What would happen day by day if aliens made contact with earth, according to ex-NASA expert

By ROB WAUGH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

It’s a moment that’s been depicted countless times in science fiction — but what would actually happen when extraterrestrials make contact via a signal picked up on Earth?

The moment could come as early as the end of this decade: if aliens receive signals sent by NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) to the Pioneer 10 satellite in the 70s, for example.

When the moment comes, the signal is most likely to be received by large ground-based telescopes such as FAST in China, the Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico and the Parkes Telescope in Australia, says former NASA expert Sylvester Kaczmarek.

Day One

There is no universally agreed rule on how scientists or governments would respond - or on questions such as whether aliens would have rights.

But extraterrestrial-focused organisations including the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) drew up a framework in 2010.

Rather than immediately announce the finding to the world, scientists would work to confirm it was real - first ruling out interference from earth such as satellites and radio transmissions.

A mysterious signal at the Parkes Radio Telescope in the 90s was discovered to be a microwave oven in the staff canteen.

Kaczmarek says: ‘For a signal to be considered potentially extraterrestrial, researchers would typically require multiple layers of confirmation and analysis, often over several weeks or months. 

The signal is most likely to be received by large ground-based telescopes such as the Parkes Telescope in Australia

(pictured) 

'The signal would need to demonstrate properties inconsistent with natural astrophysical sources and human-made interference.’ 

In SETI’s ‘Declaration of Principles Concerning the Conduct of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence’, published in 2010 with the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), the guidelines suggest discoverers should collaborate with other institutions to be sure the signal is real.

Nothing would be announced until confirmed, although the scientists would respond to media queries if news ‘leaked’.

Week One (after confirmation)

Scientists at the observatory would notify organizations such as the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Kaczmarek says that while organizations such as SETI have their own strategies for first contact in the event of sudden contact, organizations with expertise in space communication like NASA, and the ESA would almost certainly get involved.

WEEK ONE: Once scientists are certain, the discovery would be shared - probably through a public announcement including a press release and scientific publication, telling the world aliens have been discovered

Seth Shostak of SETI, which has a plan for what will happen when an alien signal is received

Kaczmarek says: ‘Governments would also become quickly involved, particularly those with advanced space programs or defense capabilities, like the US Space Force or equivalent agencies. 

'However, in such a scenario, there would likely be confusion and competing interests before a unified global strategy emerged.’

Once scientists are certain, the discovery would be shared - probably through a public announcement including a press release and scientific publication, Kaczmarek says,

Kaczmarek says: ‘This transparency could be delayed depending on geopolitical or security concerns, especially if governments or defense agencies got involved.'

But once the secret is out, it's bound to leak so governments will likely try get ahead of the panic and confusion that would ensue.  

Week Two

One of the first things would happen would be to ‘protect’ the frequency the signal was received on to ensure more signals could be received.

WEEK TWO: Chaos erupts across the globe after learning about the alien signal

Scientists would use emergency procedures within the World Administrative Radio Council of the International Telecommunication Union.

SETI’s guidelines suggest establishing a Post-Detection Study Group to analyze the signal and start discussions of how to respond.

At this point, it’s likely that the United Nations would become involved in deciphering the signal and working out how to respond.

Kaczmarek says, ‘In principle, the United Nations would play a central role in any coordinated global response. 

Sylvester Kaczmarek is a former NASA space and AI expert

'The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is the most likely body to lead, as it oversees the peaceful use of outer space and has existing treaties, like the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, that cover international cooperation in space.'

Scientists and governments would work together at this point to understand where the signal came from, what it means - and whether or not to respond.

Week Three

The response to alien contact would vary according to what form it took: a visit from a spacecraft would require a direct response, says Kaczmarek.

But a signal received from the depths of space would require ‘long-term planning’ to respond to.

It’s likely that responding to such a signal would be a global decision, according to the Declaration of Principles Concerning the Conduct of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

Rather than the scientists or any one group formulating a response, the scientists would seek guidance from global groups such as the United Nations.

The document says, “In the case of the confirmed detection of a signal, signatories to this declaration will not respond without first seeking guidance and consent of a broadly representative international body, such as the United Nations.”

When will we hear from aliens? 

The SETI Project is still optimistic that aliens will be found in the near future.

Seth Shostak, 80, has been the senior astronomer at the SETI project (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) for almost a quarter of a century.

He has famously bet that the human race will hear from intelligent aliens by 2036 - and believes it is likely due to steady improvements in telescope technology and computing hardware.

In a recent Reddit AMA, Shostak said, ‘The trend of improving hardware - mostly computers -- has proceeded unabated. I'm still betting on a signal by 2036.’

Shostak also argues that recent research showing that there could be billions of Earth-like worlds means that it’s highly unlikely that Earth is the only one with life.

Shostak says, “That may be the strongest argument for life in space. Because, if there isn’t any, there’s something really exceptional about what’s happened here on Earth. While that’s not ruled out by the data, it does seem a little self-centered.”

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02-12-2024 om 21:45 geschreven door peter  

Hopes of finding life on Venus are DASHED - as scientists claim Earth's 'evil twin' has never had liquid water on its surface

• READ MORE: Scientists detect traces of signs of microbial life in Venus' clouds

By WILIAM HUNTER

For decades, scientists have held onto the idea that Venus may be home to alien life.

But a new study has dashed those hopes - as scientists claim that Earth's 'evil twin' has never had liquid water on its surface.

By studying the composition of the planet's atmosphere, researchers from the University of Cambridge found that Venus has likely been dry for its entire history.

Without liquid water, it is almost impossible that life as we know it could have formed on the planet.

This discovery suggests that Venus may be at the very limit of the sun's habitable zone, narrowing down the area in which life as we know it could be found.

However, the researchers say that the search for life on Venus is not necessarily over.

Lead researcher Tereza Constantinou, a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, told MailOnline: 'While this rules out Earth-like life, it leaves open the intriguing possibility of extreme, unconventional life forms thriving in Venus’s hostile cloud environment.

'Any potential life in the Venusian clouds would have originated and evolved under entirely different conditions, perhaps adapted to survive in sulfuric acid clouds — so very much life as we do not know it.'

Scientists have dashed hopes that Venus (pictured) might be home to alien life as a new study shows that the planet has always been dry and inhabitable 

Venus is the closest planet to Earth and is only 24 million miles closer to the sun. Venus and Earth are often called 'sister planets' due to their similarities in mass, size, and density but have evolved very differently 

Venus and Earth are often called 'sister planets' due to their similarities in mass, size, density, and distance from the sun.

Yet despite their similar origins, the sister planets could not have grown into more different siblings.

While Earth is rich in liquid water and maintains an oxygen-rich atmosphere, Venus is a boiling-hot hell planet.

Ms Constantinou says: 'Venus now has surface conditions that are extreme compared to Earth, with an atmospheric pressure 90 times greater, surface temperatures soaring to around 460°C (860°F), and a toxic atmosphere mainly composed of carbon dioxide and with sulfuric acid clouds.'

However, based on climate models, scientists believe there are two paths Venus might have taken to end up this way.

In one scenario, Venus began its life rich in liquid water until a runaway greenhouse effect caused by volcanic eruptions led to temperatures spiralling out of control.

In the other, Venus has always been a dry, inhospitable planet and never had the conditions to support liquid water.

In order to investigate which of these stories is more likely, Ms Constantinou and her colleagues looked at the current composition of the Venusian atmosphere.

Scientists believe that Venus could have evolved into its current form (right) in one of two ways. Either it started covered in liquid water oceans (bottom) before a runaway greenhouse effect made it inhospitably hot, or it was always a dry planet (top) as H20 was driven out of the atmosphere into space

The researchers calculated the chemical content of Venus' volcanic eruptions (illustrated). On Earth, these are 80 per cent water due to the planets high moisture content while those on Venus only contained six per cent water by volume 

On any volcanically active planet, the interior and exterior are in a constant state of chemical communication.

Since gases are constantly escaping from the atmosphere into space, these chemicals need to be replaced from within the planet for the atmosphere to remain stable.

When volcanoes erupt they release gases from inside the planet to replace those being lost into space.

This means that by working out how fast chemicals leave the atmosphere and comparing that to the chemicals which remain, astronomers can work out what the conditions inside the planet are like.

On Earth, volcanic eruptions are around 80 per cent steam due to our planet’s water-rich interior.

If Venus had once been covered in oceans, we would expect to see its volcanic eruptions also produce large amounts of water vapour.

However, in their paper published in Nature Astronomy, the researchers found that Venusian eruptions only contain about six per cent water by volume, suggesting that the planet has been dry all along.

This pours cold water on the idea that there might be Earth-like organisms eeking out a precarious living in the Venusian atmosphere.

By looking at the gases in Venus' atmosphere, researchers predict that the interior of the planet contains low levels of moisture. This suggests that the planet was never home to oceans capable of supporting life. Pictured: A NASA image of the Venusian surface 

What signs of life have been found in Venus' clouds?

• Ammonia - on Earth produced by decay of plant and animal matter 
• Phosphine - produced by microbes in the absence of O2 and released from decay of organic matter

(Phosphine was originally found in Venus' clouds in 2020 but the findings were discredited)

Ms Constantinou says: 'One theory for how life may now exist in the clouds, is that it migrated upwards from a once habitable surface.

'In this scenario, with a warming planet going through a runaway greenhouse effect, as the oceans evaporated and the surface became uninhabitable, life would have migrated to a habitable niche in the clouds.

'However, the absence of water oceans in Venus’s past suggests Venus never experienced the conditions necessary to develop and sustain Earth-like life -- the planet was never habitable.'

These findings contradict some earlier studies which have shown promising suggestions that life may exist on the planet.

For example, this year researchers confirmed traces of ammonia and phosphine in the planet's clouds – two potential 'biomarkers' that are indicative of life.

On Earth, these compounds are produced by the decomposition of organic matter.

Because there are currently no other known natural processes for its production on Venus, it could be being produced by something scientists aren't aware of.

The ammonia was discovered in the upper reaches of the atmosphere, where it is too cold for life to form.

Although Venus (pictured) was likely to have always been dry, the researchers suggest that some exotic forms of life could have evolved to survive in the clouds of sulphuric acid which make up much of the atmosphere 

But some scientists suggest it could have been formed at lower, warmer altitudes before rising to its current position.

Read More

• OceanGate co-founder claims he can 'safely' send humans to Venus - despite the doomed Titan voyage 

However, if Venus really has been dry for its entire history, these biomarkers must have been produced by a non-biological process or by a form of life totally different to that on Earth.

At the end of this decade, NASA's DAVINCI mission will launch a probe into the Venusian atmosphere to learn more about its chemical composition.

Likewise, the Chinese space program recently announced plans to bring samples of the planet's atmosphere back to Earth by 2035.

Between them, these two missions could finally settle the question of whether Venus was once wet and habitable or dry and lifeless.

CARBON DIOXIDE AND SULPHURIC ACID DROPLETS FEATURE IN THE ATMOSPHERE OF VENUS

Venus's atmosphere consists mainly of carbon dioxide, with clouds of sulphuric acid droplets. 

The thick atmosphere traps the sun's heat, resulting in surface temperatures higher than 470°C (880°F).

The atmosphere has many layers with different temperatures. 

