The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
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Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
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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.
Image of the night sky above Paranal, Chile on 21 July 2007, taken by ESO astronomer Yuri Beletsky. The Milky Way can be seen clearly in the skies overhead (Credit : ESO/Y. Beletsky)
The Milky Way contains more than 100 billion stars, each following its own evolutionary path through birth, life, and sometimes violent death. For decades, astrophysicists have dreamed of creating a complete simulation of our Galaxy, a digital twin that could test theories about how galaxies form and evolve. That dream has always crashed against an impossible computational wall.
Until now.
Researchers led by Keiya Hirashima at RIKEN's Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences have achieved what seemed beyond reach, a simulation representing every single one of those 100 billion stars over 10,000 years of galactic time. The breakthrough came from an unexpected marriage of artificial intelligence and traditional physics simulations, presented at this year's Supercomputing Conference.
The problem wasn't merely one of scale, though the numbers are staggering. Previous state of the art galaxy simulations could handle roughly one billion solar masses, meaning their smallest "particle" represented a cluster of about 100 stars. Individual stellar events got averaged away, lost in the noise. To capture what happens to single stars requires taking tiny time steps through the simulation, short enough to catch rapid changes like supernova explosions.
Barred spiral galaxy known as NGC 1300 viewed nearly face-on. Its thought the Milky Way is a barred spiral like this
(Credit : NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage)
But smaller time steps demand exponentially more computing power. Using conventional methods to simulate the Milky Way at individual star resolution would require 315 hours of supercomputer time for every million years of galactic evolution. Modelling even one billion years would consume 36 years of real time. Adding more processor cores doesn't solve the problem either since beyond a certain point, efficiency plummets while energy consumption skyrockets.
Hirashima's team found their solution in a deep learning surrogate model. They trained an AI on high resolution simulations of supernovae, teaching it to predict how gas expands during the 100,000 years following an explosion. This AI shortcut handles the rapid small scale physics without dragging down the rest of the model, allowing the simulation to simultaneously track both galaxy wide dynamics and individual stellar catastrophes.
The AI simulation has modelled all the stars in our Galaxy. The stars of the Milky Way are pictured here above a dark site with little light pollution
(Credit : Steve Jurvetson)
The performance gains are remarkable. What would have taken 36 years now requires just 115 days. The team verified their results against large scale tests on RIKEN's Fugaku supercomputer and The University of Tokyo's Miyabi system, confirming the AI enhanced simulation produces accurate results at unprecedented scale.
This approach could transform how we model any system involving vastly different scales of space and time. Climate science, weather prediction, and ocean dynamics all face similar challenges, needing to link processes that range from molecular to planetary scales.
NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
It is a scientific consensus that water once flowed on Mars, that it had a denser atmosphere, meaning that it was once habitable. Unfortunately, roughly 4.2 to 3.7 billion years ago, Mars' rivers, lake, and global ocean began to disappear as solar wind slowly stripped its atmosphere away. For scientists, the question of how long it remained habitable has been the subject of ongoing inquiry. Whereas some scientists maintain that Mars ceased being habitable billions of years ago, recent research suggests that it experienced periods of habitability that lasted for eons.
This includes recent findings by NASA's Curiosity rover, which has been exploring the Gale Crater on Mars to learn more about the planet's past. According to new research by scientists at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), there is evidence that billions of years ago, ancient sand dunes within the crater gradually turned into rock by interacting with underground water. Their findings, which were published in the Journal of Geophysical Research – Planets, indicate that Mars may have been habitable much longer than expected.
The research was led by Dimitra Atri, the Principal Investigator of NYUAD’s Center for Astrophysics and Space Science (CASS) with assistance by fellow CASS researcher Vignesh Krishnamoorthy. They were joined by Research Instrumentation Scientist James Weston of NYUAD's Core Technology Platforms, Postdoctoral Associate Marieh B. Al-Handawi of NYUAD's Smart Materials Lab, and Professor Panče Naumov of NYUAD's Center for Smart Engineering Materials, the Research Center for Environment and Materials, and NYU's Molecular Design Institute.
*Mastcam mosaic of the Stimson Formation, which formed through interaction with underground water.
Credit: MSL/NASA/JPL-Caltech*
For their study, the team examined dunes in the Stimson Formation (SF), a system of wind-blown (aeolian) sand and sedimentary rock in the Gale Crater. The Curiosity rover has observed evidence of these "lithified" formations (i.e. sediments that hardened into stone) at this location on several occasions. Given the pervasive dry conditions in the Gale Crater, these formations likely formed during the Noachian Period (ca. 4.1 to 3.7 billion years ago) when extensive flooding is believed to have taken place, which included rivers that flowed into the Gale Crater.
The team accessed this data through the Mars Science Laboratory's (MSL) Curiosity Notebook, which provides access to information gathered by Curiosity's instruments. They then compared this data to field studies of rock formations in the desert environment of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which are also known to have formed in the presence of water. They determined that the SF was the product of late-stage aqueous activity, meaning they formed from interaction with groundwater from the nearby mountain.
They further found that this interaction left behind minerals such as gypsum, soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate (CaSO4) that is also found in Earth's deserts. This latest research echoes similar findings presented by Krishnamoorthi and Atri last year at the Tenth International Conference on Mars, which took place from July 22nd to 25th at Caltech in Pasadena, California. In that study, they examined data collected on the Greenheugh Pediments (GP), a nearby dune formation with similarly lithified rock deposits.
In both cases, the researchers believe that these dunes and their systems of underground water led to the creation of these curious formations, which could have significant implications in the search for past (and present) life on Mars. On Earth, sandstone deposits contain some of the oldest evidence of life on Earth, including communities of microorganisms that bind sediment and cause minerals to precipitate. Based on these terrestrial analogues, Atri and Krishnamoorthi's team believe that lithified deposits in the Gale Crater could contain the preserved remains of ancient bacteria.
This latest research not only provides new insight into how Mars evolved and transitioned to the extremely cold and dry environment we see there today. It also suggests that these sites would be good candidates for future missions that will continue the search for life on Mars.
Let’s start out with something that we can say for certain: we live in an expanding universe. Every single day, the universe gets a little bit bigger than it was the day before. But right away, when we say something like “we live in an expanding universe” certain questions start to pop up, and they’re far and away the most common kinds of questions that I get asked. If the universe is expanding, then what is it expanding into? And what is it expanding from? Where’s the edge of the universe, and where is it’s center?
I’m going to be honest with you. I dread this kind of question, especially when I give public talks. Not because I know what the answer is, but because I know how totally unsatisfying that answer feels. It’s like sneaking into your kid’s candy bag the night after Halloween and eating half their chocolates (don’t judge me, I know you’ve done it too): it feels good in the moment, but you instantly have regrets.
Here's the answer: the big bang has no center, and it has no edge. That’s it. That’s the answer. No more, no less.
And that doesn’t really feel good because it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
It’s easy to imagine an expanding universe, and there are plenty of analogies out there to help guide our thinking. We can imagine drawing little galaxies on the surface of a balloon, and inflating that balloon to see the galaxies getting farther apart. We can imagine baking a load of bread with raisins in it (why it’s always raisins, and not chocolate chips, is an enduring mystery) and seeing how as the bread rises the raisins get farther apart.
Yay, expanding universe! But the balloon has a center, and it has an edge. And the bread has a center, and a crust. So…where’s the center of the universe, and where is its edge?
This is why we can’t rely on analogies too much when dealing with many concepts in fundamental physics and cosmology. In both the subatomic and cosmological realms, we’re grappling with structures and concepts and physics that is far and above what our puny human brains can imagine. That’s why we have mathematics. Mathematics is a tool that we can use to understanding the universe around us, even when we can’t envision what’s going on. That’s right kids: imagination is important, but mathematics can be even more powerful.
Let’s start with the center. Where did the big bang start? Right here. And right there. And right over there. And in the next room over. The big bang happened everywhere, all at once. The big bang was an event that the entire universe participated in. The big bang was NOT an explosion that happened somewhere in space, it was an explosion OF space – it was when the expansion of the universe first got started. It was not a place we can point to, it was a TIME that we can point to.
The big bang was a singular event that happened in the past of every single object in the universe. If you take any particle, any bit of energy, and trace its path backwards through time, you’ll end up at the big bang, where that particle, that bit of energy, gets all mushed together with every other particle and bit of energy in a singularity.
Think about it. Let’s say the big bang happened over there, say, in the Andromeda galaxy. Well then, where were we, in the Milky Way, when that happened? If we traveled back in time 13 and change billion years, would we be watching the big bang unfold? But…aren’t we a part of the universe? How can we be a part of the universe but somehow outside of the event the created it?
The big bang had to happen everywhere, because everywhere is by definition part of the universe. You can’t have a universe, especially an expanding one, without a big bang. So no matter where you are, your point in space had, at one time, to participate in the big bang.
Now what about the other side of the coin? If the universe is expanding, what is it expanding into? Where’s the crust in our expanding loaf of bread, and what’s the oven that we’re sitting in?
Go ahead, have another piece of chocolate, because this is going to get weird. There is no edge. The universe has no edge. I don’t even want to say something like “the universe isn’t expanding into anything” because that still conjures up the wrong mental image. It’s too tempting to imagine a wall, or boundary, with galaxies and stuff on one side and nothingness on the other, with the universe expanding to fill up that nothingness with somethingness.
But that’s wrong. Even the vacuum of space is something. There are still point, locations, and existence. There’s no “outside” to the universe because “outside” implies existence, even an empty one. But the universe is, by definition, all there is. There is nothing to physical reality except the universe. Walls separate one region from another, but the universe is all the regions simultaneously.
If there were an edge, you could imagine working hard enough to get outside that edge. But that’s not possible. There is no outside. There is no…side. There just is, us, the universe. All there is.
Like I said, it feels a little thrilling at first, but then the stomach aches kick in.
Director Dan Farah grew up with aliens. As a child of the 80s and 90s, pop culture was awash with extra-terrestrial sightings. “How can you be a kid watching movies like ET and Close Encounters, TV shows like The X Files, and not end up curious about whether or not we’re alone in the universe?” he said in an interview with the Guardian. “And whether or not the US government does, in fact, hold secrets from the public.”
'I think it is only a matter of time before a sitting US president steps to the podium, and tells the world that we are not the only intelligent life in the universe.’
Farah’s exposure to otherworldly beings in fiction kickstarted an interest that’s now morphed into a professional quest, and the subject of his documentary debut The Age of Disclosure. Here, Farah makes the case that the United States has been hiding, for decades, a fount of information related to UAP (unidentified anomalous phenomena) – the acronym rebrand of the stigma-ridden UFO.
It would be easy to assume this is the stuff of tin-foil hats and Reddit forums, and in some ways the documentary’s pseudo-narrator, Luis Elizondo, could come across as a type of conspiracy theorist at first glance. He’s armed with a blackboard and piece of chalk, working to sell the viewer, running through a lot of overwhelming military and intelligence jargon, like “hypersonic velocity” and “trans medium travel” with undeniable passion.
But there’s a reason why Farah gravitated towards Elizondo (who also serves as an executive producer on the film). He’s got genuine credentials. A former Pentagon official, who helped lead the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), Elizondo eventually left his role in 2017, claiming the department was hiding vital information from the public. He also claims there was a “powerful disinformation campaign” from the Department of Defense to discredit his work.
Making a point to “only interview people who have direct knowledge” of these programs from working within the US government was a north star for Farah – who has served as a producer on several films, including Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One. While filming The Age of Disclosure, as more former officials and experts got on board, it helped to convince others to take part.
But Farah ran a tight ship over the three years it took to make the film. “Everyone’s names would be kept silent until it was done,” he said, noting that he only told documentary subjects about who had agreed to take part in order to make them comfortable. “We would make the movie in secrecy, so this information of who’s in it would not get out there until we were done with this film, and these people I was approaching would have safety in numbers.”
Farah also opted to make the film independently, unattached from a studio or streamer. “None of them would ever want to participate in a big commercial documentary,” Farah explained. “They would be afraid of it being sensationalized. They would be afraid of being intercut with someone who was not on their level, who would undermine them.”
His first big commitment came from Jay Stratton, one of the defense officials who started AATIP. He had an established career investigating UAP and non-human intelligence life on behalf of the government, and was responsible for briefing senior lawmakers in Congress and the White House. “I have seen with my own eyes non-human craft and non-human beings,” Stratton says plainly at the beginning of the film.
After Stratton agreed to “break his silence” it had tremendous “ripple effects” on the rest of the film, and convinced others to come forward. When the current secretary of state, Marco Rubio, agreed to take part, that escalated things. “Then next thing you know, general Jim Clapper was participating,” Farah said of the former director of national intelligence under Barack Obama, who sat for an interview.
The sheer wealth of contributions, 34 to be exact, from members of Congress across the political spectrum, as well as people with rich national security experience – many of whom might balk at the prospect of a cable news hit let-alone an independent documentary – certainly lends a veneer of credibility. Off the bat you’re confronted with a propulsive string score, and a supercut of former military and intelligence officials ensconced in armchairs. They all offer brief summaries of their CVs, spell out that we are not alone, and why the American public ought to know more about it.
Dan Farah.Photograph: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
“This [UAP] technology does stuff that we can’t do, and if we can’t figure out what it is or what it wants, or what it’s being used for,” says a former director of aviation security at the National Security Council. The former chief scientist for AATIP claims that those who are tasked with ensuring information about UAPs doesn’t leak “will use whatever tool they can find to try to convince people they shouldn’t come forward”. Meanwhile a former defense official notes that if we’re able to understand the technology that we’re observing, it opens the door to so many “potentially beneficial impacts, including clean energy”.
