om kritisch te blijven kijken naar wat we zien en horen.
Toch is de mogelijkheid om UFO's te bestuderen met behulp van moderne technologie niet alleen een wetenschappelijke onderneming; het weerspiegelt ook onze diepere menselijke behoefte om het onbekende te begrijpen. De fascinatie voor buitenaards leven en UFO's kan ons helpen om nieuwe vragen te stellen over onszelf, onze plaats in het universum en de grenzen van onze kennis.
5.2 De Menselijke Verlangen naar Verbinding
De zoektocht naar UFO's kan ook worden geïnterpreteerd als een diepgeworteld verlangen naar verbinding met iets groters dan onszelf. Deze zoektocht is niet alleen een wetenschappelijke of technologische aangelegenheid; het is een existentiële zoektocht die ons dwingt om na te denken over de betekenis van ons bestaan en ons plaats in het universum.
Het idee dat we niet alleen zijn in het universum, dat er mogelijk andere levensvormen bestaan, is een krachtige gedachte. Het stelt ons in staat om ons te verhouden tot de kosmos en onze eigen menselijke ervaringen te heroverwegen. Dit verlangen naar verbinding kan verschillende vormen aannemen, van de spirituele en filosofische tot de meer praktische en wetenschappelijke benaderingen.
Voor veel mensen symboliseren UFO's een hoop dat er meer is dan wat we zien; ze vertegenwoordigen de mogelijkheid van nieuwe ontdekkingen en inzichten. Deze fascinatie kan ons aanzetten tot het onderzoeken van de grenzen van onze kennis en ons begrip van de natuurwetten. Het kan ons ook inspireren om samen te werken, ongeacht culturele of geografische verschillen, in de zoektocht naar antwoorden op deze grote vragen.
Bovendien kan de obsessie met UFO's ook een reflectie zijn van onze eigen angsten en verlangens. In een wereld die vaak chaotisch en onvoorspelbaar lijkt, kan de zoektocht naar UFO's ons een gevoel van doel geven. Het idee dat we deel uitmaken van een groter geheel kan ons helpen om onze angsten te verminderen en ons leven betekenisvoller te maken.
In deze context is het belangrijk om de rol van de mens in het UFO-onderzoek te erkennen. Het is niet alleen een zoektocht naar buitenaards leven, maar ook een kans om onszelf en onze plaats in het universum beter te begrijpen. De toekomst van UFO-onderzoek zal ongetwijfeld verder evolueren, gedreven door technologische innovaties en de intrinsieke menselijke behoefte naar verbinding en begrip. Deze zoektocht zal ons blijven inspireren, uitdagen en ons aanzetten tot verdere verkenning van het onbekende.
EINDBESLUIT
De fascinatie van de mensheid voor UFO's en het onbekende is meer dan alleen een voorbijgaand fenomeen; het is een reflectie van onze diepere psychologische en culturele behoeften. Historische UFO-waarnemingen, die teruggaan tot de oudheid, onthullen niet alleen de angsten en verlangens van mensen, maar ook de manier waarop verschillende samenlevingen de wereld om hen heen interpreteren en betekenis geven aan het onverklaarbare. Deze waarnemingen zijn vaak een spiegel van de tijdsgeest en bieden inzicht in hoe mensen omgaan met de onzekerheden en mysteries van het leven.
In een tijdperk van snelle technologische vooruitgang en wetenschappelijke ontdekkingen blijven UFO's en buitenaards leven een bron van intrige. Ze dagen ons uit om na te denken over onze plaats in het universum en de mogelijkheden van andere levensvormen. De vragen die ontstaan uit deze fascinatie zijn niet alleen wetenschappelijk van aard, maar raken ook aan existentiële thema's zoals de zin van ons bestaan, de natuur van werkelijkheid en de grenzen van menselijke kennis.
Terwijl we de toekomst ingaan, is het duidelijk dat de discussie rondom UFO's niet zal verstommen. Integendeel, deze zal waarschijnlijk alleen maar toenemen, vooral nu wetenschappelijke en technologische ontwikkelingen ons in staat stellen om verder te kijken dan ooit tevoren. De zoektocht naar kennis en betekenis in ons leven wordt onlosmakelijk verbonden met ons verlangen om het onbekende te verkennen. De obsessie met UFO's biedt ons niet alleen een venster op de toekomst, maar ook op onze eigen menselijke ervaring en de drang om te begrijpen wat er buiten onze wereld ligt. Deze zoektocht zal ons blijven inspireren en uitdagen, en vormt een essentieel onderdeel van ons collectieve verhaal.
Referenties
Ezechiël. (n.d.). Bijbelvertaling.
C. S. Lewis. (1955). "The Discarded Image."
S. M. McCall. (2010). "The Sociocultural Dynamics of UFO Sightings."
J. A. Harder. (2017). "UFOs: A History of the Unknown."
M. Fridman. (2019). "The Psychology of Belief in UFOs."
L. A. Wilkins. (2021). "Science and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life."
The analysis examined 149,000 sighting entries from the Reporting Center's database, along with social media reports to determine how many encounters are experienced per capita in each state.
Coming in first, Californians have recorded a staggering 36,286 reported UFO sightings since 1974.
This makes it officially America's alien hotspot with one sighting for every 1,075 residents.
California's clear night skies and dense population have created perfect conditions for UFO sightings.