At the level where the clouds are, about 30 miles (50 km) up from the surface, it's about the same temperature as on the surface of the Earth.

As Venus moves forward in its solar orbit while slowly rotating backwards on its axis, the top level of clouds zips around the planet every four Earth days.

They are driven by hurricane-force winds travelling at about 224 miles (360 km) per hour. 

Atmospheric lightning bursts light up these quick-moving clouds. 

Speeds within the clouds decrease with cloud height, and at the surface are estimated to be just a few miles (km) per hour.

On the ground, it would look like a very hazy, overcast day on Earth and the atmosphere is so heavy it would feel like you were one mile (1.6km) deep underwater.

VIDEOS

Why is Venus Called Earth’s Evil Twin? We Asked a NASA Scientist

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02-12-2024 om 21:29 geschreven door peter  

Scientists make discovery on Mars that could reveal alien life

• READ MORE:  NASA spots 'spiderwebs' on Mars that could be linked to aliens

By ELLYN LAPOINTE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Scientists have made a discovery about Mars that could lead to uncovering alien life.

They identified an 1,800-mile-wide plain in the northern hemisphere that has the right subsurface conditions to support living organisms.

The region - called Acidalia Planitia - contains just the right levels of water, heat and energy in its soil for alien bacteria to thrive. 

The next step is to drill into the Martian surface to see if life truly has sprung there.

'[It is] a promising target area for future missions in the search for extant life in Mars' subsurface,' the researchers, led Andrea Butturini of the University of Barcelona, wrote.   

But researchers would have to dig miles below the Red Planet. This would require major crewed missions and technologies that are not likely to be achievable for years to come.

This study, however, brings scientists one step closer to finding definitive proof of live beyond Earth by zeroing-in on a location where microbial life could exist.

What's more, it lays the groundwork for future studies that could settle an 'intense debate' about the presence of methane in the Red Planet's atmosphere.

Alien bacteria may be lurking 2.5 to 5.5 miles beneath the surface of a Martian plain called Acidalia Planitia, a new study has found

That's because the alien life forms that the researchers believe could live beneath Acidalia Planitia are methanogens, or methane-producing bacteria.

Methanogens are extremophiles - bacteria that thrive in extreme environmental conditions such as very high temperatures, ultra-salty water or even high levels of radiation. 

On Earth, methanogens typically dwell in swamps and marshes but can also be found in the guts of cows, termites and other herbivores, as well as in dead and decaying organic matter. 

These microorganisms are anaerobic, which means they do not need oxygen to survive. They can also survive without organic nutrients or sunlight. 

In 2028, the European Space Agency (ESA) plans to launch their Rosalind Franklin rover, previously known as the ExoMars rover. 

This will include a drill that can dig roughly seven feet into the Martian surface.

But that's not nearly deep enough to access the potentially habitable depth Butturini and his colleagues identified.

The Martian surface is inhospitable due to extremely cold temperatures and low pressure that not even extremophiles could survive.

But below the surface, the radioactive decay of elements such as thorium - a radioactive metal - produces heat and chemical energy. What's more, water left behind from ancient oceans is buried within the Red Planet.

These conditions could provide the ingredients for bacterial life - but likely up to five miles below. 

Butturini, a biogeochemist the University of Barcelona, and his colleagues used data from Mars orbiters to locate regions where abundant thorium could provide life-sustaining energy.

Methanogens are extremophiles - bacteria that thrive in extreme environmental conditions such as very high temperatures, ultra-salty water or even high levels of radiation

In 2028, the European Space Agency plans to launch their Rosalind Franklin rover, previously known as the ExoMars rover, which will include a drill 

Read More

• Elon Musk's mission to Mars could RUIN the Red Planet, scientist warns - as the SpaceX CEO reveals plans to set up a city there by 2054 

They then matched this data with the distribution of subsurface ice previously mapped by missions such as the Chinese Zhurong rover.

This analysis revealed that the 'most robust target area is the southern Acidalia Planitia at mid latitude,' located near a region of clay and carbonate deposits with signs of groundwater activity.

At this underground location, temperatures are higher than they are on the surface, averaging between 32 to 50°F. 

That means liquid water could be mixed into the Martian soil. And where there is liquid water, bacterial life can grow. 

The findings are currently available on the pre-print server arXiv, which means the study has yet to be reviewed by other scientists. 

But the research is already gaining attention from the scientific community, as it provides a specific location on which to focus the search for extraterrestrial life.

'The subsurface of the southern of Acidalia Planitia is a putative target region for hosting cold-adapted Methanosarcinaceae-like and/or Methanomicrobiaceae-like methanogens,' the study reads.

'In this region, the radiogenic heat-producing elements are at the highest abundance and subsurface water is likely.'

If the researchers' theory eventually proves correct, it would not only lead to the groundbreaking discovery of alien life on Mars, but it would also provide indirect evidence for the presence of biologically-generated methane in the Martian atmosphere.

Observations of methane in the Martian atmosphere have been reported since 1999, but they have always been conflicting. These measurements show highly variable methane concentrations, with global averages ranging from five to 33 parts per billion-volume.

Specifically, the discrepancy between measurements taken by NASA's Curiosity rover and the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter.

While Curiosity has detected methane in the Martian atmosphere, the ExoMars orbiter has not. This has sparked a heated debate within the scientific community.

Finding methanogens living below the surface of Mars would be strong evidence to suggest that the Red Planet's atmosphere does, in fact, contain methane at least partly generated by microbial processes. 

Methanogens produce methane as a by-product of their metabolism.  

Alternatively, atmospheric methane could stem from nonbiological processes such as volcanic or hydrothermal activity. Or, it could not exist at all. 

Though this debate is still far from settled, identifying locations where microbial life could exist on Mars brings scientists closer to understanding the true composition of the Red Planet's atmosphere and finding alien life.

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02-12-2024 om 21:09 geschreven door peter  

'Cataclysmic' collision of giant asteroids is discovered by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope around a nearby star - and it only happened 20 years ago, scientists say

• Collision between asteroids 20 years ago occurred in Beta Pictoris star system
• READ MORE: NASA's James Webb telescope finds the most distant galaxy

By JONATHAN CHADWICK FOR MAILONLINE 

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope was built to 'see back in time', up to a whopping 13.5 billion years ago – but its latest discovery is surprisingly recent.

Just 20 years ago, a collision occurred between two asteroids orbiting Beta Pictoris, a star 63 light-years from Earth, the $10 billion observatory reveals. 

This 'cataclysmic' impact event pulverized the two rocky bodies into fine dust particles 'smaller than pollen or powdered sugar', astronomers say. 

Collectively, these dust particles were about 100,000 times the size of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs around 66 million years ago. 

In our own solar system, asteroids collide with each other and even with planets, posing a threat to lifeforms – although as it stands there's no known worlds orbiting Beta Pictoris that could host aliens. 

Two different space telescopes took snapshots 20 years apart of the same area around a star called Beta Pictoris. Scientists theorize that a massive amount of dust detected in 2004 and 2005 by the Spitzer Space Telescope indicates a collision of asteroids that had largely cleared by the time the James Webb Space Telescope captured its images in 2023

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (pictured) was built to 'see back in time', up to a whopping 13.5 billion years ago - but its latest discovery is surprisingly recent

It was 20 years ago that NASA's now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope observed a 'massive amount of dust' around Beta Pictoris. 

Artist's impression depicts gas planet Beta Pictoris b in the foreground orbiting its star (Beta Pictoris)

Spitzer (artist's impression) was one of NASA's four Great Observatories - large, powerful space-based astronomical telescopes that were launched between 1990 and 2003

Along with Hubble, Compton and Chandra, Spitzer was one of NASA's four Great Observatories – large, powerful space telescopes launched between 1990 and 2003. 

At the time, it was thought that the dust around Beta Pictoris was from a constant stream created by two small rocky bodies grinding against each other. 

But after studying the same area 20 years later with the James Webb telescope, Chen and colleagues found the dust had gone. 

They think a massive collision between two asteroids created the ultra-fine dust grains, which gradually dispersed into space.

'We think all that dust is what we saw initially in the Spitzer data from 2004 and 2005,' said Chen. 

'With Webb's new data, the best explanation we have is that, in fact, we witnessed the aftermath of an infrequent, cataclysmic event between large asteroid-size bodies.' 

If rocky planets do exist in orbit around Beta Pictoris, they are yet to be found – or yet to form. 

But the findings suggest this faraway system may be going through a similar process of planetary formation that our solar system went though over 4 billion years ago. 

In young solar systems such as Beta Pictoris, 'early turmoil' can influence the atmospheres, water content and other key aspects of habitability that can eventually develop on their planets. 

The team also tip their hats to Spitzer, without which the dust from the collision would not have been detected.  

'Most discoveries by James Webb Space Telescope come from things the telescope has detected directly,' said co-author Cicero Lu, a former Johns Hopkins doctoral student in astrophysics.

'In this case, the story is a little different because our results come from what James Webb did not see.' 

The new insights are being presented on Monday at the 244th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Madison, Wisconsin. 

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02-12-2024 om 20:46 geschreven door peter  

NASA spots mysterious 'UFO galaxies' hidden in deep space

• READ MORE: 'Cataclysmic' collision of giant asteroids is discovered by NASA

By MATTHEW PHELAN SENIOR SCIENCE REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Astronomers have discovered mysterious 'UFO galaxies' that appear as red, glowing disc-shaped objects in the blackness of space.

They found evidence of 56 'Ultra-red Flattened Objects' after analyzing data collected by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which had eluded older telescopes, like Hubble, for decades.

The UFO galaxies were likely hidden by clouds of dust and debris that surround them, masking the light from their inner star systems.

However, JWST features advanced technology, such as its infrared-light detection, enabled it to capture stunning images of these glowing discs, some located in regions closer to our own Milky Way galaxy than astronomers had thought they'd already mapped.

Drawing on these images and computer simulations, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder (UCB) suggested that UFO galaxies are similar in size and shape to the Milky Way but are 'much dustier.'

Lead author Justus Gibson said: 'JWST allows us to see this type of galaxy that we never would have been able to see before.' 

'It tells us that maybe we didn't understand the universe as well as we thought.'

Gibson also explained that UFO galaxies appear red because they emit very little visible light. Most of the light escaping from these galaxies is infrared radiation, and the small amount of visible light they emit is at the limit of what human eyes can perceive.

NASA spots mysterious 'UFOs' hidden in deep space

Above, two images depicting the same region of space show how the 'UFO galaxies' evaded detection from past telescopes. The top image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope failed to spot the infrared heat signal that the James Webb Space Telescope image, below it, picked up

Researchers identified a total of 56 UFO galaxies - most likely hidden due to clouds of dust and debris that mask the light from their inner star systems. Above, four more examples of infrared emitting UFO galaxies that were hidden from Hubble (HST) but visible to the James Webb (JWST)

A suite of computer simulations, neural network emulators and mathematical models was used to determine the shapes of these large, red UFO galaxies. 

The team concluded that they come in forms such as classic 'flying saucers' (discs) and rugby ball-shaped 'prolate spheroids.'

Each of these massive, red light- and infrared radiation-emitting galaxies, the researchers discovered, contains roughly 50 times more dust than our own galaxy, the Milky Way.

