Hello, world

Credits: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon, J. DePasquale, and Z. Levay (STScI) Acknowledgment: A. Fujii; Digitized Sky Survey (DSS), STScI/AURA, Palomar/Caltech, and UKSTU/AAO; B. Franke (Focal Point Observatory); and M. Mutchler (STScI)

Ever wonder what it'd be like to approach the Milky Way as a stranger from outer space? This new GIF from NASA offers some semblance of an answer. The two galaxies pictured here, NGC 4320 and 4298, are about 55 million light years away from us. But for all that distance, they have that same spiral shape that characterizes our own galactic neighborhood, which NASA describes as "arms of young stars that wind outward from its center" with "a central bulge... surrounded by a faint halo of stars." Narrowing in on them, as the Hubble telescope has here, offers a sense of what it would be like to approach from afar the swirling matter we call home.

An insect rainbow

Elizabeth Garcia USGSBIML

In case you missed it, last week we compiled a list of the world's most weird and wonderful bugs in all their technicolor glory. This mustachioed dude goes by the moniker "Thistledown Velvet Ant," but he's actually a wasp with a painful sting. He's one of nine tiny terrors in our rainbow roundup.

Supernova sighting

ESA/Hubble, NASA

Earlier this week, PopSci's own Sarah Fecht wrote about how a warp in space-time created this amazing image of an exploding star. As a galaxy (in the middle, in blue) passed in front of the supernova, it split the explosion's light into four separate images—and magnified the intensity of the supernova's light 52 times. This image, which is part of a study published in Science, might allow us to measure how quickly the universe is expanding.

Between the rings

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Boy, has NASA had a banner week for space photography. This image, captured by the Cassini spacecraft, shows the tiny twinkle of Earth as seen between Saturn's rings. Though it's too itty bitty to tell from this image (taken 870 million miles from Earth), NASA says we're looking at is the Atlantic Ocean at 1:41 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday, April 13. I was on the ground then, blind to Cassini's cosmic circling, and probably dreaming of lowly Earthen sheep. But after seeing this image, I think we'll all be dreaming of uncrewed spacecrafts from here on out.

A cosmic sandwich

Lee et al.

This week, Popular Science also explored new insights into this delightful (though not particularly appetizing) space hamburger. But where's the beef? Well, there isn't any. The patty in this illustration is actually a very young solar system in the midst of development. The cosmic sandwich is helping scientists learn more about how stars and planets form across the universe.

TAGS: 

• IOTW   
• CASSINI   
• SATURN   
• EARTH   
• ENTERTAINMENT 

{ http://www.popsci.com/ }

‘Phoenix Forgotten’ Director Reveals His Favorite UFO Films!

By Brad Miska 

{ http://bloody-disgusting.com/ }

Most Habitable Earth-Like Planets May Be Waterworlds

More common than you might think. (Image: Interstellar)

Over 70 percent of our planet is covered in water, and we tend to think that’s a lot. A new study suggests that our world is special in this regard, and that most habitable planets are dominated by oceans that consume over 90 percent their surface area. That may be good for primitive marine life, but not so good for aspiring civilizations.

A new study published in The Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society suggests that most habitable planets are wet. Like, extremely wet. Using computer models, astronomer Fergus Simpson from the Institute of Cosmos Science at the University of Barcelona found that habitable exoplanets, at least simulated ones, tend to be overrun by water, in most cases accounting for 90 percent or more of the total surface area.

This finding suggests that Earth, with its vast land masses, is unique in the cosmological scheme of things, and that our planetary twin may be harder to find than we thought. What’s more, it may explain why we’ve never made contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence—a conclusion that feeds into the Rare Earth Hypothesis, the idea that Earth-like planets containing complex life are exceptionally rare in the Universe

This USGS picture shows the size of a sphere that would contain all of Earth’s water in comparison to the size of the Earth. It may not seem like much, but our planet is relatively flat, so a little goes a long way. (Image: USGS)

As Simpson notes in his new study, a planet must strike a certain balance if it is to host both extensive land masses and large oceans. Factors controlling this balance include the amount of water on the surface of a planet, the space available to store it, and the presence of dynamic topographical features—from vast ocean basins through to mountain ranges. If the oceans are relatively shallow, and the land altitudes low, the excess water will consume the vast majority of a planet’s surface. Here on Earth, the global topography allows for approximately 29 percent of our planet’s surface area to remain above water. Over the eons, this ratio has remained relatively stable allowing for the emergence of complex terrestrial animals such as ourselves.