In fact, just last month, the harrowing call a US Air Force pilot made to air traffic control was released after they described 'three orange-like lights' hovering silently above Los Angeles.
The unknown craft came as close as 10 feet of the pilot's wing, reaching supersonic speeds, as the US Air Force craft was conducting a secret mission over California.
New data from the National UFO Reporting Center has revealed exactly where these eerie sightings are most common
The pilot, who identified as 'Troy 21,' told local air traffic control (ATC) in Los Angeles: 'This is going to sound weird, but I just had something pass underneath my wing, maybe a football-sized object right underneath my wing.'
During the September 17, 2024, incident, ATC can be heard asking Troy 21 if he thought it was a drone, but the stunned pilot couldn't give an answer.
Troy 21 replied that his sensor operator was looking for the UFO on the plane's cameras, adding that it was a 'dark gray cylindrical object' no bigger than a football.
The pilot quickly informed ATC that they had spotted the UFO again about 60 miles from where it first buzzed Troy 21's plane.
Later in the recording, another air traffic controller in Los Angeles could be heard on the radio dismissing the incident, saying that 'there was UFO reported here, but that's all taken care of now. So you don't have to worry about it... it's gone.'
Former FBI agent Ben Hansen told NewsNation the mysterious object must have be traveling at Mach 2, or twice the speed of sound, to get so far away so fast.
The state to come in second in terms of the appearance Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) was Washington.
The Pacific Northwest has long attracted those seeking the unexplained, with Washington recording 7,125 UFO sightings.
The strange object then moved off at high speed and was seen minutes later 60 miles away from the aircraft
That's approximately one for every 1,093 residents.
From 1948 to 1952, as America's production of atomic weapons first ramped up, waves of UFO sightings began cropping up over Washington state's Hanford nuclear production complex, as well as Los Alamos, New Mexico, and other sites for the Manhattan Project.
Meanwhile, Florida was ranked third with more than 11,000 reported encounters.
That's roughly one sighting for every 1,144 Floridians.
As recently as this past December, a flight attendant flying off the coast of the Sunshine State managed to capture a mysterious spherical object flying above the plane she was working on, thousands of feet above the Bahamas.
Cassandra Martin, a flight attendant for private air service Surjet, was flying with two pilots in an empty jet on December 23 when Miami air traffic control alerted them to a 'foreign object' as they were flying back to Fort Lauderdale.
The eerie footage showed a rounded blur of white light that faded into a green color, with a circular halo surrounding the object.
Coming in fourth is Oregon, which had one UFO sighting per 1,156 residents.
Cassandra Martin, a flight attendant for private air service Surjet, was flying with two pilots in an empty jet on December 23 when air traffic control alerted them to a 'foreign object'
'It had capabilities just to zigzag and change color, so that was a little daunting, to the say the least, but you know, it's also something fascinating that I was able to see and capture with my phone,' Martin said
One of the reports came from an air ambulance pilot, who described seeing a bright light streaking toward his aircraft before abruptly reversing course and heading back toward the Pacific Ocean on the evening of December 7.
'Red in color - moving at extreme speeds. I don't even know how to describe how fast it was moving,' the pilot told air-traffic controllers.
On the next night, a United Airlines pilot also noted unusual lights in the Eugene area.
'We're seeing three or four targets. They're all altitudes. Up and down. It's pretty crazy,' the pilot reported to air-traffic controllers, who confirmed there was no military activity in the area.
The air ambulance pilot additionally noted one light moving in a 'corkscrew pattern,' which appeared on the aircraft's collision avoidance system.
'You are cleared to maneuver as necessary - left or right to avoid the UFO out there,' an air-traffic controller responded, according to an audio clip of the exchange
Short video clips taken by pilots and crew showed lights in the night sky, but the dark conditions made it difficult to discern specific details.
At least four commercial pilots reported spotting mysterious lights darting through the skies over Oregon
Meanwhile, New York rounds out the top five with one sighting per 1,301 people.
Harvard physicist, Avi Loeb, wrote that the mysterious orb was created by 'a bright spot from reflection of sunlight as the camera gradually changed its orientation relative to the sun and the ground.
Loeb continued to explain that if the orb was a real object, it would have been moving at the speed of sound, not anything extraordinary.
A segment during 'Good Day New York' featured a mysterious orb that appeared to zoom over the Hudson River
Those hoping to avoid extraterrestrial encounters should consider staying in Louisiana, where residents experience the fewest UFO encounters nationwide - just one sighting for every 3,815 people.
Even safer is North Dakota, which recorded only 282 total sightings - approximately 0.0004 per capita - making it statistically the state where you are least likely to have an encounter of the third kind.
Ancient manuscripts detailing the events during the Roman Empire are believed to contain 'first hand' evidence about the life and death of Jesus Christ.
The Annals, written by the Roman historian Tacitus only 91 years after Jesus's death, begins with the death of Emperor Augustus in 14AD and finishes with Nero's suicide 54 years later.
In Book 15, the historian discusses the Great Fire of Rome in 54AD, shortly before Nero's death, which the emperor blamed on a class 'called Christians.'
The second sentence reads: 'Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus.'
'Christus,' the Latin version of 'Christ,' means 'the Anointed One' or 'the Messiah,' and comes from the Hebrew word Mashiach (Messiah).
The Bible's New Testament states that Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, sentenced Jesus to death by crucifixion.
Tacitus discusses the persecution of Christ's followers, who were spreading into Rome from Judaea, writing how 'an arrest was made of all who pleaded guilty to being Christian.'