Study co-author Erica Nelson remarked: 'Why on Earth do these galaxies have so much more dust than all the other galaxies? Got me.'

The researchers considered data from the vast array of better-documented galaxies before feeling confident in their conclusion: the stars and planets within these UFO galaxies are hidden by thick clouds of dust.

The team rigorously compared this data to the total mass of stars in each UFO galaxy (its stellar mass) and the changes in the quality of light and infrared radiation emitted at each galaxy's center compared to its edges.

The results provided a clear indication that the faint red light emitted by these UFO galaxies is due to masking by dust and debris—rather than the faint light typical of very distant galaxies billions of light-years away, which are thought to have formed during the universe's earliest epochs.

'UFOs have red colors throughout the extent of their bodies but still possess slight negative color gradients, with outskirts that are less red than the interiors,' the said.

'These color gradients are likely driven by increased central dust concentration and not by the ages of the stellar populations,' they concluded in their study, published this October in The Astrophysical Journal.

Above, more examples of the 56 known UFO galaxies, with one comparatively 'dust free' galaxy in the top left, published by the researchers for the sake of comparison

Above, another bright-red UFO galaxy taken by James Webb. 'It tells us that maybe we didn't understand the universe as well as we thought,' the study's lead author Justus Gibson said

Changes in the gradients of red and infrared light, as well as similar measurements from nearby brighter and bluer galaxies, helped the team to also estimate the rate at which new stars form inside these UFO galaxies, another factor that might impact the light they emit.

'The population of UFOs studied here are not extreme objects in regard to the stellar mass, SFR [star formation rates], or redshift,' Gibson and his co-authors wrote. 

The once hidden UFOs were thus simply, 'thoroughly red objects whose optical faintness is largely driven by dust.'

'They're so visually striking,' said Nelson, assistant professor of astrophysics at CU Boulder. 

'They're enormous red disks that pop up in these images, and they were totally unexpected. They make you say, 'What? How?'' 

Three other ultra-massive, red-light emitting galaxies dubbed 'Red Monsters' — each nearly as big as the Milky Way — were also discovered this month, much farther away from Earth and closer to the site of the Big Bang.  

The international team of astronomers who published that find used similar methods to determine that their infrared radiating galaxies were most likely dust free, giants  far away from Earth in both time and space.

Both the Red Monster and the UFO galaxies, the researchers noted, challenge current ideas of how galaxies form.

The Red Monsters show that galaxies formed much earlier than previously calculated and the UFOs show that gravity may not pool all the matter that swirls a young galaxy together into neatly defined planets and stars, leaving a lot of dust and debris behind.

'They make you say: 'What? How?'' Dr Nelson said. 'They're so visually striking [...] They're enormous red discs that pop up in these images, and they were totally unexpected.'

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02-12-2024 om 20:28 geschreven door peter  

By ALEXA CIMINO FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

A thermal video captured a 'pair of UFOs' flying over the coast of Northern California, stumping locals and experts alike.

On Friday, Reddit user @louthegoon posted the video to the 'The UFOs Subreddit' - a forum for UFO discussions where people can talk about sightings, experiences, news and investigations.

He recorded the video from Pacifica, California, on November 29 at 10:29 pm, which features 'two solid heat-objects flying in tandem'.

Midway through the video, the scorching hot objects can be seen rotating in unison while maintaining a consistent distance between them.

After the footage went viral, some Reddit users in the comments expressed disbelief.

'They move kind of like birds though,' one user commented, to which @louthegoon responded, 'I'm interested in hearing why you believe they are birds.'

'I don't think it is an osprey because if it was we wouldn't see negative space between these heat-objects,' he said, adding that the way in which the objects moved 'gives off a robotic feeling' when they rotate.

The video comes just weeks after a photo of four gleaming lights above the United States Capitol building sparked fears that an alien invasion may be finally starting to materialize.

A thermal video captured a 'pair of UFOs ' flying over California

The video comes just weeks after a photo of four gleaming lights above the United States Capitol building sparked fears that an alien invasion may be finally starting to materialize

The photo, captured at night just outside Congress with the Capitol Hill dome in view, was taken by Dennis Diggins, a U.S. Air Force veteran who now works as a licensed tour guide and professional travel director in the Washington, D.C., area.

In the image, the triangular formation of lights appears to hover mere feet above the 'Statue of Freedom' atop the Capitol dome.

As fate would have it, this sighting occurred just weeks after a pair of high-profile public hearings in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, where lawmakers questioned current and former Pentagon officials about intelligence regarding what were once called "flying saucers."

During the House hearing, lawmakers reviewed an unsettling report claiming the existence of an illegal "Unacknowledged Special Access Program" named Immaculate Constellation, allegedly designed to "detect, quarantine and transfer" UFO data away from public scrutiny.

While some eagerly sought video evidence to connect this latest sighting to the broader UFO debate on Capitol Hill, others dismissed the speculative frenzy surrounding the mysterious lights.

A week earlier, a 10-minute video was shared on the subreddit, showing a swarm of UFOs near an Afghan military base that appeared completely unaffected after being struck by missiles.

The footage begins with the camera scanning the flat terrain surrounding the base before zooming in on distant mountains, where four black dots hovered in the sky.

Moments later, the camera captured a closer view of the mysterious orbs, which appeared to be dripping fuel beneath them.

A swarm of UFOs were seen completely unaffected after being hit by a missile outside of an Afghanistan military base - and the 10-minute was shared on Reddit

Many Reddit users initially thought the dots were flares, but the camera later switches from FLIR mode to normal vision - revealing that the orbs were glowing multi-colored dots that rigidly moved in a spatial relationship with each other

A short-range missile then entered the frame from the top right, striking through two of the levitating orbs. 

Despite the apparent impact and brief explosions, the orbs remained unharmed as the debris dissipates into the air.

Initially, many viewers speculated that the peculiar dots were either training targets or flares.

As the video nears the six-minute mark, the camera transitions from FLIR — a thermal imaging technology that creates infrared visuals — to standard vision.

The camera switch showed how the orbs were actually glowing multi-colored dots, with pink, orange, purple, and yellow hues pulsating as they flew across the sky.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

01-12-2024 om 23:51 geschreven door peter  

NASA’s Europa Clipper Spacecraft Deploying Its Instruments

NASA’s Europa Clipper — the largest spacecraft NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission — is already 20 million km (13 million miles) from Earth.

An artist’s concept of NASA’s Europa Clipper shows the spacecraft in silhouette against the surface of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, with the magnetometer boom fully deployed at top and the antennas for the radar instrument extending out from the solar arrays.

Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Europa Clipper lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on October 14, 2024.

The spacecraft is zooming along at 35 km per second (22 miles per second) relative to the Sun.

Europa Clipper will travel 2.9 billion km (1.8 billion miles) to arrive at Jupiter in 2030 and in 2031 will begin a series of 49 flybys, using a suite of instruments to gather data that will tell scientists if the icy moon and its internal ocean have the conditions needed to harbor life.

For now, the information mission teams are receiving from the spacecraft is strictly engineering data, telling them how the hardware is operating.

Shortly after launch, Europa Clipper deployed its massive solar arrays, which extend the length of a basketball court.

Next on the list was the magnetometer’s boom, which uncoiled from a canister mounted on the spacecraft body, extending a full 8.5 m (28 feet).

To confirm that all went well with the boom deployment, the team relied on data from the magnetometer’s three sensors.

Once the spacecraft is at Jupiter, these sensors will measure the magnetic field around Europa, both confirming the presence of the ocean thought to be under the moon’s icy crust and telling scientists about its depth and salinity.

After the magnetometer, the spacecraft deployed several antennas for the radar instrument.

Now extending crosswise from the solar arrays, the four high-frequency antennas form what look like two long poles, each measuring 17.6 m (57.7 feet) long.

Eight rectangular very-high-frequency antennas, each 2.76 m (9 feet) long, were also deployed — two on the two solar arrays.

“It’s an exciting time on the spacecraft, getting these key deployments done,” said Europa Clipper project manager Jordan Evans, a researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“Most of what the team is focusing on now is understanding the small, interesting things in the data that help them understand the behavior of the spacecraft on a deeper level. That’s really good to see.”

The remaining seven instruments will be powered on and off through December and January so that engineers can check their health.

Several instruments, including the visible imager and the gas and dust mass spectrometers, will keep their protective covers closed for the next three or so years to guard against potential damage from the Sun during Europa Clipper’s time in the inner Solar System.

Once all the instruments and engineering subsystems have been checked out, mission teams will shift their focus to Mars.

On March 1, 2025, Europa Clipper will reach Mars’ orbit and begin to loop around the Red Planet, using the planet’s gravity to gain speed.

Mission navigators already have completed one trajectory correction maneuver, as planned, to get the spacecraft on the precise course.

At Mars, they plan to turn on the spacecraft’s thermal imager to capture multicolored images of Mars as a test operation.

They also plan to collect data with the radar instrument so engineers can be sure it’s operating as expected.

The spacecraft will perform another gravity assist in December 2026, swooping by Earth before making the remainder of the long journey to the Jupiter system.

At that time, the magnetometer will measure Earth’s magnetic field, calibrating the instrument.

VIDEOS

ç https://www.sci.news/ }

01-12-2024 om 21:18 geschreven door peter  

A security camera recently captured an eerie scene that has left people intrigued and spooked. In the footage, recorded at dawn, a mysterious figure dressed in white appears near a large vehicle. What makes the video even stranger is the reaction of two nearby dogs, who seem unusually distressed and unsettled by the presence. 

While the exact location in Mexico where this happened hasn’t been confirmed, many are already speculating about the figure’s identity. Some believe it could be La Llorona, the legendary weeping woman from Mexican folklore. La Llorona is said to wander in sorrow, mourning her lost children, and has been the focus of countless ghost stories over the years. 

Others have suggested a different explanation, claiming the figure resembles a "nightcrawler," a strange cryptid reportedly known for its bizarre appearance. 

Skeptics, however, argue that it might just be a person caught in an unusual moment, and the dogs’ reactions could be explained by their heightened senses picking up on something out of the ordinary. Still, the dogs' unsettling behavior has sparked debate about whether the encounter might have been something paranormal. 

For now, the true nature of the figure remains a mystery.

{ https://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

01-12-2024 om 20:56 geschreven door peter  

'It's hard not to believe he saw something': Historian Greg Eghigian on how UFOs took over the world

Ben Turner: A lot of people assume UFOs entered public consciousness with the Roswell incident. But your book says otherwise. When did it all begin?

Greg Eghigian: I think when we look at this as a social phenomenon — not just simply someone saw something strange in the sky, but that the object was made by somebody, and that one of the probable scenarios is they were extraterrestrials — we can mark the moment that starts to evolve in June 24, 1947.

The private pilot Kenneth Arnold sees these objects [that day] over Washington state when he's flying his plane. He lands and reports it to the military and to journalists. When asked how they flew, he answered that these things flew kind of like saucers skipping across the water. Then, within a day or two, a journalist comes up with this great headline: "Flying saucers."

Once we had flying saucers, everything else fell into place.

BT: But then Roswell happened just a few weeks later. How did a fairly small city in New Mexico become famous all over the world for UFOs, while Arnold's name remains relatively unknown?