In many ways, Rubio offers one of the more convincing arguments. He says that much of the research and intelligence about UAPs is on a need-to-know basis, with incoming administrations being left out of the loop on the details. “But that begins to ramp out of control,” he notes, leading to a lack of transparency that might give US adversaries a head start by analyzing UAP technology. It’s a theory that sounds all the more convincing coming from the noted foreign policy hawk, who spent time in the senate spearheading a bipartisan effort to understand more about UAPs.
The geopolitical arms race to reverse engineer UAP technology is, what Farah came to see, one of the biggest reasons behind the alleged cover-up. “You can’t tell your friends without telling your enemies,” Farah says in our interview, reciting one of Stratton’s lines in the documentary. He traces a line from the debunked 1947 Roswell “alien crash retrieval” (generally considered the genesis of modern UAP conspiracies) to what he sees as the ongoing effort to withhold information – for fear of enemies getting wind of how much the US knows about extraterrestrial life.
“Put yourself in the shoes of US government and military officials in the 40s,” Farah said, explaining that, fresh off a second world war victory, the Truman administration couldn’t tell the American people that “we’re in another conflict that we can’t protect anyone from, because we don’t even know anything about it”.
He says this race escalated when the US found out that other countries, like Russia, were capturing and retrieving UAP technology. “Here we are now where the people who run our country are not aware of the facts,” he added. “Those people are supposed to be aware of significant information like this that has high stakes for us. And at a base level, the public deserves to know the truth about fundamental facts, like we’re not alone in the universe.”
In The Age of Disclosure, it’s clear that there is little room for pushback or skepticism, particularly since there’s not a single detractor in the film to serve as a foil to the plethora of resolute interviewees. And Farah, for his part, doesn’t see the need for those voices to cloud the documentary’s throughline. “I think when people watch this movie, one of the realizations will be that the stigma around this topic is completely illogical and makes no sense and is not good for humanity,” he said. “We need the scientific community, not only in the United States, but in every nation, accepting the fact that this is a real situation, this is a valid area of inquiry, and that they should put their brain power towards learning about this and answering a lot of the big questions that remain.”
Testimony is ultimately what film hinges on, and it’s really the only “proof” it can offer. This, for Farah, is more compelling. He believes that “the strongest evidence” is “credible people putting their name and reputation on the line to tell you what they know at great risk”. When it comes to video and photos, the director notes that it would do little to quieten claims that it’s all a hoax. “You could put a picture or a video of the most extraordinary thing on the cover of a major news publication or on major plants on TV, and half the human population would tell you they think it’s AI or they think it’s visual effects,” he said.
As more people, like Elizondo and Stratton, speak out about their experiences, Farah hopes it will encourage more people who have been silenced in the past to attempt to reveal the truth. “For way too long, the public has been lied to, kept in the dark, completely misled by a heavily financed and very sophisticated disinformation campaign,” Farah said.
“I think it is only a matter of time before a sitting US president steps to the podium, and tells the world that we are not the only intelligent life in the universe, and that the United States government intends to lead in this new chapter by ending the era of secrecy and beginning the era of transparency.”
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- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:ALIEN LIFE, UFO- CRASHES, ABDUCTIONS, MEN IN BLACK, ed ( FR. , NL; E )
Among UFO doc's revelations: Russia recovered nonhuman 'Tic Tac' craft | Elizabeth Vargas Reports
Among UFO doc's revelations: Russia recovered nonhuman 'Tic Tac' craft | Elizabeth Vargas Reports
Overview
A new documentary, The Age of Disclosure, has ignited fresh debate over the global race to recover and reverse-engineer unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), commonly known as UFOs. The film, which features interviews with high-ranking officials from the United States and abroad, presents claims of an international arms race to unlock the technology behind non-human craft—allegedly including a “Tic Tac”-shaped vehicle recovered by Russia in 1989. The revelations are part of an 80-year narrative of secrecy, cover-ups, and intense competition among world powers.
Global Arms Race for Alien Technology
According to the documentary’s director, Dan Farah, the U.S. is not alone in deploying specialized teams to recover downed extraterrestrial craft. “We’re in a secret arms race,” Farah told host Elizabeth Vargas, describing ongoing efforts by the United States, Russia, and China to retrieve and study non-human technology. The documentary cites U.S. intelligence officials who assert that “China and Russia both have retrieved alien spacecraft,” with Russia’s 1989 recovery of a large Tic Tac-shaped craft highlighted as a pivotal event. This craft was reportedly even larger than the now-famous object encountered by the U.S. Navy’s Nimitz Carrier Strike Group in 2004.
Officials interviewed in the film argue that the first country to successfully reverse-engineer such technology would secure “the leader[ship] for years to come,” likening the stakes to a new Manhattan Project—“the atomic weapon on steroids.” The documentary suggests the technology could include directed-energy weapons and propulsion systems capable of changing the balance of global power.
High-Level Testimony and Secrecy
What sets The Age of Disclosure apart is its roster of interviewees: former secretaries of state, sitting senators, former directors of national intelligence, Pentagon brass, and senior officials from the CIA, Air Force, and Navy. Farah underscores the credibility of these sources, stating, “These are 34 extremely high-level military, government, and intelligence officials… people who have been entrusted with very high-level security clearances.” The documentary details how, for decades, “legacy crash retrieval programs” operated in secrecy, with multi-agency teams tasked to recover and analyze non-human technology.
Farah reveals that these programs were designed to be even more secretive than the Manhattan Project, responding to earlier security leaks by imposing stricter controls. He asserts that the U.S. Air Force, CIA, Department of Energy, and military contractors all played roles in these covert efforts, with similar units active in Russia and China.
Extraordinary Claims: Non-Human Beings and Government Deliberations
Among the most startling claims in the documentary are testimonies from two astrophysicists and intelligence officials stating that the U.S. government has recovered “at least two different alien species.” One official recounts an incident where “not human beings exited a craft and interacted with members of the Air Force and the CIA” at a U.S. military base. While the film acknowledges the extraordinary nature of these accounts, it emphasizes their source: figures with decades of experience at the highest levels of government.
The documentary also reveals a little-known episode from the administration of President George W. Bush, where cabinet officials reportedly “convened a meeting and debated for days” whether to disclose the existence of these programs and technologies to the public. Ultimately, the decision was made to maintain secrecy, continuing a legacy of non-disclosure that, according to the film, spans more than eight decades.
A Unified but Controversial Assertion
Despite the political and ideological diversity of the documentary’s sources, Farah notes a rare consensus: “They’re aligned on this—such 34 senior officials sharing one truth.” While the claims remain controversial and, for many, difficult to accept, The Age of Disclosure raises profound questions about transparency, global security, and humanity’s place in the universe. As lawmakers from both parties call for greater openness on UAPs, the documentary’s revelations are likely to fuel ongoing debate in Washington and beyond.
A popular UFO-reporting app has recorded thousands of sightings of Unidentified Submersible Objects (USOs) near US waterways — phenomena which high-ranking US Navy officials warn could pose a threat to national security.
A video accompanying one of the reports sent to UFO logging app Enigma showed mysterious green lights moving beneath the surface of the ocean.
Enigma
Enigma, which touts itself as the “largest queryable historical sighting database for global UFO sightings,” claims it has received reports on over 30,000 Unidentified Flying Objects and Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena since launching in late 2022.
But the sightings haven’t been limited to the skies, with reports also coming in about strange objects rising from the depths of the sea, or plunging into the water without so much as a splash.
Pentagon-reviewed footage has documented instances of unidentified craft diving into or emerging from the water without damaging the vessel or even making a splash, prompting alarm from some officials.
Jeremy Corbell/Weaponized Podcast
As of August, Enigma has also logged more than 9,000 mysterious sightings within 10 miles of US shorelines or major bodies of water — 500 of them within 5 miles — with more than 150 of the reports describing objects hovering above or descending into waterways, according to Marine Technology News.
The US states with the most reported USO sightings were California (389) and Florida (306) — both among the top three US states with the most ocean coastline. One of the most bizarre reports includes phone camera video of unexplained green lights traveling beneath the surface of the ocean.
Thousands of reports of Unidentified Submersible Objects (USOs) — the aquatic equivalent of a UFO — have been logged along US shorelines in recent years.Enigma
The app has released maps plotting out the reported sightings, represented as clusters of orange dots running up and down the east and west coasts.
UFO sightings are nothing new, and are often dismissed as crackpottery by much of the scientific community or relegated to the stuff of science fiction, but retired Navy Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet warns UFOs with the ability to go from air to sea without crashing or even creating a splash could have “world-changing” ramifications.
“The fact that unidentified objects with unexplainable characteristics are entering US water space and the DOD is not raising a giant red flag is a sign that the government is not sharing all it knows about all-domain anomalous phenomena,” Gallaudet wrote in a March 2024 report.
Alarm bells were raised in July 2019, when the USS Omaha recorded a UFO/UAP that vanished into the ocean without a trace after buzzing a Navy fleet off the coast of San Diego. Video of the incident was verified by the Pentagon, displaying capabilities Gallaudet said “jeopardizes U.S. maritime security, which is already weakened by our relative ignorance about the global ocean.”
In his 29-page report for UFO-focused think tank the Sol Foundation, Gallaudet said there’s a documented pattern of similar phenomena being reported.
“Pilots, credible observers and calibrated military instrumentation have recorded objects accelerating at rates and crossing the air–sea interface in ways not possible for anything made by humans,” he wrote.
Pentagon Reveals 400 UFO Sightings Following Leaked Videos
Pentagon Reveals 400 UFO Sightings Following Leaked Videos
Overview
The Department of Defense announced this week that more than 400 unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) sightings have been logged by Navy and Air Force personnel since the release of the agency’s 2021 report and the subsequent leak of three Navy videos. The new data, presented at a House Intelligence subcommittee hearing, expands the known inventory of anomalous objects that have been observed near military installations, training ranges, and operational airspace. While the Pentagon stopped short of attributing any sighting to extraterrestrial technology, analysts noted recurring patterns—high‑speed maneuvers, sudden acceleration, and flight paths that appear to violate known aerodynamic limits—that suggest “advanced, possibly non‑human, capabilities.”
Key Details
The 400‑plus reports were gathered through the UAP Task Force’s standardized reporting system, a process introduced in 2022 to reduce the stigma that previously discouraged pilots from filing entries. Among the most striking cases are three incidents recorded in the past six months near the Atlantic Fleet’s training area off the coast of Virginia, where infrared sensors captured objects executing instantaneous 180‑degree turns at speeds exceeding 15,000 km/h. Another cluster involved “tic‑tac‑shaped” craft observed over the Nevada Test and Training Range, displaying rapid altitude changes without visible propulsion. None of the sightings have been conclusively linked to known aircraft, drones, or atmospheric phenomena, prompting the Defense Department to label them “unexplained” rather than “aliens.”
Government Response
Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security Ronald Moultrie emphasized the administration’s commitment to “eliminate the stigma” surrounding UAP reporting. “Our goal is to bring operators into a standardized data‑gathering process,” he told lawmakers, adding that consistent documentation is essential for national‑security assessments. The hearing, the first public UAP briefing in nearly five decades, also featured testimony from Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, who outlined ongoing collaborations with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Geospatial‑Intelligence Agency to cross‑reference civilian sightings and satellite data. The Pentagon’s newly created Office of UAP Investigation now reports directly to the Secretary of Defense, a structural change aimed at improving inter‑agency coordination.
Implications for Security and Policy
Congressional members expressed a mix of curiosity and concern. Representative Andre Carson, chair of the subcommittee, warned that “persistent gaps in our situational awareness could be exploited by adversarial nations,” underscoring the need to determine whether the phenomena represent foreign hypersonic platforms or something entirely novel. The November 2025 update to the UAP database, which added high‑resolution sensor logs from the Space Force’s Space Surveillance Network, intensified calls for a comprehensive disclosure bill. While senior officials maintain that no definitive evidence of extraterrestrial origin exists, the sheer volume of unexplained encounters has prompted the National Security Council to allocate additional funding for advanced sensor development and AI‑driven pattern analysis.
Next Steps
The Pentagon plans to release a supplemental report by early 2026, summarizing the 400 sightings and outlining a roadmap for enhanced detection capabilities. In parallel, the House Intelligence Committee is slated to hold a follow‑up hearing in March, where lawmakers will review the newly declassified data and assess the adequacy of current reporting mechanisms. Defense analysts suggest that a transparent, science‑based approach—combined with international cooperation on air‑space monitoring—could both mitigate security risks and address public demand for clarity. Until more conclusive evidence emerges, the UAP phenomenon remains a high‑priority intelligence challenge, prompting continued scrutiny across the defense and aerospace communities.
A long-forgotten book, left out of the Bible and written nearly 1,900 years ago, reveals secret stories of Jesus' childhood that the early church kept under wraps for centuries.
Known as the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, the text tells of Jesus performing miraculous feats, bringing clay birds to life, drawing water from a broken pitcher and healing a boy whose leg was injured by an axe.
But it also portrays a darker side, depicting Jesus as vengeful, even cursing a child to death for striking him on the shoulder.
After Jesus kills the child for accidentally bumping into him, the villagers become upset and complain to Joseph and Mary. In response to their accusations, Jesus strikes the accusers with blindness.
The omitted book begins when Jesus is just five years old, while the traditional Bible's first mention is of him at 12 years old.
In another episode, Joseph takes Jesus to a teacher to learn the alphabet, and the teacher becomes irritated when Jesus laughs at his instructions.
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas was rejected by the early Church because it portrayed Jesus as a violent, petulant child and conflicted with orthodox Christian teachings.
