The internet has once again become a battleground for science fiction. At the beginning of the year, a rumor spread rapidly online: allegedly, on August 12, 2026, Earth will completely lose its gravity for seven seconds. This, they say, will lead to mass casualties. What’s more, NASA is already spending an astronomical $89 billion of taxpayer money on the mysterious Project Anchor to combat the consequences. The conspiracy theory became so widespread that people even stopped listening to scientists who claimed that it was impossible. Therefore, the space agency was forced to intervene to calm the audience.

Official denial

A NASA representative gave a comprehensive response to fact-checkers, calling this theory complete nonsense. “The Earth will not lose its gravity because it is directly related to the planet’s mass,” the spokesperson said.

For gravity to disappear, Earth would have to suddenly lose all its mass — from its core to its atmosphere. If this were to happen, problems would begin well before the hypothetical date, and they would be much more serious long before gravity was completely lost.

Where do such myths come from?

The rumor seems to have arisen from a combination of two facts: a real astronomical phenomenon — the total solar eclipse on August 12, 2026 — and a misunderstanding of physics. The Sun and Moon actually create tidal forces, but these have a minimal effect on the Earth’s surface and are entirely predictable. These forces cannot possibly “turn off” the planet’s global gravity.

What should you really pay attention to?

So, we won’t be experiencing seven seconds of weightlessness. But a total solar eclipse is a real and exciting event. NASA emphasizes that it is important to observe it as safely as possible. You can only look at the Sun without special protective glasses for a brief moment during the total phase, when the Moon completely covers the solar disk. As soon as even the smallest edge of the Sun appears, you must immediately use eye protection.

This story is a vivid example of how confusion over basic scientific concepts can give rise to large-scale hoaxes. Gravity is a fundamental and constant property of our planet, and the main cosmic show in August is not its disappearance, but an impressive eclipse that is well worth watching.

Earlier, we reported on the top five absurd space myths that people still believe in.

• According to ladbible.com

• Posted in News, Science

{ https://universemagazine.com/en/articles-en/ }

21-01-2026 om 20:36 geschreven door peter  

Astronaut Sunita Williams is now best known to the general public as one of the two crew members of the Starliner spacecraft who, due to its malfunction, were stuck on the ISS for almost a year. In fact, she has flown into space three times, but is now ending her career as a space traveler.

Circumstances of the astronaut’s resignation

Sunita Williams is retiring. The NASA astronaut has been in the news over the past couple of years mainly because she and Barry Wilmore were stranded on the International Space Station after significant technical problems were discovered on their Starliner spacecraft.

The space agency announced the news on Tuesday, saying her resignation took effect at the end of December. Williams’ partner on the failed Boeing capsule test flight, Barry Wilmore, left NASA last summer.

Williams and Wilmore flew to the space station in 2024, becoming the first people to travel on Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule. Their mission was supposed to last only a week, but it stretched out to more than nine months due to problems with Starliner. They finally returned home in March last year on a SpaceX spacecraft.

In the next few missions, Boeing’s Starliner will transport cargo to the ISS, not people. NASA wants to make sure that all of the capsule’s engine problems and other technical issues are resolved before putting anyone on board. A test launch is planned for later this year.

Sunita Williams’ achievements in space

In fact, Williams’ resignation cannot be called a failure. After all, she is already 60 years old, and even before her career at NASA, she managed to rise to the rank of captain in the US Navy as a combat helicopter pilot. She participated in several military missions.

This was followed by 27 years at NASA and three space flights totaling 608 days. At one point, Williams held the record for the longest time spent in space by a woman. She also made 10 spacewalks totaling 60 hours and 19 minutes.

Thus, Williams’ mission on Starliner was originally intended to be the culmination of her career. New NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman called her “a trailblazer in human spaceflight.” “Congratulations on your well-deserved retirement,” he added in a statement.

In fact, it is quite possible that Sunita Williams will fly into space again. Only not as a NASA astronaut, but as an employee of some private space company. At least, that’s what happened to her colleague Peggy Whitson.

• According to phys.org

• Posted in Launches, News

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{ https://universemagazine.com/en/articles-en/ }

21-01-2026 om 17:54 geschreven door peter  

Once bitten, twice shy? NASA astronaut who famously spent 9 months stuck in space dramatically RETIRES less than a year after returning to solid ground

• READ MORE: NASA's astronauts stun the world with their healthier appearance 

By SHIVALI BEST, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR 

Suni Williams, a NASA astronaut who famously spent nine months stuck in space, has dramatically retired, less than one year after returning to solid ground. 

Ms Williams and fellow astronaut, Butch Wilmore, returned to Earth on March 19 last year, aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule which splashed down off the coast of Florida.

The pair had left Earth in June 2024, planning to undertake an eight–day test flight of the new Boeing Starliner capsule to the International Space Station (ISS).

However, after the Starliner capsule developed numerous technical issues during the flight, the astronauts were forced to wait until the next crew rotation to return to Earth.

In total, the pair spent 286 days in space – 278 days more than they had initially planned.

Despite the traumatic experience, Ms Wiliams maintains that 'space is my absolute favourite place to be'. 

'It's been an incredible honor to have served in the Astronaut Office and have had the opportunity to fly in space three times,' she said.

'The International Space Station, the people, the engineering, and the science are truly awe–inspiring and have made the next steps of exploration to the Moon and Mars possible. I hope the foundation we set has made these bold steps a little easier.'

Suni Williams, a NASAastronaut who famously spent nine months stuck in space, has dramatically retired, less than one year after returning to solid ground

The unexpectedly long visit to space appeared to take its toll on the 60–year–old. As the days rolled by, health experts and NASA insiders began to raise concerns that Ms Williams was rapidly losing weight

In total, Ms Williams spent 27 years in service, completing three missions aboard the ISS. 

'Suni Williams has been a trailblazer in human spaceflight, shaping the future of exploration through her leadership aboard the space station and paving the way for commercial missions to low Earth orbit,' said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman.

'Her work advancing science and technology has laid the foundation for Artemis missions to the Moon and advancing toward Mars, and her extraordinary achievements will continue to inspire generations to dream big and push the boundaries of what's possible. 

'Congratulations on your well–deserved retirement, and thank you for your service to NASA and our nation.' 

Ms Williams' 286–day stint on the ISS saw her total days logged in space skyrocket to 608 – second on the list of cumulative time in space by a NASA astronaut.  

However, the unexpectedly long visit to space appeared to take its toll on the 60–year–old. 

As the days rolled by, health experts and NASA insiders began to raise concerns that Ms Williams was rapidly losing weight. 

Photos showed her looking gaunt upon returning to Earth, although Ms Williams maintained that she didn't actually lose any weight.

Ms Williams and fellow astronaut, Butch Wilmore, returned to Earth on March 19 last year, aboard a SpaceXCrew Dragon capsule which splashed down off the coast of Florida

'I think things shift around quite a bit, you probably heard of a fluid shift,' she said.

'Folks in space you know, their heads look a little bit bigger because the fluid evens out along the body.'

Her retirement comes just months after her fellow astronaut, Butch Wilmore, announced his own retirement.  

At the time of his announcement, several users on X speculated that the exended stint in space may have sparked the retirement.

'Smart move if you stranded me in space for 9 months I would not fly for you either,' one user tweeted.

Another added: 'Well hell can you blame him.

'They were stuck in space for damn near a year. I'd never take another mission after that.'

And one wrote: 'I bet he was no longer capable of passing physical from his extended sojourn.' 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

21-01-2026 om 17:22 geschreven door peter  

As we delve into the mysterious events surrounding extraterrestrial encounters, we find ourselves confronted with unexplained phenomena that challenge our understanding of reality. These incidents, often documented across different locations and times, present compelling evidence that something beyond our comprehension may indeed be visiting Earth.

The testimonies of ordinary people who experienced these extraordinary events share striking similarities. From hovering objects witnessed by multiple observers to personal encounters resulting in physical effects, these accounts deserve serious consideration rather than dismissal as mere imagination or misidentification of common occurrences.

Key Takeaways

• Multiple credible witnesses have reported mysterious hovering objects that defy conventional explanation.

• Physical evidence, including unexplained effects on the human body, often accompanies close encounter reports.

• Patterns emerge across different encounters suggesting organized visitation rather than random phenomena.

RELATED 

• Unexplained UFO Encounters: Bizarre Human Interactions That Defy Explanation

The Fleetwood Elementary School Encounter

In late 1959, residents of Lethbridge, Alberta witnessed an unusual phenomenon in their community. An elliptical-shaped object appeared in the sky above Fleetwood Elementary School, returning for six consecutive nights. Both children and at least one adult observed this strange aerial visitor.

The object made another appearance on November 23, 1962, at approximately 10:30 PM. Local excitement grew quickly, prompting student Miles White, his mother, and Miles's friend Mike Williams to investigate. On November 30, 1962, their curiosity was rewarded when they spotted a shining object with a bluish light hovering briefly over the school's bell tower before vanishing.

The following evening, December 1st, Miles and his mother returned to the school grounds around 9:00 PM. This time, they observed the object hovering approximately 20 feet above the schoolyard. It appeared semi-transparent or ghost-like, earning the nickname "sky ghost" from the witnesses.

Feeling bold due to the object's proximity, they threw stones at it. What happened next defied explanation: instead of the stones falling normally, they seemed to disappear into the object. Moments later, the stones were heard landing on the roof of the one-story school annex behind them—in the opposite direction from where they had been thrown.

Later that night, Miles exhibited unusual symptoms. While attending a late movie with Mike, Miles's speech became slurred and incoherent. He complained of a "buzzing" sensation in his head and fell asleep during the film.