'Covered with the skins of wild beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired,' the passage reads.
A book featuring ancient Rome's history includes a passage that discusses the death of Jesus
The Annals, written by the Roman historian Tacitus around 91AD, begins with the death of Emperor Augustus in 14AD and finishes with Nero's suicide 54 years later
As the Bible tells it, 2,021 years ago a child named Jesus was born in a little-known town on the edge of the Roman Empire and was killed 33 years later.
While most scholars agree he was a real person, there is significant debate about his divinity.
They suggest Jesus' teachings about love and forgiveness and his brutal death led his followers to form a new faith that became Christianity.
While the manuscripts have long been known, the details in them recently surfaced online and have been welcomed by those of Christian faith.
Tacitus, whose full name was Publius Cornelius Tacitus, lived from around 56AD to 120AD and was widely regarded to have been among the most important Roman historians.
While the manuscripts have long been known, the details in them recently surfaced online and have been welcomed by those of
He relied on official records, Senate proceedings and firsthand accounts to compile The Annals, which is known for its critical and sometimes cynical perspective on Roman politics as he did not shy away from deemed emperors as corrupt and tyrants.
The Bible states that Jesus was arrested by Roman soldiers following the Last Supper and taken before Annas, the former high priest.
He was then tried by the current high priest, Caiaphas, in front of the Jewish supreme governing council and court where he was condemned for blasphemy.
Because the court and high priest did not the power to order a death sentence, Jesus was taken to Pilate.
Tacitus, whose full name was Publius Cornelius Tacitus, lived from around 56AD to 120AD and was widely regarded to have been among the most important Roman historians
Luke 23:16-24 states that Pilate was hesitant to sentence Jesus to death, saying 'nothing this man has done to deserve death. So I will have him whipped and let him go.'
However, the crowd erupted in anger, screaming 'Kill him.'
After shouting Jesus had not committed a crime three times, Pilate gave into the crowd's request and 'passed the sentence on Jesus that they were asking for.'
And Tacitus shared some of these details in The Annals.
The passage, however, focused more on the events that had followed, specifically Christ's followers moving into Rome .
The first persecution of Christians organized by the Roman government was under Nero who ruled about 21 to 24 years after Jesus' crucifixion.
Nero used the Great Fire of Rome as part of his plan to stop the faith from spreading.
The Great Fire of Rome began on July 19, 64 AD, likely started in shops near the Circus Maximus, filled with flammable goods, and spread rapidly due to strong winds and the city's flammable, densely packed construction.
The fire raged for six days and seven nights, destroying or damaging 10 of Rome's 14 districts, according to researchers at Ohio State University.
And the blaze killed hundreds, left thousands homeless and devastated two-thirds of Rome.
At the time, the Roman Empire was worshiping gods and adding more foreign deities into its religious system and some historians have speculated that the influx of Christians appeared as a threat.
Tacitus wrote how Nero falsely blamed Christians, setting his plan in motion.
'Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace,' the passage reads.
Those arrested were crucified in Nero's lavish gardens as to 'exhibit as as show in the circus.'
'He mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer, or stood in a chariot, or as if he were a performer, or as a spectator of the cruel games,' Tacitus described.
'Hence, even for the present time, though the superstition had been checked for a while, it had broken out once more and gained ground, not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome itself.'
Another historian, Flavius Josephus, wrote a book about Jewish history, featuring a passage that reads: 'Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man. For he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure.'
Flavius was a Jewish historian who later became a Roman citizen. He lived from 37 to around 100 AD.
Testimonium Flavianum is part of The Antiquities of the Jews, which features 20 books detailing the history of the region and Jews, starting with the Old Testament up to the Jewish War.
In Testimonium Flavianum, he writes: 'Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. But those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship.
'They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive.
'Accordingly, he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.'
However, some scholars have dismissed the writings, saying it is a late Christian forgery.
This image from NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover reveals hundreds of strange, spherical-shaped objects comprising the rock. Perseverance acquired this image on March 11, 2025, or sol 1442 (Martian day 1,442 of its mission)
A rock that has no earthly business in a Martian crater: Perseverance acquired this image on March 13, 2025 - sol 1444, or Martian day 1,444 of the Mars 2020 mission
NASA's new images were found by Perseverance along the rim of the Jezero Crater, a 28-mile-wide region on Mars that may have once been flooded with water.
Alex Jones, a PhD student from Imperial College London's department of earth science, described the rock as 'strange' and 'shocking'.
'The Perseverance Science Team were astonished by a strange rock comprised of hundreds of millimeter-sized spheres,' he said in a blog post on NASA's website.
'Placing these features in geologic context will be critical for understanding their origin, and determining their significance for the geological history of the Jezero Crater rim and beyond.'
Technically, the mass is made up of 'spherules' – roughly spherical pebbles, ranging 0.01mm to 4mm in diameter (up to 0.15 inches).
Some of these spherules are more elongate, elliptical shapes, while others have angular edges, perhaps representing broken spherule fragments.
Others even have miniscule holes as if they'd been pricked with a pin – but how or why they show such variety is a mystery.
On Earth, spherules are formed by rapid cooling of molten rock droplets during a volcanic eruption, or by the condensation of rock vaporized by a meteorite impact.
The Jezero Crater is a 28-mile-wide region on Mars that may have once been flooded with water
The Red Planet (pictured) is an average of 140 million miles (225 million km) away from Earth
Did Mars have volcanoes?