Its late composition date and association with Gnostic literature further led leaders to deem it inauthentic and heretical.
The omitted book begins when Jesus is just five years old, while the traditional Bible's first mention is of him at 12 years old
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John have long been accepted by the Church as accurate accounts of Jesus' life and teachings, written either by apostles or those closely connected to them.
Matthew and John were original disciples, Mark drew from Peter's preaching, and Luke partnered with Paul while also interviewing eyewitnesses.
By contrast, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas claims authorship by 'Thomas the Israelite,' though the writer is otherwise unknown and not identified as the apostle Thomas.
This text is a collection of stories about Jesus' childhood and should not be confused with the modern Gospel of Thomas, which early references to the Gospel of Thomas almost certainly point to the Infancy Gospel.
The passages tell stories about Jesus' first miracles, from bringing dried fish back to life, resurrecting a child who died of illness and raising a man back to from the dead after an accident.
However, it seems that early church leaders were more concerned about the text describing Jesus as a violent child.
In one incident, after Jesus blinds the parents of a boy he struck dead, Joseph, his earthly and adoptive father, reprimands Him: 'When Joseph saw that Jesus had done such a thing, he got angry and grabbed his ear and pulled very hard.
'The boy became infuriated with him and replied, 'It's one thing for you to seek and not find; it's quite another for you to act this unwisely. Don't you know that I don't really belong to you? Don't make me upset.'
The earliest known manuscript fragment was only discovered in 2024, discussing one of Jesus' early miracles
The text describes how Joseph took Jesus to his teacher, asking the child to be taught 'his letters.'
The teacher says, 'Hand him over to me, brother, and I shall teach him the Scripture; and I shall persuade him to bless all, and not to curse.
'And Jesus, hearing, laughed, and said to them: You say what you know; but I know more than you, for I am before the ages. And I know when your fathers' fathers were born; and I know how many years of your life.'
Jesus then astonished the teacher with his knowledge of the Hebrew alphabet. Amazed and unnerved, the teacher tells Joseph that the child clearly does not belong to this world and asks him to take Jesus away.
In Chapter 3, when the son of Annas, the high priest, destroys the water Jesus had gathered on the Sabbath, Jesus curses him, declaring that his fruit will wither like a scorched branch.
Immediately, the boy withers, showing the child Jesus’ power to punish those who oppose him.
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas also depicts the young Jesus performing numerous miracles to help others.
He heals a woodcutter who accidentally chops the sole of his foot, instantly restoring him and instructing him to continue his work.
When a water jug breaks while he is fetching water, Jesus fills his cloak with water and carries it back to his mother.
He miraculously multiplies a single grain of wheat into a hundred measures and distributes it to the poor, widows, and orphans.
Jesus even stretches a short piece of wood so Joseph, his father, can complete a carpentry job for a wealthy client. In one story, he heals his brother James from a snakebite by breathing on the wound, destroying the snake and ending the pain.
On another occasion, he resurrects a child who had died, bringing the child back to life and returning him safely to his mother.
These vivid episodes show that the text portrays a child Jesus who is not only powerful but also compassionate, using his extraordinary abilities to aid and protect those around him.
Stacked images of 3I/ATLAS on November 8, 2025. The sunward direction (opposite to the arrow) is pointing towards the bottom left corner. (Credit: M. Jäger, G. Rhemann, E. Prosperi)
Press enter or click to view image in full size
A stacked deep image of 3I/ATLAS, taken on November 9, 2025, through a combination of 5 exposures, each lasting 3 minutes, with two telescopes. The sunward direction is towards the lower left corner. (Credit: Frank Niebling and Michael Buechner, posted here)
Back in July and August of 2025, the interstellar object 3I/ATLASwas inferred to rotate with a period of 16.16 (+/-0.01) hours (as derived here).
Last week, preliminary images revealed a network of jets around 3I/ATLAS (as discussed here and here). These observed jets from 3I/ATLAS should have been smeared by the rotation. Instead, the image taken by F. Niebling and M. Buechner on November 9, 2025, shows tightly-collimated jets extending to distances larger than a million kilometers. At the expected thermal speed of sublimated volatiles from a natural comet, 400 meters per second, it takes about a month for the material to traverse a million kilometers.
How could these jets maintain their orientation if 3I/ATLAS is rotating every 16.16 hours?
The possibility that outflows slowed down the rotation since July is unlikely because asymmetries in outgassing typically enhance rotation (as discussed here). There is no recent measurement of the rotation period of 3I/ATLAS, but we expect related data in the coming weeks.
Another possibility is that illumination by the Sun induces outgassing only at specific angles relative to the Sun, which are dictated by the orientation of the pockets of ice and the surface topography of the nucleus. For example, ice pockets in deep valleys surrounded by mountains that shadow them will be exposed to direct sunlight and sublimate only when the Sun is at the right angle. This would lead to pulsating outflows from that spot with a period of 16.16 hours, resulting in a jet which looks like peas in a pod separated by a spatial scale of 400 meters per second times 16.16 hours which is 23,270 kilometers. There should be 43 peas on a pod of a million kilometers length and these puffs of gas should all be in the general direction of the Sun as the ice quickly cools when it is not illuminated by sunlight. This sunward orientation effect could not account for jets pointing away from the Sun, as evident in the image of 3I/ATLAS taken by M. Jäger, G. Rhemann and E. Prosperi on November 8, 2025.
Alternatively, the apparent features might represent the evaporated trail of fragments that were ejected from the main nucleus. This would imply that the nucleus exploded near the Sun, in contrast to the single object inference from the image obtained by D. Jewitt and J. Luu on November 11, 2025.
A more speculative possibility is that the jets maintain their directionality because they are produced by technological thrusters which preserve global orientation for navigation purposes.
At any event, the post-perihelion images add a new anomaly to the list, which by now includes 12 mysteries concerning 3I/ATLAS:
1. Its retrograde trajectory is aligned to within 5 degrees with the ecliptic plane of the planets around the Sun, with a likelihood of 0.2% (see here).
2. During July and August as well as in early November of 2025, it displayed a sunward jet (anti-tail) that is not an optical illusion from geometric perspective, unlike familiar comets (see here).
3. Its nucleus is about a million times more massive than 1I/`Oumuamua and a thousand times more massive than 2I/Borisov, while moving faster than both, altogether with a likelihood of less than 0.1% (see here and here).
4. Its arrival time was fine-tuned to bring it within tens of millions of kilometers from Mars, Venus and Jupiter and be unobservable from Earth at perihelion, with a likelihood of 0.005% (see here).
5. Its gas plume contains much more nickel than iron (as found in industrially-produced nickel alloys) and a nickel to cyanide ratio that is orders of magnitude larger than that of all known comets, including 2I/Borisov, with a likelihood below 1% (see here).
6. Its gas plume contains only 4% water by mass, a primary constituent of familiar comets (see here).
7. It shows extreme negative polarization, unprecedented for all known comets, including 2I/Borisov, with a likelihood below 1% (seehere).
8. It arrived from a direction coincident with the radio “Wow! Signal” to within 9 degrees, with a likelihood of 0.6% (seehere).
9. Near perihelion, it brightened fter than any known comet and was bluer than the Sun (see here).
10. It exhibits sunward and anti-solar jets which require an unreasonably large surface area in order to absorb enough sunlight needed to sublimate enough ice to feed the mass flux of these jets (as calculated here).
11. Near perihelion it exhibits non-gravitational acceleration which requires massive evaporation of at least 13% of its mass (as calculated here), whereas preliminary images indicate that the object maintained its integrity and did not break up (as discussed here).
12. Its tightly-collimated jets maintain orientation across a million kilometers in multiple directions relative to the Sun despite its measured rotation.
So far, I have not updated my rank for 3I/ATLAS on the (defined here and quantified Loeb Scale here), since we expect a flood of new data in the coming weeks. If the measured speed, composition and mass flux of the jets are consistent with sublimation of volatiles from pockets of ice on the surface of a natural comet, I will reduce my Loeb Scale rank. On the other hand, if the speed and mass flux are inconsistent with warming by sunlight of a natural comet, then I will raise the Loeb Scale rank to a higher value than 4. The rank will reach a value of 10 if there is evidence for new objects near Earth or Mars that are related to 3I/ATLAS.
Is NASA hiding the truth nature of 3I/ATLAS by showing blurry images?
Is NASA hiding the truth nature of 3I/ATLAS by showing blurry images?
Is NASA hiding the true nature of interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS? Low-resolution images and vague explanations are raising serious questions.
NASA has finally released its long-awaited images of 3I/ATLAS and for many, the results were a major disappointment. The space agency once again repeated its narrative that the object is a “normal” comet, all while presenting extremely low-grade, fuzzy images that raised more questions than answers.
The newest photos of the interstellar visitor, taken by a variety of spacecraft, satellites, and telescopes, were unveiled on November 19, 2025, during a NASA press conference, the first since the U.S. government shutdown. NASA highlighted that eight different observatories contributed to the dataset.
Among the most anticipated images were those from the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, (see image above) which had a rare vantage point only 19 million miles from 3I/ATLAS. Yet the final product shown to the public was a blurry black-and-white smudge devoid of meaningful detail. NASA insisted the object is simply a large space rock and pushed back on claims that 3I/ATLAS is performing any maneuvers or showing any behavior inconsistent with a typical comet.
Online, NASA’s “big reveal” was mocked as a joke. Many argued the agency was withholding clearer images and downplaying the object’s anomalies. Photos now circulating from amateur astronomers, taken with $5,000 to $10,000 telescopes, appear far sharper and more informative than anything shown by NASA, despite the agency’s billions-of-dollars worth of equipment, spacecraft, staff, and infrastructure.
As geophysicist Stefan Burns noted in a comparison review, the agency’s best image of 3I/ATLAS looks like a street lamp on a foggy day.
Meanwhile, Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb has identified at least 12 unexplained anomalies linked to 3I/ATLAS, further fueling speculation. NASA’s quick dismissal of all alternative interpretations only intensified online theories that the agency is trying to bury any discussion of extraterrestrial possibilities.
In the end, NASA’s long-delayed reveal of 3I/ATLAS left many observers unimpressed and, honestly, what else did we expect? The low-resolution images only fuel the growing sense that something about this interstellar visitor isn’t being fully explained or fully shown. In other words, it feels like NASA is once again keeping the object’s true nature out of view.
Anyway, we don’t need NASA for answers. By the time 3I/ATLAS makes its closest approach to Earth on December 19, 2025, there will be far more reliable sources ready to confirm whether it’s just a bizarre interstellar comet or something of extraterrestrial origin on a true renaissance mission.
Polenverschuiving: Wat zegt de wetenschap en wat is de invloed op de samenleving?
Polenverschuiving: Wat zegt de wetenschap en wat is de invloed op de samenleving?
Inleiding
De afgelopen weken is er opnieuw een golf van online discussies ontstaan over een vermeende “pole shift”. Deze term wordt in diverse contexten gebruikt, variërend van een natuurverschijnsel dat in de geologische geschiedenis voorkomt tot spectulatieve theorieën over snelle en catastrofale verschuivingen van de aardrotatie. In sommige online kringen richt men zich op het idee dat de Noord- en Zuidpool op korte termijn zullen veranderen, wat zou kunnen leiden tot enorme natuurrampen en maatschappelijke chaos. Aan de andere kant worden berichten vaak versterkt door angstzaaiende verhalen die niet wetenschappelijk onderbouwd zijn. Het is daarom belangrijk om deze claims kritisch en wetenschappelijk te analyseren. In dit artikel bespreken we de wetenschappelijke feiten rond pole shifts, de historische context, de verbanden met bepaalde alternatieve theorieën en de maatschappelijke impact.
Wetenschappelijke context: Wat zegt de geofysica?
Magnetische poolomkeringen
Een veel besproken verschijnsel in de geofysica is de zogenaamde magnetische pole reversal, of te wel het omkeren van het aardmagnetisch veld. Dit natuurlijke proces vindt plaats over zeer lange tijdschalen, meestal elke enkele honderdduizenden tot miljoenen jaren. Tijdens een reversie ontrafeld het aardmagnetisch veld niet plotseling, maar verloopt het langzaam en geleidelijk. Wetenschappers hebben dat bijvoorbeeld kunnen vaststellen aan de hand van ijsboringen, gesteenten en fossielen die aanwijzingen bevatten over het magnetisch veld van de aarde in het verleden.
De meest recente reversie, de Brunhes-Matuyama overgang, vond ongeveer 780.000 jaar geleden plaats. Tijdens zo’n reversie kunnen de magnetische noord- en zuidpolen even wegvallen of verwisselen, maar het aardmagnetisch veld wordt nooit compleet uitgeschakeld of plotseling omgekeerd in een korte periode. Volgens Dr. Lena Ortiz, professoraal geofysica aan de Universiteit van Melbourne, “wordt het veld zwakker en kan het wanordelijk worden voor enkele duizenden jaren, maar het proces verloopt vooral geleidelijk. Er is geen bewijs dat er een snel, wereldwijde flip kan plaatsvinden die het dagelijks leven onmiddellijk beïnvloedt.”
Werkelijke polaire verschuiving
Naast de magnetische reversies bestaat er ook het fenomeen van “true polar wander” (TPW). Bij TPW verschuift de aardrotatieas relatief ten opzichte van de aardkorst en de mantel, wat zich over miljoenen jaren voltrekt. Dit verschijnsel is een natuurlijk onderdeel van de aardontwikkeling en heeft geen directe impact op kortetermijngebeurtenissen. Dit verschijnsel leidt niet tot snelle veranderingen in het klimaat of natuurrampen, maar moet begrepen worden als onderdeel van langetermijnprocessen.