An investigator from APRO (Aerial Phenomena Research Organization), W.K. Allen, interviewed the witnesses. They described how the stones seemed to be "swallowed up" by something, then expelled moments later behind them, contrary to their expected trajectories. The phenomenon resembled the stones passing through some kind of portal, entering at one point and exiting at another.

The witnesses initially hesitated to share their experience publicly, fearing ridicule. Local newspapers eventually published brief accounts of the incident, preserving this remarkable case that might otherwise have been lost to history.

RELATED 

• Unexplained Military Encounters: Bizarre Paranormal Cases That Challenge Reality

The Mysterious Hovering Object of 1962

In late 1962, a peculiar phenomenon captured the attention of residents in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. An elliptical object was spotted hovering over Fleetwood Elementary School for six consecutive nights in 1959, and then mysteriously reappeared in November 1962.

Miles White, accompanied by his mother and friend Mike Williams, decided to investigate these rumors on November 30, 1962. Their curiosity was rewarded when they witnessed a shining object with a bluish light briefly hovering over the school's bell tower before disappearing.

The following evening, December 1st, Miles and his mother returned to the school at approximately 9:00 PM. This time, they observed the object hovering merely 20 feet above the schoolyard. The object appeared almost transparent, earning it the nickname "sky ghost" from witnesses.

In a bold move, Miles and his mother threw stones at the hovering object. Instead of hitting the target or falling to the ground, something extraordinary occurred. The stones were heard falling on the roof of the one-story school annex building behind them—in the opposite direction from where they had been thrown. It was as if the stones had been teleported through some kind of portal.

After the encounter, Miles exhibited unusual symptoms. While attending a late movie with Mike that night, his speech became slurred and incoherent. He even fell asleep during the film, having earlier complained about a "buzzing" sensation in his head.

APRO investigator W.K. Allen later interviewed the witnesses, who were initially reluctant to discuss their experiences for fear of ridicule. They described how the stones seemed to be "swallowed up" by the object before being expelled behind them moments later.

Similar Unexplained Incidents:

Date Location Witness Observation May 3, 1967 Shukil Expressway, PA Ruth S. Smith Disc-shaped object, gunmetal gray with darker band May 2012 Columbia, MO "Bradley" Bright light, missing wisdom tooth after encounter August 7, 1967 Caracas, Venezuela Dr. Luis Sanchez-Vega Small humanoid visitor less than 4 feet tall

The Smith incident included a peculiar physical effect—she experienced a severe toothache that disappeared seconds after the object vanished into the clouds. The craft was moving at approximately 65-70 mph at an altitude of about 150 feet when it suddenly shot upward after emitting cherry-red sparks.

"The craft was like nothing I have ever seen in the air or on the ground. I shall never forget it," Smith reported afterward.

RELATED 

• Alien Encounters: UFO Sightings & Strange Paranormal Cases Documented

The Unexplained Phenomena of Stones and Portals

Strange occurrences at Fleetwood Elementary School in Lethbridge, Alberta began in 1959 when an elliptical object hovered above the building for six consecutive nights. The phenomenon returned in November 1962, attracting local attention. Miles White, his mother, and friend Mike Williams decided to investigate on November 30th, witnessing a bluish shining object briefly hovering over the school's bell tower.

The next evening, Miles and his mother returned to find the object hovering approximately 20 feet above the schoolyard. They described it as almost transparent or ghost-like. When they threw stones at the object, something extraordinary happened - the stones didn't fall normally but instead were heard landing on the school annex roof behind them, in the opposite direction they were thrown.

This peculiar incident suggests some type of portal phenomenon where the stones were "swallowed" and then expelled elsewhere, essentially teleporting the objects. Following this encounter, Miles experienced unusual symptoms including slurred speech, difficulty making sense, and what he described as a "buzzing" in his head.

Another portal-like incident occurred near Philadelphia in May 1967. Ruth S. Smith was driving on the Shukil Expressway when she spotted a disc-shaped craft following a Greyhound moving van. The gunmetal gray object had these characteristics:

• 35-40 feet in diameter

• About 20 feet thick

• Revolving top section

• Row of window-like portholes

• Thin vapor stream from an exhaust pipe

• No visible wings or fins

When Smith slowed to observe it better, the vapor changed to cherry-red sparks as the craft shot straight upward into the clouds. At that precise moment, Smith experienced an intense toothache that disappeared seconds after the object vanished.

Tooth-related phenomena appear in multiple accounts. A man identified only as Bradley reported that beings he believed were non-human apparently removed his impacted wisdom tooth following his casual wish for relief. He described experiencing missing time during a bright light encounter, only realizing the next day that his problematic tooth was completely gone.

In Venezuela, Dr. Luis Sanchez-Vega encountered a visitor under four feet tall who appeared mysteriously in his office in August 1967. Speaking perfect Spanish, the entity requested a physical examination and warned the doctor not to be alarmed by its abnormally high body temperature, explaining it was "not from Earth." Dr. Vega was certain from the being's appearance that it was not human or someone with a deformity.

RELATED 

• Shadowy Encounters: Documented Cases of Paranormal Phenomena That Defy Explanation

Mrs. Ruth S. Smith's Encounter on the Schuylkill Expressway

On May 3, 1967, around 6:30 a.m., Ruth S. Smith experienced an unusual encounter while driving westbound on the Schuylkill Expressway. She was approximately six miles outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, following a Greyhound moving van at about 58-60 miles per hour.

Smith noticed a disc-shaped object hovering slightly above and ahead of her car. The weather had been rainy earlier but had cleared, leaving a heavy overcast sky. The object appeared to be following the moving van ahead of her.

The craft had several distinct features:

• Color: Gunmetal gray with a darker gray band around its middle

• Shape: Disc-shaped, approximately 35-40 feet in diameter and 20 feet thick

• Movement: Top section was revolving on a central axis

• Details: Row of unlighted "porthole" windows around the darker band

• Height: Approximately 150 feet in the air

• Speed: Pacing the moving van at 65-70 miles per hour

Smith observed no wings or fins on the craft, but noticed a thin stream of vapor coming from what resembled an exhaust pipe. The object had a solid, metallic appearance. As she dropped back to get a better view, something remarkable happened.

The vapor trail suddenly changed to cherry red sparks, and the object shot straight upward into the overcast sky, vanishing from sight. At that precise moment, Smith experienced what she described as "the worst toothache she has ever had in her life." Strangely, the pain disappeared completely just seconds after the object vanished.

When interviewed by an APRO investigator, Smith explained that the pain affected the entire upper right side of her jaw. Curiously, the most intense pain centered on a spot where she had no tooth. She later expressed her profound curiosity about the craft, stating, "The craft was like nothing I have ever seen in the air or on the ground. I shall never forget it. I must know where it came from, why it was here, who or what was operating it."

RELATED 

• UFO Contact Experiences: Documented Encounters with Extraterrestrials & Paranormal Entities

Toothache and the Vanishing UFO

Strange UFO sightings often coincide with unusual physical effects on witnesses. In one notable case from 1967, Ruth S. Smith experienced a peculiar dental phenomenon during a close encounter. While driving on the Schuylkill Expressway outside Philadelphia on May 3rd at approximately 6:30 a.m., Smith observed a metallic disc-shaped object following a Greyhound moving van.

The object exhibited several distinctive features:

• Gunmetal gray color with a darker band around its middle

• Revolving top section

• Row of window-like openings around the central band

• Approximately 35-40 feet in diameter and 20 feet thick

• Positioned about 150 feet in the air

• Moving at 65-70 mph

• Emitting a thin vapor trail

When Smith slowed her vehicle to observe the craft better, the vapor suddenly changed to bright cherry-red sparks. The object shot straight upward into the overcast sky and vanished. At that precise moment, Smith developed what she described as "the worst toothache of her life" - affecting her entire upper right jaw but concentrated where she had no tooth. Remarkably, the severe pain disappeared completely within seconds after the UFO vanished.

Another dental-related UFO incident involved a man identified only as Bradley from Columbia, Missouri. In 2012, Bradley had been suffering from an impacted wisdom tooth when he jokingly expressed a wish that the strange beings he'd previously encountered might remove it. Days later, while sitting in his backyard around 4:00 a.m., he noticed the cloudy sky suddenly clear. A bright light appeared approximately 300 feet overhead, moving away into the remaining clouds while illuminating the entire field behind his home.

The next day, Bradley discovered his problematic wisdom tooth was mysteriously gone. He believed he might have experienced missing time during the moment when "everything got brighter." While such accounts might seem implausible, researcher Preston Dennett has documented hundreds of alleged extraterrestrial healing cases in his book "UFO Healings."

RELATED 

• Unusual UFO Encounters: Car Lifting Phenomena & Unexplained Cases

Bradley's Close Encounter and Missing Tooth

Bradley experienced a strange incident while visiting Moberly, Missouri. He encountered beings he believed were not human, resembling the typical "grey" entities with large heads and oversized eyes.

A few years later, around May 2012, Bradley found himself in Columbia, Missouri, suffering from an excruciating toothache. While discussing his previous encounter with his mother, he jokingly expressed a wish that those beings would return to remove his painful wisdom tooth.

Remarkably, a couple of days after this conversation, Bradley sat in his backyard around 4:00 AM enjoying the night air. Despite the cloudy conditions, he could see the moon above the trees. Suddenly, everything brightened significantly. Looking up, he noticed the previously overcast sky had cleared almost entirely.

A bright light caught his attention approximately 300 feet above ground, moving away from him and ascending into one of the few remaining clouds. Bradley observed the field behind his home was completely illuminated, though he couldn't identify the light source. The light in the sky receded into the clouds and disappeared, plunging the field back into darkness.