Mars was once dotted with thousands of huge volcanoes which saw 'super eruptions', according to NASA.
The eruptions shot water vapor, carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide into the Martian atmosphere, resulting in a significant change to Mars' climate.
In 2021, scientists said some volcanoes on Mars may still be active, raising the possibility there were microbes on the planet as recently as 30,000 years ago.
'Each of these formation mechanisms would have vastly different implications for the evolution of these rocks, so the team is working hard to determine their context and origin,' Jones said.
Dr Matthew Chojnacki, a planetary geologist at the Planetary Science Institute, said they could be 'frothy lava' that rapidly cooled might lead to such a deposit.
'But it's hard to tell without chemistry or mineralogy, especially given it's a float rock (a piece of rock that is not part of the bedrock),' he told MailOnline.
Dr Joel Davis, planetary geologist at Imperial College London, said they may have been formed by water circulating through the Martian ground billions of years ago.
'[This was] potentially when conditions were too cold for liquid water to exist on the surface,' Dr Davis told MailOnline.
'Findings like this help geologists build a picture of how and when Mars might have changed, from a warm, wet planet 3-4 billion of years ago, to the cold, very dry environment we see today.'
This isn’t the first time strange spheres have been spotted on Mars, which is an average of 140 million miles (225 million km) away from Earth.
In 2004, the Opportunity rover – active on Mars from 2004-2018 – spotted 'Martian Blueberries' at Meridiani Planum, a large plain straddling the equator of Mars. These marble-sized objects, named for their similar appearance to the fruit, are remnants of small meteorites that broke up in the Martian atmosphere.
A full scale test model of the Perseverance rover currently on Mars is displayed during a press conference for the Mars Sample Return mission in the Mars Yard at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California on April 11, 2023
In June last year, Perseverance spied popcorn-like textures in sedimentary rocks exposed in the Jezero crater inlet channel, Neretva Vallis
Then in 2012, the Curiosity rover, which is still exploring Mars after more than a decade, observed spherules in the rocks of Yellowknife Bay at Gale crater.
Meanwhile, Perseverance spied 'popcorn-like textures' in sedimentary rocks exposed in the Jezero crater inlet channel, Neretva Vallis, last year.
Perseverance acquired the two new images on March 11 and March 13 – on sol (Martian day) 1442 and 1444 of its mission.
A Martian day (a 'sol') is 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds long – so about 40 minutes longer than a day on Earth.
Perseverance touched down on Mars' Jezero Crater – believed to be the home of a lush lakebed and river delta billions of years ago – in February 2021 after a nearly seven-month journey through space.
It is tasked with seeking traces of fossilised microbial life from Mars' ancient past and to collect rock specimens for return to Earth through future missions to the Red Planet.
Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots like ChatGPT have been designed to replicate human speech as closely as possible to improve the user experience.
But as AI gets more and more sophisticated, it's becoming difficult to discern these computerised models from real people.
Now, scientists at University of CaliforniaSan Diego (UCSD) reveal that two of the leading chatbots have reached a major milestone.
Both GPT, which powers OpenAI's ChatGPT, and LLaMa, which is behind Meta AI on WhatsApp and Facebook, have passed the famous Turing test.
Devised by British WWII codebreaker Alan Turing Alan Turing in 1950, the Turing test or 'imitation game' is a standard measure to test intelligence in a machine.
An AI passes the test when a human cannot correctly tell the difference between a response from another human and a response from the AI.
'The results constitute the first empirical evidence that any artificial system passes a standard three-party Turing test,' say the UCSD scientists.
'If interrogators are not able to reliably distinguish between a human and a machine, then the machine is said to have passed.'
Robots now have intelligence equivalent to humans, scientists say - as AI officially passes the famous Turing test (pictured: Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines)
GPT-4.5 has passed the famous 'Turing test' which was developed to see if computers have human-like intelligence
Researchers used four AI models – GPT-4.5 (released in February), a previous iteration called GPT-4o, Meta's flagship model LLaMa, and a 1960s-era chat programme called ELIZA.
The first three are 'large language models' (LLMs) – deep learning algorithms that can recognise and generate text based on knowledge gained from massive datasets.
The experts recruited 126 undergraduate students from University of California San Diego and 158 people from online data pool Prolific.
Participants had five-minute online conversations simultaneously with another human participant and one of the AIs – but they didn't know which was which and they had to judge which they thought was human.
When it was prompted to adopt a humanlike persona, GPT-4.5 was judged to be the human 73 per cent of the time – more often than the real human participant was chosen.
Such a high percentage suggests people were better than chance at determining whether or not GPT-4.5 is a human or a machine.
Meanwhile, Meta's LLaMa-3.1, when also prompted to adopt a humanlike persona, was judged to be the human 56 per cent of the time.
This was 'not significantly more or less often than the humans they were being compared to', the team point out – but still counts as a pass.
Overview of the Turing Test: A human interrogator (C) asks an AI (A) and another human (B) questions and evaluates the responses. The interrogator does not know which is which. If the AI fools the interrogator into thinking its responses were generated by a human, it passes the test
GPT-4.5: This image shows a participant (green dialogue) asking another human and GPT-4.5 questions - without knowing which was which. So, can you tell the difference?