GE: Here's the thing about Roswell that a lot of people don't realize. The story that came out of Roswell is that some material had been retrieved around an Air Force base there that they believe could be from a crashed flying saucer.

Within a day, the Air Force rolls that back, saying that it's not the case, the people who first found it were mistaken. The reality is that the people who were on the ground and found this stuff were not terribly qualified to talk about it.

They didn't understand what they had, literally, in their hands, and the people who usually dealt with the material were actually off at a conference. When they did finally get a chance to look at it, they said, "Oh this is pretty mundane stuff," and they corrected themselves.

So the Roswell thing gets a lot of air play, a lot of global news coverage for about 24 to 48 hours, and then it disappears. It's not really ever talked about, and leaves very little imprint on the UFO world for decades.

It's then only in the late 1970s that some ufologists (and this is a very common thing in the UFO world) go back over the records, dig deeper into the story and believe that they found all these contradictions in it. That's when Roswell became a focal point.

BT: Looking at the period of history where all of this kicked off, we have growing Cold War rivalry, the new existential threat of nuclear weapons, McCarthyism, fear of communism and Soviet Russia. It seems like a time that's ripe for paranoia and conspiracism. How much is all of the UFO stuff tied into that?

GE: Oh, it's very tied in. I make the point in the book that I don't think the UFO phenomenon as we know it would exist without the Cold War. There are a variety of reasons for that, but one of the often forgotten aspects of this is World War II.

WWII and the Cold War bring a number of critical things to the table for how UFO stories were built. Firstly, you have big governments — big governments and big militaries. You look at the United States federal government in 1900 and it's not a big thing, it's not this monstrosity. By 1945, the U.S. government was a large bureaucracy with a big military.

Secondly, what WWII taught everybody was that this institution can have secret programs that build remarkable technology, like the atomic bomb, as well as new kinds of airplanes such as jets. And of course, both conflicts also have a lot of spying.

So when the UFO phenomenon emerges, the initial thought of just about everybody is that it has to be one of these superpowers. This has to be somebody doing surveillance.

That's also a lot of the ways it's still spoken about today: Who's doing this? Who's keeping it a secret? What are their intentions? And could it harm us? So it's very much a part of it, and it haunts the story of UFOs for decades.

BT: There are also interesting preludes to the Kenneth Arnold moment in 1947. One thing that flashes to mind is Orson Welles' 1938 radio broadcast of the "War of The Worlds," which caused a mass panic that aliens were actually invading. Why did flying saucers take off in 1947 and not earlier?

GE: I think the game changer is the atomic bomb. That something could be invented that we had no idea about, that is just presented to the world, and has this enormous destructive power that could wipe out all of humanity almost in an instant.

When you ask why now, some people will respond that alien visitors have always been here and we're just noticing them now. But the argument that's usually presented is that it's probably because they [the aliens] saw us explode atomic bombs. This makes us capable of being conversed with, or a possible threat down the road.

BT: There's an appeal to a higher power in it too, right? In a time when religion is falling by the wayside, after all the horrors of the past century, people were looking for something that could save us from ourselves.

GE: There are certainly people who believe exactly that. The figure who lays all of this out is the psychologist Carl Jung. In the late 1950s, he wrote one of the first, and still one of the best, scholarly books on the topic.

It makes this argument that, real or not, what they [UFOs] represent to people is this idea of salvation from something, at least that's the hope. By the early 1950s you see the beginning of UFO religious communities, almost all of them tied to the New Age Movement.

BT: Everything you've said so far makes this seem like a firmly mid-20th century American phenomenon. I confess to having been partial to the History Channel's "Ancient Aliens" back in the day. Do sightings stretch across cultures and into the past, as they claimed? Or is that a post-hoc narrative?

GE: This is a question that people debate pretty vigorously. There's no question that people reported seeing strange things in the sky dating back to ancient times. The most famous example is probably meteorites. For a long time the idea that rocks could fall from the sky seemed patently absurd, until people found out the reason is because there are a lot of rocks in space.

The problem with going backward in time and retrospectively looking at stuff and saying: "Aha! Here's another example of a UFO," is that it's deeply, deeply problematic from a historical standpoint.

Most of the time it involves an unintentional, and sometimes outright deliberate misreading of documents, artifacts or paintings. I've seen very good art historians, for instance, talk about paintings and say: "Oh my gosh, these things are clearly flying saucers!" When the objects they're referring to are objects in a particular religious ritual, or serve as a very symbolic trope. So it's very, very difficult to do that stuff [accurately].

BT: This touches on the methodology in your book. You take an agnostic approach: You don't take reports at face value, but neither do you dismiss them out of hand. How does one go about impartially assessing a UFO report? That's going to seem like a weird concept to people.

GE: Yeah it is strange to people, and I know a lot of people who still don't like that I do that.

For me, as a historian, it's partly the idea that I don't feel qualified to adjudicate some of these matters. I think some of these things have to be done by a meteorologist, a physicist, an astronomer or an engineer — someone who is far better qualified than I am to say what's possible and what's anomalous.

But the other part is that this is the way I get to the things that most interest me, which are human beings. I say in the introduction of the book that UFOs don't make history, people make UFOs make history. That really is the main point; it's that I'm interested in the human part of that history.

As far as we know today, UFOs don't have a natural history, they have a human history. Everything about them is related to our perception of them, our speculations and our discussions about them. The social fact of the UFO is very real, and it needs to be chronicled now. Whether these things also have a natural history I'm going to leave up to the researchers who do that stuff for a living.

BT: When you work through these reports, I'm sure some of them on their surface are obviously bogus. But others come from people, pilots for instance, who have no interest in UFOs and are speaking out at significant personal and professional cost. Have you come across any real headscratchers?

GE: Yeah a lot of them can be, or at least certain elements of them.

Back in the 1950s, there was one case that the U.S. Air Force looked into that really set them back on their heels. These two seasoned civilian pilots for Eastern Airlines, reasonable fellows, who saw this very strange object during a flight, they could even make out details from it and it was like nothing they'd seen before.

That's eerie and strange. They didn't have any explanation for it and certainly had no call to make it up — they weren't seeking fame and that wasn't a time you could make any money off this stuff.

Then there's the case of Lonnie Zamora in the 1960s, he was a police officer in the American Southwest who stopped his vehicle because he thought he saw a crashed car. He sees this strange object with people in a kind of white uniform working around it. Then they flit off in it.

By everybody's assessment at the time, he was a mild mannered guy, very cool headed and with absolutely no interest in publicity. He comes across as very sheepish in the radio interviews. That's another case where you sit there and think it's hard not to believe he saw something. Then you try to come up with explanations for what the possibilities could be.

BT: How do the reports evolve over time? Do they change as the culture surrounding them comes into sharper focus?

GE: Some things don't change that much. The overwhelming number of them are seeing patterns of lights, orbs or spheres of some kind that move in a strange way then whoosh away with no sound. That remains relatively unchanged from the beginning. But people also see cigar shaped things or triangles. A lot of these things are common across the world.

What has changed more dramatically over the years and over different areas, has been the description of the occupants of these vessels, the aliens themselves. Early on in the 1950s and 1960s, a very common thing would have been to talk about seeing what appeared to be robots — looking like the Tin Man from the "Wizard of Oz." We don't tend to see robots anymore.

Another very common thing during the 1950s and 1960s were what were dubbed, "little men." They weren't really described as green but little and usually gendered male for some reason. They typically stood at about 4 feet [1.2 meters], and in places like Malaysia, they were under 6 inches [15 centimeters] tall. Another very common thing in their descriptions was they were wearing old divers suits.

Then you get to the 1970s and 1980s, and there's a veritable zoo of creatures: things that look like insects; in South America and [in] the Soviet Union big hairy creatures that look like a Bigfoot or a Sasquatch are particularly common.

The one we have come to know as "the gray" is not all that common until the publication of Whitley Strieber's "Communion" book in 1987, from that point the idea of what an alien looks like really crystallized.

BT: That's got to be one of the things debunkers point to: the fact that the culture is shaping what people see makes it easier to call it a mass delusion.

GE: Yeah, the debunkers look at it and do that. What debunkers would like to do is to get even more concrete than that and say why somebody would see something at a particular time. They say there was a television show two weeks before someone's sighting. Then the person comes back and says I never watched it, and they go back and forth.

I firmly believe that the media of all sorts plays a formative role shaping the way people think, talk about and even see things. But from my standpoint, this is where I might deviate from the debunkers. I don't think that simply explains things away. It just means that people are human beings, they are doing what we always do.

When something happens to us that is really bizarre or unexplainable, it's not a surprise that what we tend to do is turn to analogies and to metaphors. It helps us to say, "Well, this was a little like this."

BT: These debates persist up to the present day, but things have changed a lot too. We're sitting at the tail end of our own UFO — or should I say UAP — wave. And this time, after U.S. Navy footage of mysterious flying objects was released in 2017, we've seen a very different reaction from officials. There have been Senate hearings, task forces set up, and NASA has even been roped in. What happened? Is it because everyone in the U.S. government now also grew up on UFO lore?

GE: A number of things have changed that have led to this becoming something seen as legitimate to ask questions about, and considered, even in academic circles, to be respectable to discuss. One thing is the reality of new surveillance and sensors to detect surveillance. In the United States, China and Russia there is an awareness of those technologies and, of course, a Keeping up with the Joneses attitude about them.

The proliferation of drones is one thing. Drones are everywhere now. I was speaking to a Swedish ufologist a few years ago and he said that the number of sightings that involve drones has skyrocketed.

On the extraterrestrial dimension, since the late 1990s astronomers have found out that exoplanets are pretty ubiquitous. That introduces the idea that planets are really all over the place, and that habitable planets are really pretty likely. I think that's made it easier to conceive of these things as possible. I've heard debunkers say they believe it's probable that there are extraterrestrial civilizations out there, they just don't think they're visiting us.

You also have people who are actively involved in lobbying people to take this seriously. There's Robert Bigelow, the billionaire, who's funneled a lot of money into this cause. Lobbyists now have the ear of certain politicians in America who see this as a valuable issue to them in some ways.

I think you have to always be a little cynical about politicians — they tend to be very pragmatic, and the fact that they come to this subject doesn't necessarily mean they're interested in UFOs, but in other things they can achieve.

BT: What are politicians trying to achieve by embracing it?

GE: I could conceive of them using this as a way to say they're going to keep money away from the military because they're not being honest brokers about this.

The number one thing I keep hearing over and over again, from people on these committees and those who are maybe less interested, is spending and classification. U.S. military secrecy has been a big priority since at least WWII, certainly since the Manhattan Project, and it's only increased over the years. Then 9/11 really doubled, tripled down on that.

This makes the UFO/UAP thing a great example for all these folks to say, "We've got all these whistleblowers saying all this stuff is going on. We haven't heard anything about it. You're keeping this from us. It's all supposedly classified. So we want in."

BT: One of the frustrating things about covering these questions is that you get task forces that are essentially military task forces. People come out to say all kinds of spooky stuff, and when they're probed further they say we'll tell you the rest behind closed doors, and no we won't allow scientists into the bases where we saw this. Now that NASA's involved, do you have more faith for civilian science projects to get to the bottom of things?