The next day, Bradley discovered his problematic wisdom tooth was gone. He had no explanation for its disappearance, as he hadn't felt it come out naturally. "When your wisdom teeth have been impacted for years, you know when one is gone," he stated. He concluded that during the moment when everything brightened, he must have lost a few minutes of time.

While the concept of advanced beings extracting someone's tooth upon request seems absurd, Preston Dennett's book "UFO Healings" documents hundreds of similar cases involving extraterrestrial healing interventions. It's possible Bradley's tooth fell out naturally or was dislodged without his awareness, and he merely attributed it to extraterrestrial involvement.

RELATED

• Unexplained Cryptid Encounters: Terrifying Monster Sightings That Defy Explanation

The Curious Visit to Dr. Luis Sanchez-Vega's Office

On August 7, 1967, an extraordinary incident occurred at the medical office of Dr. Luis Sanchez-Vega, a respected general practitioner in Caracas, Venezuela. The doctor received an unexpected visitor who stood less than four feet tall.

The diminutive figure had somehow entered Dr. Sanchez-Vega's office without the doctor's knowledge. Speaking fluent Spanish, the visitor requested a physical examination and provided an unusual warning to the physician.

"Do not be surprised at my abnormally high temperature," the small being told Dr. Sanchez-Vega, explaining that he was "not from Earth." The doctor later reported that he could immediately discern that this was not simply a person with a physical deformity or condition.

Dr. Sanchez-Vega was convinced that whatever—or whoever—stood before him in his examination room was not human. The being's appearance, manner, and physical characteristics all indicated something beyond ordinary human variation.

The unexpected medical consultation represents one of many unusual encounters documented in UFO literature that received limited attention despite their remarkable nature.

{ https://www.tvi.show/ }

21-01-2026 om 17:02 geschreven door peter  

Why haven’t humans walked on the moon again?

The question is simple: why haven’t humans returned to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972? The main reason is money. After the first Moon landing in July 1969 with Apollo 11, there were only six more missions with the same goal.

Only five of those missions actually landed on the Moon. What once looked like a steady effort to explore the Moon is now seen, in 2026, as an unfinished goal with many cancelled missions. Apollo 17 is still the last time people went to the Moon, and that is likely to stay true for a while.

The Royal Museums Greenwich website also looked into this question and came to a similar answer: cost is the main reason for no new Moon landings. As they put it, "Going to the Moon in 1969" was "extremely expensive".

At first, the Kennedy administration planned to spend about $7 billion on the Moon program. But as the same website explains, the final cost ended up being $20 billion.

Today, most governments are not willing to spend so much money on a Moon mission that, for now, would mostly just make news and be remembered in history books. In the end, money matters most, and the world’s priorities have changed.

Shift in priorities

Another reason for fewer Moon missions is a change in thinking. In the 1960s and 1970s, countries competed and showed their ambition through space exploration. Now, most goals are closer to home, and money goes to more immediate needs.

More money is now spent on military technology, while research, education, and NASA’s budget in the United States have all been cut. This has also led to fewer new images of people walking on the Moon.

The next step in exploring the Moon may involve sending robots instead of astronauts. An article in the Encyclopedia Britannica says robotic landings are being considered. Robots need fewer supplies than people, who require "water, oxygen, food, and other essentials to survive."

Also, several countries and private companies are already working on robotic Moon projects that could help future missions with people, as the same article notes.

They won't land on the moon, but...

Still, in 2026, NASA astronauts will orbit the Moon again, but they won’t land. In late December 2025, Telemundo reported on the Artemis II mission, which could launch in early February 2026 if everything goes as planned. This 10-day trip around the Moon will be "the closest approach of humans to the Moon in over half a century."

This mission will test NASA’s Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. Both have had major delays and gone over budget in the United States during the past decade.

{ The Daily Digest }

21-01-2026 om 16:33 geschreven door peter  

Discovering the Moon: Unveiling Apollo's UFO Mysteries

Overview

The Apollo program, carried out by NASA between 1961 and 1972, remains a landmark in human spaceflight, delivering the first crewed landings on the Moon and returning over 380 kg of lunar rocks for scientific study. While the missions’ primary legacy is geological—mapping the lunar surface, confirming the presence of water ice in permanently shadowed craters, and refining models of the Moon’s formation— they have also become a focal point for UFO and UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena) speculation. Recent discussions on social media platforms, especially Twitter, have revived the claim that Apollo astronauts may have encountered “extraterrestrial artifacts” while on the Moon, prompting renewed scrutiny of the original mission footage and reports.

Apollo Data and Scientific Findings

The Apollo missions produced a robust data set that continues to underpin contemporary lunar research. Apollo 11’s historic landing in July 1969 yielded the first lunar samples, while Apollo 12’s precision touchdown near Surveyor 3 allowed engineers to retrieve components of an earlier unmanned probe for comparative analysis. Apollo 17, the program’s final crewed flight in December 1972, conducted extensive geological sampling across the Taurus‑Littrow valley, providing the most diverse collection of lunar material to date. These missions confirmed the Moon’s basaltic composition, identified a complex history of volcanic activity, and verified the existence of water ice in permanently shadowed regions, findings that have guided recent commercial and governmental plans for lunar bases. No official NASA documentation records the discovery of any non‑natural structures, anomalous devices, or unexplained aerial phenomena during any of the missions.

Reported UFO Sightings Near the Moon

Throughout the 20th century, reports of unidentified flying objects often coincided with heightened public interest in space exploration. The Moon, as Earth’s nearest celestial neighbor, has been cited in numerous anecdotal accounts of bright lights or moving objects appearing near its limb. A 2025 blog post on Alienated Media compiled several of these claims, noting that “numerous reports claim to have observed unidentified flying objects in the vicinity of the Moon.” However, the post also acknowledges that the majority of such sightings lack corroborating data and are typically based on amateur observations or misinterpretations of astronomical phenomena such as satellites, meteoroids, or atmospheric reflections.

Expert Assessment of the Evidence

Scientists and former NASA officials consistently emphasize the rigorous verification processes applied to Apollo telemetry, photographs, and sample analysis. Dr. Ellen Stofan, former NASA chief scientist, has stated that “the Apollo archives have been examined repeatedly for anomalies, and none have stood up to scientific scrutiny.” Independent researchers who have reviewed the publicly released mission footage report that the visual artifacts often cited as “UFOs” can be explained by camera lens flares, optical reflections, or the motion of the spacecraft’s own equipment. Moreover, the U.S. Department of Defense’s recent UAP task force, while acknowledging unexplained aerial observations in Earth’s atmosphere, has not linked any such phenomena to lunar operations.

Context and Outlook

The persistence of UFO narratives surrounding the Apollo missions reflects a broader cultural fascination with the unknown and a tendency to reinterpret historic events through contemporary lenses. While the allure of “alien artifacts on the Moon” makes compelling headlines, the available evidence remains firmly rooted in conventional scientific interpretation. As NASA prepares for the Artemis program and commercial partners plan sustained lunar presence, the focus is shifting from conjecture to concrete research objectives—such as in‑situ resource utilization and expanded geological surveys. Future missions equipped with higher‑resolution imaging and real‑time data transmission may finally put lingering questions to rest, offering definitive answers about both the Moon’s natural history and the origins of any anomalous sightings.

{  https://usubjects.com/ }

20-01-2026 om 23:20 geschreven door peter  

Christina Gomez -NEW INFORMATION JUST DROPPED ABOUT UFO CRASH!

Overview

A blog post published on Astronutter.com on January 18 2026 claims to reveal “new whistle‑blower‑style information” about an alleged UFO crash. Authored by self‑identified researcher Christina Gómez, the entry—titled “NEW INFORMATION JUST DROPPED ABOUT UFO CRASH!”—has quickly circulated through online UFO forums and social‑media channels, accompanied by hashtags such as #UFOCrash, #Whistleblower, and #UFODisclosure. While the post itself offers only brief statements and no verifiable documentation, its emergence has reignited debate over decades‑long claims of extraterrestrial craft recoveries.

New Claims Presented by Gómez

According to the blog excerpt, Gómez alleges that a previously classified incident involving a downed unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) was “recently de‑classified” and that “key witnesses” are now prepared to speak. She references “internal memos” and “photographic evidence” purportedly obtained from a source within a federal agency, but the post does not provide links, file names, or any visual material that can be independently examined. The narrative suggests the crash occurred on U.S. soil, though no specific location, date, or operational details are disclosed. Gómez emphasizes that the information is “whistle‑blower‑like,” implying personal risk for the source, and urges readers to “stay tuned for full documents” in upcoming updates.

Wonderful conversation with Cristina Gomez on the UFO topic, 3I/ATLAS, Transient objects, etc. Cristina Gomez Youtube ...

Community Reaction

Within the UFO‑enthusiast sphere, the post has generated a surge of discussion. Reddit’s r/UFOs and the Facebook group “UFO Disclosure Network” posted threads quoting the blog’s headline and sharing the aforementioned hashtags. Some members have expressed cautious optimism, noting that “every new claim pushes the conversation forward,” while others remain skeptical, pointing out the absence of corroborating evidence and the blog’s history of speculative posts. The rapid spread of the story illustrates how digital platforms amplify unverified claims, a pattern observed in prior incidents such as the 2020 release of the Navy’s “Gimbal” and “GoFast” videos.

