25 Pics Of Underwater Creatures That Defy All Logic - PART I
BY ARA CHAI
The sheer amount and variety of animals on our planet is astounding. Some have learned to live with us in our homes and in the cities and on farms. Others are rare and usually only seen in places that are relatively unreachable to people like high mountaintops or severely cold and isolated climates.
There is a whole ocean of rarely seen creatures that run the gamut in terms of appearance and sizes. Some of the following animals live deep down in the waters and rarely or never see the rays of our sun. These particular animals live in environments so drastically different than any other animals that lives above water, they almost look like aliens! Barely recognizable eyes, translucent skin, and multiple limbs are only some of the oddities that underwater creatures feature on their small or huge bodies.
Many of the following underwater creatures live in very remote areas of the globe and are rarely seen by the human eye because they live so deep in the ocean. Creatures that live so far down in the waters have no reason to come up to the shore for anything, therefore they remain a mystery to most of us.
In the following list, we see 25 pictures of underwater creatures that we just can't seem to wrap our heads around.
The Red-Lipped Batfish is truly a unique kind of fish. While most people would assume that fish get to where they need to go by swimming, the Red-Lipped Batfish has adapted to be able to rest its fins on the ocean floor and move them as if it was walking on the bottom of the ocean! Walking isn’t the only special feature of these fish however. One of their most visible defining features are the lipstick red lips that they seem to have in a permanent pout. Don’t let these elegant red lips fool you though, the Red Lipped Batfish is an opportunistic carnivore that thankfully only consumes smaller fish, mollusks, and crustaceans (nationalgeographic).
One of the many species of worms on this list, the Bobbit Worm may be one of the ones we least want to come across if we happen to be wandering across an ocean floor. Because it is an ambush predator, the Bobbit Worm catches its prey by burying its body in gravel, mud, or corals and waiting patiently until it senses prey approaching with one of its five antennas. Once the timing is right, the Bobbit Worm will attack ferociously with a quickness that is usually not attributed to worms (reefnation). One other feature that we usually don’t associate with worms? Teeth and toxins. But the Bobbit Worm has sharp teeth and injects prey with a toxin that renders can stun or even kill it.
Sea Angels seem to look like a combination that is very eye catching because of it’s meanings. While the name Sea Angel is almost certainly a testament to the “wings” that seem to be sprouting from its back, it also has two very distinct horns that remind one of something a bit less angelic… In actuality, the two “wings” are actually feet that have evolved to look like wings and are used to move along gracefully through the waters. Sea Angels are actually slugs and this particular kind has a translucent body and are tiny- they rarely grow over 5 cm in length.
Looking like a creature out of an alien movie, the Giant Isopod prefers the cold waters and the sparse light of the Oceans and they can be found thousands of feet below the surface of the freezing waters in the Antarctic. Because they live in such harsh conditions, Giant Isopods have slower metabolism and limit their movements until they absolutely have to, usually to catch any food that has managed to make its way so far down which is pretty scarce (discovery). Due to the low light conditions of their habitat, Giant Isopods rely more on their antennas to guide them rather than their eyes.
Ribbon eels are often found in lagoons or coastal reefs throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The Ribbon Eel literally looks like a thick cut ribbon being that it is long and thin with a colorful and bright pattern all along its flat body. Since it is so thin, the Ribbon Eel likes to hide in the dark, small and narrow crevices of the reefs or rocks. The Ribbon Eel usually swims with its mouth hanging open and makes a beautiful pattern with its long body as it travels that can be mesmerizing for any diver able to spot one.
Sometimes we wonder why some creatures were given certain names, but one close up look at the Squidworm gives a strong clue. The name “Squidworm” is actually a bit misleading since technically this creature is all worm. The difference between the Squidworm and the worms we would normally think of, such as the familiar Earthworm, is that this deep sea resident has a number of long tentacles on its head that make it look like two different kinds of animals were fused together to create it (nationalgeographic). The Squidworm uses its multiple tentacles for activities such as breathing, feeling its way around the deep sea, and feeding.