LLaMa: This image shows a participant (green dialogue) asking another human and LLaMa questions. Can you tell the difference? Answers in box below
Turing Test - answers
GPT-4.5
Witness A: GPT-4.5
Witness B: Human
LLaMa
Witness A: Human
Witness B: LLaMa
Lastly, the baseline models (ELIZA and GPT-4o) achieved win rates significantly below chance – 23 per cent and 21 per cent respectively.
Researchers also tried giving a more basic prompt to the models, without the detailed instructions telling them to adopt a human-like persona.
As anticipated, the AI models performed significantly worse in this condition – highlighting the importance of prompting the chatbots first.
The team say their new study, published as a pre-print, is 'strong evidence' that OpenAI and Meta's bots have passed the Turing test.
'This should be evaluated as one among many other pieces of evidence for the kind of intelligence LLMs display,' lead author Cameron Jones said in an X thread.
Jones admitted that AIs performed best when briefed beforehand to impersonate a human – but this doesn't mean GPT-4.5 and LLaMa haven't passed the Turing test.
'Did LLMs really pass if they needed a prompt? It's a good question,' he said in the X thread.
'Without any prompt, LLMs would fail for trivial reasons (like admitting to being AI) and they could easily be fine-tuned to behave as they do when prompted, so I do think it's fair to say that LLMs pass.'
The best-performing AI was GPT-4.5 when it was briefed and told to adopt a persona, followed by Meta's LLaMa-3.1
In 1950, legendary British computer scientist Alan Turing (pictured) proposed the theory of training an AI to give it the intelligence of a child, and then provide the appropriate experiences to build up its intelligence to that of an adult
This is the first time that an AI has passed the test invented by Alan Turing in 1950, according to the new study. The life of this early computer pioneer and the invention of the Turing test was famously dramatised in The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch (pictured)
Last year, another study by the team found two predecessor models from OpenAI – ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4 – fooled participants in 50 per cent and 54 per cent of cases (also when told to adopt a human persona).
As GPT-4.5 has now scored 73 per cent, this new suggests that ChatGPT's models are getting better and better at impersonating humans.
It comes 75 years after Alan Turing introduced the ultimate test of computer intelligence in his seminal paper Computing Machinery and Intelligence.
Turing imagined that a human participant would sit at a screen and speak with either a human or a computer through a text-only interface.
If the computer could not be distinguished from a human across a wide range of possible topics, Turing reasoned we would have to admit it was just as intelligent as a human.
A version of the experiment, which asks to you tell the difference between a human and an AI, can be accessed at turingtest.live.
Meanwhile, the pre-print paper is published on online server arXiv and is currently under peer review.
Alan Turing (pictured) was a British mathematician best known for his work cracking the enigma code during the Second World War
Alan Turing was a British mathematician born on June 23, 1912 In Maida Vale, London, to father Julius, a civil servant, and mother Ethel, the daughter of a railway engineer.
His talents were recognised early on at school but he struggled with his teachers when he began boarding at Sherborne School aged 13 because he was too fixated on science.
Turing continued to excel at maths but his time at Sherborne was also rocked by the death of his close friend Christopher Morcom from tuberculosis. Morcom was described as Turing's 'first love' and he remained close with his mother following his death, writing to her on Morcom's birthday each year.
He then moved on to Cambridge where he studied at King's College, graduating with a first class degree in mathematics.
During the Second World War, Turing was pivotal in cracking the Enigma codes used by the German military to encrypt their messages.
His work gave Allied leaders vital information about the movement and intentions of Hitler’s forces.
Historians credit the work of Turing and his fellow codebreakers at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire with shortening the war by up to two years, saving countless lives, and he was awarded an OBE in 1946 for his services.
Turing is also widely seen as the father of computer science and artificial intelligence due to his groundbreaking work in mathematics in the 1930s.
He was able to prove a 'universal computing machine' would be able to perform equations if they were presented as an algorithm - and had a paper published on the subject in 1936 in the Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society Journal when he was aged just 23.
But he was disgraced in 1952 when he was convicted for homosexual activity, which was illegal at the time and would not be decriminalised until 1967.
To avoid prison, Turing agreed to ‘chemical castration’ – hormonal treatment designed to reduce libido.
As well as physical and emotional damage, his conviction had led to the removal of his security clearance and meant he was no longer able to work for GCHQ, the successor to the Government Code and Cypher School, based at Bletchley Park.
Turing was awarded an OBE in 1946 for his codebreaking work at Bletchley Park, pictured, which is credited with ending World War II two years early
Then In 1954, aged 41, he died of cyanide poisoning. An inquest recorded a verdict of suicide, although his mother and others maintained that his death was accidental.
When his body was discovered, an apple laid half-eaten next to his bed. It was never tested for cyanide but it is speculated it was the source of the fatal dose.
Some more peculiar theories suggest Turing was 'obsessed' with fairytale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and his death was inspired by the poisoned apple in the story.
Following a public outcry over his treatment and conviction, the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a public apology in 2009.
He then received a posthumous Royal pardon in 2014, only the fourth to be issued since the end of the Second World War.
It was requested by Justice Secretary Chris Grayling, who described Turing as a national hero who fell foul of the law because of his sexuality.
An e-petition demanding a pardon for Turing had previously received 37,404 signatures.
A 2017 law, that retroactively pardoned all men cautioned or convicted for homosexual acts under historical legislation, was named in his honour.
A new development in the mystery of a purported city beneath Egypt's Giza pyramids could, if proven true, fundamentally reshape our understanding of human history.