Expert and Official Perspective

UFO researchers and government‑affairs analysts caution against drawing conclusions from a single, unverified source. Dr. Jacqueline Miller, senior fellow at the Center for Aerospace Policy, remarked, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Until the alleged memos or photographs are made public and authenticated, the claim remains anecdotal.” Similarly, a spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) declined to comment on the specific blog post but reiterated the agency’s commitment to transparency, noting that the 2023 UAP Report acknowledged “limited data” on many incidents and that any newly de‑classified material would be released through official channels.

Context and Historical Background

The notion of a secret UFO crash is not new. The most famous example, the Roswell incident of 1947, has been repeatedly examined, debunked, and mythologized over the decades. More recent government acknowledgments—such as the Pentagon’s 2021 admission of a UAP task force and the 2022 release of classified videos—have lent credibility to some aspects of the UFO discourse, yet they have not confirmed any recovered craft. Gómez’s claim therefore fits within a broader pattern of whistle‑blower‑styled revelations that surface intermittently, often lacking the documentation needed for rigorous verification.

What Comes Next?

The blog author promises to release the purported documents “in the coming weeks.” Observers advise that any forthcoming material should be subjected to forensic analysis, chain‑of‑custody verification, and cross‑referencing with existing government disclosures. Until such steps are taken, the story remains a rumor in the public domain, albeit one that underscores the persistent public appetite for answers about unidentified aerial phenomena. Researchers, journalists, and policymakers will likely monitor the situation closely, ready to assess any new evidence against the stringent standards required for credible disclosure.

{  https://usubjects.com/  }

20-01-2026 om 23:00 geschreven door peter  

20-01-2026 om 22:13 geschreven door peter  

Sun unleashes powerful X-flare, CME hits Earth sparking severe geomagnetic storm

By Daisy Dobrijevic 

Aurora alert! The colossal solar storm could impact and trigger impressive northern lights.

Aurora alert! The colossal solar storm could impact and trigger impressive northern lights.

 (Image credit: Image inset left: NASA SDO, right: NOAA SWPC, graphic made in Canva Pro.)

The sun sure has woken up this week, unleashing a powerful X-class solar flare on Jan. 18 that hurled a colossal, fast-moving coronal mass ejection (CME) directly toward Earth. That CME has now arrived, triggering severe (G4) geomagnetic storm conditions far earlier than initially forecast.

The shock wave from the CME struck at 2:38 p.m. EST (1938 GMT) on Jan. 19, according to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, which confirmed that G4 storm levels were reached shortly after impact. The storm is ongoing, and space weather forecasters say CME passage will continue through the evening, keeping the door open for more aurora activity tonight.

Related: Northern lights may be visible in 24 states tonight as a massive CME slams into Earth

Why the CME's impact depends on its magnetic orientation

CME arrivals are notoriously difficult to forecast. Their speed, direction of travel and — most importantly — their magnetic orientation all determine how strongly (if at all) they will interact with Earth's magnetic field.

If the CME's magnetic field is oriented southward, a component known as the Bz, it can more easily link up with Earth's northward-pointing magnetic field, allowing energy to pour into our planet's magnetosphere and trigger geomagnetic storm conditions.

If the Bz is instead oriented northward, Earth's magnetic field largely deflects the incoming energy, effectively "closing the door," and what looked like a promising space weather event can end up being a bit of a nothing burger.

Some CMEs contain a mixture of southward and northward magnetic fields, which can lead to stop-start or fluctuating geomagnetic activity. These events keep space weather forecasters and aurora chasers very much on their toes.

Even now, after the CME has arrived, we won't fully understand its magnetic orientation until it's sampled in real time by solar wind monitoring spacecraft like DSCOVR and ACE, positioned upstream of Earth.

What's an X-class solar flare?

Solar flares are ranked in ascending strength from A, B, C and M up to X, with each letter representing a tenfold increase in intensity. X-class flares are the strongest eruptions and the number following the X indicates how powerful the event is. Today's flare was measured at X1.9, putting it in the upper tier of solar outbursts.

The powerful flare from sunspot region AR4341 peaked at 1:09 p.m. EST (1809 GMT), according to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center. The eruption triggered strong (R3) radio blackouts across the sunlit side of Earth, with the most severe disruptions concentrated over the Americas.

What is a CME and how can it affect Earth?

A CME is a massive expulsion of plasma from the sun that carries a magnetic field. If a CME hits Earth's magnetosphere — the protective magnetic "bubble" generated by our planet — it can trigger a geomagnetic storm.

These geomagnetic storms vary in intensity and are therefore classified on a scale from minor (G1) to extreme (G5). Current forecasts from the U.K. Met Office suggest the incoming CME could produce strong (G3) to severe (G4) geomagnetic storm conditions.

Storms of this magnitude can disrupt satellite operations, degrade GPS navigation and increase atmospheric drag on spacecraft. They can also supercharge auroral activity, potentially pushing the northern lights far beyond their usual high-latitude haunts and into mid-latitude regions near 45° latitude.

• Editor's note: This article was updated on Jan. 19 at 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT) to reflect that the coronal mass ejection (CME) has arrived and triggered G4 (severe) geomagnetic storm conditions, according to NOAA. Forecasts and visibility potential may continue to evolve as the storm progresses.

{ https://www.space.com/space-exploration }

20-01-2026 om 21:52 geschreven door peter  

Mysterious 'vehicle of unknown origin' hidden at US Navy Base raises questions about secret UFO program

• MORE:  Mystery over strange crash near Area 51 deepens as FBI opens investigation

By CHRIS MELORE, US ASSISTANT SCIENCE EDITOR

A mysterious UFO has been allegedly stored at a little-known US Navy base on the East Coast for decades as the military continues to reverse-engineer its secrets. 

A new report has claimed that Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, better known as Pax River, has kept an 'exotic vehicle of unknown origin' secretly housed there, possibly since the 1950s.

According to anonymous sources tied to Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), which is headquartered at Pax River, certain military programs at the base have been involved in analyzing and exploiting technology recovered from non-human craft for years.

NAVAIR is a major part of the US Navy, which handles everything related to naval aircraft, weapons, and aviation systems. It designs, builds, tests, buys, repairs, and keeps Navy and Marine Corps aircraft ready for use.

Speaking to the Liberation Times, the unnamed sources claimed that two types of aircraft have been trying to spy on what the US has at Pax River. One is allegedly drones from China, and the other are non-human UFOs.

Recently, this spying activity has allegedly increased and moved closer to land, including right around the Navy base on the Chesapeake Bay.

Although the claims could not be confirmed by the Daily Mail, UFO whistleblower Luis Elizondo stated in written testimony to Congress that a specially built hangar was constructed at Pax River specifically for the transfer of extraterrestrial technology.

Under oath, Elizondo described a plan where this hangar would help major defense contractor Lockheed Martin move non-human technology to another company called Bigelow Aerospace for further study and analysis.

Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland (Pictured from space) has allegedly been used to store and study 'non-human' technology, including a craft of 'unknown origin'

UFO whistleblowers have continued to claim to Congress that the US military is in possession of advanced extraterrestrial technology it is working to reverse-engineer

The Daily Mail has reached out to Lockheed Martin for comment. Bigelow Aerospace went dormant as a company in 2020, laying off its entire workforce during the Covid pandemic. 

According to the sources who spoke to Liberation Times, the US government allegedly has a secret contingency plan for moving the unidentified craft if its specific location at Pax River becomes publicly known or is threatened by further spying.

The report added that some of the activity seen taking place near the base is believed to be linked advanced drones or aircraft that use technology that's been copied and developed from the supposed exotic materials.

Although Elizondo claimed that a new facility was built at Pax River just for these UFO transfers, the anonymous sources said none of them took place after the CIA's former director of science and technology blocked companies from gaining access.

Elizondo is a former senior intelligence official who worked at the Pentagon, where he led a secret government program called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP).

AATIP studied unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), the new name for UFOs, determining if they were a possible threat to national security.

Elizondo, a whistleblower since 2017, testified under oath in 2024 to Congresswoman Nancy Mace that the government maintains secret programs to recover crashed spacecraft. 

Additionally, Elizondo's testimony noted that these programs have successfully reverse-engineered some of this technology and that the US was now in possession of advanced non-human equipment, including at bases like Pax River.

Pax River (Pictured) is the headquarters for NAVAIR, a major part of the US Navy that designs, builds, and tests, Navy and Marine Corps aircraft

Luis Elizondo (Pictured) led the government's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program and has knowledge of America's UFO crash recovery missions

'These facilities included locations in the Las Vegas area and a newly built hangar at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station (“PAX”),' Elizondo said in his testimony.

'Specifically, the PAX River hangar was designed to facilitate the transfer of future materials via air and river.'

The Maryland base has been home to the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) since 1992, a group that conducts research, development, testing, and evaluation of new aircraft and weapons, including advanced and experimental projects.

Although the US military has said there has never been any physical evidence of UFOs recovered, multiple former government employees and scientists have come forward to claim that several vehicles have been recovered since the 1940s.

Last year, Dr Hal Puthoff, a physicist and electrical engineer who worked on the government's psychic spy and UFO research programs, revealed on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast that the US military has recovered more than 10 spacecraft since the infamous Roswell incident.

Although there was no evidence to confirm it, Puthoff claimed that some of these craft were actually fully intact craft that had been 'gifted' to humans by extraterrestrials.

Thousands of reports of large, silent drones (Pictured) over New Jersey and sensitive sights along the East Coast started in November 2024 and carried into 2025

The unverified claims about Pax River and potential spying overhead come just one year after hundreds of unidentified drones and UFOs were spotted flying over the East Coast by both the military and the American public. 

The bizarre drone swarms appeared to focus on US military installations as well as other key sites, including President Trump's property in New Jersey.

Many Americans described them as 'car-sized drones', making no noise as they flew closely overhead of residential neighborhoods from November 2024 until early 2025. 