Probably the most unfortunate looking creature on the list is the gelatinous Blobfish. The name is quite appropriate since without any bones or teeth, the Blobfish really doesn’t have much structure to its body or face. With features that make it look like it is in a bad mood all the time, the Blobfish floats along the sea floors of Australia and New Zealand ingesting any small creatures that happen to cross its path. Because it can’t really move and depends on the oceans currents to help it travel, the Blobfish is far from a dangerous predator, but still probably not one anyone wants to encounter (discovery).
Sharks in general are pretty fearsome creatures, but as far as looks go the Goblin Shark is one of the stranger looking types in the shark family. Also referred to as the “Vampire Shark” because of its preference for living in the darkness and shadows of the deep sea. Where in the globe doesn’t particularly matter since Goblin Sharks have been hauled up by fishermen in places like France, Brazil, and the Gulf of México. Wherever they are found, their unique shape is sure to make a frightening impression and makes us glad they live so deep down in the sea.
The Barrelfish is another underwater creature that seems better suited for an appearance in a science fiction movie. Unlike many other fishes, the Barrelfish has a translucent head where one can easily see all of the organs. While on the one hand it offers a very clear look into the anatomy of this fish, the unfiltered inside look into their heads is a bit off putting which is probably why one of the other names of this fish is the “Spookfish” (nationalgeographic). Barrelfish usually make their homes in the deep waters off of the coast of California and the North Pacific region.
Although it certainly does not look like any kind of worm we might think of when hearing that word, the Christmas Tree Worm is just that- a worm that lives on tropical coral reefs around the globe. They are relatively small and on average grow to about 1.5 inches in length, but they are always brightly colored which make them stand out as they cling to the coral reefs where they make their home (discovery). Since these worms are sedentary, once they find a place they like where they can withstand the tides and find enough to eat, they usually stick around for a while.
One of the few creatures on this list that does not make its home in the sea or oceans, the Armored Snail prefers the less active waters of freshwater springs, streams- and specifically in Piney and Limestone Creeks in Limestone County, Alabama which is the only place to date that this particular type of snail has ever been spotted. The snail size reaches up to .16 inches in length so it can’t do much damage towards other creatures, but it can certainly defend itself from other creatures because of its hard shell that grows with them so that it is always protected (nationalgeographic).
One of the most fearsome, and angry, looking underwater creatures on this list, the Anglerfish stands out from other fishes because of its large, balloon like body and clearly prominent rows of jagged, sharp teeth (discovery). Because they typically live at such deep depths, usually in the Atlantic and Antarctic oceans, they rely on a built in “lure” of luminous flesh that hangs over their heads and attracts prey that is then quickly and easily snatched into their mouths. Because of their wide, round bodies the Anglerfish isn’t the fastest swimmer in the deep, but its reflective skin allows it to escape the notice of larger predators.
Black Swallowers are more common in the deep waters of tropical and subtropical locations. The Black Swallower looks like a normal sized fish, until we get a peek at the large, protruding stomach it carries underneath it. The distended stomach is not a permanent feature of this fish however, it is another fish entirely! Because Black Swallowers have greatly distensible stomachs, they are able to swallow much bigger fishes entirely whole, bones and all, without using their sharp teeth for much other than latching onto the fish initially (discovery). Black Swallowers have been known to eat fish up to ten times its own mass and over twice its length.
25 Pics Of Underwater Creatures That Defy All Logic - PART II
The large jaws and openly visible jagged teeth on the Viperfish make it look very threatening, although this small fish usually doesn’t grow much bigger than about 12 inches. The long dorsal spine that curves along the spine is tipped with light that it flashes on and off in order to attract smaller fish. Since its fangs are so long that they do not fit in the Viperfish’s mouth, it is believed that they use their sharp teeth to impale their prey before consuming it (science-rumors). The Viperfish come in a few different colors, such as silver, black, or even green.