Simpson’s new study suggests that Earth is an outlier in this regard, and that most terrestrial planets locked within its host star’s habitable zone (i.e. that cozy niche where liquid water can be retained at the surface) are waterworlds. But if we take a closer look at our planet, we’re actually not too far removed from being completely drenched in water ourselves. As the animation below shows, only a narrow window exists in which large areas of both land and water are present. Consequently, and as Simpson points out in his new study, habitable exoplanets tend to be dominated by water or land.

At least in theory. Simpson’s models aren’t based on observations made of real exoplanets, and are instead best guesses of planetary formation and how much water we can expect to find on these hypothetical worlds.

“I’m a bit puzzled about this paper,” said astrophysicist Sean N. Raymond, who wasn’t involved with the study, in an interview with Gizmodo. “I find studies that extrapolate from N=1 to be interesting but hard to interpret. In this case, there are plenty of unanswered—but relevant questions.”

Most of Earth’s water came via asteroids and comets. (Image: Mark A. Garlick/space-art.co.uk/University of Warwick/University of Cambridge).

Indeed, the question of how planets get their water is still a matter of contention. The prevailing theory is that most of Earth’s water was delivered by asteroids and comets. If that’s the case, then it’s nearly impossible to predict the quantity of water on any given planet. In order for us to be certain, we’d need to know the average amount of water delivered to a planet of our size and location. But every star system is different, featuring varying amounts of asteroids, comets, and water, not to mention neighboring planets that are also sopping up water from the heavens.

“In the ‘classical model’ of terrestrial planet formation, water delivery to Earth is very [random] so it’s reasonable to imagine alternate Earths with over ten times more water,” said Raymond. “However, in our newer models much less water is delivered but the delivery is more reliable.”

What Raymond is talking about is the observation that the inner solar system is water poor, while the outer system is water-rich.

“Water worlds are always beyond what we call the ‘snow line’,” Adam Sarafian, a graduate student at MIT’s Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences department, told Gizmodo. “The snow line existed in the very early Solar System before planets formed. Beyond the line, water could condense as ice, so the bodies in the outer solar system are water rich and the inner solar system bodies are water poor. So we would expect water worlds to exist in the outer solar system and relatively dry planets in the inner solar system.”

Sarafian, who wasn’t involved with the new study, is currently trying to figure out why Earth has so much water and when it got here.

“Recent evidence suggests the inner solar system was likely seeded with plenty of water very early, such that Mars could have looked just like Earth (partly waterworld) soon after it formed,” said Sarafian. “One advantage of looking at planets closer to the Sun, which wouldn’t allow them to be water worlds (because of the snow line) is that the sun provides a lot of energy for life and would allow liquid water on the surface, as opposed to ice.”

Sarafian believes that Simpson’s new study is part of this larger conversation, which is mostly speculation about the best places to look for life.

But there are other factors to consider than how Earth got its water, such as how the ocean’s depths are regulated by interactions between the deep ocean and Earth’s mantle. For example, Earth may be unique in that it features unusually deep water basins. More research will be required to determine if this is the case.

Simpson himself factored in some of these effects, and had his test model account for the deep water cycle, erosion, and deposition processes (i.e. the process in which sediments, soil, and rocks are added to a land mass). Despite this, he still found that water is be a prevailing surface feature in most cases. Interestingly, he found that planets with small oceans feature land masses dominated by deserts. Also, large Earth-like planets are almost guaranteed to be waterworlds.

“Larger planets are thought to be more prone to flooding for two reasons,” Simpson told Gizmodo. “One is that if they have the same composition (percentage of water by mass) then their oceans are deeper. The second is that their higher surface gravity makes it harder to have such large surface perturbations [dynamic topological features].”

What a Habitable Planet Twice the Size of Earth Would Be Like

To date, astronomers have catalogued over 1,000 exoplanets — some of them rocky and parked within…Read more on io9.​gizmodo.​com

If Simpson’s conclusions are valid, then it means our planet has struck a fine balance between land and ocean—an observation that may help to explain why our civilization emerged on Earth (despite what some might say, it is highly unlikely that a high-tech, industrial-scale civilization can develop on a world consumed by water). And in fact, Simpson says that anthropic selection effects are at work. That’s a fancy way of saying that Earth is a freaky planet, because if it wasn’t freaky, we wouldn’t be here to see it.

The trouble with the Anthropic Principle, of course, is that it’s untestable. But thankfully, this new waterworld theory is.