GE: Yeah, spot on. I agree with you completely. It's why I always tell people that, personally, I don't think these military intelligence branches will be key to addressing these questions. I don't think you're ever going to get it from them. I'm also not someone who believes in full transparency, sometimes it's important to keep secrets.

NASA's endorsement of research in this area is unprecedented, and I think it's very welcome. I know a lot of scientists who have started to try to conduct research along these lines. The problem we have is it has not translated into funding yet. A lot of the current efforts are on shoestring budgets and it's unclear whether that money is ever going to be forthcoming. So far, at least in the United States, it has not been.

But there is a hope among a lot of researchers that that will change, because the climate has changed. Civilian scientists and researchers are going to be the key, because we operate in a world of transparency, with an openness that contractors and government don't have.

BT: Do you think we'll ever get a solid answer?

GE: I suspect we will be revisiting and speculating over this for a good long time to come. The world's been at this for over 75 years, and the most seasoned ufology veterans will tell you that not a lot has changed.

If there is an opportunity for serious, empirically driven researchers to get involved, maybe then we'll actually start to see some real progress.

But until that time, it seems to me we're still stuck in a cycle where we largely rely on hearsay and references to evidence that never turns up. Or, as you say, people saying I've got some information, but I can only tell you behind closed doors.

That just leaves us with the mystery, which I know some people are satisfied with.

Editors note: This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

{ https://www.livescience.com/ }

01-12-2024 om 01:03 geschreven door peter  

Wat zijn witte gaten precies? En bestaan ze echt?

 door Janine

Baperookamo/Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 4.0

Zwarte gaten zijn misschien wel de meest fascinerende hemellichamen in het heelal en, ondanks dat ze het onderwerp zijn van enkele van de ontdekkingen van de afgelopen jaren, misschien ook wel het meest mysterieus.

Er zijn echter kosmische objecten voorspeld door de algemene relativiteitstheorie die precies het tegenovergestelde van zwarte gaten vertegenwoordigen: witte gaten.

Wat zijn het precies? Bestaan witte gaten echt? Laten we het samen uitzoeken!

Wat zijn witte gaten? En waarom worden ze zo genoemd?

Om te begrijpen wat witte gaten zijn, moeten we beginnen met hun tegenpool: zwarte gaten.

Tot 2015, toen LIGO zwaartekrachtgolven detecteerde die werden gegenereerd door de fusie van twee zwarte gaten, was hun bestaan slechts een theoretische voorspelling van natuurkundige Albert Einstein en zijn algemene relativiteitstheorie.

Natuurlijk zijn dit geen “gaten” in strikte zin, maar hemellichamen met zo'n dichtheid dat zelfs licht niet aan hun zwaartekracht kan ontsnappen.

Witte gaten vertegenwoordigen hier precies het tegenovergestelde van zwarte gaten: het zijn kosmische lichamen die niets toelaten, maar juist alles afstoten wat in hun buurt komt, inclusief materie en energie.

Het fundamentele verschil tussen de twee kan als volgt worden samengevat:

• in zwarte gaten kan niets naar buiten, ze trekken alles aan in hun zwaartekrachtveld, zoals een video van NASA laat zien;
• in witte gaten kan niets naar binnen, alle materie en licht worden naar buiten verdreven, vandaar hun intense witte gloed. Dit is precies de reden voor hun naam.

Dit aspect heeft ertoe geleid dat een wit gat wordt gezien als de tijdomkering van een zwart gat, alsof je naar een video van een zwart gat in omgekeerde richting kijkt.

Maar zijn vergelijkingen en bevestigde theorieën genoeg om te zeggen dat witte gaten echt bestaan?

Bestaan witte gaten echt?

Alain r/Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 2.5

Tot nu toe hebben we geen bewijs gevonden voor het bestaan van witte gaten, afgezien van de algemene relativiteitstheorie die ze voorspelt als het spiegelbeeldige tegenovergestelde van zwarte gaten.

Maar de werkelijkheid zou anders kunnen zijn.

Misschien bestaan witte gaten juist niet vanwege het concept van tijdomkering. In feite heeft ons universum een tijdspijl die maar in één richting gaat. Gekoppeld aan het concept van entropie maakt dit in de praktijk terug in de tijd reizen onmogelijk, en dus ook het bestaan van witte gaten, ongeacht wiskundige voorspellingen.

Of ons universum zelf zou het resultaat kunnen zijn van het instorten van een wit gat. Met andere woorden: de oerknal die wij als de oorsprong van het universum beschouwen, zou een wit gat zijn.

Dit zijn niet de enige speculaties.

Voorbij de wiskunde van witte gaten

Omdat er geen experimenteel bewijs is, zijn er veel speculaties die verder gaan dan wiskunde.

Het is niet langer de vraag of witte gaten echt bestaan, maar wat hun plaats zou zijn in een universum zoals het onze.

Volgens sommige wetenschappers zouden witte gaten te instabiel zijn en uiteindelijk in zwarte gaten veranderen. Volgens recent onderzoek zou dit de laatste fase in het leven van een zwart gat zijn, zoals Carlo Rovelli en zijn collega's hebben voorgesteld.

De ongetwijfeld meest fascinerende lezing blijft echter die van Roger Penrose. Volgens de natuurkundige zijn witte gaten portalen naar andere universa of andere delen van ons universum. In de praktijk de uitgang van een wormgat.

Afgezien van dit soort speculaties, is het ontbreken van direct bewijs voor het bestaan van witte gaten misschien te wijten aan een veel eenvoudigere reden. En oneindig veel banaler: we hebben nog niet de middelen om hun bestaan te herkennen.

Nog niet, tenminste.

AANVERWANTE VIDEO'S

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl/ }

01-12-2024 om 00:32 geschreven door peter  

Scientists Still Can’t Believe It: Giant Worms Are Hiding in Cavities Beneath the Ocean!

30-11-2024 om 23:54 geschreven door peter  

Giant Animal Life in the Oceanic Crust: An Unexpected Discovery

 Samir Sebti

Among the most striking discoveries are giant worms reaching lengths of up to three meters. These colossal creatures, along with various gastropods, cephalopods, and previously undocumented mollusks, have adapted to survive in this extreme environment. The presence of larvae in these cavities suggests that juvenile specimens may colonize this habitat through hydrothermal vent fluids, indicating a potential interconnection with seafloor ecosystems.

This revelation is particularly significant as it marks the first time such large animals have been observed in these geological structures. While microorganisms were known to inhabit hydrothermal vents, the presence of complex, macroscopic life forms in the ocean crust was entirely unexpected.

The geological marvels supporting life in the deep

The key to this thriving ecosystem lies in the unique geological formations known as hydrothermal chimneys. These structures create favorable conditions for life to flourish in what was once thought to be an inhospitable environment. The interaction between cold seawater and hot hydrothermal fluids creates a dynamic system that supports a variety of life forms.

A cross-section of the lobate lava formations reveals :

• Lava plates with interspersed cavities
• Lava drips on cavity ceilings
• Fissures throughout the lava plates
• A recharge zone where cold seawater mixes with hot hydrothermal fluid

This complex geological structure provides niches for various species, including :

Implications for deep-sea research and conservation

This groundbreaking discovery has far-reaching implications for our understanding of marine ecosystems. It suggests that vast portions of the oceanic crust may harbor complex life forms, dramatically expanding the potential habitats for deep-sea creatures. This finding could revolutionize our approach to studying ocean biodiversity and may lead to the discovery of new species adapted to extreme conditions.

The interconnectedness of these subterranean ecosystems with those on the ocean floor raises new questions about the dynamics of deep-sea life. It also highlights the potential vulnerability of these unique habitats to human activities, particularly the growing interest in deep-sea mining. Recent advancements in deep-sea sound analysis have already revealed the presence of elusive ocean predators, further emphasizing the complexity of these underwater ecosystems.

As scientists continue to explore the ocean depths, more surprises may be in store. The recent discovery of a massive blue hole in the ocean depths serves as a reminder of how much remains unknown about our planet’s underwater realms. These findings underscore the importance of continued research and conservation efforts to protect these fragile and unique ecosystems.

Future explorations and unanswered questions

While this discovery is groundbreaking, many questions remain unanswered. The full extent of this subterranean habitat is yet to be determined, with some scientists speculating that life could extend much deeper into the Earth’s crust. However, as depth increases, conditions become increasingly extreme, posing challenges for both life forms and scientific exploration.

Future research will likely focus on :

1. Mapping the extent of these subterranean ecosystems
2. Studying the adaptations of creatures living in these extreme environments
3. Investigating the potential for undiscovered species
4. Assessing the impact of deep-sea mining on these fragile habitats

As we delve deeper into the mysteries of the ocean, it’s clear that our understanding of marine life is constantly evolving. The discovery of giant creatures in the Earth’s crust beneath the ocean floor serves as a powerful reminder of the wonders that still await us in the unexplored corners of our planet.

{ https://dailygalaxy.com/category/science/ }

30-11-2024 om 23:14 geschreven door peter  

The Universe’s Largest Water Reservoir: 140 Trillion Times Earth’s Water in

In a groundbreaking discovery, astronomers have unveiled an immense cosmic water reservoir that dwarfs Earth’s water content by an astonishing 140 trillion times. This colossal aqueous expanse, located over 12 billion light-years away, surrounds a distant quasar and challenges our understanding of water’s prevalence in the early universe.

 Samir Sebti

The Universe’s Largest Water Reservoir: 140 Trillion Times Earth’s Water in 

© The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel

The identification of this massive water reservoir marks a significant milestone in our exploration of the cosmos. Matt Bradford, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, emphasizes the uniqueness of this discovery, stating, “The environment around this quasar is producing an unprecedented mass of water.” This finding not only showcases water’s pervasiveness throughout the universe but also provides insights into its presence during the universe’s infancy.

The quasar in question, designated APM 08279+5255, is a cosmic powerhouse driven by an enormous black hole. This celestial behemoth, with a mass 20 billion times that of our sun, generates energy equivalent to a thousand trillion suns. The sheer scale of this cosmic engine creates conditions conducive to the formation and maintenance of vast quantities of water vapor.

While water vapor is not uncommon in our own Milky Way galaxy, the amount detected in this distant quasar is staggering. It surpasses our galaxy’s water vapor content by a factor of 4,000, as most of the Milky Way’s water exists in frozen form. This disparity highlights the exceptional nature of the quasar’s environment and its potential implications for our understanding of cosmic evolution.

The role of water in cosmic environments

Water vapor serves as a crucial trace gas, offering valuable insights into the properties of celestial objects. In the case of APM 08279+5255, the water vapor extends across a gaseous region spanning hundreds of light-years. This expansive distribution indicates that the quasar bathes the surrounding gas in X-rays and infrared radiation, creating unusually warm and dense conditions by astronomical standards.

Despite the vast quantities of water vapor present, the environment remains incredibly cold by terrestrial standards. The gas temperature hovers around a frigid -63 degrees Fahrenheit. However, this is still five times hotter and 10 to 100 times denser than typical galactic environments, showcasing the extreme nature of quasar-influenced regions.

The abundance of water vapor and other molecules, such as carbon monoxide, suggests that there is sufficient gas to fuel the black hole’s growth for an extended period. However, the ultimate fate of this gas remains uncertain. It could potentially condense to form new stars or be expelled from the quasar’s vicinity due to the intense radiation and gravitational forces at play.