With quite an intimidating name, the Vampire Squid is typically red in color and has eight arms connected by webbing that make it look similar to a cape vampires are usually associated with. Vampire Squids usually inhabit deep oceans in tropical and temperate regions. Unlike many of the other underwater creatures that live deep in the waters, the Vampire Squid has clearly visible eyes, which can be a vibrant red or blue. Similar to other underwater creatures though, the Vampire Squid’s body is covered with light-producing organs. These can be turned on and off at will either to disorient predators or to attract potential prey.
The Frilled Shark looks to be another one of those creatures that seems like it was the result of an experiment that combined two different kinds of animals (nationalgeographic). Although the Frilled Shark looks very similar to other sharks in terms of its facial resemblance and needle sharp teeth, the body tends to be longer and leaner than most other sharks which give it the appearance of being an eel. Typically brown or grey, the Frilled Sharks swims along the seafloor looking to capture prey with a mouth that can open wide enough to swallow creatures half of its size.
One of the more bizarre looking creatures on this list, the Gulper Eel is distinctive because of its enormously large mouth which hinges open wide enough to swallow creatures much larger than itself. The body of the Gulper Eel is long and lean like most eels, but since it can swallow such large prey, the stomach is able to stretch to significant portions to accommodate digestion (seasky). The Gulper Eel has a very long tail that it uses to move around through the waters, and is tipped by a photophore- a light producing organ that is common in most underwater creatures who live in darkness to attract prey.
With distinctively large and gray blue colored eyes, the Ghost Shark can leave quite an impression because of how rarely it is seen by humans. The Ghost Shark lives in darkness and is usually not very large, with an average length of three feet in length (nationalgeographic). Unlike many other sharks, the Ghost Shark doesn't have hundreds of sharp teeth, instead it crushes its small prey using the mineral plates they have instead of teeth. The blue green color of its skin almost make it look translucent as it swims along the ocean floors, which gives it the appearance of gliding along like a ghost.
The Stargazer Fish may not be one of the most colorful creatures on this list, but its dull brown color helps it to blend into the ocean floor more easily where it buries its entire body so completely that only its face and eyes are visible (saltstrong). The Stargazer fish may not look very threatening, especially when so much of it is buried in the sand or mud, but it can be dangerous if disturbed because it not only has two large poison spines on each pectoral fin, these spines are also capable of emitting some pretty strong and disabling electric shocks!
With the honor of being the only Crab on this list, the Japanese Giant Spider Crab is also the largest known species of crab with an average life expectancy of up to 100 years (national geographic). The Giant Spider Crab is also a master of playing defense; not only are they protected from predators by their armored exoskeletons, their bumpy exterior and color is used as camouflage to blend into the rocky ocean floor and they deliberately pick up sponges and other small animals to adorn its shell and further the illusion that they are a random rock on the ocean floor.
Although there are certainly much bigger and fearsome looking octopuses in the sea, the blue Rimmed Octopus is distinctive because of its unique, bright coloring that make it stand out among many other underwater creatures. The Blue Rimmed Octopus is quite small and rarely grows larger than about eight inches long, but one of the reasons it is so fearsome is because this little creature is one of the most venomous animals in the ocean, with a bite that can cause intense and quick muscle paralysis (nationalgeographic). Once the Blue Rimmed Octopus has its prey between its teeth, it injects them with venom to easily consume whatever unlucky creature it managed to snatch.
One of the more menacing looking fish on the list, the Fang Toothed Fish is named so because of its incredibly large mouth. The Fang Toothed Fish has such big and sharp teeth that they do not allow it to close its mouth completely which makes it look like it is always hungry and ready for its next meal. The entire fish’s body is covered with small, prickly scales which make it look even less inviting. Thankfully, since the Fang Toothed Fish usually likes to hang out in the deeper ocean waters, most people are in no danger of actually meeting one face to face.
The Black Dragonfish lives up to its fierce name with an even fiercer appearance. Its mouth is permanently ajar so that their numerous sharp teeth are one of the first things we notice. Although Black Dragonfish can produce their own blue/green light similar to many other underwater creatures who live at such dark depths, they also have the powerful advantage of being able to produce light in the infrared range to provide light for themselves that most other creatures are unable to detect. The fish’s long, slender body is covered in light producing photophores which light up on command or when the fish has been threatened (futurism).