“The exciting aspect is that we may not be too far from measuring the atmospheric composition of terrestrial exoplanets,” said Simpson. Indeed, with the next generation of telescopes, including those situated in space, we’ll be able to scan the atmospheres of exoplanets to determine how much water might be on the surface.

In addition, scientists will need to figure out the various ways in which our planet is an oddball, and why. Until then, let’s celebrate the fact that Earth is a weirdo of the Milky Way.

[Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society]

Recommended Stories

• 

  The Nearest Earth-Like Planet Outside Our Solar System Could Be a Water World

• 

  New Theory Suggests Life Can Emerge On Planets Without Water

• 

  For the First Time, We've Found an Exoplanet at the "Frost Line"

 { http://gizmodo.com/ }

Watch NASA Launch 38 Itty Bitty Satellites to the ISS

NASA

LATER TODAY, AN Atlas V rocket will blast off to the International Space Station bearing 7,600-odd pounds of food, water and other sundries to the astronauts on board. Nearly a third of that weight is equipment for science that furthers NASA’s ability to explore space: a capsule that records how spacecraft break up on re-entry, an experiment that tests how fires behave in microgravity, a shiny new LED-powered plant growing habitat.

But also tucked into the spacecraft’s cargo hold are 38 CubeSats, diminutive satellites that are cheaper and easier to assemble than the behemoths rockets usually take into orbit. The ISS is a major launch platform for CubeSats—it has ejected more than 100 small payloads from companies and universities into orbit in the past few years. Those small sats will rely on new launch providers when the ISS retires in less than a decade. But this launch, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, will be business as usual; you can watch the livestream (now also in glorious 3D!) when it starts at 10 am Eastern, with the launch scheduled for 11:11 am.

CubeSats have piggybacked on shuttles to the ISS for a while now, partly because it offers a convenient arrangement. Resupply missions are constant—astronauts need food and water—and the ISS even hosts a dedicated robot arm to shove the boxy satellites into the void. Small sats are cheaper, lighter, and easier to get into orbit than bigger satellites, which decreases the risk of sending them up. So they’re especially useful for scientists looking to develop and test new tech on the cheap. Once they’ve created a new tool, the scientists can just throw their sat on a space-bound rocket and see if it works.

The way CubeSats are constructed—mostly through a process of tinkering and iteration—are just as ad hoc as the way they’re sent to space. “Cubesats are like PCs in the early ’90s—a lot of people are putting together satellite parts by themselves by hand,” says Dong Wu, an atmospheric scientist at NASA Goddard. His project aboard today’s mission is no different. He built a high-frequency sensor that detects signatures from frigid, wispy ice clouds, aptly named IceCube.

NASA

Because of their DIY, maker ethos, CubeSats are also a popular tool for universities. “With CubeSats, the cost to entry has gone away—you don’t have to get educated for a decade to participate in space,” says Glenn Lightsey, a satellite designer at Georgia Tech. Another project on today’s launch is a cosmic background X-ray detector built by a team from Morehead State University. “Two undergrads managed to find a medical imaging X-ray detector off the shelf,” says Ben Malphrus, the project lead and a space scientist at Morehead, “and two other students built the control electronics.” The result is an instrument that might inform the team about the early structure of the universe.

Nowadays, small sats are sort of an afterthought—what people in the industry call “secondary payloads,” squeezed in only when heftier payloads allow. But as CubeSats grow in popularity, they’ll need a more organized way to get them into space. The small space-faring instruments aren’t just useful for science; companies are launching them en masse in “constellations” for remote imaging, communications, and more. In response, new launch providers and facilitators are popping up—players that will only become more important when the ISS retires in 2024.

India’s space agency sent up 104 small sats in a launch this past February, carrying 88 small sats from the company Planet to take images of the Earth. And companies like Rocket Lab and Virgin are building launch vehicles specifically for small payloads—slimmer, cheaper rockets that can drop off small sats in the orbits and altitudes their creators request.

Those providers are supporting a broader push to privatize space. With CubeSats, companies can more easily stake out an extraterrestrial presence. And, to Lightsey, that makes them the most promising way into a bustling space industry. “Commercial development has a way of feeding back on itself,” he says. If access to space is determined by cost, smaller satellites that do the same things as bigger ones allow companies to save money and provide services at a profit.

But for now, many of those companies will still rely on the ISS. That includes companies like Spire, a San Francisco-based space data startup that’s sending up four bread-box sized satellites on the mission. It’ll use its sats to collect information on ship locations and weather conditions, which it then sells to ports, hedge funds, and government organizations like NOAA. The company wants to expand. Hopefully, the small sat industry will grow in kind, so that by the time the ISS retires its sats—and others in the business—won’t be left adrift.