Betrouwbaarheid en waarschuwingssystemen
Tot op heden zijn er geen aanwijzingen dat een plotselinge, snelle pole shift op korte termijn zal plaatsvinden. Geofysische instellingen zoals Geoscience Australia, het European Space Agency en de US Geological Survey houden de aardmagnetische velden nauwlettend in de gaten en zullen pas waarschuwen bij concrete anomalieën. Het ontbreken van betrouwbare bewijzen betekent dat de angst voor een onmiddellijke catastrofe niet op wetenschappelijke grounds staat.
Verbanden met UFO's en paranormale theorieën
Historische en culturele aansluiting
De pole-shiftmythe koppelt zich vaak aan verhalen over buitenaardse wezens en geheime regeringsprojecten. In dat kader wordt gesuggereerd dat bepaalde overheden of aliens kennis zouden hebben van een naderend wereldomvattend verschuivingsproces dat niet aan het zicht van het publiek wordt onttrokken. Proponenten beweren dat zo’n event grote evacuaties zou uitlokken of dat geheime technologieën zouden onthuld worden.
Waarom ontstaan deze theorieën?
Deze verhalen zijn vooral populair omdat ze inspelen op de menselijke behoefte aanbetrouwbare verklaringen voor grote onzekerheden en onbegrijpelijke natuurrampen. Daarnaast spelen geheime overheidsprojecten, complottheorieën en het fenomeen van de ‘angst voor de onbekende’ een grote rol. In de context van UFO's en paranormale theorieën wordt de pole shift vaak gekoppeld aan ideeën over ‘extraterrestriële interventie’ of het bestaan van geheime bases waar zich technologieën bevinden die ons kunnen beschermen of juist doen falen. Deze verhalen worden versterkt door populaire media, films en fictie, waardoor ze aantrekkelijk zijn voor een breed publiek dat op zoek is naar antwoorden op onbekende fenomenen.
Wetenschappelijk gezien ontbreken echter bewijs en solide gegevens om deze theorieën te ondersteunen. Er is geen concreet bewijs dat buitenaardse wezens betrokken zijn bij de aardmagnetische eigenschappen van onze planeet, noch dat geheime regeringsprojecten werkzaam zijn die een wereldwijde pole shift zouden kunnen triggeren. Het koppelen van dergelijke verhalen aan “pole shifts” dient vooral om angst en verwarring te zaaien, maar mist een wetenschappelijke onderbouwing.
Door de mens veroorzaakte klimaatveranderingen zullen de geografische polen van de aarde significant verplaatsen.
Maatschappelijke impact en maatschappelijke reacties
De angst voor een pole shift of soortgelijke catastrofes kan grote maatschappelijke gevolgen hebben. In het verleden zagen we dat dergelijke angsten leidde tot de opkomst van ‘doomsday-bewegingen’ en groepen die geloven dat de wereld op korte termijn ondergaat. Dit kan leiden tot onrust, paniek en zelfs gedragsveranderingen, zoals het verzamelen van voedselvoorraden, het bouwen van bunkers of het verspreiden van desinformatie via sociale media.
Zaken als massahysterie en paniekreacties zijn niet nieuw. Anno 2024 is de digitale samenleving bijzonder gevoelig voor dergelijke berichten, waardoor desinformatie snel verspreid wordt en difficult te corrigeren is. Overheden en wetenschappers proberen vaak via officiële kanalen duidelijkheid te scheppen en feiten te communiceren, maar de virale aard van de media maakt het moeilijk om achterhaalde theorieën terug te dringen.
Daarnaast kunnen deze angsten ook leiden tot sociale vervreemding en wantrouwen jegens wetenschappelijke instellingen en overheden. Er ontstaat een ‘alternatieve waarheid’ waarin feit en fictie door elkaar lopen, wat de maatschappelijke cohesie onder druk zet. Het is daarom belangrijk dat er kritische mediawijsheid wordt bevorderd en dat er transparantie is over de wetenschappelijke stand van zaken.
Het aardmagneetveld in kaart gebracht met satelliet data, ESA SWAM missie. De kleuren geven de sterkte van het veld aan, waarbij rood het sterkst en blauw het zwakst.
Historische context: Hoe vaak en hoe lang duren pole shifts?
Een groot misverstand is dat mensen denken dat pole shifts frequent en abrupt plaatsvinden. In de geschiedenis van de aarde zijn er wel degelijk veranderingen geweest in de positie van magnetische polen, maar dit gebeuren gebeurt over gigantische tijdsintervallen. De geologische gegevens wijzen uit dat reversies in het magnetisch veld duizenden tot honderdduizenden jaren duren, en dat er geen bewijs is voor een snelle of onmiddellijke omkering.
De meest recente magnetische reversie, Brunhes-Matuyama genoemd, vond ongeveer 780.000 jaar geleden plaats. Tijdens dat proces viel het magnetische veld tijdelijk uit, voordat het weer terugkeerde in de tegengestelde richting. Voor de mensen van toen was het ongemakkelijk, maar er was geen sprake van natuurrampen of wereldwijde chaos.
Het idee van een snelle pole shift is vooral populair in populaire cultuur en complottheorieën, maar de wetenschap wijst duidelijk uit dat zulke gebeurtenissen niet op korte termijn plaatsvinden. Wat wel mogelijk is, en dat onderzoek bevestigt, is dat het aardmagnetisch veld in de loop van miljoenen jaren kan veranderen en dat dit inderdaad gevolgen kan hebben voor bijvoorbeeld communicatie- en navigatiesystemen.
Kansen en risico’s van natuurrijke fenomenen
Hoewel de meeste wetenschappers elimineren dat een snelle pole shift zich op korte termijn zal voordoen, is het belangrijk om te realiseren dat de aarde wel degelijk onderhevig is aan natuurlijke fenomenen die het functioneren van onze planeet beïnvloeden. Zo hebben we te maken met perioden van vulkanische activiteit, aardbevingen en klimaatveranderingen. Al deze factoren kunnen, indien ze zich op grote schaal voordoen, invloed hebben op de samenleving en het ecosysteem.
De klimaatverandering bijvoorbeeld, die intense weersomstandigheden en zeespiegelstijgingen veroorzaakt, heeft nu al ingrijpende effecten op menselijke samenlevingen wereldwijd. Het is essentieel dat we deze risico’s serieus nemen en ons aanpassen aan de veranderende omstandigheden. Dit betekent investeren in preventie, duurzaamheid en het versterken van onze infrastructuur.
Daarnaast is het van belang dat we leren omgaan met onzekerheden. Dat kan door het ontwikkelen van waarschuwings- en monitoringsystemen, zoals het Europees Samenwerkingsprogramma voor aardbevingswaarneming en de NASA Magnetische Velden Tracker. Deze systemen kunnen echter geen voorspellingen doen over langetermijngebeurtenissen zoals pole shifts, maar kunnen wel helpen bij het anticiperen op andere natuurfenomenen waaraan we wel risico’s lopen.
De rol van media en wetenschap in het bestrijden van paniek
De media spelen een cruciale rol in de manier waarop informatie wordt gedeeld en geconsumeerd door het grote publiek. Bij onderwerpen die gevoelig liggen, zoals de vermeende pole shift, is het belangrijk dat journalisten hun verantwoordelijkheid nemen door feitelijke, wetenschappelijk onderbouwde informatie te presenteren. Te snelle of sensationele berichtgeving kan leiden tot onnodige paniek en verwarring.
Wetenschappers en overheidsinstellingen moeten proactief communiceren over de feiten en duidelijk aangeven wat de beperkingen van onze kennis zijn. Duidelijkheid en transparantie helpen om vertrouwen te behouden en het juiste begrip te stimuleren. Het is tevens belangrijk dat er educatie wordt ingezet om mensen mediawijs te maken en te leren onderscheid te maken tussen wetenschappelijke feiten en fictie.
Educatieve campagn campagnes en informatievoorziening kunnen ook een rol spelen in het voorkomen van hysterische reacties. Door jongeren en volwassenen te informeren over de natuurlijke processen van de aarde, de tijdschalen waarin veranderingen plaatsvinden en de huidige monitoringtechnologieën, worden paniek en desinformatie moeilijker te laten wortelen.
Pole Shift Theory EXPLAINED: The Science Behind Earth’s Great Reset
Conclusie: Wat kunnen we leren uit de wetenschap en hoe vermijden we paniek?
De angst voor een plotselinge pole shift die de wereld in korte tijd verandert, wordt door de wetenschap volledig ontkracht. Het bestuderen van aardmagnetische reversies en andere geologische processen tonen aan dat dergelijke veranderingen zeer langzaam en over lange tijdschalen plaatsvinden. Geologen, geofysici en klimaatwetenschappers werken sinds decennia aan het monitoren van de planeet, en er is geen wetenschappelijk bewijs voor een snelle of catastrofale pole shift op korte termijn.
Het is belangrijk dat we kritisch blijven nadenken over de informatie die we ontvangen en dat we vertrouwen op wetenschappelijke bronnen. Complotdenken en sensationele verhalen zorgen voor angst en verwarring, terwijl de realiteit anders is: onze aarde is dynamisch, maar haar veranderingen verlopen geleidelijk en voorspelbaar. De beste manier om onze samenleving te beschermen, is investeren in kennis, infrastructuur en preventie, en de communicatie over natuurlijke risico’s te baseren op feiten.
Tot slot moeten we begrijpen dat angst vooral ontstaat bij onwetendheid en onzekerheid. Door education, transparantie en het delen van wetenschappelijke inzichten kunnen we die angsten verminderen en een samenleving creëren die beter voorbereid is op de uitdagingen die de toekomst biedt. Het zich bewust zijn van de natuurlijke processen waarvoor de aarde staat, geeft niet alleen rust, maar ook kracht om op een verantwoorde en geïnformeerde manier met de wereld om te gaan.
Aanbevelingen en toekomstige onderzoekslijnen
Hoewel de huidige wetenschappelijke kennis duidelijk aangeeft dat een snelle pole shift in de nabije toekomst onwaarschijnlijk is, blijft het noodzakelijk om de aarde en haar magnetische velden nauwlettend te monitoren. Nieuwe technologieën en methoden ontwikkelen zich voortdurend, waardoor we beter inzicht kunnen krijgen in de langetermijntrends en potentiële gevaren.
Het stimuleren van internationale samenwerking is essentieel. Door gegevensdeling en gezamenlijke onderzoeksinitiatieven kunnen we een beter beeld krijgen van de wereldwijde veranderingen binnen onze planeet en onze atmosfeer. Daarnaast moet er meer geïnvesteerd worden in het verbeteren van de voorlichtingscampagnes, om desinformatie en paniek te voorkomen.
Ook is het van belang om het bewustzijn over natuurlijke processen te vergroten. Educatieprogramma's op scholen en in de media kunnen helpen om families en gemeenschappen voor te bereiden op verschillende scenario’s, zonder daarbij angst aan te jagen. Het verkennen van andere planeten en het ontwikkelen van technologische innovatie kunnen op lange termijn ook bijdragen aan het vergroten van onze veerkracht.
Tot slot moeten beleidsmakers en w wetenschappers samenwerken om de belangrijkste risico’s te identificeren en proactief maatregelen te nemen. Het versterken van ons maatschappelijke verdedigingssysteem tegen natuurlijke rampen en het stimuleren van duurzame ontwikkeling zijn belangrijke stappen in het voorbereiden op een onvoorspelbare en complexe wereld.
Samenvatting
In dit artikel hebben we besproken dat de angst voor een plotselinge, wereldwijde pole shift niet gebaseerd is op wetenschappelijke feiten. Magnetische pole reversals en andere natuurlijke processen vinden plaats over enorme tijdschalen en verlopen meestal geleidelijk. Hoewel het menselijk verstand geneigd is om snel te reageren op onbegrepen fenomenen, is het cruciaal om kritisch te blijven en te vertrouwen op wetenschappelijke inzichten. De maatschappelijke reactie op deze angsten moet vooral gericht zijn op educatie, wetenschap en transparantie. Alleen door kennis te vergroten en desinformatie tegen te gaan, kunnen we voorkomen dat angst ons gaat beheersen en een ongefundeerd gevoel van onveiligheid ontstaat. De aarde is niet immuun voor veranderingen, maar haar natuurlijke dynamiek vereist vooral dat wij voorbereid en geïnformeerd zijn, zodat we adequaat kunnen reageren op de uitdagingen die de toekomst brengt.
A recent YouTube video posted by Jesse Michels, a self‑identified former intelligence analyst, has ignited a fresh wave of discussion on the r/StrangeEarth subreddit. In the clip, Michels claims to possess “explosive insights” into unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) that he says point to a sustained government cover‑up and the existence of non‑human intelligence. The video quickly gathered attention, prompting Reddit users to debate the credibility of the allegations, the potential implications for ongoing UAP hearings, and the broader conversation about alleged suppressed evidence of alien technology.
The Video and Its Claims
Michels’ presentation, which runs just under ten minutes, blends excerpts from declassified documents, alleged insider testimonies, and personal observations. He asserts that a series of recent sightings—particularly those recorded by naval pilots and commercial airliners—contain data that the U.S. government has deliberately withheld from the public. Among the most striking points he raises are references to “high‑frequency telemetry signatures” that, according to him, cannot be produced by known aerospace platforms. Michels also alludes to a “closed‑door briefing” he attended in 2022, where senior officials discussed the strategic implications of advanced propulsion technologies that appear to defy conventional physics. No independent verification of these briefings or the telemetry data has been provided, and the video contains no direct links to the primary sources he cites.