Italian researchers told DailyMail.com that not only are the shafts and chambers they found deep below the Khafre pyramid 38,000 years old, but also the Giza complex.
They proposed a pre-existing civilization built the complex, but the group was destroyed around 12,000 years ago by a 'divine flood' triggered by an asteroid impact that left only the pyramids as the surviving 'megastructure.'
Mei, who visited the site two weeks ago, highlighted physical evidence, saying: 'Some blocks near the Great Pyramid's entrance show clear signs of water erosion.'
'Only certain stones are affected, suggesting part of the pyramid was submerged in ancient times,' he added.
Mei also noted how thick salt encrustations have been found inside the Great Pyramid, which he interprets as proof of the ocean once flooded the Giza Plateau.
Dr Zahi Hawass, Egypt's former Minister of Antiquities, has consistently argued that the features some interpret as water erosion at the base are due to natural weathering processes and the salt originated from the limestones themselves.
Italian researchers told DailyMail.com that not only are the shafts and chambers deep below the Khafre pyramid 38,000 years old, but also the Giza complex
'The enduring enigma of the Giza pyramids stands as a powerful and perplexing testament to this possibility,' said Mei.
'Despite extensive research, the precise methods employed in their construction remain a subject of intense debate and speculation.'
He added that the 'logistical and technical capabilities required to quarry, transport, and precisely position multi-ton granite blocks, some of considerable dimensions, from distant locations like the granite quarries nearly 500 miles from Giza, warrant deeper and serious scientific inquiry.'
Mei and his team, which includes Corrado Malanga from Italy's University of Pisa and Filippo Biondi with the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, took the world by storm last month when they discovered shafts and chambers more than 2,000 feet below the surface.
They also identified chamber-like structures more than 4,000 feet underground, which they speculated could be a long-lost city.
The work has not yet been published in a journal where outside experts can review it.
The discovery was made by collecting acoustics from deep in the ground, including seismic waves, noise from human activity and photon interactions, to map the newly found shafts and chambers that extend more than 2,000 feet below the surface.
Biondi said these waves were collected by radar, specifically by analyzing Doppler centroid abnormalities—shifts or distortions in frequency patterns used to detect underground structures or changes.
However, Hawass told The National: 'The claim of using radar inside the pyramid is false, and the techniques employed are neither scientifically approved nor validated.'
Mei (center) and his team, which includes Corrado Malanga (right) and Filippo Biondi (left), took the world by storm last month when they discovered shafts and chambers more than 2,000 feet below the surface.
Researchers believe there are other structures reaching more than 4,000 feet below the surface. The scans captured structures extend along the northern side with a tuning fork shape
Now, the latest development from the Italian researchers is that the Giza pyramids also pre-date the oldest known man-made structure of its kind by tens of thousands of years, which is the Göbekli Tepe in Turkey.
The team based their claims on an early 2000s theory known as the Younger Dryas, which is not a widely accepted theory within the scientific community, and is often viewed as a fringe theory.
'Scientists have stated that there aren't clues of an impact on Earth,' Mei said.
'But the Earth is 80 percent ocean. So it's possible that the impact was in in the ocean, and water destroyed the preceding civilization that lived on Earth.'
He added that there are many signs across the world that suggest the existence of a preceding civilization, such as similar monuments in South America and China, 'even at Norfolk Island.'
'But not only the monuments, even the myths are similar everywhere in South America, in Europe, Africa and the South Pacific. There are legends that are similar to the other myths all around the world,' said Mei.
Biondi explained that the pre-existing civilization in Egypt built the city first, then the shafts and then the pyramid on top, creating a 'megastructure.'
The salt encrustations inside the Great Pyramid, according to the team, were left behind from ocean water flowing into the structure.
Colonel Howard Vyse explored the pyramids' King’s Chamber in 1837, finding thick layers of salt on the limestone roof-stones in areas above the chamber.
The said the technology captured enormous chambers (pictured) in the middle of the shafts
The team claimed they discovered eight cylinder-shaped structures below the Khafre, which travel more than 2,100 feet below the pyramid's base. They identified spiral structures on the sides of the shafts
He described these as crystalline deposits, later identified as sodium chloride, forming delicate, flower-like patterns.
W.M. Flinders Petrie also surveyed the Great pyramid in the 1880s, finding thick salt encrustations (up to half an inch) on the limestone walls of the Queen’s Chamber and the Horizontal Passage.
However, he did not report similar findings as Vyse inside the King’s Chamber.
'The underground tunnels of Giza have exactly the same presence of salt on the walls,' Mei said.
'That means that something happened in the ancient past which we must better understand.'
Not only has the team used 'physical evidence' to support their claims, but also ancient Egyptian text that they said 'refers to an ancient civilization.'
Mei explained that the theory of the lost city is based on ancient Egyptian texts, specifically Chapter 149 of the Book of the Dead, which refers to the 14 residences of the city of the dead.
The shafts were said to be connected to larger, cubic structures. The team said there could be a hidden city below all three pyramids
'It describes certain chambers and some inhabitants of the city. That is why we believe it could be Amenti, as described in ancient texts,' he said.
'Of course, we must be certain, but we believe this could be the case because the pyramids are located exactly where the texts say.
'The texts state that the pyramids were built on top of the city, sealing its entrance.'
Biondi also noted that the unknown chambers more than 4,000 feet below the pyramid could be related to the legendary Hall of Records.