Tags

• ISS
• NASA
• SATELLITES
• SPACE

{ https://www.wired.com/ }

Astronauts who said they have seen UFOs

Several astronauts from NASA claimed they had come in contact with aliens, and that alien civilizations have been monitoring us for a long time.

According to the Daily Mail, some important astronauts from #NASA claim they have seen UFOs during space missions. At least four astronauts from NASA — Edgar Mitchell, Gordon Cooper, Deke Slayton and Brian O'Leary — have publicly revealed their belief in #aliens.

Edgar Mitchell — the sixth person on the Moon — believed in aliens

The astronaut Edgar Mitchell was the sixth person on the Moon in 1971 with the Apollo 14 mission. When he came back from the mission Mitchell claimed he experienced an intense spiritual experience. He then devoted his life to prove the existence of alien life. Mitchell also claimed that aliens saved humanity in the past from a devastating nuclear war. The astronaut suggested that the Vatican was hiding the information that an alien race was trying to contact us. Mitchell died on February 4, 2016, before the 45th anniversary of the Moon landing.

Gordon Cooper claimed he saw a UFO

Gordon Cooper was one of seven astronauts selected by NASA for the first space mission — "Mercury Project." "Mercury Project" took place between the years of 1958 and 1963. Its purpose was to send a person into Earth's orbit. During the training, Cooper claimed he saw a #UFO flying over an American base in Germany. The astronaut claims that humanity must prove they can solve their problems peacefully before aliens accept us as universal team members. Cooper suffered from Parkinson's disease at the age of 77 and he died on October 4, 2004.

Deke Slayton also claimed he saw a UFO

Like Cooper, Deke Slayton, who was part of the same project, claimed he saw a UFO in 1951. He described it as a flying saucer that was standing at an angle of 45 degrees. He said he would have taken pictures if he had a camera. Slayton was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1992 and he died in 1993 at the age of 69.

Brian O'Leary also believed in aliens

The astronaut Brian O'Leary was selected for a mission to Mars in 1967, but this mission never took place. O'Leary also had an experience that changed his opinion about aliens. After leaving NASA he became a professor of physics at Princeton University. During this time, he claimed there was a lot of evidence that aliens contacted us. According to O'Leary's statements, alien civilizations have been monitoring Earth for a long time. O'Leary died of intestinal cancer on July 28, 2011, shortly after he was diagnosed with this disease.

{http://us.blastingnews.com/ }

Death by Asteroid: The Most Likely Ways for a Space Rock to Kill You

Artist's illustration depicting a massive asteroid impact on Earth.

Credit: Don Davis/NASA

If you live in fear of an asteroid strike, here's some detail to help flesh out your nightmares.

A killer space rock is most likely to get you via violent winds that fling you against something hard or powerful shock waves that rupture your internal organs, according to a new study.

"This is the first study that looks at all seven impact effects generated by hazardous asteroids and estimates which are, in terms of human loss, most severe," lead author Clemens Rumpf, a senior research assistant at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, said in a statement. [Potentially Dangerous Asteroids (Images)]

Rumpf and his colleagues simulated 50,000 asteroid strikes around the globe using computer models. These artificial impacts involved space rocks 50 feet to 1,300 feet wide (15 to 400 meters) — the size range that hits Earth most frequently, the scientists said.

Then, the team estimated the percentage of deaths caused by each of the seven effects Rumpf referred to: shock waves, wind blasts, heat, flying debris, cratering, seismic shaking and tsunamis.

Wind and shock waves were the most deadly, together accounting for more than 60 percent of all lives lost. (Though these two effects act in concert, wind blasts were far more devastating than shock waves, the study found.) The sizzling heat of an impact was responsible for nearly 30 percent of deaths, and tsunamis took most of the rest.

Each of the other three effects claimed only a tiny sliver of the death toll, according to the study. Flying debris had a maximum contribution of just 0.91 percent, for example; the figures for cratering and seismic shaking were 0.2 percent and 0.17 percent, respectively.

Rumpf and his colleagues also determined that land-based asteroid impacts are about 10 times deadlier than ocean strikes. In addition, they found that space rocks have to be at least 59 feet (18 m) wide to be lethal.

That lower limit is about the size of the object that exploded above the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February 2013, generating a shock wave that broke countless windows on the ground below. The resulting flying glass shards injured more than 1,000 people but killed nobody.