In the same family as the Angler Fish and Sea Toads, the Red Coffinfish are typically found hanging out somewhere on the ocean floor. These are some of the few fish that “walk” along the ocean floor due to their leg-like fins. Much like the Angler Fish, the Red Coffinfish that live in darkness also have a lit-luring mechanism on their heads that they use to bring prey close enough to eat (nespmarine.edu.au). Their usual pose is to have one hand on a rock and one hand on the sediment in order to steady themselves against the strong ocean currents.
Although the Sarcastic Fringeheads may not be the largest or most fearsome looking underwater creature on this list when they keep their mouths closed, they are known for fiercely defending their small territory in a rather unexpected way (oceana.org). The Sarcastic Fringehead likes to live in burrows in the waters of places like California and México and when it perceives that its personal space has been encroached upon, whether on purpose or accidentally does not matter, it will move aggressively and upon its jaws extremely wide in order to bare it’s small, sharp teeth and sink them into anything that is unfortunate enough to have drawn too close.
References: Oceana.org; futurism.com; nespmarine.edu.au; nationalgeographic.com; discovery.com
Scientists warn Earth's magnetic North Pole has begun moving 'erratically' at speeds so fast they are having to issue an emergency update to maps used by electronic navigation systems
Earth's magnetic fields are shifting - and scientists are unsure why.
Researchers say the magnetic North Pole is 'skittering' away from Canada, towards Siberia.
The problem has got so bad, researchers around the world are scrambling to update a global model of the fields.
Called the World Magnetic Model, it underlies all modern navigation, from the systems that steer ships at sea to Google Maps on smartphones.
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Researchers say the magnetic North Pole is 'skittering' away from Canada, towards Siberia, far more quickly that they expected it to.
The most recent version of the model came out in 2015, and it was supposed to last until 2020.
However, researchers say the magnetic field is changing so rapidly that they have to fix the model urgently.
It was due to be updated on the 15th January, but due to the US Government shutdown, that has already been delayed until the 30th.
'It's moving at about 50 km (30 miles) a year. It didn't move much between 1900 and 1980 but it's really accelerated in the past 40 years,' Ciaran Beggan, of the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh, told Reuters on Friday.
The magnetic field is in a permanent state of flux.
Magnetic north wanders, and every few hundred thousand years the polarity flips so that a compass would point south instead of north.
'The error is increasing all the time,' Arnaud Chulliat, a geomagnetist at the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) National Centers for Environmental Information, told Nature.
'In early 2018, as part of our regular assessment of the WMM, we found that the model exceeded its specification for declination only three years into the five-year WMM cycle,' he told the American Geophysical Union meeting.
'We investigated this error and tracked it down to the combined effect of a global geomagnetic acceleration pulse occurring in 2015-2016, and a fast-changing magnetic field in the North polar area.
A remarkable manifestation of the field variation is the drift of the North magnetic pole towards Russia, which has been occurring at the unusually high speed of about 50 km per year since the beginning of the 21st century.
'On the contrary, the South magnetic pole drift is very slow (less than 10 km per year) and has not changed much over the past few decades, and hence provided a much smaller contribution to the overall model declination error.'
To fix the model, he and his colleagues fed it three years of recent data, which included a 2016 geomagnetic pulse, and he says the new model, when it is released, should remain accurate until the next regularly scheduled update in 2020.
Satellites such as the European Space Agency's Swarm mission tracked the shift.
Phil Livermore, a geomagnetist at the University of Leeds, UK, said at the American Geophysical Union meeting 'the location of the north magnetic pole appears to be governed by two large-scale patches of magnetic field, one beneath Canada and one beneath Siberia,' Livermore says.
'The Siberian patch is winning the competition.'
The charts, known as the World Magnetic Model (WMM), are used to convert between compass measurements of magnetic north and true north and can be found in the navigation systems of ships and airplanes as well as geological applications (such as drilling and mining).
The WMM is also part of map applications in smartphones, including the Google Maps App.
Researchers from the U.S.'s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) maintain the WMM.