Technological marvels behind the discovery

The detection of this massive water reservoir was made possible by cutting-edge observational techniques and instruments. Two teams of scientists, led by Matt Bradford and Dariusz Lis respectively, utilized different observatories to confirm and analyze the water vapor’s presence :

• Z-Spec at the California Institute of Technology’s Submillimeter Observatory
• Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy (CARMA)
• Plateau de Bure Interferometer in the French Alps

These advanced instruments allowed the teams to detect multiple spectral signatures of water, providing detailed information about its quantity and distribution. The accidental discovery by Lis’s group in 2010 was further corroborated and expanded upon by Bradford’s team, highlighting the collaborative nature of astronomical research.

The use of these specialized observatories demonstrates the technological prowess required to probe the distant universe and uncover its secrets. As our observational capabilities continue to advance, we may uncover even more surprising findings about the cosmos and its composition.

Implications for our understanding of the universe

The discovery of this massive water reservoir has far-reaching implications for our understanding of the universe and its evolution. It challenges previous assumptions about the distribution of water in the early cosmos and raises intriguing questions about the role of water in the formation and development of celestial structures.

This finding also highlights the potential for new cosmological models that challenge traditional theories about the universe’s origins and evolution. The presence of such vast quantities of water in the early universe may require a reevaluation of our current models of cosmic chemistry and the processes that led to the formation of complex molecules in space.

Furthermore, this discovery underscores the importance of continued exploration and observation of distant cosmic objects. As we peer deeper into space and further back in time, we gain invaluable insights into the conditions that prevailed in the early universe and the processes that shaped the cosmos we observe today.

Comparison	Earth	Quasar APM 08279+5255
Water Content	1x	140 trillion x
Distance from Earth	0 light-years	Over 12 billion light-years
Temperature	Variable	-63°F (average)

As we continue to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos, discoveries like this massive water reservoir serve as reminders of the vast and wondrous nature of our universe. They inspire us to push the boundaries of our knowledge and technology, driving us to explore ever further into the cosmic depths in search of answers to our most fundamental questions about existence itself.

VIDEOS

Gigantic Floating Cosmic Ocean Found In Space?140 Trillion Times Larger Than Earth@TheCosmosNews

Largest Reservoir of Water in Space Holds 140 Trillion Times More Water Than Earth's Oceans

Quasar - O Maior Reservatório de Água do Universo

{ https://dailygalaxy.com/category/astronomy/ }

30-11-2024 om 22:31 geschreven door peter  

Story by Lydia Amazouz

 

In a remarkable turn of events, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft, which has been silently traveling through space for nearly 50 years, has once again proven its resilience. After a critical communication failure in October 2023, the aging probe has successfully resumed transmitting valuable data back to Earth. The spacecraft, currently more than 24.9 billion kilometers (15.4 billion miles) away, is now working with minimal power to provide groundbreaking insights into the furthest reaches of our solar system. This unexpected recovery is a testament to the extraordinary engineering that keeps Voyager 1 alive and functioning, despite its age and distance.

A Communication Glitch and a Brilliant Recovery

On October 19, 2023,Voyager 1 experienced an unexpected malfunction when its primary communication system failed. The spacecraft’s X-band transmitter, which it uses to send data to Earth, stopped working. This sudden issue left engineers scrambling to restore contact with the spacecraft, which had been operating on limited power for years. The team suspected that the spacecraft’s fault protection system had been triggered, and as NASA’s Tony Greicius explained in the Voyager Blog, “The flight team suspected that Voyager 1’s fault protection system was triggered twice more and that it turned off the X-band transmitter and switched to a second radio transmitter called the S-band.”

While Voyager 1‘s main communication channel was down, the S-band backup system allowed engineers to continue tracking the spacecraft’s position. However, the challenge of detecting this signal at such a vast distance was far from simple. Tony Greicius clarified that “While the S-band uses less power, Voyager 1 had not used it to communicate with Earth since 1981. It uses a different frequency than the X-band transmitters’ signal, which is significantly fainter.” The weak signal from the S-band was a significant challenge for the engineers, who were unsure if it could even be detected from Earth due to the immense distance the spacecraft had traveled. Despite these doubts, the Deep Space Network engineers were able to successfully pick up the faint signal. “The flight team was not certain the S-band could be detected at Earth due to the spacecraft’s distance, but engineers with the Deep Space Network were able to find it,” Greicius noted.

The fact that engineers could detect the S-band signal from Voyager 1—which is currently in interstellar space—is a testament to the advanced capabilities of NASA’s Deep Space Network. After confirming that the faint signal was valid, the team was able to switch back to the X-band transmitter by mid-November, resuming normal operations and allowing Voyager 1 to continue sending back invaluable scientific data from the outer reaches of our solar system.

Although Voyager 1‘s communication systems have been successfully restored, the spacecraft’s power supply remains a major concern. After almost 50 years of operation, well beyond its original mission timeline, the spacecraft’s power resources are in steady decline. The radioactive thermoelectric generators (RTGs), which provide power by converting the decay of plutonium into electricity, are gradually losing efficiency. NASA engineers have been carefully monitoring and adjusting Voyager 1’s power usage, making critical decisions to ensure the spacecraft can continue transmitting data. Non-essential systems have been turned off, and the team is managing the spacecraft’s remaining power reserves with precision. However, as the output of the RTGs continues to decrease, Voyager 1 faces the inevitable challenge of running out of power, leaving engineers to work tirelessly to extend its operational life as long as possible.

The spacecraft’s dwindling power is particularly concerning as it means certain instruments and systems can no longer operate. The mission team is constantly faced with the challenge of prioritizing which systems remain active, all while ensuring that Voyager 1 continues to send valuable scientific data back to Earth. As the spacecraft drifts farther from the Sun, its solar power generation capabilities have long since become negligible, making the RTGs the only source of energy. Nonetheless, Voyager 1 has managed to achieve far more than anyone expected, operating for decades beyond its anticipated lifespan.

Voyager 1’s Enduring Legacy

As Voyager 1 continues its journey into the vast unknown of interstellar space, its legacy becomes even more significant. Originally launched in 1977 to explore the outer planets, the spacecraft’s primary mission was completed long ago, but its extended mission continues to provide invaluable insights into deep space. Data from Voyager 1 has helped scientists study the interstellar medium, cosmic radiation, and magnetic fields—subjects that were once beyond the reach of human knowledge. These findings have expanded our understanding of the vast, uncharted territory beyond the influence of our solar system, offering a glimpse into the nature of the cosmos itself.

Even as Voyager 1 nears its 50th anniversary, it remains a symbol of humanity’s drive for exploration. Despite the spacecraft’s aging systems and the enormous distance between it and Earth, every new communication breakthrough represents a triumph of ingenuity and perseverance. NASA’s engineers continue to keep Voyager 1 operational, pushing the limits of space exploration with each passing year. As Voyager 1 sends back data from the farthest reaches of the solar system and beyond, it serves as humanity’s most distant ambassador, continuing to deliver knowledge from the frontiers of space. This extraordinary mission will leave a legacy of scientific discoveries and technological achievements for generations to come, helping future explorers better understand the universe.

{ https://dailygalaxy.com/category/space/ }

30-11-2024 om 22:07 geschreven door peter  

Recent Study Suggests That The Surface Of Mars May Be Saturated With Carbon Dioxide That Could Be Converted Into Rocket Fuel

by Michael Levanduski

Source: Shutterstock

Planning missions to Mars is very difficult.

Even just getting a rover or other equipment to the red planet has endless challenges, but at least that has been successfully accomplished many times.

As we move closer to the possibility of manned missions to Mars, new hurdles need to be overcome.

One of the biggest ones is how to get people back to Earth. It takes a huge amount of fuel to send a spacecraft to Mars and land on the surface. Having to bring enough to power a trip back as well will be not just hard, but also very inefficient.

Fortunately, it might not be necessary.

According to a new paper that was recently published in the journal Science Advances, there may everything needed to make rocket fuel right there on Mars.

They estimate that about 80% of the carbon dioxide that was formerly in the Martian atmosphere is now trapped in carbon-based organic compounds right near the surface. This carbon could be extracted and converted into rocket fuel.

This is a process that has already been done many times here on Earth, so it is well understood.

In a statement, MIT geology professor Oliver Jagoutz said:

“Based on our findings on Earth, we show that similar processes likely operated on Mars, and that copious amounts of atmospheric CO2 could have transformed to methane and been sequestered in clays. This methane could still be present and maybe even used as an energy source on Mars in the future.”

The material that they believe holds all this CO2 is called smectite clay, which also exists on Earth. Scientists believe that 3.5 billion years ago, Mars had large amounts of surface water.

The coauthor of the study, Joshua Murray, who is an MIT planetary sciences PhD, explains:

“At this time in Mars’ history, we think CO2 is everywhere, in every nook and cranny, and water percolating through the rocks is full of CO2 too. These smectite clays have so much capacity to store carbon. So then we used existing knowledge of how these minerals are stored in clays on Earth, and extrapolate to say, if the Martian surface has this much clay in it, how much methane can you store in those clays?”

The answer, it seems, is a lot. While it is unlikely that the first people to travel to Mars will want to fully rely on this as a source of fuel for their return trip, it is certainly a promising option for the future of space travel to and from Mars.

Mars could serve as a ‘gas station’ for travel throughout our solar system.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a second giant hole has opened up on the sun’s surface. Here’s what it means.

{ https://twistedsifter.com/category/naturespace/ }

30-11-2024 om 21:27 geschreven door peter  

Ross Coulthart Unveils Shocking UFO Secrets and Ancient Egypt Mysteries

Renowned journalist Ross Coulthart has captivated audiences with his groundbreaking insights into the mysteries of UFOs and ancient Egypt. His investigations into Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) and humanity’s hidden history reveal connections that could fundamentally reshape our understanding of both ancient civilizations and modern technological advancements.

The UFO Phenomenon: Beyond Skepticism

Coulthart asserts with unwavering confidence that several global governments, including those of the United States, Russia, and China, have recovered non-human craft. These technologically advanced artifacts, he believes, are the result of covert retrieval programs and reverse-engineering efforts spanning decades. His claims, based on credible sources such as former U.S. Navy research head Nat Kobitz, paint a picture of deliberate suppression and misinformation by powerful entities.

Coulthart compares the media’s dismissal of UFO evidence to its handling of controversial topics like the Iraq War’s weapons of mass destruction claims. He emphasizes that mainstream media has often been complicit in ignoring or downplaying significant evidence due to disinformation campaigns and institutional inertia.

Ancient Egypt: A Portal to Forgotten Knowledge

Coulthart’s recent exploration of Egypt, in collaboration with UAP researchers, has added another layer to his investigations. He highlights evidence of advanced technology embedded in ancient Egyptian artifacts and architecture that challenges conventional historical narratives. From the precision-cut red granite blocks in temples to the massive unfinished obelisk in Aswan, these artifacts showcase an expertise seemingly impossible for a civilization reliant on primitive tools.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0K8_mk4q-8

Particularly striking are stone vases, discovered in graves dating back over 14,000 years, long before the emergence of dynastic Egyptian rule. Coulthart cites modern researchers who suggest these objects were crafted using machinery capable of achieving precision that even today’s technology struggles to replicate.