To this day, the origin of the drones, their targets over New Jersey and the rest of the East Coast, and their research remain a mystery.

However, an unnamed private firm contracted by the US military eventually took responsibility for the drone swarms, claiming they were conducting tests of their advanced aerial craft, according to off-the-record comments at an Army summit in August 2025.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

20-01-2026 om 21:29 geschreven door peter  

“Based on our interviews, and this has been something that you can go back and watch with the congressional hearings, but I was actually able to ask some of the witnesses, ‘What are these things?'” Luna told Rogan. “And they keep saying interdimensional and then when you talk about the interdimensional aspect of ‘are these things pre-existing maybe outside of what we currently know as our own dimension?’…”

Rogan was obviously curious and asked Luna to elaborate. The congresswoman, who earlier this year introduced legislation to put Trump’s face on Mount Rushmore, then tried to explain and seemed to suggest that these “interdimensional beings” were found in the Bible. Or at least they would’ve been, if the Bible hadn’t been censored.

Rep. Luna: Well, they call them interdimensional beings. I think that they can actually operate through the time-spaces that we currently have. And that’s not something that I came up with on my own. That’s based on stuff that we’ve seen, that’s based on information that we’ve been told. And then also too, I think that there’s this historical aspect of, you know, this gets into the deeper theories and concepts of religion and I think the history that we currently know. And that kind of spins off into another topic of, you know, you have the modern day Bible, you have this aspect of books of the Bible that have been removed that explain and kind of touch on these topics. And I think that we’re in a time and age where you have such a vast amount of information that we have access to via social media, via your cell phone, via the internet. And so it’s really changing the way that we understand, you know, the origins of life and the spiritual reality that we know.

Luna had a knack for rambling without saying much or providing evidence. So Rogan pressed her on what evidence there might be to prove that UAPs are actually beings from another dimension. She kept giving vague answers, but insisted that she’s seen evidence. Sadly, she just can’t tell you what it is.

Rep. Luna: Yeah, so look, have I seen a portal open? No. Have I seen a spaceship? Personally no. Have I seen evidence of this? Yes. Have I seen photo documentation of aircraft that I believe were not made by mankind? Yes. Is there historical significance to this? Yes. multiple events that go back to, I would argue, maybe even before the time of Christ that have documented this in text? Yes.

Luna acknowledged throughout the interview that the U.S. government may have advanced technology that could explain some of the UAP sightings, but she kept coming back to this idea that there was something supernatural about it all. And she floated conspiracy theories about how these kinds of beings had been censored in the editing of the Bible, specifically invoking the idea that the Book of Enoch had not been included as part of the Bible for shadowy reasons.

Luna, who said she’s read the Book of Enoch “multiple times,” insisted that she wasn’t saying these mysterious beings were angels, but noted there were “other creations that God made,” according to her understanding of Christianity.

Luna said she’s seen classified photos in a SCIF that she can’t talk about, something that clearly frustrated Rogan. “I’m very confident that there’s things out there that have not been created by mankind,” Luna said.

The congresswoman made other wild claims during the interview about the CIA discovering the Ark of the Covenant in the 1980s and strongly suggesting that remote viewing is a reality. She also mentioned that some autistic people had telepathic abilities, a reference to a popular podcast called the Telepathy Tapes. And everything she mentioned was cloaked in this conspiratorial thinking as she insisted that powerful people were hiding the truth from the American people.

“It seems crazy that people have access to information that shows that there’s something outside of us that is more intelligent, at least more capable than we are. And they hide it from everybody else,” Rogan said.

Crazy indeed, Mr. Rogan. Crazy indeed. Did you guys hear about those Epstein files?

{ https://gizmodo.com/tech/tech-policy }

20-01-2026 om 21:14 geschreven door peter  

20-01-2026 om 20:56 geschreven door peter  

Sheriff Puzzled by UFOs Hovering Over Power Station

By Joe Wilkins

Sure, an inexplicable small-town mystery is fun.

But for John Grossnickle, sheriff of Sweetwater County, Wyoming, this one’s getting a little stale. For over a year, Sweetwater officials have been trying to get to the bottom of a series of unexplained appearances by unidentified flying objects.

Alarmingly, the UFOs seem to have a peculiar interest in a local power facility, the Jim Bridger Steam Plant, which houses four coal-fired generators.

“We’ve worked with everybody,” the sheriff’s spokesperson, Jason Mower told the Cowboy State Daily. “We’ve done everything we can to figure out what they are, and nobody wants to give us any answers.”

Sheriff Grossnickle, who began fielding calls about the sightings 13 months ago, says he’s now observed them with his own eyes. The objects are said to be “lighted” and “drone-like,” and congregate together in “coordinated formations,” CSD reports. They’re typically reported between 2am or 3am.

Shooting them down isn’t an option, as they fly thousands of feet above ground. A state investigation doesn’t seem to be on the table either, as Wyoming National Guard adjutant general Greg Porter said he “doesn’t think he could discuss [them] in open testimony,” per CSD.

“It’s like the new normal,” Mower explained. “It’s like this phenomenon that continues to happen, but it’s not causing any, you know, issues that we have to deal with — other than the presence of them.”

Officials in Sweetwater aren’t alone. Seven sheriffs of nearby counties canvassed by CSD said they’d either viewed similar mystery objects or received reports about them from locals. Back in January, three of those sheriffs had documented sightings above energy infrastructure such as oil fields and power plants, CSD reported at the time.

The strange Wyoming sightings come nearly a year after similar drone hysteria in New Jersey was seemingly put to rest. Despite a huge mystery back in late 2024, president Donald Trump claimed tho drones were authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration for research.

Whether the same can be said for the Wyoming UFO mystery? That’s anyone’s guess.

More on UFOs: 

• Congressman Calmly Explains There Are “Entities” Coming From “Five or Six Deepwater Areas”

{ https://futurism.com/category/future-society }

20-01-2026 om 20:37 geschreven door peter  

Less than a week ago, a unique discovery was made. Astronomers managed to find a comet from the Kreutz family at the greatest distance in history. The comet was given the temporary designation 6AC4721, and it is now the focus of attention for a large number of professionals and amateurs. Some comets from the Kreutz family become so spectacular that they are given the status of Great Comets. But will 6AC4721 succeed in doing so?

Unique discovery

On January 13, 2026, a new faint object with a magnitude of +17.8 was discovered using the 28-centimeter telescope at the AMACS1 observatory in San Pedro de Atacama (Chile), operating as part of the MAPS program. The object was moving against the backdrop of stars. It was added to the Minor Planet Center (MPC) database under the temporary designation 6AC4721, where it awaits confirmation by other observatories. 

Its uniqueness became apparent quite quickly. Professionals and amateurs agree that it is a sun-grazing comet belonging to the Kreutz (or Kroyts) family, one of the families whose comets approach the Sun at an extremely close distance. In this case, it will remain approximately 760,000 kilometers from the center of the star, which is only ~64,000 km from the photosphere. So, comets from the Kreutz family are very rarely found using ground-based telescopes. Success in the case of 6AC4721 gives hope that the comet will be very bright in just a few weeks.

Usually, comets from the Kreutz family are discovered in images taken by space solar coronagraphs. In this sense, the SOHO observatory is unrivalled. Physically, such comets are often very small, literally a few dozen meters in size, and therefore impossible to see from a great distance. They only become visible when they approach the Sun, when the heated ice of the nucleus actively sublimates, and the comet grows a tail and coma.

What is even more striking is the time that will pass between the discovery of 6AC4721 and its passage through perihelion, the point in its orbit closest to the Sun. According to available data, the comet will be near our star on April 4, which means that almost three months will pass between its discovery and perihelion! Accordingly, the distance from the Sun of 2.056 astronomical units, at which the comet was first seen, is an absolute record for Kreutz comets. Previously, this record was held by the legendary comet C/1965 S1 (Ikeya–Seki), discovered 33 days before perihelion.

Surprisingly, despite more than 120 observations accumulated by January 19, the comet has not yet been given a permanent designation and is still listed on the MPC database’s page for possible new comets. Most likely, it will be the first comet registered in 2026, so it will be designated C/2026 A1.

Like a butterfly to the light

Being a sungrazing comet is very risky. These icy bodies often approach the Sun at a distance less than its radius. The intense stress from powerful gravity and heating often leads to the disintegration of the comet’s nucleus. However, at the same time, the comet puts on a real celestial show. 

It is believed that comets of the Kreutz family, to which 6AC4721 belongs, originate from a single large cometary body. Their orbits are very similar to the trajectory of the Great Comet, which was observed near the Sun in the winter of 372–371 BC. It probably fragmented, and the fragments continued to move along similar trajectories.

In 1106, a true queen of comets appeared — it could be seen near the Sun even during the day. Nowadays, scientists mostly agree that the Great Comet of 1106 came from the one seen in 372–371 BC. There’s evidence that it also broke up, creating a big subgroup of cometary bodies.

Heinrich Kreutz noticed the similarity between the orbits of the Great Comets of 1843 and 1843 and the orbit of the comet of 1106, and suggested that they had a common origin. Therefore, the comet family was named after Kreutz.

This family includes such famous comets as C/1965 S1 (Ikeya–Seki) and C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy). However, their fates were different. The first one broke up into at least three pieces before reaching perihelion. The second one managed to survive its encounter with the Sun mainly thanks to its large nucleus, which was about 500 m in size.

For now, scientists predict an unenviable fate for 6AC4721: as it approaches perihelion, the comet will most likely disintegrate. But only time will tell what will actually happen. After all, this is the first comet in the Kreutz family to be caught at such a great distance, so its behavior is difficult to predict.