"This report is a reasonable step forward in trying to understand and come to grips with the hazards posed by asteroids and comet impactors," Jay Melosh, a geophysicist at Purdue University who was not involved in the new study, said in the same statement.

Melosh added that the findings "lead one to appreciate the role of air blasts in asteroid impacts, as we saw in Chelyabinsk."

Astronomers have discovered more than 16,000 near-Earth objects to date. However, that number is just a tiny sliver of the total, which is thought to be in the millions.

Scientists think they've found about 95 percent of the nearby asteroids that could threaten human civilization if they were to hit Earth — behemoths at least 0.6 miles (1 km) wide — and none of these monsters poses a threat for the foreseeable future.

But there are still plenty of dangerous rocks zooming around out there undiscovered. On average, Earth gets hit by an asteroid at least 190 feet (60 m) wide every 1,500 years and by a rock at least 1,300 feet (400 m) wide every 100,000 years, Rumpf said.

"The likelihood of [a serious] asteroid impact is really low," said Rumpf. "But the consequences can be unimaginable."

Researchers around the world are studying ways to prevent asteroid strikes and thereby avoid those consequences. Most incoming space rocks that are detected with decades of lead time could likely be nudged away from Earth using "gravity tractors" and kinetic impactor probes, scientists say. (Gravity tractors would fly alongside a potentially dangerous asteroid for long stretches, whereas kinetic impactors would slam into the space rock.)

But a nuclear bomb may be required to deal with giant asteroids or comets that are discovered just weeks or months before a potential impact.

The new study was published last month in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

Editor's Recommendations

• Asteroid Basics: A Space Rock Quiz
• Photos: Russian Meteor Explosion of Feb. 15, 2013
• Killer Asteroids: We're WISE to You Now!

{ http://www.livescience.com/ }

The full rotation of the Moon as seen by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

{ http://7tales.net/ }

ANCIENT CITY RUINS DISCOVERED ON THE SURFACE OF MARS

{ http://7tales.net/ }

ADVANCED ALIEN CIVILIZATIONS LIVING IN TWO MILE WIDE MOON CAVES

China is weer stapje dichter bij eigen ruimtestation - HLN.be

Bron: Belga

Het Chinese ruimtestation Tianzhou-1.

 © afp.

China heeft vandaag voor het eerst een ruimtecargo gelanceerd. Het land komt zo een stap dichter bij een eigen volwaardig ruimtestation.

De Tianzhou-1 ('Hemels Schip') vertrok volgens het staatstelevisiestation CGTN om 13.41 uur Belgische tijd van op de basis Wenchang op het zuidelijke eiland Hainan, bovenop een Lange Mars-7 Y2 draagraket. Het ruimteschip is succesvol in een baan rondom de Aarde gekomen.

De onbemande cargo moet zich binnen twee dagen vastklinken aan het in september gelanceerde lab Tiangong-2. Dit prototype van ruimtestation wordt dan bijgetankt en krijgt materiaal aangeleverd.

De cargo zal ook wetenschappelijke experimenten uitvoeren alvorens bij het eind van zijn missie van drie maanden weer op Aarde terug te vallen.

Het meer dan tien meter lange vrachtruimteschip kan meer dan zes ton lading en satellieten vervoeren. Het eerste exemplaar geldt als essentieel voor het uitbaten van een ruimtestation dat het Aziatische land tegen 2020 wil bouwen en dat twee jaar later af moet zijn.

Wanneer in 2024 de uitbating stopt van het Internationaal Ruimtestation, waarin Peking niet deelneemt, zal China dan het enige land zijn met een ruimtestation.

Het was de tweede lancering van dit type van Lange Mars-7. De maidenmissie vond in juni 2006 plaats. 

Lees ook

• Amerikaans-Russisch duo op weg naar ISS
• Astronaut neemt foto van ons land en er blijken 's nachts wel wat lichten te branden
• SpaceX lanceert eerste gerecycleerde raket

{ http://www.hln.be/ }

EERSTE GRAANCIRKELS VAN 2017 WIJZEN OP LANDING BUITENAARDSEN ( VIDEO )

Alhoewel we nog steeds vroeg in het voorjaar zijn, verschijnen in Engeland alweer de eerste graancirkels. 

Nog steeds houden de mainstream media vol dat er jaar na jaar halvegaren met plankjes onder de voeten dit soort dingen blijven maken, maar de waarheid is waarschijnlijk anders. 

De allereerste officiële graancirkel van dit jaar is op 16 april 2017 gevonden in een veld in het Engelse Wiltshire. 