A Forgotten Cataclysm

Coulthart ties ancient Egyptian myths of catastrophic events to the scientifically documented Younger Dryas period, approximately 12,800 years ago. This global cataclysm, caused by a solar event or meteor impact, may have wiped out advanced pre-human civilizations. The evidence, he contends, is “hidden in plain sight,” waiting for those willing to investigate.

Suppressed Truths and the Role of Disclosure

A key theme in Coulthart’s work is the suppression of transformative knowledge. Whether regarding UFOs or ancient technology, powerful institutions have allegedly used disinformation and, at times, violence to maintain control. Coulthart calls for transparency through congressional hearings and public investigations into these allegations, which include claims of murders committed to safeguard covert retrieval programs.

He also highlights the evolving role of independent media in bringing such stories to light. Platforms like podcasts and YouTube are increasingly providing a voice to suppressed topics, bypassing the traditional media gatekeepers.

A Future of Discovery

Coulthart believes we are on the brink of monumental revelations regarding UAPs and ancient history. His ongoing work with News Nation aims to further uncover hidden truths. Drawing parallels between humanity’s forgotten past and its potential extraterrestrial connections, he urges global leaders to prioritize disclosure for the benefit of all.

As humanity grapples with these profound mysteries, Coulthart’s investigations remind us that curiosity and critical thinking are essential tools for uncovering the truth. Whether about ancient Egypt or UFOs, the answers may already be within reach—if we dare to look.

OTHER VIDEOS

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

30-11-2024 om 20:09 geschreven door peter  

Aliens or a cult? New clues emerge in quest to solve 'longest-running murder mystery'

• READ MORE: Scientists ID mysterious wolf-like creature shot on Montana ranch

By MATTHEW PHELAN and STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

New clues have emerged in the quest to solve America's 'longest-running murder mystery' that has plagued ranchers since the 1970s.

Several states, from Kansas to Iowa and Oregon, have reported strange cases of dead cows sliced with surgical-like precision with their reproductive organs removed.

In many cases, not a drop of blood was found at the crime scenes.

The reports sparked fears about aliens mutilating the animals, but a former rancher from Oregon has suggested that the cows were killed by a 'sophisticated network of humans.'

Colby Marshall, who found five murdered bulls with their tongues missing in 2017, believes cultists or a group using the animal parts for rituals are to blame.

'They're using some sort of toxin that causes the animal to go catatonic,' he explained.

'There's no sign of struggle with the animal, so they dart them or something.'

Marshall continued to explain that the lack of blood is due to the culprits draining it from the animal's tongue, which they then take 'because that is the one piece of forensic evidence.'

Strange cases of cattle who have been murdered, their eyes and vital organs removed with 'surgical precision,' have plagued American ranchers since the 1970s. But new clues are emerging in Wheeler County, Oregon, local sheriffs said, amid a rash of new cases (pictured)

The Wheeler County Sheriff's Office is particularly perplexed by one case of a cow in Oregon left in this uncanny sitting position (pictured). The animal's tongue and reproductive organs had been removed in July 2020, they reported

'I believe that, yes, there probably is aliens out there. And, you know, they've probably visited Earth,' Marshall told Fox News Digital. 

'Now, do I think they're using their technology to come after free-range bulls in eastern Oregon? No, I don't – I think they would have better uses of their technology than that.' 

The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) filed its first report on the mutilated cows in 1974, sighting cases in Oklahoma and Nebraska. 

At least 10 dead cows appeared in Minnesota that same year and in 1975, thousands of cases surfaced in Colorado.

Bloodless cattle killings were also reported in 23 states, including Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma, Montana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and California. 

The FBI investigated the deaths until 1978, but never found a culprit. 

But by the end of the decade, more than 10,000 cases of cattle mutilation had been recorded, mostly at small-scale ranches in the West and Midwest. 

Marshall has opened his own probe into the crimes, believing the murders were carried out by multiple people.

He explained that one person would've held the leg up, while another made an incision and cut around the testicles to remove them. 

'Then you've got to hand all that material to somebody, because if you drop it on the ground, you're going to cause tracks and you're going to drop blood. there would be signs,' he continued.

Above, a photo from former ranch manager Colby Marshall who said that this bull and others like it had their organs removed with surgical precision

Above, an image of a cattle mutilation case investigated by the nonprofit Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) - which has explored the theory that 'aliens' might have been behind the grisly crimes 

'None of that stuff is present, so I think there is a team of people [that pull it off].

The murdered bulls also had no signs of liver or heart damage, and none of those vital organs were missing when Marshall stumbled upon the carcasses. 

And prior to the deaths, the cows 'were eating and drinking, showing now signs of stress.'

Marshall and his team took blood samples from the bulls within 24 hours of their deaths and found no signs of chemicals in the animals' blood streams.

'Anything that metabolizes quickly in the bloodstream is not going to be detectable,' he said.

'That's one of the things that I think is key to this is that this toxin they're using metabolizes quickly.'

Marshall gave an example of a sedative used in horse racing, which puts the animals down for a few minutes so their hooves can be maintained.

'It goes through the system within a few minutes, the animal gets up and they're fine.

'[In the case of the dead cows,] the animal doesn't get up because they bleed them to death. At least that's my theory.'

He also raised the idea that the carcasses were never devoured by predators.

'The scavengers were not tearing the animals apart. The animals kind of melted into the ground,' Marshall continued.

'That was always a head scratcher for me.'

He continued to explain that the lack of blood may have been why predators left the dead cows alone. 

But Joseph Laycock, associate professor of religious studies at Texas State University, told DailyMail.com in 2023 that it's unlikely Satanists are to blame because the vast majority don't practice animal sacrifice and most of them actually condemn the practice.  

'There is always the possibility of teenage delinquents harming animals in the name of Satan. But I don't think that's what's happening in this case. Teenagers would probably have left tracks or other obvious evidence,' he said.

That same year, six mutilated cow were found along a rural highway in Texas, all with their tongues cut out and not a drop of blood in sight.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

30-11-2024 om 01:00 geschreven door peter  

• READ MORE: Doctors weigh in on Sunita Williams' weight loss 'rumors'

By MATTHEW PHELAN SENIOR SCIENCE REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

NASA astronauts stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) have been pictured with their Thanksgiving Day meals - amid growing concerns about their health.

Sunita Williams, 59, and Butch Wilmore, 61, who have been stuck in space for 175 days, revealed they will be feasting on brussels sprouts, butternut squash and smoked turkey that was dehydrated before heading to the ISS.

'Our crew up here just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family who are down on Earth and everyone who is supporting us,' Williams said in a video. 

The NASA astronauts have drawn concern from both the public and officials within the space agency over their dramatic weight loss during their extended stay in orbit.

Williams sparked fears about her weight in an image from September, with doctors telling DailyMail.com that she looked 'gaunt.'

And NASA insiders revealed last month that their medical team was monitoring Wilmore for similar reasons. 

Williams and Wilmore were joined by astronauts Nick Hague and Don Pettit in the video to share their holiday menu with friends and family back home.

'Our meal may look a little bit different,' Hague admitted as roughly half a dozen, sealed white packages floated upward into microgravity, containing 'all the things that we're going to enjoy on Thanksgiving.' 

'Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, apples and spice, and smoked turkey,' NASA astronaut Nick Hague (bottom left), now on his third tour aboard the ISS, explained as he let the sealed white packages of the space crew's orbital feast float into microgravity. 'It's going to be delicious'

Smiling behind Hague (bottom left) in the space station's holiday transmission were the two NASA astronauts (top row) who have been stuck on the ISS since June - after the inaugural crewed flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft faced malfunctions and gas leaks

ISS astronauts subsist mainly on dehydrated foods in vacuum-packed pouches that need to be rehydrated – and if needed to be warmed – in an plane-style machine before consumption.

As a byproduct of the orbiting laboratory's fuel cells, water is a plentiful source, but dehydrated food also helps reduce weight on the space station, NASA has said.

Williams offered more details on the crew's orbital Thanksgiving menu Wednesday, including green beans, mushrooms, mashed potatoes and a dessert of apple cobbler.

'Our flight control teams gave us tomorrow off, so our plans are, as usual, get up and workout, do the Turkey trot, watch a little Macy's [Thanksgiving] Day Parade,' she told NBC News.

Williams, however, emphasized that she does not consider herself 'stranded' in space, adding that NASA has a plan in place in the event that she or any other astronaut aboard the ISS needs to get back to Earth.

'Our mission control team and our management has always had an option for us to come home,' she said. 'So yeah, we came up here on Starliner. 

Above the stranded NASA astronauts during a September 24, 2024 pizza meal. One doctor at the time raised concerns about Sunita's health, claiming this image showed her looking 'gaunt.' Williams claims she has actually gained muscle on board the ISS, blaming the look on 'fluid shift'

'We're coming back on a Dragon, but there’s always been a plan of how we would get home.'

Williams and Willmore have  been stuck on the ISS since Starliner brought them there on June 6.

While Starliner has returned back to Earth without a crew on September 7, the duo continue to wait for SpaceX's Crew-9 mission that will pick them up at the ISS and bring them home no earlier than February 2025.

However, many studies have shown that extended stays in space can lead to dramatic weight lost.  

During long-term ISS missions, crews can typically lose about five percent of their original body mass, due primarily to muscle and bone density loss that occurs naturally due to microgravity.

Wilmore, according to one NASA official who declined to be named, 'had a lot more mass at the start,' coming in at six feet tall and over 210 pounds.

'So, it's not as big of a deal,' this employee told the New York Post.

Despite what seemed apparent to observers watching NASA's video feeds, Williams came forward earlier this month to deny 'rumors' that she had lost weight while on her unexpectedly long stay in on the ISS. 

Williams claimed that she has actually gained muscle on board the ISS, and pointed to 'fluid shift' to explain her appearance in the concerning photos.  

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

30-11-2024 om 00:37 geschreven door peter  

Mysterious lights over Capitol Hill sparks fears of UFOs in Washington DC

• READ MORE: UFOs could travel to Earth via 'extra dimensions,' says Harvard prof

By MATTHEW PHELAN SENIOR SCIENCE REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

An ominous quartet of gleaming lights above the United States Capitol building have left some afraid the alien invasion has finally arrived.

The photo — taken at night just outside of Congress, with the dome of Capitol Hill in full view – was taken by US Air Force veteran Dennis Diggins who now works as a licensed tour guide in the Washington DC area, as well as a professional travel director.

The eerie triangular formation of lights that Diggins captured in his photo seems to hover just feet over the 'Statue of Freedom' at the top of the Capitol dome. 

'That’s absolutely insane,' one spectator said of the strange glowing orbs, which looked like landing lights on some otherworldly craft.

The image comes just weeks after a pair of stunning public hearings in both the US Senate and the House of Representatives, where lawmakers probed current and retired Pentagon officials over the state of intelligence on what used to be called 'flying saucers.'

The House's hearing included a first look at a bizarre, unsettling report alleging that an illegal 'Unacknowledged Special Access Program' named 'Immaculate Constellation' had been set up to 'detect, quarantine, and transfer' UFO data away from public view.