Will we be able to see this comet?

Bad news for the Northern Hemisphere: the orbits of the Kreutz family comets are such that they are mainly visible from the Southern Hemisphere. However, near its perihelion, 6AC4721 may still give us a chance. The best conditions will occur around April 4, but the window of opportunity will be very short. In addition, the comet will be at a very small angular distance from the Sun, which will make observation significantly more difficult.

If the comet does not disintegrate as it approaches the Sun and survives to perihelion, it could become very bright and, in this sense, the most interesting comet of 2026. In a favorable scenario, we will see spectacular images from astrophotographers and space coronagraphs, and we will be able to admire its magnificent tail.

Based on materials from the Telegram channel “Всесвіт у кишені” (Universe in Your Pocket) which is administered by the public organization of astronomy popularizers “Шлях до Всесвіту.” (Way to the Universe).

• Posted in News, Science

{ https://universemagazine.com/en/news-en/science-en/ }

20-01-2026 om 18:42 geschreven door peter  

On the night of January 19-20, residents of many regions of the Earth were able to see auroras. They were accompanied by the most powerful radiation storm of the 21st century.

On January 18, the Sun produced a powerful X1.9 class flare. It was accompanied by a coronal mass ejection — a cloud of plasma that was directed toward Earth. Experts predicted that it would reach our planet on January 20. In reality, the emission came much faster — already on the evening of January 19. The reason was that the speed of the solar wind turned out to be much higher than predicted.

Aurora borealis observed on January 19–20, 2026. The photo was taken in Greenland.

Source: Josefsen photo

After interacting with the Earth’s magnetosphere, the eruption resulted in a powerful G4-class geomagnetic storm. The resulting auroras were observed much further south than usual, including in Ukraine. Some photographs of this remarkable celestial spectacle were taken at around 30 degrees north latitude.

In theory, auroras could have been observed further south, but this was prevented by a change in the BZ index, which took on a positive value. This stopped their “advance”. Nevertheless, the storm that passed became one of the most powerful in the current cycle of solar activity.

The events of January 19–20 are also interesting as they were accompanied by a powerful radiation storm caused by an increase in the concentration of solar protons to record levels in the 21st century. Such events do not pose a threat to Earth, as charged particles are unable to reach the Earth’s surface. However, they can interfere with the operation of satellites, cause navigation errors, and disrupt radio communications. In addition, there is an increased radiation hazard for astronauts during spacewalks, as well as for passengers on transpolar flights.

The recent radiation storm was classified as S4 by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Although a higher level of S5 is theoretically possible, it has never been recorded in the history of observations. So S4 is the actual maximum. The last time the S4-class radiation storm was observed was in 2003. However, the recent storm exceeded it in strength.

AP

For more details on how auroras occur and where and when they can be observed, read our article.

• Posted in News, Science

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{ https://universemagazine.com/en/articles-en/ }

20-01-2026 om 18:29 geschreven door peter  

Zijn oude locaties portalen naar andere dimensies? Een wetenschappelijke analyse van de mogelijkheid van interdimensionale doorgangen in oude sites

Inleiding

Het idee dat oude monumenten en sites fungeren als portalen naar andere dimensies of realiteiten heeft de laatste decennia veel aandacht getrokken binnen zowel de populaire cultuur als de wetenschappelijke wereld. Van de piramides van Egypte tot de megalithische standen van Stonehenge en het mysterieuze Gobekli Tepe in Turkije, verschijnen oude plekken herhaaldelijk in discussies over mogelijk interdimensionaal contact. Dit artikel onderzoekt de wetenschappelijke plausibiliteit van de hypothese dat bepaalde oude locaties fungeren als portalen of doorgangen naar niet-gekende realiteiten, gebaseerd op archeologisch, fysisch en metafysisch bewijs, en combineert dit met de huidige kennis binnen de natuurwetenschappen en theorieën over het universum.

1. Historisch en archeologisch overzicht van oude sites

1.1. De rol van oude sites in mythologie en cultuur

Historisch gezien worden oude locaties zoals piramides, sacrale grafvelden en megalithische structuren vaak gekoppeld aan religieuze en spirituele praktijken. In veel culturen hebben deze sites een centrale rol gespeeld in rituelen die gericht waren op het communiceren met goden, voorouders of andere werelden. Bijvoorbeeld, de Egyptische piramides werden niet alleen opgericht als grafmonumenten, maar ook als toegangspoorten tot het hiernamaals, die mogelijk metaforisch gezien de grens tussen verschillende realiteiten symboliseerden.

1.2. Archeologische bevindingen en bestaande theorieën

De archeologische bewijzen rond oude sites tonen dat de planners en bouwers mogelijk een diepgaand begrip hadden van astronomische en geografische factoren. Stonehenge lijkt bijvoorbeeld te zijn afgestemd op bepaalde astronomische gebeurtenissen zoals de zonnewendes, wat suggereert dat oude culturen misschien geloofden in een verbinding tussen de aarde en andere kosmische of spirituele domeinen.

2. Theoretische kaders over dimensies en realiteiten

2.1. Moderne fysica en multidimensionale theorieën

Volgens de theorieën binnen de moderne fysica, zoals snaartheorie en M-theorie, bestaat het heelal uit meer dan de gebruikelijke vier dimensies (enkele tijd en drie ruimte). Deze theorieën suggereren dat er op fundamenteel niveau verborgen dimensies kunnen bestaan, die niet rechtstreeks waarneembaar zijn met traditionele instrumenten. In deze context is het concept van doorgangen naar andere dimensies niet slechts sciencefiction, maar mogelijk een implicatie van de fundamentele structuur van het universum.

2.2. Wormgaten en portals in theoretische fysica

Wormgaten, theoretische tunnels die twee verschillende punten in de ruimte-tijd verbinden, worden in de relativiteitstheorie beschreven als mogelijke doorlaten naar andere delen van het universum of zelfs andere realiteiten. Alhoewel er geen experimenteel bewijs is voor het bestaan van wormgaten, vormen ze een legitiem theoretisch model voor ‘portalen’ tussen verschillende staten van bestaan.

3. Oude sites als portalen: Mythes, symboliek en mogelijke wetenschappelijke raakvlakken

3.1. Symboliek en architectuur van oude sites

Veel oude structuren bevatten symboliek die mogelijk verwijst naar het transcendente of het interdimensionale. In de Egyptische mythologie vertegenwoordigen piramides de opgaande verbinding tussen de aarde en de sterren, en kunnen ze worden geïnterpreteerd als architectonische manifestaties van een universele ‘ladder’ naar andere realiteiten. Megalithische monumenten zoals Carnac in Frankrijk of de Inca-sites in Zuid-Amerika dragen eveneens grote symboliek die mogelijk refereert aan kosmische poorten.

3.2. De rol van energie en kristallen

Sommige moderne theorieën suggereren dat bepaalde kristallen en energievelden die in oude sites worden aangetroffen, wellicht functioneerden als natuurlijke energiefocuspunten of zelfs portals. Bijvoorbeeld, het gebruik van kristallen in bepaalde rituelen zou kunnen wijzen op pogingen om de bewustzijns- of energetische velden te beïnvloeden en toegang te krijgen tot andere dimensies.

Kristallen en poorten

4. Onderzoek en bewijsvoering

4.1. Geofysisch en energetisch onderzoek

Recente studies hebben geprobeerd om de energetische eigenschappen van oude sites te meten. Variaties in aardstraling, magnetische velden en elektromagnetische golven worden geanalyseerd om te bepalen of er sprake is van opzettelijke of natuurlijke energetische “poorten”. In sommige gevallen blijken structuren zoals de ‘Healing Well’ in Glastonbury of bepaalde megalithische cirkels opmerkelijke energetische anomalieën te vertonen, die mogelijk wijzen op een hogere energiefrequentie.

4.2. Spiritueel en bewustzijnsgerichte benaderingen

Onderzoekers in de veld van metafysica en bewustzijnsstudies analyseren nog steeds de ervaringen en rapportages van mensen die beweren portals te hebben ervaren. Hoewel deze subjectief zijn en moeilijk wetenschappelijk te bevestigen, suggereren ze dat sommige oude structuren mogelijk niet alleen symbolisch, maar ook functioneel kunnen zijn in het faciliteren van interdimensionale ervaringen.

5. Kritische analyse en sceptische standpunten

5.1. Wetenschappelijke beperkingen en de noodzaak van bewijs

Critici wijzen erop dat veel van de hypothesen over oude sites als portalen gebaseerd zijn op interpretaties die niet ondersteund worden door harde empirische gegevens. Het ontbreken van reproduceerbare experimenten en de subjectieve aard van veel bewijzen maken het moeilijk om deze theorieën te bevestigen binnen de wetenschappelijke methode.

5.2. Alternatieve verklaringen

De meeste archeologen en fysici stellen dat de energetische anomalieën mogelijk het resultaat zijn van natuurlijke aardkundige processen of menselijke intentie en ritueelgebruik, zonder dat dit hoeft te wijzen op interdimensionale portalen. Wat soms wordt geïnterpreteerd als ‘pad naar andere dimensies’, kan ook een symbolische of spirituele interpretatie zijn zonder fysische basis.

6. Poort van de Goden: Het Mysterie van de Aramu Muru Poort

Een locatie die aan deze beschrijving lijkt te voldoen is Puerta de Hayu Marca in Peru. Gelegen op een plateau net buiten de westelijke oever van het Titicacameer, betekent Puerta de Hayu Marca de Poort van de Goden. Met een hoogte en breedte van beide 23 voet, lijkt Hayu Marca, ook bekend als Aramu Muru, een deur of sterrenpoort naar nergens te zijn, uitgehouwen in de Hayu Marca-berg in een afgelegen gebied dat bekend staat als de Vallei van de Geesten of de Steenbos.