Misschien omdat het seizoen voor graancirkels net is begonnen, zijn deze nog relatief eenvoudig, vergeleken met de vele ingewikkelde constructies die we in de loop der jaren hebben gezien. 

Die in het plaatsje Cherhill in het Engelse Wiltshire was ongeveer 80 meter lang, werd op 16 april ontdekt en zag eruit als volgt:

Er wordt natuurlijk weer driftig gezocht naar de betekenis van deze cirkel en er wordt gesuggereerd dat het misschien iets te maken kan hebben met een vrij unieke stand van planeten aan onze hemel op 21 augustus van dit jaar, wanneer aarde, maan, zon en venus op één lijn staan en wanneer op die dag ook nog een zonsverduistering plaats vindt. 

Hetzelfde symbool vind je ook terug op een 5.000 jaar oude steen in West Dunbartonshire in Schotland, de zogenaamde Cochno Stone. Volgens onderzoekers wordt op deze steen een soort kosmische kaart afgebeeld.

Er zijn in het verleden al vaker graancirkels gevonden met symbolen die eveneens op de Cochno Stone voorkomen. 

Maar, misschien heeft het symbool een hele andere betekenis en wellicht zullen er lezers zijn die zelf een interpretatie van deze graancirkel hebben. 

 

Iemand die geen enkele moeite heeft met het interpreteren van de tweede graancirkel van 2017 is de ufoloog Scott Waring. 

De navolgende werd gevonden op 18 april 2017 in de plaats Tarlton in Gloucestershire en zag er als volgt uit:

Volgens Scott is het duidelijk dat we hier te maken hebben met de afdrukken van een buitenaardse UFO, vergezeld van twee kleinere die volgens hem poolshoogte kwamen nemen over het soort veld waar ze mee te maken hebben. 

Wat hij er niet bij vertelt, is of ze dit veld dan onderzoeken zodat ze weten hoe ze straks mooie graancirkels kunnen maken of dat ze dit doen omdat ze de genetische samenstelling van de gewassen aan een nader onderzoek willen onderwerpen. 

 

Onlangs schreven wij een artikel over een drietal vreemde cirkels nabij een landingsbaan van een klein vliegveld in Argentinië. Ook daar wordt vermoed dat er op die locatie een aantal buitenaardse UFO’s zijn geland. 

Naar aanleiding van dat artikel, kwam er iemand naar voren (dank!) die zegt dat er ook in Nederland dergelijke dingen zijn gebeurd, een aantal jaren geleden. 

Het schijnt dat er eind 70er, begin 80er jaren een soortgelijk incident is geweest in Nederland en wel vlakbij de voormalige RAF basis te Laarbruch die in Duitsland op de grens met Nederland ligt. 

Mijn buurman komt er uit de buurt en volgens hem zijn er destijds ufo's geland die brandende cirkels achterlieten, het schijnt dat deze cirkels perfect waren. Achteraf werd het als een kwajongensstreek afgedaan, maar dat ging er bij de getuigen niet in, daarvoor waren de cirkels te perfect. 

Meer informatie heb ik tot dusver niet weten te achterhalen, maar ik neem mijn buurman wel serieus. Volgens hem zijn er ook enkele incidenten in de 60er jaren geweest waarbij vele mensen ufo's in dezelfde regio zagen. Het betreft overigens een afgelegen hei- en bosgebied tussen Bergen (L), Siebengewald (NL), de Maas en de Duitse grens. 

Zelf heb ik daar samen met een voormalige buurvrouw ook al eens een ufo gezien tijdens een experiment van Above Top Secret in 2008 waarbij het doel was middels gedachten (samengebundeld) ufo's op te roepen. Mijn camera stond op de Maan gericht, mijn buurvrouw riep me zo van, "hey, kijk eens daar", ik draaide me om en zag een bol net zo groot als de Maan, maar het leek veel dichterbij en kleiner. Ik schrok me rot (opwinding), draaide me weer om om de camera te draaien, maar toen ik weer keek was het al weer weg... 

De bol leek op de ondergaande zon en was oranje van kleur, het kon echter de zon niet zijn want die was al onder en het object verscheen in het oosten. 

Mochten er mensen zijn die zich nog dingen kunnen herinneren van die gebeurtenissen, dan horen wij dat graag. 

En ondertussen is het lente, want de graancirkels zijn er weer.