But while some were clamoring for video that might link this new sighting to this wider UFO debate on the Hill, others pushed back on the speculative furor over these strange lights.

An ominous quartet of gleaming lights above the US Capitol building, like landing lights on some otherworldly craft, have left some afraid the alien invasion has finally arrived. The photo (above) was taken by US Air Force veteran Dennis Diggins, now a licensed tour guide in Washington DC

Bizarre, unidentified craft above Langley Air Force base - home to at least half the USAF fleet of stealth F-22 Raptor fighter jets (pictured) - lead to two weeks of emergency White House meetings last year. The 17-day episode has put government officials on high alert about UFOs 

Above, a military witness testifies to the drones displaying 'flashing red, green, and white lights.' This testimony was released via the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), along with 50 pages of Air Force records on the December 2023 wave of 'drone swarms' over Langley 

'The picture is clearly a glare reflection off of the lens of the camera of the street lights below it,' argued a former paranormal investigator, who now goes by the moniker Average Chris. 'Same spacing, just inverted pattern.'

Other eyewitnesses in the DC area, however, believed they had caught similar UFOs on video during the same evening, November 26, 2024. 

'My partner and I have spotted a mix of multiple stationary/hovering and slow moving lights from her apartment rooftop in Washington DC,' the anonymous witness who taped this video said. 'Appears that they are hovering over [Capitol] Hill, Navy Yard, or south of there.'

The witness, who posted the UFO video to Reddit, stated that the 'hovering' lights had been appearing for over a week, since at least November 15.  

A spokesperson replying on behalf of the Pentagon and its UFO-hunting unit, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), told DailyMail.com that it has no idea what these UFOs over our nation's capital might be.

'I don’t have anything for you on this,' said Susan Gough with the military's Defense Press Operations via email. 'Have you checked with the DC Police Department or Arlington County Police Department?'

While these recent cases above DC might have perfectly ordinary causes, Pentagon officials and the US intelligence community are nevertheless increasingly concerned about the troubling rise of 'drone swarm' UFOs encroaching on restricted US airspace.

Senior ex-Pentagon security official Chris Mellon told DailyMail.com that a 17-day wave of UFO sightings above Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia was 'part of a much larger pattern affecting numerous national security installations.'

'Two of the notable aspects,' he said, 'are the fact our drone signal-jamming devices have proven ineffective and these craft are making no effort to remain concealed.'

'The picture is clearly a glare reflection off of the lens of the camera of the street lights below it,' argued that former paranormal investigator, who now goes by the moniker Average Chris. 'Same spacing, just inverted pattern.' He accused others on social media of promoting the pics for clout

Average Chris also accused UFO influencers of suppressing explanations for a citizen video that appears to depict UFOs swarming above Washington DC (below). 'My post (above) shows that these are commercial airplanes lining up to land at the several airports in the area,' he noted

'In fact, in some instances,' Mellon took pains to emphasize, 'it is clear they want to be seen as though taunting us.'

And now, dozens of British troops are fanning out in cooperation with the US Air Force (USAF) in an effort to track down the parties responsible for still more UFO swarms spotted over three air bases in England, amid fears it all could be linked to a 'sinister' plot.

The craft, possibly unmanned drones, were spotted overnight above Royal Air Force (RAF) base Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk and RAF Feltwell in Norfolk, USAF confirmed.

While Lakenheath is technically an RAF base, it currently houses mainly American aircraft and military personnel, officials noted. 

A former British Army intelligence officer told DailyMail.com that these strange UFOs over England may prove to be Russian spy craft agency, although US military sources say the UAVs were 'not identified as hostile.'

Read More

• EXCLUSIVE

 EXCL: US military is seeing UFOs in SPACE: Official report says 'objects that exhibit abnormal observables and patterns of life' are in Earth's orbit 

Nevertheless, it remains unclear if the recent sightings in DC bear any relationship to the events over Langley, or over the USAF operations in the UK.

Average Chris made the case that the video posted to Reddit, shows nothing more than 'commercial airplanes lining up to land at the several airports in the area.'

But the witnesses who posted the video remain unconvinced: 'I don’t believe these are planes waiting to land at Reagan airport as many of them do not appear to be moving at all, and we watched for quite a while, maybe 15-20 minutes.' 

'Also some of the lights seem to turn on and off,' the witness continued. 

'Can anyone rule these out as police drones, military helos, balloons, or other mundane technology?'

Did UFOs Invade D.C in 1952?

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

29-11-2024 om 23:11 geschreven door peter  

I'm a UFO investigator... here are the chilling cases I encountered of alien craft interfering with nukes

• READ MORE: Military insider claims nuke bases are 'alien targets'

By ROB WAUGH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

A veteran UFO investigator has claimed that UFOs have visited America's nuclear weapons sites since the dawn of the atomic age — and he believes these intruders may have the power to 'neutralize' such weapons.

Robert Spearing is an investigator for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), which has 700 investigators in the US and is one of the world's oldest UFO organizations, having collected evidence of suspected extraterrestrial encounters since the 1960s.

Spearing said that among MUFON's files — and the organization has nearly 137,000 reports on UFO encounters from the US and around the world — there are multiple cases alleging alien visitors hovering above nuclear bases and nuclear-armed ships.

'There is enough evidence that the visitors have the ability to neutralize their use,' as Spearing told DailyMail.com.

'The question is whether it is for defensive purposes or offensive purposes,' according to Spearing. 'It's either to save us from ourselves or to ensure they could destroy us if they had to.'

When former Pentagon counterintelligence official Luis Elizondo reemerged this summer, the veteran UFO hunter floated an equally dire theory: the dozens of UFOs sighted near nuclear bases since 1945 could be scouts for a potential invasion.

Spearing personally investigated one sighting from the Vietnam War, which he believes shows at least a definite 'connection' between UFOs and nuclear sites. 

Above, US Coast Guard photographer Shell Alpert took this photo through a window screen on July 16, 1952 - allegedly capturing four unidentified flying objects in a 'V' formation over the Salem Massachusetts Air Station - back in the early days of the 'UFOs and Nukes' mystery

Whether their intentions were for good or ill, as he told DailyMail.com, 'There was all sorts of stuff coming out of the South China Sea' during the war, as well.

January 15, 1973 - South China Sea

'I enjoy the Vietnam cases the most,' Spearing said.  

'This particular encounter happened when, in theory, no one knew that the United States had nukes that were close to China and Vietnam,' according to the MUFON director, who previously worked as a forensic investigator for railroads as part of the New York Port Authority.

'But,' Spearing added, 'somebody knew.'

A witness on board ammunition ship the USS Mauna Kea reported seeing a strange orb of pulsing light come out of the sea, while the man was loading nuclear-tipped missiles onto the USS Oklahoma City.

He described the encounter in his report as a 'hovering pulsating orb shape color, similar to a large beach ball hovering about 30 to 50 feet above the water, hovering at approximately 16 to 18 knots.' 

'Could see reflection on water,' the witness continued, 'could see clearly underneath no wake.'

When the encounter occurred, the man was loading nuclear weapons with a forklift.

'This sighting was in the South China Sea off the port beam,' he said. 'Our ship was an ammunition ship carrying nuclear weapons. It felt as if we were being probed.'

Spearing interviewed the witness himself, and said that the man 'felt chills and felt he was being observed'.

A witness on board the ammunition ship the U.S.S Mauna Kea reported seeing a strange orb

The orb was 'car-sized' and was visible up close for around 10 minutes, between two and four AM.

When the witness checked the radar room, no one had registered images of the object.

Spearing described the encounter as 'very suspicious,' saying, 'There is, of course, the possibility it was a plasma ball, like ball lightning, which was carried along by being magnetically linked [attracted] to the ship hull.'

'However, the duration of sighting is too long for ball lightning and ball lightning would have been [further] attracted into the hull and would have exploded.'

May 1960 - Mountainside, New Jersey

A witness approached MUFON about an eerie encounter in 1960 near a nuclear base in New Jersey.

The witness told MUFON's investigators that a group of young children and teens saw a formation of silver discs hovering near a nuclear base while leaving their homes at dusk.

The Watchung Mountains base housed Nike Ajax missiles designed to shoot down incoming bombers - the project experimented with nuclear-tipped missiles, before the focus shifted towards ICBMs rather than nuclear bombers.

The children knew there was a base in the area, and had done many safety drills in school as a result — making it easy to determine that that these mysterious discs were hovering above the base.

In 1957, during the Cold War, the U.S. army declared that it would construct a Nike missile base on the Watchung Reservation

Above, a Minuteman III missile in a silo in the late 1970s.

'I know this was a long time ago,' the witness said, 'but... when exiting the woods above our homes we were shocked to find a perfect V formation of five plain, dull silver discs hovering over us. No sound. No movement.'

'After about five minutes they took off to the west without making sounds of any kind. The location where we were is on the edge of "first mountain" just west of New York City,' the witness told Spearing.

'Directly above us, about one mile, on the top of the mountain was a deeply buried nuclear anti-ballistic missile in a military outpost in the Watchung Mountains which was part of NYC area defense system,' the source continued.

'We realized when talking about it, that it seemed that these discs were hovering above that nuclear warhead site. I have never forgotten it.'

MUFON closed the case (which has never been reported before in the mainstream media), classifying the oddity as an 'unknown UAP'.

The USS Kilauea was in a group with other ships including the carrier U.S.S. Mason

Above, three classic flying saucers in a photo dramatization  

Early 1974 - Vietnam

While investigating the first encounter in Vietnam, Spearing came across another eerie account of an orb visiting another nuclear-armed ship.

The witness said that they were in a group with a destroyer and an aircraft carrier, the USS Mason, when they saw a incredible craft exit the water.

'We were watching the USS Mason in front of us and the glowing trail of ocean it was kicking up from the phosphorus algae in the water when the ocean in front of us lit up, started glowing,' the witness said in astonishment.

'It got brighter and brighter and then this really bright orange/yellow ball came out of the water on the right-starboard side of the destroyer.'

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'It flew over the top of the destroyer and went back in the ocean on the port side, with the same glowing ocean water and then disappeared,' this Navy source continued. 'We all just stared at each other with our mouths open.' 

'We could not believe what we saw, but I asked friends of mine who were on watch on the bridge if they saw it,' he noted, 'and they all did.'

The witness said that the object was up to 200 feet in diameter — and that officers on the destroyer must have had a 'good look at it' although nothing was ever officially recorded.

What does it all mean? 

Retired US Air Force staff sergeant, Larry Hancock, who has contributed to a series of studies on the UFOs and nukes connection for the Scientific Coalition of UAP Studies (SCU), believes that just the regularity of these events offers solid clues.

Solid military and police cases from 1945 to 1975, Hancock told DailyMail.com this year, appear to show intentional study of America's most sensitive weaponry.

'I mean, focus implies intention,' he said. 'And focus obviously implies intelligence.'

'The way it progressed from one type of facility to another type — I mean, it starts with manufacturing plants, moves on through assembly plants, storage, deployment, it's hard to read that as anything other than someone having an agenda,' according to Hancock. 

Hancock's research partner, Ian Porritt, ventured even a little further: 'They may have a better understanding of the future, our future, than we do.' 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

29-11-2024 om 22:34 geschreven door peter