Community Reaction
Redditors responded with a mix of curiosity and skepticism. Several users highlighted the timing of the video, noting that it coincides with the U.S. Senate’s bipartisan UAP hearing scheduled for later this month. “If there really is new evidence, now would be the time to bring it to Congress,” one commenter wrote, urging transparency. Others cautioned against “hype‑driven speculation,” pointing out that past UFO claims have often resurfaced without substantive proof. A frequent theme was the call for “hard data” – radar logs, sensor readouts, or authenticated documents – to move the conversation beyond anecdote. Some participants referenced the Pentagon’s 2021 release of three Navy videos, arguing that while those clips confirmed anomalous sightings, they did not substantiate the more extraordinary claims made by Michels.
Broader Context
The resurgence of public interest in UAPs follows a series of official steps taken by the U.S. government over the past three years. In 2020, the Department of Defense established the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, later succeeded by the All‑Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in 2022. Congressional committees have held multiple hearings, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a preliminary assessment in June 2021 that documented 144 incidents, many of which remained unexplained. Michels’ video taps into a growing narrative among fringe researchers that these institutional efforts are merely a façade, designed to “manage the narrative” while withholding transformative technology. Academic circles, however, remain cautious, emphasizing the need for peer‑reviewed analysis before drawing conclusions about extraterrestrial involvement.
Next Steps and Outlook
While the video has amplified discussion on platforms like Reddit, it has not yet prompted formal inquiries from governmental bodies. Analysts suggest that any credible new evidence would likely be presented to the upcoming Senate hearing, where lawmakers have signaled a willingness to request classified briefings. In the meantime, experts advise the public to await verification from reputable sources, such as the AARO or independent scientific institutions, before accepting Michels’ assertions. As the UAP debate continues to evolve, the balance between open inquiry and rigorous evidence remains the critical yardstick for separating legitimate discovery from speculation.
NASA SkyCam Captures Bizarre Multi-Arc Object — SpaceTracker Enhances Footage to 8K
NASA SkyCam Captures Bizarre Multi-Arc Object — SpaceTracker Enhances Footage to 8K
Overview
On June 12, 2025, an intriguing event was recorded by NASA’s internal SkyCam system—a highly sensitive camera mounted high in the upper atmospheric region that detected an unusual luminous phenomenon. This event involved a multi-arc formation seemingly suspended in the near-vacuum environment of the thermosphere, hundreds of kilometers above Earth’s surface. The initial footage, captured in 1080p resolution, revealed a faint but luminous structure displaying an intricate pattern of intersecting semi-circular arcs, which sparked immediate interest and skepticism within the UFO (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, UAP) research community, aerospace analysts, and atmospheric scientists alike.
Soon after the event, a civilian open-source platform known as SpaceTracker—which specializes in processing, enhancing, and analyzing aerospace imagery—obtained and analyzed the raw footage. Using advanced image enhancement algorithms, SpaceTracker processed the clip to an unprecedented 8K resolution (7680×4320 pixels), significantly clarifying the features and revealing fine details previously obscured. The enhanced imagery, publicly released on June 20, 2025, has reignited discussions about the nature of high-altitude phenomena that do not conform to traditional explanations, such as natural atmospheric events, space debris, or known satellite activity.
This article provides an in-depth examination of the event, including the technical aspects of the image processing, expert interpretations, contextual significance within the broader UAP phenomena, and the possible scientific and exploratory avenues this incident opens.
Technical Analysis
1. Image Processing and Enhancement Techniques
The transformation from the original 1080p footage to a detailed 8K resolution involved the integration of multiple state-of-the-art image processing methodologies:
Frame Averaging:To improve the signal-to-noise ratio, multiple sequential frames were combined, reducing random noise artifacts while preserving signal details such as faint arcs and subtle halo effects.
De-noising Algorithms: Advanced noise reduction algorithms, including wavelet-based filtering and machine learning-driven denoising networks, were applied to suppress sensor noise yet retain the integrity of luminous features.
Super-Resolution Techniques:Utilizing a combination of deep learning models trained on high-fidelity imagery, the data was reconstructed to a higher resolution. These models infer details beyond the original pixel data based on contextual cues, enabling a crisper, more detailed visualization of the arcs and their geometric structures.
2. Visualization of the Phenomenon
The enhanced footage yields several notable observations:
Geometrically Consistent, Semi-circular Arcs: The arcs are roughly semi-circular, extending across a span of approximately 30 kilometers within the camera’s field of view. Their intersections form a complex, symmetrical pattern reminiscent of a geometric web or a set of overlapping spherical caps.
Luminous Core and Halo:The central region of the formation exhibits a stable, steady luminosity that persists over several seconds. Encircling the arcs, a faint, fine-grained halo—interpreted as a dust or particulate scattering layer—suggests the presence of a tenuous particulate medium around or behind the arcs.
Motion and Orientation:The entire formation exhibits coherent motion, with no observed erratic wobble or turbulence characteristic of debris or re-entry particles. It maintains a consistent orientation relative to the horizon, suggesting a possible aerodynamic or electromagnetic stability that would be atypical for conventional space debris or meteorological phenomena.
3. Data Integrity and Limitations
While the processing has uncovered significant details, it’s crucial to acknowledge the limitations:
The SkyCam system, primarily designed for spacecraft exterior monitoring, was not optimized for scientific observation of transient phenomena. This introduces uncertainties regarding calibration, exposure, and sensor linearity.
The footage's temporal resolution (frame rate)and the camera’s spectral capabilities (spectral filters, IR sensitivity, etc.) limit definitive conclusions about the physical properties—such as composition or thermal signatures—of the observed phenomenon.
Expert Commentary
1. Atmospheric Physics Perspective
Dr. Elena Morales, an atmospheric physicist specializing in high-altitude optical phenomena at the University of Colorado Boulder, approached the footage with scientific caution. She emphasized the importance of ruling out common atmospheric mechanisms:
“The geometric precision of these arcs is unusual. Atmospheric optics often produce optical illusions like parhelia or sundogs, which are caused by light interacting with ice crystals in cirrus clouds. However, these typically produce right-angled halos, not intersecting semi-circular arcs with such stability and coherence. Alternative mechanisms, like gravitational lensing or scattering from localized dust jets, can sometimes create arc-like phenomena, especially in the upper atmosphere where turbulence and particulate activity can vary.”
Morales further elaborated on potential natural causes:
High-Altitude Ice Crystals: In rare cases, high-altitude ice clouds with unique crystal geometries can produce complex light patterns.
Electrostatic or Electromagnetic Interactions: Active phenomena like lightning or transient luminous events (TLEs) such as sprites or elves could generate fleeting arcs, though their typical morphology differs from what is observed here.
2. Defense and Aerospace Analysis
Former NASA flight surgeon Lt. Cmdr. Aaron Patel, now an independent analyst, outlined the operational considerations:
“The SkyCam system is calibrated for spacecraft exterior conditions—monitoring shuttle or station surfaces—and its data integrity is solid for such applications. Its ability to resolve features at 8K enhances the credibility of the visual data. However, corroborating measurements—like radar tracking, infrared imaging, or additional ground-based observations—are crucial for understanding what exactly we’re seeing."
He highlighted the importance of cross-referencing data streams:
Radar & Lidar Data:Would help determine motion, altitude, and possible physical size estimates.
Spectroscopic Analysis: Could reveal composition or ionization states, giving clues about the nature of the material or energy involved.
3. UAP Research Community Response
The incident struck a chord within the global UAP community, especially given the increasing transparent sharing of data by aerospace agencies. Previous episodes, notably the X-Bump event in 2023—captured by the International Space Station (ISS)—showcased structured luminous patterns that defied straightforward classification.
The X-Bump involved high-altitude luminous arcs and structured light, sparking speculation about unknown atmospheric or extraterrestrial phenomena. Similarly, the current footage has drawn parallels to dust jets emitted by cometary bodies—particularly those associated with the recently observed activity of comet 3I/ATLAS, which displayed transient dust streams when passing through the inner solar system.
While the cometary hypothesis is intriguing, it remains speculative because no known cometary activity was recorded near Earth at the time of this capture. Moreover, the arcs’ stability and detailed geometry pose challenges to simple interpretations.
Context Within UAP Research
1. Historical and Recent Occurrences
The 2025 SkyCam event is part of a broader pattern of anomalous high-altitude phenomena captured through various platforms—ranging from ground-based observatories and aircraft to space station cameras and dedicated satellite sensors. Historically, such phenomena have often been dismissed as optical illusions or natural atmospheric effects, but increasingly, they are being documented with high-confidence imagery and multi-sensor corroboration.
2. Significance of the 8K Enhancement
The availability of ultra-high resolution imagery profoundly impacts the investigation process. The detailed visualization of intersecting arcs, halo effects, and stable trajectory—items difficult to detect in standard video—offers new avenues for modeling and hypothesis testing. It also challenges conventional understanding of atmospheric optics and high-altitude physics.
In particular, the detailed patterning resembles:
Structured electromagnetic phenomenaakin to plasma arcs or self-organizing luminous structures.
Potential interference with Earth's magnetic or electric fields, which could stabilize or shape such formations at high altitude.
Path Forward: Scientific and Investigative Steps
1. NASA and Federal Agency Responses
NASA’s UAP Task Force announced it is reviewing this footage along with other sensor data, emphasizing an analytical approach:
“Every phenomenon must be examined comprehensively, considering all conflicting or supporting measurements—radar, lidar, spectroscopic, and infrared. We remain committed to transparency and scientific rigor.”
Government agencies globally are encouraging the collection of additional data. NASA has planned further deployment of near-real-time high-altitude sensing arrays, and private sector organizations are mobilizing to create coordinated multi-platform observation campaigns to:
Capture similar events in different geographic regions.
Cross-validate with ground-based all-sky cameras, unmanned aerial vehicles, and satellite sensors.
2. Scientific and Technological Implications
The incident underscores the importance of:
Multi-modal detection infrastructure: The integration of optical, electromagnetic, and radar data streams for real-time anomaly detection and analysis.
Automated analysis and AI-driven pattern recognition: Machine learning algorithms can sift through large datasets, identify recurring features, and generate hypotheses.
High-fidelity simulation models: Physicists can endeavor to recreate the observed phenomena under controlled conditions, testing hypotheses related to high-altitude plasma physics, electromagnetic interactions, and particulate scattering.
2. Interdisciplinary Investigations
Given the complex nature of the observed structure, efforts involve multiple scientific disciplines:
Atmospheric physics and meteorology: To explore natural optical phenomena and rare atmospheric events.
Plasma physics: To understand whether ionized particles or electromagnetic discharges could produce similar structures.
Astrophysics and celestial mechanics: To assess any potential link with cosmic dust streams, meteor showers, or cometary activity—albeit temporally and spatially disconnected in this case.
Materials science and particle physics: To investigate the potential involvement of unknown or exotic particulate materials in the formation and sustained stability of the arcs.
Conclusion: Scientific and Mystical Significance
The enhanced SkyCam footage featuring the multi-arc formation is a remarkable addition to the growing compendium of high-altitude UAP observations. Its visually striking geometry—intersecting semi-circular arcs, a steady luminous core, and surrounding dust halo—poses significant questions for conventional physics and atmospheric science.
While natural explanations such as optical illusions, atmospheric dust, or plasma phenomena remain plausible, the coherence and stability of the structure challenge these interpretations. The precise geometry and persistence suggest either an unknown natural process, a yet-to-be-understood atmospheric physics phenomenon, or, more provocatively, an engineered or new physics-based event indicative of technological or extraterrestrial origins.
The ongoing investigations, increased data collection, and interdisciplinary research promise to broaden our understanding of these mysterious high-altitude phenomena. Whether this event ultimately leads to a scientific breakthrough or remains an intriguing anomaly, it underscores the importance of advanced observational technologies, global cooperation, and open scientific inquiry in unraveling the secrets of our skies.
Een vliegtuig, een vogel of... een drone? HLN-wetenschapsexpert legt uit hoe je een drone van andere lichtjes aan de hemel onderscheidt
We zien ze allemaal vliegen. De afgelopen dagen doken er op verschillende plaatsen in ons land drones op. Meestal nadat de zon achter de horizon is verdwenen. Maar zijn dit ook écht allemaal drones? Hoe kan je die herkennen? En wat is er nog allemaal te zien aan onze nachtelijke hemel? HLN-wetenschapsjournalist Martijn Peters legt het uit.
Martijn Peters
Dat er drones waargenomen zijn in ons luchtruim, daar twijfelt niemand meer aan. Maar of dat ook betekent dat elke melding er effectief een is? Dat is een andere zaak. Hoe herken je dan zo’n drone en welke andere zaken kan je ‘s nachts nog spotten?
DRONES
Schaalmodel van de Boeing X-48B, een experimenteel vliegtuig ontwikkeld door Boeing en NASA, Rogers Dry Lake, NASA Dryden.
Deze toestellen bestaan in alle maten en vormen. Meestal gaat het om ‘quadcopters’, drones met vier propellers. Maar er bestaan ook militaire toestellen die wat op een klein vliegtuigje lijken. ‘s Nachts zijn ze uitgedost met kleurige ledverlichting, vaak rood en groen in een strak vierhoekig patroon. Normaal moeten drones ook een antibotsinglicht hebben. Een ander kenmerk is hun grote manoeuvreerbaarheid. Ze kunnen stilhangen en daarna plots van koers veranderen en traag of snel wegvliegen. Soms kan je bij een drone ook het hoge geluid van een motor waarnemen.