The charts, known as the World Magnetic Model (WMM), are used to convert between compass measurements of magnetic north and true north
'Although GPS is a great tool for navigation, it is limited in that it only provides your position,' geodetic scientist James Friederich from the U. S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency explained in 2014.
'Your orientation, the direction you are facing, comes from the magnetic field.'
'Our war fighters use magnetics to orient their maps.
'Your smartphone camera and various apps can use the magnetic field to help determine the direction you are facing,' he continued.
'All of these examples need the WMM to provide your proper orientation.'
Scientists in recent years have predicted that Earth's magnetic field could be gearing up to 'flip' – a shift in which the magnetic south pole would become magnetic north, and vice versa.
Such an event could have catastrophic effects, wreaking havoc on the electric grid and leaving life at the surface exposed to higher amounts of solar radiation.
While it's previously been thought that these reversals take place at intervals of hundreds of thousands of years, one recent study suggests it could happen in just a matter of centuries.
Scientists in recent years have predicted that Earth's magnetic field could be gearing up to 'flip' – a shift in which the magnetic south pole would become magnetic north, and vice versa. Earth's magnetic field is illustrated above
Scientists estimate Earth's North and South magnetic poles flip every 200,000-300,000 years.
But, it's been roughly 780,000 years since the last such event, causing many to suspect we're overdue.
When the magnetic poles flip, Earth's protective magnetic field weakens, leaving its inhabitants at higher risk from the effects of space weather.
The Earth’s magnetic field is in a permanent state of change.
Magnetic north drifts around and every few hundred thousand years the polarity flips so a compass would point south instead of north.
The strength of the magnetic field also constantly changes and currently it is showing signs of significant weakening.
Life has existed on the Earth for billions of years, during which there have been many reversals.
There is no obvious correlation between animal extinctions and those reversals. Likewise, reversal patterns do not have any correlation with human development and evolution.
It appears that some animals, such as whales and some birds use Earth's magnetic field for migration and direction finding.
Since geomagnetic reversal takes a number of thousands of years, they could well adapt to the changing magnetic environment or develop different methods of navigation.
Radiation at ground level would increase, however, with some estimates suggesting that overall exposure to cosmic radiation would double causing more deaths from cancer. ‘But only slightly,’ said Professor Richard Holme.
‘And much less than lying on the beach in Florida for a day. So if it happened, the protection method would probably be to wear a big floppy hat.’
The movement of the Earth's magnetic poles are shown in this animation at 10-year intervals from 1970 to 2020. The red and blue lines sjpw the difference between magnetic north and true north depending on where you are standing. On the green line, a compass would point to true north.
Credit: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
Electric grid collapse from severe solar storms is a major risk. As the magnetic field continues to weaken, scientists are highlighting the importance off-the grid energy systems using renewable energy sources to protect the Earth against a black out.
'The very highly charged particles can have a deleterious effect on the satellites and astronauts,' added Dr Mona Kessel, a Magnetosphere discipline scientist at Nasa.
In one area, there is evidence that a flip is already occurring. ‘The increasing strength of the South Atlantic anomaly, an area of weak field over Brazil, is already a problem,’ said Professor Richard Holme.
The Earth's climate could also change. A recent Danish study has found that the earth's weather has been significantly affected by the planet's magnetic field.
They claimed that fluctuations in the number of cosmic rays hitting the atmosphere directly alter the amount of cloud covering the planet.
Henrik Svensmark, a weather scientist at the Danish National Space Centre who led the team behind the research, believes that the planet is experiencing a natural period of low cloud cover due to fewer cosmic rays entering the atmosphere.
'Earth's magnetic field, which has existed for at least 3.45 billion years, provides a shield from the direct impact of solar radiation,' said Professor Roberts from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences.
'Even with Earth's strong magnetic field today, we're still susceptible to solar storms that can damage our electricity-based society.'
In the new study, researchers at the Australian National University analyzed the paleomagnetic record from 107,000 to 91,000 years ago by analyzing a stalagmite from a cave in southwestern China.