{ http://www.niburu.co/ }

Is NASA hiding ET? Conspiracy theorists spot a transparent ‘alien cylinder’ on a live feed of the ISS

• Live footage from Nasa shows a 'strange cylindrical UFO' near the ISS
• The object suddenly appears before getting closer and fading away
• Alien enthusiast believe it shows extra terrestrials have cloaking devices
• One expert says debris or satellites are more likely than 'unreliable' cloaking

By Tim Collins For Mailonline

A strange cylindrical UFO has been captured on a live feed taken from the International Space Station, claim conspiracy theorists.

The UFO hunters believe it shows that visitors from other worlds have developed cloaking technology.

But one expert says space junk or a satellite are more likely explanations than apparently 'unreliable' cloaking devices. 

Scroll down for video

A live feed taken from the International Space Station appears to show a strange cylindrical UFO approaching the station, before fading away. And the UFO spotter who shared the footage believes is evidence of cloaking technology 

The footage appears to show the object suddenly appearing near the space station, before starting to approach it.

Part of the cylinder is then seen to disappear, which the UFO spotter who shared the footage believes is evidence of cloaking technology.

Speaking on his blog UFO Sightings Daily, astro-biologist Scott C Waring said: 'I noticed a UFO in the distance that was coming closer and closer to the space station.

'The UFO was partially cloaked, which made it look transparent. 

'In the deep blackness of spaces, blending into the environment means you will be safer from other alien species that may not be so friendly. 

'Bob Lazar said in Area S4 (inside Area 51) that he read documents that said that the USAF knew of 56 space faring species.'

The video, shared on YouTube, had attracted over 20,000 views at the time of publication. 

But UFO expert and author of the UFO Investigations Manual Nigel Watson believes a more simple explanation is likely.

He said: 'If alien spacecraft buzzing the ISS use cloaking technology it isn't very reliable if they keep appearing and disappearing. 

'You'd think by now they could easily avoid our cameras and other sensing technology!

'This latest video looks like it is either a distant satellite, or a piece of space junk that is relatively close to the camera. 

'Rather than cloaking technology it has probably gone out of sight by moving out of the glare of the Sun.' 

{

This is not the first time that strange objects, argued to be evidence of aliens, have been spotted near the International Space Station.

Over the past year, there have been a growing number of sightings of unidentified objects on Nasa feeds, and some have even claimed a cover-up of the existence of extra-terrestrial life.

The most recent took place back in March, when another video was uploaded to YouTube.

This is not the first time that evidence of aliens has been spotted near the International Space Station (pictured). And some believe Nasa is actively covering up evidence of alien life (stock image)

It showed a long bright light hovering above earth with two mysterious bright objects just below.

Conspiracy theorists suggested that this was an alien 'megaship', which they claimed Nasa tried altered the lights to make the object seem to disappear. 

While it is not always possible to determine exactly what these objects are during the brief period they appear in the stream, there are a number of possible explanations for these types of sightings.

'It is astonishing how many UFOs are seen buzzing around the ISS, but like this video there is usually a simple explanation for them,' Nigel Watson, UFO expert and author of the UFO Investigations Manual, told MailOnline after a similar sighting in January.

A video uploaded to YouTube by conspiracy theorist Streetcap1 in March shows a long bright light hovering above earth with two mysterious bright objects just below

'This could well be a lens reflection that appears and then goes as the light changes, giving the impression of an extraterrestrial space coming into view and then cruising out of sight. 

'Many UFOs caught by the ISS's cameras can be also be explained as images of space junk or satellites in the distance, and even very small flecks of paint or particles can appear like UFOs when caught by the bright light from the sun.' 

In the past, a Nasa spokesperson has explained: 'Reflections from station windows, the spacecraft structure itself or lights from Earth commonly appear as artefacts in photos and videos from the orbiting laboratory.'

This is just the latest in a series of claims Nasa footage shows UFOs before cutting out.

In footage from the ISS channel uploaded to YouTube by user ColdPyro in November last year, a white speck can be seen emerging from the darkness just above Earth's horizon.

Right before the 'UFO' travels out of view, the feed cuts to a grey screen, followed by a statement asking users to 'please stand by' due to technical issues.

{ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

Has this nine-year-old girl spotted a UFO in the sky above Manchester?

The truth is out there...

BY KATIE BUTLER

Can you help a father and his young daughter solve the mystery of this ‘UFO’?

Video footage taken by David Woodward and his nine-year-old daughter, Georgia, captures a small, black object hovering around the wing of a plane 40,000ft in the air.

David noticed the unusual object while filming Georgia on a flight from Manchester Airport to Lanzarote earlier this month.