VLIEGTUIGEN EN HELICOPTERS
Drones worden regelmatig verward met vliegtuigen en helikopters. Dat was ook het geval in Denemarken waar een grote drone een trainingsvliegtuig bleek te zijn. Wanneer een vliegtuig met heldere landingslichten op jou afvliegt, lijkt het alsof er een of twee lichtpunten stilhangen in de lucht. Hetzelfde kan gebeuren met een helikopter die uitgerust is met een zoeklicht. Verwarrend, zeker als je het geluid van het toestel niet hoort. Hoor je het wel, dan merk je waarschijnlijk meteen op dat het geluid veel lager is dan dat van een drone.
Zowel een vliegtuig als een helikopter heeft bijna altijd knipperlichten. Die zijn wit, rood of groen of een combinatie daarvan. De lichtjes staan, in tegenstelling tot bij een drone, verder uit elkaar. Meestal verspreid over de neus, vleugels en staart van het toestel. Vliegtuigen en helikopters maken ook minder bruuske bewegingen. Ze vliegen in een relatief rechte lijn.
SATELLIETEN
En dan zijn er ook nog de satellieten. Die vliegen in een rechtlijnige baan door de lucht als een lichtpuntje dat niet knippert. Ze zijn meestal wit tot geelachtig van kleur en kunnen vanuit het niets verschijnen en daarna langzaam uitdoven als ze terug in de schaduw van de aarde terechtkomen. Zie je meerdere lichtpuntjes in een rij achter elkaar, dan gaat het waarschijnlijk om een satelliettreintje van Starlink. Het is geen drone, maar een fenomeen waarvoor Elon Musk en zijn bedrijf SpaceX verantwoordelijk zijn.
HELDERE STERREN EN PLANETEN
Herken je aan:
• Eén lichtpunt dat niet lijkt te bewegen
• Urenlang en meerdere dagen na elkaar zichtbaar
Soms is een heldere ster al voldoende om een drone-alarm in gang te zetten. Dat was bijvoorbeeld in Noorwegen het geval. Hoe je een ster dan kan herkennen? Allereerst gaat het om één helder lichtpunt dat niet lijkt te bewegen. Het is meestal urenlang zichtbaar en meerdere dagen na elkaar. Wat het soms verwarrend maakt is dat sterren kunnen ‘twinkelen’. Je ziet dan snelle opvallende kleurveranderingen. Dat komt omdat het licht van sterren door onze atmosfeer moet reizen om tot bij onze ogen te geraken.
Trouwens, een lichtgevende bol die aan de hemel staat en groter is dan een ster kan ook een planeet zijn. Momenteel zijn er drie zichtbaar: Venus in de ochtendschemer boven de horizon in het zuidoosten, en Saturnus en Jupiter tijdens de nacht in het zuidoosten en zuidwesten.
Een vallende ster of meteoor zal je minder snel verwarren met een drone. Dat is een heldere vuurbol die slechts enkele seconden zichtbaar is. Meteoren kunnen wel verschillende kleuren hebben afhankelijk van hun samenstelling.
BALLONNEN
Herken je aan:
• Grillig vluchtpatroon
• Als het licht is, kan je ze lang waarnemen
Ook ballonnen kunnen verwarring veroorzaken. Een vermeende drone bij Schiphol bleek bijvoorbeeld een ballon te zijn. Een speelgoed-, onderzoeks- of folieballon gevuld met helium kan weleens op een drone lijken, zeker wanneer ze licht weerkaatsen. Je kan ze herkennen aan hun soms grillige vluchtpatroon dat snel of traag kan zijn, afhankelijk van de wind. Je kan ze meestal ook lang waarnemen als het nog licht is.
En dan zijn er nog de vuur- en ledballonnen. Die eerste categorie kennen velen ook onder de naam ‘wensballonnen’. In principe zou je die niet meer mogen zien rondvliegen in België door brandgevaar. Maar de ledballonnen kunnen voor verwarring zorgen, omdat ze uitgerust zijn met een knipperlicht.
• Ze kunnen relatief stil in de lucht hangen en heen en weer bewegen
Sommige vliegers zijn tegenwoordig ook uitgedost met ledlampjes. Ze maken geen geluid en kunnen relatief stil blijven hangen boven een bepaalde plek, maar ook heen en weer bewegen.
Objecten die licht weerkaatsen
• Een vogel die beschenen wordt, zie je maar heel kort
• IJskristallen die licht weerkaatsen, zie je langer
Er zijn ook objecten die licht kunnen weerkaatsen en daardoor plots voor een drone aangezien worden. Bijvoorbeeld de glanzende buik van vogels, die door straatlampen of spots op de grond of gebouwen beschenen wordt. Ze lijken dan op lichtgevende bollen of schijfvormige vlekjes. Je zal ze echter maar heel kort zien.
Langer zichtbaar aan de hemel zijn ijskristallen die licht weerkaatsen. Dat kan zon- of maanlicht zijn, maar ook licht van spots op de grond bijvoorbeeld. Denk daarbij aan weerfenomen zoals lichtzuilen, bijzonnen en -manen,... enzovoort. Die kunnen - als de omstandigheden juist zijn - vlak boven de horizon hangen.
Hogerop in de lucht heb je dit soort fenomenen ook, maar die zal je minder snel verwarren met een drone, door de hoogte waarop ze bevinden. Denk dan aan zonlicht op condenssporen van een vliegtuig of een spot van een fuif op laaghangende bewolking.
Verlichting op hoge gebouwen of apparatuur
Herken je aan:
• Ze blijven op dezelfde plaats
• Ze zijn lang zichtbaar
• Meestal zijn ze rood of wit
Of misschien is het flikkerende licht wel afkomstig van verlichting op hoge gebouwen of apparatuur. Zo zijn er bijvoorbeeld de (knipperende) lichten op bouwkranen of windmolens. Je kan deze herkennen aan het feit dat ze op dezelfde plaats blijven en lange tijd zichtbaar zijn. Meestal zijn de lichten wit of rood. En woon je in de buurt van industrie, dan zie je misschien wel een verbrandingsvlam van een petrochemisch bedrijf.
Een andere, maar minder waarschijnlijke optie, is een lichtkogel of ‘flare’. Je ziet dat vooral bij militairen, maar soms ook op een feestje of voetbalmatch. Als zo’n kogel op het hoogste punt komt, ontvouwd zich een parachute waaraan een koker hangt. Dat bevat een mengsel dat bij verbranding een helder wit of rood licht produceert. Meestal herken je een lichtkogel aan een rookspoor, maar op grote afstand en in het duister is dit niet altijd zichtbaar. Wel kenmerkend is dat dit licht zal dalen aan de hemel en niet permanent blijft hangen.
Lichtreflectie van je smartphone
Herken je aan:
• Er is een heldere lichtbron in de buurt
• De lichtvlek bevindt zich op dezelfde afstand van het midden van je beeld als de lichtbron
En tot slot: ben je al met je smartphone aan het filmen en zie je plots een lichtpuntje verschijnen? Dat zou aan je toestel zelf kunnen liggen. Je ziet dan geen drone maar een lichtreflectie. Het is een weerspiegeling van een heldere lichtbron in je opnameveld. Je kan het herkennen aan het feit dat er een heldere lichtbron in de buurt is én dat de lichtvlek zich op dezelfde afstand bevindt van het midden van je beeld als de lichtbron.
A former Top Gun pilot has come forward as a new witness linked to a 1980 UFO incident dubbed 'the British Roswell'.
Decorated US fighter pilot Dan Isbell, 69, broke a 45-year silence to reveal his encounter with a 50ft triangular craft surrounded by multicolored 'plasma' light near a nuclear base he was stationed at in England on December 26, 1980.
The incident is significant as it occurred on the same day that US Air Force personnel at another English nuclear base, RAF Woodbridge, in Suffolk, saw a similar craft descending into neighboring Rendlesham Forest – then got so close they could touch the metallic object.
The Rendlesham UFO incident was captured on audio tape by a senior officer, written up in reports released three years later, and became the UK's most famous out-of-this-world encounter.
Isbell's sighting adds to the theory by UFO researchers that the strange objects were targeting military bases housing nuclear weapons, a pattern which has been highlighted in reports by the Department of Defense's UFO-monitoring office.
That night in 1980, Isbell was a 24-year-old first lieutenant working Christmas shifts as a pilot of nuclear-capable fighter jets at RAF Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire, while his superiors with families took time off.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, he said that around 10pm on December 26, he was driving his imported red Corvette along a country road between the airbase and the US servicemen's accommodation when he saw something he couldn't explain.
'In my rear view mirror I saw some unusual multicolored lights traveling very rapidly, just over the trees to the side of the road,' he said. 'As it zipped past me, it just stopped instantaneously.'
US fighter pilot Dan Isbell spoke publicly for the first time about his encounter with a massive UFO while he was stationed at RAF Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire in 1980
Isbell, pictured sitting in a flight-test-modified F-16A at the Hill Aerospace Museum in 2018, was a 24-year-old first lieutenant working a shift on the nuclear base when he witnessed the rare event
Isbell said he pulled over and watched what appeared to be a silent, floating, 50ft craft.
'It was triangular, but it had sort of a curved nose. Around the bottom, there were multi-colored changing lights, almost like a plasma,' he said.
'We were very well trained before we were declared mission-qualified, on how to identify every type of aircraft and helicopter that belonged to NATO or the Soviet Union. It was quite clear this was not conventional.'
Isbell said he started to make his way across a golf course on the side of the road towards the object, getting within 150ft.
'As I walked toward it, it began to slowly descend down,' he said.
'But then I began to realize that the stigma of a UFO sighting was death to a pilot's career. So I quickly reversed course.
'I hurried back to my car and went home. I didn't tell anyone for 45 years,' Isbell added.
In the early hours of the same day, about 110 miles away on the east English coast in Suffolk, American officers at another USAF base holding nuclear weapons saw a similar object.
The former fighter pilot shared an FBI Forensic Artist Drawing of his UFO encounters in 1980
At the time of the supposed UFO sighting, Isbell was working at night at the RAF Upper Heyford (pictured) a former Royal Air Force and US Air Force base in Oxfordshire, England
Isbell is pictured during his time as 514th Flight Test Squadron Commander between June 1994 to June 1997
After seeing a strange light descend into Rendlesham Forest, two USAF security patrolmen were sent to investigate.
According to a memo written by deputy base commander Lt. Col. Charles Halt, they saw an apparent nine-foot craft, 'metallic in appearance and triangular in shape', which 'illuminated the entire forest with a white light'.
'The object itself had a pulsing red light on top and a bank(s) of blue lights underneath,' said Halt's memo, released under the Freedom of Information Act in 1983.
'The object was hovering or on legs. As the patrolmen approached the object, it maneuvered through the trees and disappeared. At this time the animals on a nearby farm went into a frenzy.'
Two days later, while investigating marks on the trees and ground believed to be left by the craft, Halt himself witnessed strange lights and recorded his reaction on an audio tape, which was also released to researchers in 1984.
Skeptical researchers, including Ian Ridpath, say the marks on trees were foresters' axe cuts, indentations in the ground were animal burrows, and the lights were from a nearby lighthouse.
But one of the patrolmen sent out on December 26, Sgt. Jim Penniston, claims he saw the craft up close, and even sketched it in a notepad a few days later.
In 2015 the other patrolman, Airman First Class John Burroughs, received medical disability benefits for alleged radiation poisoning linked to the event, with the help of Senator John McCain, after a yearslong battle with the Pentagon which had strangely classified his medical records.
Isbell's encounter would've occurred on the same day that US Air Force personnel at another base 110 miles away at RAF Woodbridge on England's east coast reported seeing a similar craft descending into the nearby Rendlesham Forest – where a sculpture of the reported UFO now stands
This photograph shows police examining the alleged landing site of another 'triangular craft' in Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk, England, the morning of the alleged sighting on December 26, 1980
Deep marks and indentations on the trees and ground at the Rendlesham Forest were believed to be left by the UFO, however, this was disputed by skeptical researchers, including Ian Ridpath, who say they were from foresters' axe cuts
Former British police detective and UFO researcher Gary Heseltine, who wrote a book on the incident and helped Isbell come forward, says the pilot's sighting the same day as the Rendlesham incident at another UK nuclear base is significant.
'Dan Isbell is as credible a witness you could ever wish for,' Heseltine, who wrote the book Non-Human: The Rendlesham Forest UFO Incidents, told the Daily Mail.
He described Isbell as 'someone with a stellar flight career' giving 'high caliber witness testimony'.
'His account offers a remarkable circumstantial link to Britain's most famous case, the Rendlesham Forest Incident that occurred in late December 1980.'
Heseltine now runs a site for UK pilots to report UAP (unidentified anomalous phenomena) incidents, ukpilotsreportinguap.co.uk.
Isbell said it was the first, but not the last, time he had a UFO encounter.
Later in the 1980s he became a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base in southern California. One night in 1990, he drove out on his motorbike to a secluded area near the base to stargaze.
'Suddenly this large wedge-like shape started blanking out the stars above my head,' he said.
'There were no lights anywhere on it. It was absolutely solid black, but huge… Hundreds of feet across.
In a January 1981 memo of the Rendlesham Forest incident, Deputy Base Commander Lt. Col. Charles Halt documented the December 26 sighting (reported as December 27 by Halt) describing the craft as 'metallic in appearance and triangular in shape'
UFO researcher Gary Heseltine wrote a book on the Rendlesham Forest UFO incident, Non-Human, which included Isbell's account
'I felt a little electrostatic on my skin.
'I certainly wasn't going to tell anybody about that,' he added. 'I did not hang around long enough to see the back end of it.'