The team conducted magnetic analysis and radiometric dating on the meter-long sample, revealing the behaviour of the ancient magnetic field.
And, they found the magnetic field experienced a rapid shift over the span of about two centuries, decreasing in strength by about 90 percent when a field reversal occurred.
In the new study, researchers at the Australian National University analyzed the paleomagnetic record from 107,000 to 91,000 years ago by analyzing a stalagmite from a cave in southwestern China
The damage to power grids and communications systems resulting from such a flip in today's society would cause trillions of dollars in damage, the researchers explain.
'Hopefully such an event is a long way in the future and we can develop future technologies to avoid huge damage, where possible, from such events,' Professor Roberts said.
The study suggests Earth's magnetic field is a lot more unpredictable than suspected, the researchers say.
'The record provides important insights into ancient magnetic field behaviour,' Professor Roberts said, 'which has turned out to vary much more rapidly than previously thought.'
At 10 trillion frames per second, this camera captures light in slow motion
Light is the fastest thing in the universe, so trying to catch it on the move is necessarily something of a challenge. We’ve had some success, but a new rig built by Caltech scientists pulls down a mind-boggling 10 trillion frames per second, meaning it can capture light as it travels along — and they have plans to make it a hundred times faster.
Understanding how light moves is fundamental to many fields, so it isn’t just idle curiosity driving the efforts of Jinyang Liang and his colleagues — not that there’d be anything wrong with that either. But there are potential applications in physics, engineering, and medicine that depend heavily on the behavior of light at scales so small, and so short, that they are at the very limit of what can be measured.
You may have heard about billion- and trillion-FPS cameras in the past, but those were likely “streak cameras” that do a bit of cheating to achieve those numbers.
A light pulse as captured by the T-CUP system.
If a pulse of light can be replicated perfectly, then you could send one every millisecond but offset the camera’s capture time by an even smaller fraction, like a handful of femtoseconds (a billion times shorter). You’d capture one pulse when it was here, the next one when it was a little further, the next one when it was even further, and so on. The end result is a movie that’s indistinguishable in many ways from if you’d captured that first pulse at high speed.
This is highly effective — but you can’t always count on being able to produce a pulse of light a million times the exact same way. Perhaps you need to see what happens when it passes through a carefully engineered laser-etched lens that will be altered by the first pulse that strikes it. In cases like that, you need to capture that first pulse in real time — which means recording images not just with femtosecond precision, but only femtoseconds apart.
Simple, right?
That’s what the T-CUP method does. It combines a streak camera with a second static camera and a data collection method used in tomography.
“We knew that by using only a femtosecond streak camera, the image quality would be limited. So to improve this, we added another camera that acquires a static image. Combined with the image acquired by the femtosecond streak camera, we can use what is called a Radon transformation to obtain high-quality images while recording ten trillion frames per second,” explained co-author of the study Lihong Wang. That clears things right up!
At any rate the method allows for images — well, technically spatiotemporal datacubes — to be captured just 100 femtoseconds apart. That’s ten trillion per second, or it would be if they wanted to run it for that long, but there’s no storage array fast enough to write ten trillion datacubes per second to. So they can only keep it running for a handful of frames in a row for now — 25 during the experiment you see visualized here.
Those 25 frames show a femtosecond-long laser pulse passing through a beam splitter — note how at this scale the time it takes for the light to pass through the lens itself is nontrivial. You have to take this stuff into account!
This level of precision in real time is unprecedented, but the team isn’t done yet.
“We already see possibilities for increasing the speed to up to one quadrillion (1015) frames per second!” enthused Liang in the press release. Capturing the behavior of light at that scale and with this level of fidelity is leagues beyond what we were capable of just a few years ago and may open up entire new fields or lines of inquiry in physics and exotic materials.
Pond Disappears After Unidentified Object Reportedly Falls from Sky
The city of Lewisburg, Tennessee lies just under an hour away from the southern cultural mecca of Nashville. Lewisburg resident Patsy Wright’s family has lived in the city for over 100 years on a piece of rural property which enjoys a sizable pond. Last week, Wright was walking her dog around the property on her way to the pond when she came across a surprising sight:
I walked down here with my dog and sure as the world, no water! It was gone!