READ MORE

• UFOs spotted in Greater Manchester: Videos and pictures show some of the reports made in recent years

He said: “We had set off from Manchester and were only in the air for around 10 minutes when we started filming Georgia for her YouTube channel. She was saying how lovely the sky was and then I saw the black object.

“I thought it might have been an anomaly on the screen, or a bird. But after looking into it, a bird wouldn’t be that high up.”

The footage was uploaded to Georgia’s YouTube channel, Kidskillz, and shows a small black object darting around near the tip of the wing.

David, a factory worker from Merseyside, added: “It was strange because it kept changing direction and then bobbing and weaving around. Georgia was a bit sceptical and she laughs at me for saying it might be a UFO, but you never know.

“I’m really interested to hear what people think it is.”

There have been many reported sightings of ‘UFOs’ in recent years in the area - with Greater Manchester being dubbed one of the country’s hotspots. Only Merseyside has had more mysterious sightings in the last two years, according to police figures.

The data from last year revealed an uncannily high number of reports across the North West as a whole - more incidents than any other region in the UK.

Merseyside Police received 13 reports of UFOs since January 2013, with Greater Manchester Police close behind with 10.

During that time, one Rochdale resident told GMP she had seen a trio of UFOs, all flying together.

The woman reported how she went to A&E over concerns she would pass out from the shock.

Anyone who can identify the object hovering around the plane wing in Georgia’s video, please email katie.butler@trinitymirror.com

{ http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ }

V-shaped object photographed over Caracas, Venezuela 19-Apr-2017

UFO hunter from Venezuela Héctor Escalante posted this photo online. “April 19th, government and opposition forces are marching in the streets of Caracas,” he wrote. “A very tense moment. Meanwhile, something strange flies across the skies of the Venezuelan capital.”

What do you think this object is? Please leave your comment below!

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

Amazing triangle-UFO video filmed in Exmouth, UK 17-Apr-2017

This interesting footage of a triangular-shaped formation was seen and recorded in the night sky above Exmouth in United Kingdom on 17th April 2017.

Witness report: 

I was waiting for the bus while taking to a friend when i noticed 3 lights in a triangle pattern over the mouth of the river exe. Took some video and pictures with my phone before the bus came and I left.

On april 17th at 9.41pm I was waiting for my bus to come in after my break, (I’m a bus driver) and was taking to my bestman about my upcoming wedding on the phone. I would normally be in our rest room but since the clock in the restroom was fast (about 7mins fast) I had gone out early to wait while still chatting to my friend.

While i was talking i was just kind of walking about near the leisure center, where my bus stops, when I looked randomly over in the direction of the river which is when i saw the three lights in a triangle pattern rotating on its axis and wobbling slightly.

I knew instantly that this is not normal and as I have been interested in the subject of ufos since I was about 10 I told my mate i’d ring him back and started filming the lights with my phone. Due to the street lights my camera was having a hard time focusing on the formation, so i moved closer to the river to get a better view, (in some haste since I still had to drive a bus which was going to be there at any moment) I filmed a 2min40sec odd vid, then whatsapp-ed my friend to tell him and see if he could see it over vid-call. (which he couldnt as it wouldnt let me zoom in) 
I then took about 7 photos in quick order and then another 41second vid to send my mate over whatsapp. 
It’s at this point I really had to go back to the bus stop to get my bus and as I walked over 4 ppl got out of a car in the car park and I pointed out the lights to them also (to which they showed a bit of interest but not much)

It was then my bus got there at 10.02pm and I showed the lights to my co-worker who tried to think of any reason they might be something other than a ufo, (drone, laser pointers etc) he went to cashin and finish and i had to drive as i was now 7 mins late lol

I drove to the turn around point and back in est 8 mins and the lights were gone by the time I got back down to town, (and could not see them on the way down as i had a good view over the area due to the road i was driving)

During the event I felt elation and joy, (the only way I can describe it was the feeling MDNA/ectasy gives you. it’s been years since i had any but i’ll never forget the feeling of pure joy. It felt exactly like that, massive endorfin rush) I was bouncing around like an excited child 

In total I talked to about 10 people who saw what I did, with one old gentelman who got on my bus who thought he’d just drunk to much.

The morning after I looked more carefully at the photos i had taken, and in one there are shapes inside the lights with two out of the three most visible and identical to the other. (image 5, had to zoom in to the image and then take a photo of it because the only imaging software i have can only brighten which clouds the image)

Author (source: MUFON)

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