Then two decades later in 2014, the now-retired pilot was in the hot tub in the back yard of his home in Silver Springs, Florida, when he said the night was lit up with a bright blue-green glow.
'It encompassed me and the hot tub,' Isbell told the Daily Mail. 'The beam came to a point above me, probably 2-300ft high.'
He said the bright light prevented him from making out the object. But then the alleged encounter got even stranger.
'The beam went out, but immediately a large sphere of plasma enveloped whatever it was,' he said.
The sphere doubled, then quadrupled in size, then vanished, he said.
'The acceleration was so fast, it just disappeared,' Isbell said.
After retiring from the Air Force, Isbell became a consultant with a security clearance, working on lasers and directed energy weapons.
He said he has decided to finally come forward with his UFO stories now, after leaving his classified role.
'I have nothing else to worry about. I have retired out of all that. They can take away my security clearance, it doesn't matter anymore,' he said
EXCLUSIVE - Police chopper was forced to take 'emergency evasive action' after being targeted by UFO over US air base last year, unearthed report reveals
EXCLUSIVE- Police chopper was forced to take 'emergency evasive action' after being targeted by UFO over US air base last year, unearthed report reveals
A police helicopter was forced to take emergency action during a terrifying encounter with mysterious high-speed 'drones' over a US air base last year - in an incident officials would later dismiss as nothing more than a passing fighter jet.
But newly released video and incident logs of the November 22, 2024 event now tell a very different - and far more alarming - story, the Daily Mail can exclusively reveal.
Witness even described one of the unidentified flying objects as a 'tic-tac' - the same oblong shape reported by Navy aviators in a now infamous 2004 encounter.
The Daily Mail obtained images taken from a National Police Air Service (NPAS) EC135 chopper of one of the unidentified craft, which was said to have 'targeted' and come close to colliding with the helicopter mid-air around RAF Lakenheath, a US military base in England.
The incident occurred amid weeks of reports of drones and unidentified objects breaching airspace over US military bases in New Jersey, the wider northeast, and overseas.
A report by a UK aviation safety board attributed the chopper's close encounter to pilots misidentifying an American F-15 fighter jet flying in the area.
But British police logs released under the Freedom of Information Act describe multiple, hi-tech drones 'targeting' and appearing to pursue the law enforcement helicopter at high speeds.
'They were forced to take emergency evasive action in relation to a drone which came within a dangerously close proximity to them,' said an incident log from Suffolk Police, recounting a debrief of the chopper pilots.
The UK's National Police Air Service (NPAS) helicopter (stock image) had a near miss with mysterious 'drones' seen flying over a US military base in England in November 2024
A newly released police report reveals NPAS pilots said they were forced to 'take emergency evasive action' during the late-night encounter with the unidentified objects over RAF Lakenheath (pictured)
'They had to perform an emergency dive and described that they were pursued in the dive by two drones who matched their speed approx 165 knots and then pursued them for several minutes out of the area.
'They feel that drones have targeted them and chased them off at approx 140 knots [161mph].'
A UK military source, who has viewed the entire 30-minute video captured by the chopper's infrared camera, said there was more to the incident than a close brush with a fighter jet.
'In the 30-minute video with pilot audio, nobody mentions F-15s,' the source said.
'They only talk about the drones. How they're basically mirroring the helicopter's movements. How fast the drones are going. That they're basically forcing them out of the area.'
The source added that the footage shows one object pursuing the craft performing maneuvers impossible for a fighter jet.
'A fixed-wing craft is caught on the video, where you can see a corkscrew move,' the insider said. 'An F-15 cannot make a small corkscrew turn like that.'
The Daily Mail obtained a short section from the chopper video showing a small object, no more than a blob on the infrared camera, slowly moving towards the top right of the screen.
A screengrab of the helicopter video obtained by the Daily Mail shows a small object, which appears as a tiny blob on the infrared camera, slowly moving towards the top right of the screen
Radar data cited in the reported issued by the UK Airprox Board, concluded that the 'drones' were actually the lights of a US Air Force F-15 Eagle jet and showed the two aircraft coming within 1,700ft of each other
The local police incident logs from November 20-22, 2024 reveal a slew of drone sightings across three bases used by the US Air Force in the English counties of Suffolk and Norfolk: RAF Feltwell, RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall.
'Over past 2 nights there have been approx 20 drones flying over RAF's Mildenhall, Feltwell and Lakenheath. This has been between 1800-0000 hrs,' said a Suffolk Police log from November 21.
'They report that due to the size of said drones, the pilots could be 'miles and miles' away,' the log added, with 'they' appearing to refer to UK military police protecting the airbases.
'Mildenhall/Lakenheath/Feltwell - believed 10-15 drones have been at each one - and appear not to be "hobby drones",' the logs said.
One police report from Lakenheath said an officer had 'night vision goggles and can see 5-6 drones [near the highway] A1065 coming back over airfield'.
An 'informant' in the logs told police they saw 'multiple drones' which were 'very large and they make a lot of noise'.
The witness in the November 22 logs described what they saw around the airbase as 'large stationary things - tictacs - they are not birds.'
'The drones are well lit - they are not trying to hide themselves and they are flying very low now,' another log from November 22 said.
The UK Airprox Board, which investigates mid-air near misses, published a report concluding that the NPAS crew had misidentified an American F-15 fighter jet (stock image) flying in the area
Logs obtained by the Daily Mail show an 'informant' described what they saw around the airbase as 'large stationary things - tictacs'
'Informant opened the door of his house while on the line to me and call taker could hear one of the drones going over. It sounded like an aircraft.
'The drones are flying over Informant's property in both directions.'
A crime report from November 21 summarizing the incidents stated that there were '10-15 drones flying around bases and potentially into the base airspace.'
'This is third occurrence this week according to MOD police and US base have stated they have had to ground aircraft due to going across flightpaths,' the report added.
The investigation was handed over to the UK Ministry of Defence Police, which has not published the findings of its probe.
The police logs were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by researcher Rowland Hume, who shared the material with the Daily Mail.
Mike Morgan, a retired senior police detective who has also been researching the incident, told the Daily Mail he was disappointed in the lack of transparency from authorities.
'There is a whole series of question marks about what went on in November 2024.
The reported 'tic tac' description of the unidentified craft, echoes accounts of the infamous UFO sighting by Navy aviators in 2004 (pictured)
'I have run into repeated efforts by the authorities to avoid answering even the most basic questions, such as, how many people have been detained or how many drones seized,' Morgan said.
'What is so secret about this investigation?'
The incident was largely written off when the UK Airprox Board, the official body that investigates mid-air near misses, published a report concluding that the 'drones' seen by the NPAS crew were actually the lights of a US Air Force F-15 Eagle jet.
Radar data cited in the report showed the chopper and jet coming within 1,700ft of each other. But the report said nothing else unknown was picked up on radar.
Trained British meteorologist Stuart Onyeche, who works for a defense company and has researched the incident, told the Daily Mail that he believes the fighter jet and police chopper were both pursuing the advanced drones.
'I'm inclined to trust the initial detail and assessment of the experienced helicopter pilots that we see noted in these logs, which was that they were forced to take evasive action due to the close proximity of some kind of unmanned drone,' Onyeche said.
'It's unarguable that an F-15 was also in the vicinity as reported in the airprox, but an unanswered question is what was the F-15 being tasked to do or look for?' he added.
'Were the helicopter and F-15 in fact both converging on the unidentified 'drones'?'
Craft encroaching on airspace at US bases both home and abroad have shown signs of using advanced technology, capable of confounding anti-drone measures used by the authorities.
A joint report by the FBI, US Department of Defense and NASA obtained by the Daily Mail last year warned that their detection and signal jamming equipment had 'failed' to stop incursions by advanced drones, including at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.
The base was swarmed with dozens of drones for weeks in December 2023, creating a security panic.
The incident was kept secret until it was revealed by defense magazine The Warzone in March 2024.
A species of moss survived for 9 months on the outside of the International Space Station, new research reveals — and 80% of the samples kept reproducing when returned to Earth.
The International Space Station's exposure facility (pictured) hosted a species of moss for 9 months. A majority of the samples survived, and then kept growing back on Earth.
(Image credit: NASA / Tomomichi Fujita)
Moss spores have survived a prolonged trip to space, scientists reveal. The spores spent nine months on the outside of the International Space Station (ISS) before returning to our planet, and over 80% of the spores were still able to reproduce when they arrived back on Earth.
The discovery improves our understanding of how plant species survive in extreme conditions, the researchers wrote in their findings, published Thursday (Nov. 20) in the journaliScience.
Moss thrives in some of the most extreme environments on Earth, from the cold peaks of the Himalayas to the dry, scorched sands of Death Valley. Moss's resilience to adverse conditions makes it an ideal candidate for surviving in the harsh environment of outer space, where extreme temperature fluctuations, altered gravity, and high radiation exposure push life-forms to their limits.
Previous experiments have explored how plants might cope in space, but so far, they have focused on larger organisms such as bacteria or plant crops. Now, researchers have shown that samples of the moss Physcomitrium patens (P. Patens) can not only survive but thrive in space.
Roughly 80% of the moss spores continued germinating after returning to Earth. (Image credit: Dr. Chang-hyun Maeng and Maika Kobayashi)
First, the researchers tested three cell types of P. patens from various stages in the moss's reproductive cycle. They found that sporophytes — cell structures that encase spores — showed the greatest stress tolerance when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light, freezing and heat.
Sporophyte samples were then placed outside of the ISS in a special exposure facility attached to Japan’s Kibo module, where the samples lived for around nine months in 2022. After this time, the samples were returned to Earth.
"Surprisingly, over 80% of the spores survived and many germinated normally," study lead authorTomomichi Fujita, a professor of plant biology at Hokkaido University in Japan, told Live Science in an email. From this study, Fujita and his team developed a model that suggests the moss spores could actually survive for up to 5,600 days in space, or around 15 years.
Back on Earth, the team found that most of the conditions — including the vacuum of space, microgravity and extreme temperature fluctuations — had a limited impact on the moss spores. However, samples that were exposed to light, particularly high-energy wavelengths of UV light, fared less well. Levels of pigments used by the moss forphotosynthesis, such as chlorophyll a, were significantly reduced as a result of light damage, which affected later moss growth.
Even though some moss samples faced damage from the conditions of outer space, P. patens still fared much better than other plant species that have been previously tested under similar conditions. Fujita thinks the protective, spongy casing surrounding the spores may help defend against UV light and dehydration.
"This protective role may have evolved early in land plant history to help mosses colonize terrestrial habitats," he said.
While this may seem like an exercise in testing the limits of a single species, the "spores' success in space could offer a biological stepping stone for building ecosystems beyond our planet," Fujita said. In the future, he hopes to test other species and better understand how these resilient cells survive such stressful conditions.
Image generated from data acquired by the ESA Mars Express’s High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on Oct. 19th, 2024. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin
Human beings are pretty familiar with the concept of "ice ages." Not only is their ample physical evidence to suggest that glacial periods occurred during the Pleistocene epoch - which lasted from ca. 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago, there are even Indigenous oral traditions that speak of lake formation and dramatic climate shifts in the distant past. Far from being mere myths, these traditions are considered preserved accounts that are corroborated by scientific findings. However, the cycles of glacial and interglacial periods that characterize the Pleistocene were merely the latest in a long line of historical shifts in Earth's climate.
According to the geological record, Earth has experienced multiple ice ages during the past 2.5 billion years, which peaked around 20,000 years ago with average temperatures being 8 °C (14.5 °F) cooler than they are today. Today, scientists are making similar finds on Mars, which also bears the marks of repeated ice ages that shaped the landscape. Like Earth, these climatic shifts were the result of long-term variations in Mars' axial tilt (obliquity), leading to fluctuating temperatures that caused ice flows to advance and retreat across the planet.
Evidence of these flows has been captured in a new series of images taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on the ESA’s Mars Express orbit. The images show a prominent feature known as Coloe Fossae, system of intersecting canyons located in the Ismenius Lacus quadrangle between the Northern Lowlands and the Southern Highlands. On the floors of these canyons (and the many craters that mark the region), there are visible patterns of swirling lines that indicate where material flowed during a previous ice age.
*View generated from the digital terrain model and the nadir and colour channels of the High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express.
Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin*
The technical term for these patterns is lineated valley fill (LVF) or concentric crater fill (CCF), which is composed of rocky material deposited by ice flows as they advanced or retreated from an area. Scientists see these patterns on Earth with glaciers, which have left behind what is known as "till" (a combination of clay, silt, sand, and gravel) that form ridges and elongated mounds. However, these features are located in a region that sits far from the ice cap in Mars' northern polar region, indicating that glaciers once covered the region.
Similar to glacial periods on Earth, these glaciers are believed to have advanced from the Martian poles towards the mid-latitudes before retreating again during interglacial periods. Furthermore, scientists have viewed LVF and CCF features all across the mid-latitudes of Mars, suggesting that the entire planet experienced glacial activity in the past. Lastly, there's the fundamental takeaway from these and other observations, which have revealed that Mars experience multiple glacial periods as its atmosphere was slowly being stripped away, causing most of the water on its surface to disappear.
Tracking how ice flowed across the Red Planet is key to reconstructing the geological and environmental history of Mars, from which scientists can deduce how and when it made the transition from a warmer, wetter planet to the extremely cold and dry world we see today.
Click here to see the annotated version of the top image, and click on the circled regions to see the LVF features more closely.
NASAhas shared its long–awaited images of the mysterious object zipping through our solar system – finally confirming its true identity.
Since it was first spotted in July, the object – dubbed 3I/ATLAS – has captivated scientists and internet users alike, even prompting Kim Kardashian to ask NASA for answers.