The Hall of Records is a long-standing myth in Egyptian lore, believed to be a hidden chamber beneath the Great Pyramid or the Sphinx, containing vast amounts of lost wisdom and knowledge about ancient civilizations.
However, there is no reliable evidence proving its existence.
Professor Lawrence Conyers, a radar expert at the University of Denver, who specializes in archaeology and was not involved in the study, said the claims that the pyramids and structures were built 38,000 years ago are 'outlandish.'
He added that at that time in human history people 'were mostly living in caves' 38,000 years ago.
'People did not start living in what we now call cities until about 9,000 years ago,' he said.
'There were a few large villages before that but those only go back a few thousand years from that time.'
However, Mei said: The notion that a civilization limited to rudimentary tools such as wooden mallets and copper chisels – implements seemingly inadequate for such monumental tasks in hard stone – could have achieved this level of engineering mastery demands a more robust and scientifically sound explanation than the often-cited, and frankly unconvincing, theory of water-soaked wooden wedges.
'The archaeological community really ought to start seriously addressing these fundamental questions, perhaps by first gaining a more practical understanding of the actual techniques required to extract colossal granite blocks from quarries, before proclaiming hypotheses that completely lack technical and scientific grounding.'
A bone-chilling document declassified by the CIA has exposed an alleged massacre by aliens from a crashed UFO who turned an entire military unit into stone.
According to the report, Soviet troops shot down a flying saucer hovering over the Soviet military unit in Siberia roughly 35 years ago, and what happened next was truly terrifying.
In the document, summarizing a 250-page top secret file acquired by US intelligence agents, eyewitnesses said five aliens climbed out of their wrecked craft, combined themselves into one creature, exploded in a burst of intense energy, and turned 23 soldiers into solid rock.
One CIA official referred to the shocking battle as 'a horrific picture of revenge on the part of extraterrestrial creatures, a picture that makes one's blood freeze.'
The agency added that the 'extremely menacing case' proved the aliens who visited Earth possessed weapons and technology far beyond the US government's 'assumptions' - suggesting they were already aware of the aliens' existence.
The unearthed document, declassified in 2000, was recently the topic of the AI or Evil podcast, where host Josh Hooper revealed that two of the soldiers at the UFO crash site actually survived the encounter.
However, the 23 'petrified soldiers' could not be saved. Their remains and the debris from the spacecraft were reportedly moved to a secret research base near Moscow.
An even more concerning detail of the CIA file is the description of the aliens reportedly involved in this massacre, who have been mentioned in UFO reports and sightings for nearly 80 years.
A declassified CIA document revealed details of an alleged battle between Soviet forces and an alien spacecraft, which ended with 23 soldiers dead
During a training mission in Siberia, the Soviet military reportedly shot down a low-flying UFO carrying at least 5 aliens who then turned the soldiers into stone
The subject of the document states: 'Paper reports alleged evidence on mishap involving UFO.'
This extraordinary tale was also published in the Ukrainian newspaper Holos Ukrayiny on March 27, 1993.
The incident, which a Canadian newspaper believed took place between 1989 and 1990, was only uncovered by the CIA after the fall of the Soviet Union and its 'secret police' organization, the KGB.
The CIA document explained that the alleged alien craft was flying low and quietly above the Soviet unit while they were engaged in a training mission.
Officials wrote that 'for unknown reasons' the Soviets launched a surface-to-air missile at the UFO, sending it crashing to the Earth near the unit's position.
According to the only two soldiers who survived, when the soldiers approached the craft, the five aliens freed themselves of the debris and came close together near the wreck.
Moments later, the soldiers said the group of aliens 'merged into a single object that acquired a spherical shape.' In simpler language, the aliens beings somehow morphed into a giant ball.
That's when the new ball-like alien began to buzz and hiss before igniting into a brilliant white light.
The description from the CIA report matches the decades-long description of an alleged race of beings UFO researchers call 'the Greys'
With the soldiers still looking on, the ball of light erupted like a giant flare of energy, turning 23 of the 25 Soviets into 'stone poles.'
The report stated that the only reason two of the men survived was because they were standing in a shaded area at the time of the alien energy blast.
Testing of the soldier's bodies showed the alien flare had somehow changed living tissue into a substance that closely resembles limestone.
The CIA document added that 'a source of energy that is still unknown to Earthlings' was responsible for the blast which fatally transformed the Soviets.
Even in 2025, the science behind such a shocking transformation is still difficult to explain medically and technologically.
According to the Journal of Applied Physics, it is possible to use high-energy radiation or electromagnetic pulses to change normal matter into plasma - a form that's not a liquid, solid, or gas.
In the report, the CIA described the aliens as short humanoids with 'large heads and large black eyes.'
The account matches who UFO researchers, alleged alien abductees, and others who believe in alien life refer to as a race called 'the Greys.'
Their features have become the classic image the public thinks of when discussing aliens from outer space - a small, skinny, grey-skinned alien, with an oversized head and large black eyes with no iris.
The Greys would eventually become linked to the infamous Roswell Incident of 1947, as CIA documents would later suggest that alien beings were pulled from the alleged wreck in New Mexico.
These strange creatures would also go on to represent alien life in countless science fiction shows and movies, including Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Despite their prominent place in extraterrestrial research, this disturbing incident appears to be the first time humans have alleged that these beings could have accomplished such terrifying feats.