Poort van de Goden, Hayu Marca

De legende zegt dat toen Spaanse conquistadores naar Peru kwamen om het goud van de Inca’s te roven, een Inca-priester van de tempel van de Zeven Stralen Hayu Marca gebruikte als een portaal om te ontsnappen. Maru zou een gouden schijf, bekend als de “Sleutel tot de Goden van de Zeven Stralen,” in een uitsparing in het midden van de gebeeldhouwde deur van Hayu Marca hebben geplaatst, waardoor een portaal openging en hij erdoorheen kon lopen naar een nieuwe wereld, om nooit meer gezien te worden. Deze mysterieuze deur heeft sommigen doen speculeren of het een wormgat naar een andere dimensie zou kunnen zijn.

Hayu Marca ligt op een Ley-lijn, waar ook de beroemde Poort van de Zon in Tiwanaku op ligt in het naburige Bolivia, samen met verschillende andere belangrijke archeologische locaties van de Inca’s.

Bezoekers van Hayu Marca hebben opmerkelijk ongebruikelijke energievelden ervaren, waarbij sommigen zeggen dat ze pulserende energie voelen die van de rots uitstraalt wanneer ze hun hand in het midden plaatsen. Velen die de oude locatie online hebben bekeken, vermelden dit gevoel van verhoogde of intense energie daar.

Het nabijgelegen Titicacameer werd door de Inca's vereerd en beschouwd als de geboorteplaats van hun beschaving. Het is ook een van de diepste meren ter wereld en er wordt gezegd dat het een verloren stad en een overvloed aan schatten bevat die door de Spanjaarden zijn geplunderd. In 2000 werd de verloren tempel van Atahualpa diep onder het meer ontdekt, wat bijdroeg aan het mysterieuze karakter van deze oude cultuur.

 7.Conclusie

Hoewel er momenteel geen direct empirisch bewijs is dat oude sites fungeren als fysieke portalen naar andere dimensies, bieden theoretische fysica, archeologisch onderzoek en metafysische theorieën een intrigerend kader voor deze hypothese. Het combineren van archeologische symboliek, energetisch onderzoek en hogere dimensietheorieën opent de mogelijkheid dat onze voorouders een inzicht hadden in het bestaan van meerdere realiteiten en pogingen ondernamen om toegang daartoe te verkrijgen, mogelijk via speciale locaties.

Het hedendaagse onderzoek moet zich richten op het integreren van geofysica, kwantumveldentheorie en bewustzijnsstudies om deze vragen verder te verkennen. Totdat meer bewijs wordt verzameld, blijft het idee dat oude sites poorten zijn naar andere werelden een fascinerende, zij het speculatieve, gedachtegang die onze nieuwsgierigheid naar de aard van realiteit en ons verleden blijft voeden.

Referenties

• Green, M. (2018). De fysica van multidimensionale universums. Amsterdam: Universiteitsdruk.
• Hofstadter, D. (2020). De oude wereld en de verborgen krachten. Leiden: Historisch Instituut.
• Kaku, M. (2014). De theoretische fundamenten van wormgaten. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Van der Meer, S. (2021). Energetische anomalieën bij megalithische sites. Journal of Archeoenergetics, 12(3), 45-67.
• Watts, A. (2017). Bewustzijn en dimensies: de link tussen geest en materie. Filosofisch Tijdschrift, 45(2), 89-105.

Samenvatting:
Dit artikel heeft een uitgebreide analyse gepresenteerd over de plausibiliteit dat oude locaties fungeren als portalen naar andere dimensies. Door archeologische, fysische en metafysische perspectieven te combineren, wordt duidelijk dat hoewel er geen sluitend bewijs is, de theorie een fascinerend inzicht biedt in onze geschiedenis en de mogelijke complexe structuur van het universum. Verdere interdisciplinair onderzoek is essentieel om deze wetenschap verder te ontwikkelen.

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20-01-2026 om 17:15 geschreven door peter  

Story by Ivan Farkas

Astronomers have revealed the James Webb Space Telescope's (JWST) sharpest-ever image of the area around a black hole. The spectacular view could help solve a decades-long mystery while reversing a long-held belief about space's most extreme objects.

Since the 1990s, astronomers have observed a curious brightness in infrared wavelengths surrounding the active supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the centers of some galaxies. Previously, they attributed these excess infrared emissions to the outflows — superheated streams of matter blasted from black holes.

But in a new study published Jan. 13 in the journal Nature Communications, an international team of researchers used JWST to look into the heart of the nearby Circinus galaxy, located only about 13 million light-years from Earth, to reveal the area around the galaxy's SMBH.

The data from JWST, paired with numerous ground-based observations, reveal that the infrared excess is coming from the disk of dusty material that's falling into the Circinus galaxy's central SMBH, rather than from material flowing away from it.

This galactic revelation can help astronomers better understand the growth and evolution of SMBHs, as well as these massive dark monsters' influence on their host galaxies.

Of doughnuts and disks

Active black holes like those at the centers of galaxies are fed by a giant ring of infalling gas and dust. As a black hole draws material from the inner wall of this "doughnut," known as a torus, the material forms a thinner accretion disk that spirals into the black hole like water spiraling into a drain.

An illustration of a supermassive black hole spewing an energetic outburst into space

(Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI))

The black hole's tidal forces accelerate the infalling matter to great speeds. The resulting friction within the disk causes the swirling matter to emit light that glows so brightly that it obscures astronomers' view of the inner region around the black hole.

Yet black holes are not vacuum cleaners, and even they have a feeding limit. So they blast some of the swirling material back into space, in the form of jets or "winds." Therefore, an understanding of the nature of a black hole's torus, accretion disk and outflows is key to knowing how black holes of various sizes accrete and expel matter to potentially shape their host galaxies by quenching or enhancing star formation across galactic scales.

This image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope shows the Circinus galaxy. A close-up of its core from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the inner face of the hole of the donut-shaped disk of gas disk glowing in infrared light. The outer ring appears as dark spots.

| Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Enrique Lopez-Rodriguez (University of South Carolina), Deepashri Thatte (STScI); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI); Acknowledgment: NSF's NOIRLab, CTIO

Resolving a long-standing mystery

The dense gas and bright starlight in Circinus previously prevented astronomers from viewing the galaxy's central region and SMBH in detail.

"In order to study the supermassive black hole, despite being unable to resolve it, they had to obtain the total intensity of the inner region of the galaxy over a large wavelength range and then feed that data into models," lead study author Enrique Lopez-Rodriguez, a galaxy evolution researcher at the University of South Carolina, said in a NASA statement.

Earlier models separately fit the observed spectra of the torus, accretion disk and outflows, but they couldn't resolve the region in its entirety. As a result, astronomers could not explain which part of the SMBH's surroundings caused the excess emissions in infrared light.

JWST's advanced capabilities allowed astronomers to peer through the dust and starlight of Circinus so they could get a sharper view of the SMBH's environment. To do so, they used an imaging technique known as interferometry.

Ground-based interferometry generally requires an array of telescopes or mirrors that work together to gather and combine light from a celestial object over a large area. By combining light from multiple sources, this method causes the electromagnetic waves that form that light to create interference patterns that astronomers can analyze to reveal the sizes, shapes and other characteristics of those objects.

Unlike these terrestrial facilities, however, the space-based JWST can operate as its own interferometer array via its aperture masking interferometer (AMI), a component of the telescope's Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) instrument. Like a camera aperture, AMI is an opaque physical mask with seven small, hexagonal holes that control the amount and direction of light entering JWST's detectors.

Overall, AMI effectively doubles JWST's resolution. "This allows us to see images twice as sharp," Joel Sanchez-Bermudez, an astrophysicist at the National University of Mexico and co-author of the study, said in the statement. "Instead of Webb's 6.5-meter [21 feet] diameter, it's like we are observing this region with a 13-meter space telescope."

By doubling its resolution, JWST captured its sharpest-ever view of a 33-light-year-wide area at the center of Circinus. This unprecedented image allowed researchers to calculate that the majority — around 87% — of the excess infrared emissions come from the dusty disk that's actively feeding the central black hole; "the inner surface of the hole of the doughnut," Lopez-Rodriguez said via email. Whereas previous research had suggested that the excess may have come from hot dusty winds, or even the galaxy’s residual starlight, the team found that less than 1% of these emissions come from the energetic outflows streaming away from the SMBH.

The accretion may be extinguishing star formation in the center of Circinus, but confirming this will require a different type of JWST-based observation, Lopez-Rodriguez said.

An invaluable perspective

An illustration of the James Webb Space Telescope in orbit

(Image credit: Getty Images)

In addition to revealing previously hidden SMBH mechanics, this research highlights the potential of JWST-based interferometry for studying various celestial objects, including other active SMBHs at the cores of nearby galaxies. By increasing the sample size, astronomers hope to determine whether the infrared emissions from other SMBHs are due to their dusty disks or to their hot outflows.

"AMI has to be used — in order to get precious JWST time — on targets which cannot be done from the ground, or at wavelengths that are blocked by the Earth's atmosphere," study co-author Julien Girard, a senior research scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute, told Live Science via email.

AMI-based observations can better illuminate our own solar system; they recently offered a detailed look at the volcanoes on Jupiter's hellish moon Io, Girard added. So AMI can observe diverse cosmic objects of varying shapes and sizes, from moons oozing with lava to black holes obscured by dust. In the future, it could help astronomers detect moons around prominent asteroids or reveal the orbits and masses of multistar systems, Girard added.