Many scientists maintained it was merely a comet visiting us from a different solar system.
However, others – including a member of US Congress and a Harvard researcher – were convinced that the object was an alien spacecraft.
Now, NASA has released photos snapped by three of its Mars spacecraft as they passed just 18 million miles away from the object.
These pictures can finally put any speculation to rest, as they confirm the object's identity.
And unfortunately for alien hunters, the US space agency says that 3I/ATLAS is a comet.
'We want very much to find signs of life in the universe... but 3I/ATLAS is a comet,' said Amit Kshatriya, a senior NASA official, at a press conference on Wednesday.
NASA has shared its long–awaited images of the mysterious object zipping through our solar system – finally confirming its true identity. Pictured: a photo taken on October 2 by the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
These pictures can finally put any speculation to rest, as they confirm the object's trueidentity as a comet. Pictured: a photo taken on October 9 by NASA's MAVEN spacecraft
NASA's Mars spacecraft zoomed in on the comet as it passed just 18 million miles (29 million kilometers) away.
In the first image, snapped by HiRISE, the comet looks like a fuzzy white ball.
'Captured at a scale of roughly 19 miles (30 kilometers) per pixel, 3I/ATLAS looks like a pixelated white ball on the HiRISE imagery,' NASA explained.
'That ball is a cloud of dust and ice called the coma, which the comet shed as it continued its trajectory past Mars.'
Further analysis of these pictures should allow NASA to estimate the size of the comet's nucleus – its central core of ice and dust.
NASA's MAVEN spacecraft, meanwhile, snapped the comet in two unique ways using its UV camera.
'First, IUVS took multiple images of the comet in several wavelengths, much like using various filters on a camera,' NASA explained.
'Then it snapped high–resolution UV images to identify the hydrogen coming from 3I/ATLAS.'
Captured at a scale of roughly 19 miles (30 kilometers) per pixel, 3I/ATLAS looks like a pixelated white ball on the HiRISE imagery. That ball is a cloud of dust and ice called the coma, which the comet shed as it continued its trajectory past Mars
Down on the surface of Mars, NASA's Perseverance rover even caught a snap of the comet, using its Mastcam–Z camera
What is 3I/ATLAS?
Comet 3I/ATLAS is the third known object from outside our solar system to be discovered passing through our celestial neighborhood.
NASA reassures it 'poses no threat to Earth and will remain far away'.
The closest it will approach our planet is about 1.8 astronomical units (about 170 million miles).
The comet's size and physical properties are being investigated by astronomers around the world.
Scientists now hope to be able to study a combination of these images to identify a variety of molecules and better understand the comet's composition.
Down on the surface of Mars, NASA's Perseverance rover even caught a snap of the comet, using its Mastcam–Z camera.
'The exposure had to be exceptionally long to detect such a faint object. Unlike telescopes that track objects as they move, Mastcam–Z is fixed in place during long exposures,' the space agency added.
NASA has also recently shared photos of the comet taken by its STEREO observatory, and its SOHO spacecraft.
Speaking to AFP, Thomas Puzia, an astrophysicist who led the team at the Chilean observatory that made the discovery, described the widespread discussion surrounding the comet as 'amazing'.
However, he said: 'It's very dangerous and to a certain degree misleading to put speculations ahead of scientific process.
'The facts, all of them without exception, point to a normal object that is coming from the interstellar space to us.'
He added the comet was 'very exceptional in its nature, but it's nothing that we cannot explain with physics.'
NASA has also recently shared photos of the comet taken by its STEREO observatory, and its SOHO spacecraft
Scorpius is the most amazing of the zodiac constellations. Although astrology divides the year into 12 almost equal parts, astronomers know that in reality the Sun is only in it for 8 days. However, it also has numerous attractions.
Constellation Scorpius
Scorpius, who dislikes the Sun
On November 22, the Sun will enter the constellation Scorpius. As is almost always the case in such situations, astrologers strongly disagree with astronomers, claiming that our star entered the constellation on October 23 and left it on November 21.
The main reason for this is the shift in the vernal equinox due to the precession of the Earth’s axis of rotation. You can read more about this in this article. In fact, there is at least one more reason why astrologers disagree with astronomers about the time the sun is in different zodiac constellations, but for most of them, it is secondary.
But not for Scorpius. We are referring to the clarification of constellation boundaries, which occurred at the beginning of the 20th century. And in the case of this constellation, they were drawn in such a way that the Sun actually crosses it only along a narrow strip through its “head” and “claws.”
The constellation Scorpius. The blue line is the ecliptic. Source: Wikipedia
As a result, of all the constellations, it is in Scorpius that the Sun actually spends the least amount of time – only 8 days. On November 29, it will leave the poisonous multi-legged celestial being and move on to its neighbor, Ophiuchus, where it will stay longer than in Scorpius, but which is not considered a zodiacal constellation.
In general, November is the worst month for observing Scorpius. The reason for this is the same as for other zodiac constellations: it rises and sets with the Sun at this time of year and hides behind the horizon at night. The best time to observe it is in May and June, when it rises above the southern horizon.
The mythical monster
There are several myths about how Scorpius appeared in the sky. But in all of them, he appears as the embodiment of evil, whose actions lead to extremely bad consequences. The most common of these myths links Scorpius with Orion.
Scorpius in May. Source: stellarium-web.org
Orion was supposedly the most outstanding of human hunters, but his thirst for prey led him astray. According to one version of the myth, he began to pursue the Pleiades and chased them for seven years until the Scorpion, sent by Gaia or Poseidon, stung him, causing him to die in terrible agony.
According to another version, Orion demanded the goddess of the hunt, Artemis, herself. But she did not reciprocate his feelings, yet he continued to pursue her until she sent a poisonous messenger to kill him. Be that as it may, Orion and Scorpius are indeed located far apart in the sky, as if the former were hiding from the latter.
Another myth says that the celestial Scorpius is actually the one that frightened the horses pulling the golden chariot of Helios, the sun god. It was driven by his inexperienced son Phaethon, and the horses carried it too close to Earth, causing a worldwide fire. To stop this, Zeus had to kill the boy and the horses with a thunderbolt, and Phaethon fell into the river Eridanus.
The myth of Phaethon. Source: globalpowerelite.com
Antares and other bright stars
Although the Sun is in Scorpius for only a short time, there are more interesting objects in it than scary myths about it. The most notable of these is Alpha Scorpii, known as Antares. Among all the stars that make up the zodiacal constellations, it is second only to Alpha Tauri, Aldebaran.
At the same time, Antares is very noticeable due to its red color. Thanks to this, it got its name “anti-Ares,” meaning the enemy of Mars. In reality, it is much farther away from us than the Red Planet and incomparably larger than it.
It is a red supergiant located 550 light-years away from us. In fact, it is a binary system. Its main component, which we can actually see, has a mass of 12.4 solar masses, but has already used up almost all of its hydrogen and swelled to a size 400 times larger than our sun. It emits 75,900 times more energy than the Sun. However, all these measurements are actually quite approximate, because the giant star pulsates, changing its radius by 19%.
Antares compared to other stars. Source: www.statesman.com
The main component of the system is orbited by its companion, which is also a fairly large star. Despite having a mass 7.2 times that of the Sun, it has not yet exhausted its thermonuclear fuel and therefore has a blue color. Its diameter is 5.2 times that of the Sun.
There is still no consensus among scientists regarding the distance between the two components and, accordingly, their orbital period. The most accurate measurements to date indicate a distance of about 220 AU and an orbital period of approximately 1,218 years.
In any case, the Antares system is very young. Its age ranges from 11.8 to 17.3 million years. After some time, the larger of the stars will finally exhaust its thermonuclear fuel and turn into a supernova, and then into a black hole. Then, after a few million years, the same fate will befall the second star.
Lambda Scorpii. Source: www.star-facts.com
The second brightest star in Scorpius is its Lambda, which is called Shaula, derived from the Arabic word for “raised tail.” It is indeed located on the tail of the celestial arthropod and has an apparent magnitude of 1.62.
In fact, it is a triple system located 570 light-years away from us. The main component is a variable star of the Beta Cephei type. Explosive processes occur inside these hot and heavy blue stars, inflating their outer shells. In the case of Shaula, the mass of the main component exceeds that of the Sun by 10.4 times, and its luminosity by 36,000 times.
Around it, at a distance of 7,500 AU, there’s a smaller blue star. It’s about twice as heavy as our Sun. And around this pair, at a distance of 17,000 AU, there’s a third star that’s eight times heavier than our Sun.
The third brightest star in Scorpius is its Theta, Sargas. It is a double system located 329 AU away from us. What the smaller component of the system is and whether it exists at all remains unclear. But here is the main object of interest.
It is a star of spectral class F, which means it is slightly hotter than the Sun. Its mass is about three times greater than that of our star, its polar radius is 26 times greater than that of the Sun, and its equatorial radius is 36 times greater. In other words, it is flattened, and there is only one explanation for this: it was once a pair of stars that merged.
Theta Scorpii. Source: www.flickr.com
Nearby stars
The closest star to us in the constellation of Scorpius is Gliese 682. It is a rather dull red dwarf located 16.3 light-years away from us. Its mass is 27% and its radius is 30% of the Sun’s. In 2016, it was reported that two planets had been discovered around it, but their existence has now been disproved.
Next is the Gliese 667 system, located 23 light-years away from us. It consists of two orange dwarfs and one red dwarf. The first two have masses of 69% and 73% of the Sun and revolve around a common center of mass in a highly elongated orbit with a semi-major axis of 12.6 AU, completing one revolution every 42 Earth years.
And around them orbits a third star – a red dwarf with a mass of 31% of the Sun’s. And it is this object that is the most interesting in the entire system. At one time, scientists reported that Gliese 667 C had as many as six planets, but now the existence of two of them is recognized.
Planet Gliese 667 Cc.Source: Wikipedia
The first is Gliese 667 Cb. With a mass of 5.6 Earths and an orbital period of 7.2 days, it is most likely a large hot super-Earth or an equally hot mini-Neptune. This world must have a powerful hydrosphere and a dense atmosphere, the boundary between which is quite arbitrary.
But the second planet, Gliese 667 Cc, is much more interesting. Its mass is 4.1 times that of Earth, and it orbits its star once every 28 Earth days. Calculations show that the star can heat it to 4.3 °C, which is slightly higher than on Earth. Most likely, Gliese 667 Cc is significantly warmer than our planet due to a powerful greenhouse effect. However, it may still be the case that the temperature on it is not high enough for life to exist. But there is another problem: like many red dwarfs, Gliese 667 C experiences powerful flares. Whether they rule out the possibility of life on the planet is still an open question.
Other interesting stars
There are plenty of other interesting objects in the constellation of Scorpius. For example, the star U Scorpii is located here. It is a repeating nova with one of the shortest periods. The flares repeat every 12 years.
Like all similar objects, U Scorpii is a binary system consisting of a normal star and a white dwarf, which orbit each other in a very close orbit around a common center of mass. Matter flows from the first component to the second, and when a large amount accumulates on the latter, a thermonuclear explosion occurs, after which the process repeats itself.
U Scorpii. Source: Wikipedia
Another interesting object is the dawn of AH Scorpii. It is barely visible in our sky, but that is only because it is 7,400 light-years away from us. In fact, it is a red supergiant, compared to which even Antares looks small. This monster is 20 times more massive than the Sun, 1,411 times larger in diameter, and 329,000 times more luminous.
Also in the constellation of Scorpius is the object Scorpius X-1, which is the second brightest object in the sky when viewed in the X-ray range. The first is the black hole Sagittarius A* in the center of the Milky Way. As for this mysterious source of radiation, in the visible range, there is a hot blue star in its place. Scientists believe that it forms a pair with a neutron star, onto which matter falls from it, serving as a source of energy for such a powerful emitter.
There is also an object called a microquasar in the constellation Scorpius. Ordinary quasars are supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies that intensively absorb matter, part of which is converted into relativistic jets emanating from their poles. This makes them visible across the entire universe.
Microquasar. Source: Wikipedia
So, something like this, only on a much smaller scale, exists right here in our galaxy. The object GRO J1655−40 is a binary system containing a stellar-mass black hole. The second component is a normal star, and it is its material that is used to form a microquasar with jets shooting out from the poles of the black hole.
Globular clusters and galaxies
In addition to all of the above, the constellation of Scorpius is rich in objects that are neither stars nor black holes. First and foremost are the Butterfly Cluster, or Messier 6, and Ptolemy’s Cluster, or Messier 7. Both belong to open clusters. The first contains about 120 stars and is located at a distance of 1,590 light-years, while the second contains about 80 stars. The distance to it is 735 light-years.
There are also two noticeable globular clusters in Scorpius: Messier 4 and Messier 80. The first is the closest object of its kind to us. It is located about 6,000 light-years away. It is a region of space with a diameter of 35 light-years, containing stars with a total mass 84,000 times greater than that of the Sun.
Messier 4. Source: Wikipedia
In addition to star clusters, Scorpius also contains several nebulae. For example, NGC 6302, or the Bug Nebula. It really does resemble an insect with its antennae spread out on either side. In reality, it is a bipolar planetary nebula formed as a result of a red giant star shedding its outer layers.
Or NGC 6334, known as the Cat’s Paw Nebula or Bear’s Paw Nebula. It is a huge cloud of interstellar hydrogen illuminated by nearby bright stars. Intense star formation processes are taking place within it.
And, of course, there are plenty of galaxies in the constellation Scorpius. One example is NGC 6000, a barred spiral galaxy. It is about 112 million light-years away, but it appears relatively bright due to its active core.
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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 75 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.