Now the first archaeological evidence has been found to support the tale, after excavations revealed proof of an Egyptian presence at the site during Josiah's time.
Assaf Kleiman of Ben Gurion University, co-author of a new study about the discoveries, said the findings were a 'big surprise' for archaeologists.
He added: 'Our recent excavations near the administrative quarter of Megiddo revealed the remains of a large structure dated to the late seventh century BC.
'Within this building, we have found high quantities of crude and straw-tempered pottery vessels imported from Egypt, as well as a few East Greek vessels.
'The exposure of these findings was a big surprise for our team, as these were not unearthed thus far at Megiddo.'
Archaeologists have uncovered evidence that a grisly story from the Bible concerning Jesus's ancestor may be true. New discoveries at Armageddon, known today as Tel Megiddo (pictured), point to the reality of a biblical battle
In the Book of Revelation, Armageddon is where the apocalyptic final clash between good and evil takes place before a new world is born. The name 'Armageddon' comes from the Hebrew word 'Har Megiddo' meaning 'hill of Megiddo'
The Greek vessels offer a tantalising clue, archaeologists believe.
Dr Kleiman's co-author, Israel Finkelstein of the University of Haifa and Tel Aviv University, said: 'The Greek pottery is usually considered as representing Greek mercenaries.
'From sources such as Herodotus and the Assyrian King, Ashurbanipal, we know that Greeks from Anatolia served as mercenaries in the Egyptian army.
'This scenario may be linked to the biblical account about the killing of King Josiah of Judah by Pharaoh Necho at Megiddo in 609 BC.'
Josiah, who's been called the last good king of Judah, is described as a religious reformer in the Bible, ending the worship of any god but Yahweh.
He's also listed as a paternal ancestor of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew.
The Old Testament gives varied accounts of his death.
Dr Finkelstein said: 'The Bible recounts the death of Josiah at Megiddo in two places.
The city of Tel Megiddo (pictured) is where King Josiah, an ancestor of Jesus, was slain by the Egyptian pharaoh, Necho II, according to the Bible.
Archaeologists have now found Greek pottery which might have been used by Greek mercenaries in Necho's army
'He's killed by Necho during an encounter at Megiddo in the Book of Kings, and killed in a battle with the Egyptians in the Book of Chronicles.
'Kings gives close to "real time" evidence while Chronicles represents centuries-later thoughts.
'On this background, the new evidence for an Egyptian garrison, possibly with Greek mercenaries, at Megiddo in the late seventh century BC, may provide the background to the event.
'Moreover, in two places in prophetic works, Ezekiel and Jeremiah, the Bible hints that west Anatolians – Lydians – were involved in the killing of Josiah.'
Some say he and his army blocked the path of Necho II, who was en route to Syria with his troops.
Others say he was summoned as a vassal and executed after failing to pay sufficient tribute to Egypt.
The discovery of pottery fragments in the area suggests that Necho's military forces may have been in the area of Tel Megiddo, or Armageddon, during the time described by the Bible
Most of the city of Megiddo (pictured) has already been excavated, but this new discovery suggests there could be truth to the biblical account of the battle
It's even been suggested that Josiah's death there is the reason for its apocalyptic reputation.
While this new evidence does not tell us much about the details of Josiah's death, it does point to Necho's military presence at Armageddon around that time.
'It would make sense to place the [final] battle out there due to Israel's history of that location,' argues Hope Bolinger at Christianity.com.
Dr Kleiman, Dr Finkelstein, and their colleagues Matthew Adams and Alexander Fantalkin published their study in the Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament.
No physical description of Jesus is found in the Bible.
He's typically depicted as Caucasian in Western works of art, but has also been painted to look as if he was Latino or Aboriginal.
It's thought this is so people in different parts of the world can more easily relate to the Biblical figure.
The earliest depictions show him as a typical Roman man, with short hair and no beard, wearing a tunic.
It is thought that it wasn't until 400AD that Jesus appears with a beard.
This is perhaps to show he was a wise teacher, because philosophers at the time were typically depicted with facial hair.
The conventional image of a fully bearded Jesus with long hair did not become established until the sixth century in Eastern Christianity, and much later in the West
Medieval art in Europe typically showed him with brown hair and pale skin.
This image was strengthened during the Italian Renaissance, with famous paintings such as The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci showing Christ.
Modern depictions of Jesus in films tend to uphold the long-haired, bearded stereotype, while some abstract works show him as a spirit or light.
Beste bezoeker, Heb je zelf al ooit een vreemde waarneming gedaan, laat dit dan even weten via email aan Frederick Delaere opwww.ufomeldpunt.be. Deze onderzoekers behandelen jouw melding in volledige anonimiteit en met alle respect voor jouw privacy. Ze zijn kritisch, objectief maar open minded aangelegd en zullen jou steeds een verklaring geven voor jouw waarneming! DUS AARZEL NIET, ALS JE EEN ANTWOORD OP JOUW VRAGEN WENST, CONTACTEER FREDERICK. BIJ VOORBAAT DANK...
Druk op onderstaande knop om je bestand , jouw artikel naar mij te verzenden. INDIEN HET DE MOEITE WAARD IS, PLAATS IK HET OP DE BLOG ONDER DIVERSEN MET JOUW NAAM...
Druk op onderstaande knop om een berichtje achter te laten in mijn gastenboek
Alvast bedankt voor al jouw bezoekjes en jouw reacties. Nog een prettige dag verder!!!
Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 74 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.