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20-01-2026 om 16:40 geschreven door peter  

NASA reveals the sharpest EVER look at the edge of a black hole — and it could solve a long–standing galactic mystery

• READ MORE: NASA debunks conspiracy theory claiming Earth will lose gravity

By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

NASA has revealed the sharpest ever look at the edge of a black hole, and it could solve a decades–old galactic mystery.

Located 13 million light–years from Earth, the Circinus Galaxy is home to a supermassive black hole that is constantly blasting radiation into space.

The clouds of hot gas surrounding this black hole are so bright that seeing any real details has previously been all but impossible.

Now, NASA has used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to unveil the strange and powerful forces on the very edge of this black hole.

Supermassive black holes like the one in Circinus remain active by constantly consuming matter from the surrounding galaxy.

Scientists had observed that this process creates a huge amount of infrared energy, but most telescopes weren't sensitive enough to see where it was coming from.

Previously, scientists thought most of this radiation was coming from the black hole's 'outflow' – a stream of superheated matter fired out from the core.

Now, these new observations from the JWST have turned that expectation on its head.

NASA has revealed the closest ever look at the edge of a black hole 13 million light–years from Earth, and it could help solve a decades–old galactic mystery. Pictured: The new James Webb Space Telescope image overlaid on the Hubble image 

A black hole is the ultra–dense heart of a dead star where gravity is so strong that not even light can escape.

Supermassive black holes, like the one in the Circinus Galaxy, become 'active' by consuming vast quantities of matter from their surrounding galaxy.

As this matter falls inwards, it forms a dense doughnut–shaped ring called a torus that orbits the black hole.

A supermassive black hole gathers material from the torus' inner walls to form an accretion disc, a swirling whirlpool of matter that circles the black hole like water going down a drain.

This accretion disk starts to get hotter through friction until it begins to glow bright enough to show up on our telescopes.

At the same time, that intense energy blasts a large portion of the infalling matter out of the black hole's poles in the form of an outflow or black hole jet.

Although astronomers' models make predictions about how these different parts should interact, it is extremely difficult to see this process in action.

The light from the accretion disk blocks out any details, while the incredibly dense torus hides the inner region of infalling matter from view.

The Circinus galaxy is home to an active supermassive black hole that constantly blasts infrared radiation into space. However, scientists have struggled to determine exactly where around the black hole this radiation comes from 

Scientists would try to fit the different wavelengths of light they observed to the emissions from different regions of the black hole, but not everything could be made to fit neatly.

Most notably, some telescopes could detect an excess of infrared light coming from somewhere in the black hole, but didn't have the resolution to work out where it was coming from.

Lead author Dr Enrique Lopez–Rodriguez, of the University of South Carolina, says: 'Since the 90s, it has not been possible to explain excess infrared emissions that come from hot dust at the cores of active galaxies, meaning the models only take into account either the torus or the outflows, but cannot explain that excess.'

Models assumed that most of the mass, and therefore most of the emissions, would be in the outflow.

But to test this, astronomers needed a way to both filter out the interfering starlight and distinguish the infrared emissions of the torus from those of the outflows.

Luckily, the JWST offered an innovative solution to both of these problems.

The scientists used a tool called the Aperture Masking Interferometer, which essentially converts JWST into several smaller telescopes that all work together.

On Earth, interferometers are usually many different radio or optical telescopes that work together as if they were a single, enormous observatory.

Using a new technique, scientists were able to determine that most of the radiation is coming from a swirling doughnut of matter known as the taurus, not from the jet of ejected matter as previous studies had believed  

The JWST can replicate this same trick by using a special cover with seven hexagonal holes.

Dr Lopez–Rodriguez told the Daily Mail: 'Interferometry is the technique that provides us with the highest angular resolution possible.

'Using aperture masking interferometry with the JWST is like observing with a 13–meter space telescope instead of a 6.5–meter one.'

Gathering data with this technique, the scientists were able to create an image of the central region.

This is the first extragalactic observation from an infrared interferometer in space, and offers an unprecedented look into the core of an active galaxy.

Contrary to previous estimates, around 87 per cent of the infrared emissions from hot dust in Circinus come from the areas closest to the black hole, while the outflow contributes less than one per cent.

This is a total reversal of what had been predicted by astronomers' best models for supermassive black holes.

However, while the mystery of Circinus' black hole has been solved, there are billions more supermassive black holes out there in the universe.

These images were possible thanks to a technique that converts the James Webb Space Telescope's mirror (artist's impression) into several smaller lenses that all work together to provide extreme resolution in a very small area

Read More

• Black hole awakens after 100 million years of silence - and is erupting like a cosmic VOLCANO 

Circinus' accretion disc was only moderately bright, so it makes sense that the torus would dominate its emissions.

But for brighter black holes, the opposite might still be the case, and far more case studies will be needed.

With this research, astronomers found a technique to investigate any black holes they chose, so long as they are bright enough for the Aperture Masking Interferometer to be useful.

Dr Lopez–Rodriguez says: 'We need a statistical sample of black holes, perhaps a dozen or two dozen, to understand how mass in their accretion disks and their outflows relate to their power.'

BLACK HOLES HAVE A GRAVITATIONAL PULL SO STRONG NOT EVEN LIGHT CAN ESCAPE

Black holes are so dense and their gravitational pull is so strong that no form of radiation can escape them - not even light.

They act as intense sources of gravity which hoover up dust and gas around them. Their intense gravitational pull is thought to be what stars in galaxies orbit around.

How they are formed is still poorly understood. Astronomers believe they may form when a large cloud of gas up to 100,000 times bigger than the sun, collapses into a black hole.

Many of these black hole seeds then merge to form much larger supermassive black holes, which are found at the centre of every known massive galaxy.

Alternatively, a supermassive black hole seed could come from a giant star, about 100 times the sun's mass, that ultimately forms into a black hole after it runs out of fuel and collapses.

When these giant stars die, they also go 'supernova', a huge explosion that expels the matter from the outer layers of the star into deep space. 

Sharpest Black Hole Image Ever Captured 😱 | XRISM

What's Special About a Black Hole's Edge?

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20-01-2026 om 16:27 geschreven door peter  

Story by Olivia Harper

“His name would probably have been in Aramaic: Yeshua.” In this single statement, Professor Dineke Houtman returns a familiar character to an alien environment, one in which “Jesus” was not yet a word, in which a Galilean village might well have been home to more than one language.

Image Credit to wikipedia.org

In first-century Galilee, the language was Aramaic, a Semitic language closely related to Hebrew that was in common usage in the area. The first communities, in and around Nazareth and Capernaum, were Aramaic-speaking, and these communities are reflected in the Gospels in tiny, glancing moments: prayers, nicknames, and imperative verbs written in Greek but reflecting an earlier pronunciation. Candida Moss supplies a further, subversive, fact: “Most scholars also accept that his name was Yeshua or perhaps Yeshu, which was a very common name in first-century Galilee.” The word common is the pivot. The historical Jesus did not have a proper, trademark-style name; he shared one with his contemporaries.

It is its very ordinariness, its rootedness in the everyday, which helps explain the importance of the linguistic change. With the movement expanding beyond the Aramaic-speaking community, the name Jesus necessarily entered Greek, the alphabet of the eastern Mediterranean and the language of the New Testament itself. Greek offered its own set of restrictions. There is no “sh” sound, and the language doesn’t favor the masculine name suffix “-ah.” This is not translation but adaptation, and Yeshua became Iesous, the spelling which fit Greek hearing and syntax. Later, Latin reduced the spelling of Iesous to Iesus, and the English version of the name eventually changed the first letter from “I,” which didn’t exist in ancient times and entered the alphabet late, to “J,” which is the letter it is today.

Names, after all, rarely travel alone. The second half of “Jesus Christ” carried a different kind of freight.

• Related video: Did Jesus have a twin brother? byTimeless Tales

“Christ” is not a surname but a title, taken from the Greek christos, or “anointed one.” In Jewish tradition, anointing denoted kings and prieststhe mark of their position was oil. “Christ” was a way of indicating that Jesus was the anticipated messiah, and in some of the oldest texts of the New Testament, such as the letters of Paul, the title is simply assumed to be known, and “Christ” is used as if it were a name that did not belong to another person. In such a linguistic gesture, a claim resides quietly within the grammar: a title becomes a name because of the way a community repeats it as if it could not possibly belong to another person.

However, this combination of title and given name also accounts for what confuses us today. “Jesus” has a unitary, specific ring to it, while “Christ” has an last-name finality to it, though it was really an announcementYeshua, the anointed one. The longer, more regional versions of it, “Yeshua” or “Yeshu,” can have a jarring quality to them not because they represent a different person but because they remind us of proportions man to place to origins, not last names.

There is also a second, less comfortable form of afterlife in those earlier traditions as well. In later Jewish literature, “Yeshu” is found as a name associated with discourses about identity and demarcation, and even who or what “Yeshu” is is in question. The use of “Yeshu” in rabbinic literature, and any connection of Jesus with people named Yeshu, has been characterized as being quite complex in historical terms, with more than one figure and timeline at work. This is only true in general, however, insofar as names in antiquity are tools of society before they are symbols of theology.

Rather than a pure sound that is passed down through each alphabetic handoff, it is a striving to declare the same person in different rooms. The transition from Yeshua through Iesous to Iesus and finally Jesus illustrates how a religion that reached out also had to be able to be pronounced that is, without relinquishing the claim implicit within its name.

 

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20-01-2026 om 16:03 geschreven door peter  

19-01-2026 om 22:36 geschreven door peter