Wright says this is the first time she’s known the pond to be empty in the century her family has lived at the property. Drone footage captured at the scene shows a fairly large hole lying on the completely dry bottom of the tiny pond. The hole appears to be a few feet deep and full of muddy water.
Lakes and ponds have been known to mysteriously disappear into sinkholes from time to time.
While ponds or other small bodies of water draining into underground sinkholes or unexplored subterranean rivers is nothing new, Patsy Wright is adamant that a larger mystery is afoot. Wright told local news station WSMV that just before she discovered her pond was empty, she saw an unidentified object fall from the sky and crash into its waters:
When I seen them waves go up like it did?! And then they come back down. And I heard the splash. I mean it was a big splash. I know something hit it, because I heard it. I thought, I’m not imagining nothing. It’s there.
A report has been filed with the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office, and Wright plans on contacting the Environmental Protection Agency to see if the case is worthy of their investigation. Last year, a series of mysterious booms rocked the skies just a few hours to the east – mysterious booms which remain unexplained. Could this pond’s disappearance be related?
Did a meteorite or piece of space debris fall to Earth and drain Patsy Wright’s pond? Weird things do seem to be falling from or exploding in the sky at a high frequency lately. Perhaps it was another megacryometeor? Until this one is investigated – if it ever is – it will likely remain a mystery.
Birth of a Black Hole Witnessed for the First Time by Astronomers
Break out the cigars! Open the Gender Reveal box! Start saving for college! For the first time in history, astronomers have witnessed the birth of a black hole. As befitting of such a monumental event, they’ve named the baby black star “The Cow.” Wait … what?
“We thought it must be a supernova. But what we observed challenged our current notions of stellar death. We knew right away that this source went from inactive to peak luminosity within just a few days. That was enough to get everybody excited because it was so unusual and, by astronomical standards, it was very close by.”
According to the press release, what a team led by Northwestern University astrophysicist and assistant professor of physics and astronomy Raffaella Margutti saw was AT2018cow (‘cow’ letters generated randomly, hence the inappropriate nickname), an anomaly that flared up in the Hercules constellation in the galaxy CGCG 137-068 on June 17, 2018 … and then disappeared just 16 days later. “Flare” doesn’t do justice to this event – it was up to 100 times brighter than a typical supernova and blew out particles at 30,000 km per second (1/10th the speed of light). The event was made more exciting by its close proximity – just 200 million light years away. But Margutti and her team weren’t sure what they saw.
I see it!
That’s when luck entered the picture. The team switched from the ATLAS survey’s twin telescopes (the AT part of the name) to NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and INTEGRAL hard X-ray laboratories, soft X-rays at XMM-Newton and radio antennae at the Very Large Array. All of that astronomy horsepower benefited from the fact that The Cow had much less stellar debris floating around it that similar explosions, allowing them to see clearly into its center and identify evidence of hydrogen and helium – all the signs of a baby black hole. That’s when the champagne was uncorked.
“We think that ‘The Cow’ is the formation of an accreting black hole or neutron star. We know from theory that black holes and neutron stars form when a star dies, but we’ve never seen them right after they are born. Never.”
Margutti held the baby black hole reveal party (aka announcement) at the 233rd Meeting of the American Astronomical in Seattle this week and the research will be published shortly in the Astrophysical Journal. (Pictures of The Cow can be seen here.) Is this a big deal? We in the U.S. have just seen the adulation heaped upon a college freshman for quarterbacking his team to the national championship. Freshman studying science rather than football defenses don’t normally get that kind of attention or excitement. First-year Northwestern undergraduate student Daniel Brethauer did as part of the team.
The SOAR telescope shown with illustrations of a highly magnetized neutron star (top left) and a black hole (top right)
(Photo: NOAO /AURA /NSF /Nasa / SWNS.COM)
“Being given the opportunity to contribute to something as cutting edge and international as understanding AT2018cow as an undergrad is a surreal experience. To have helped the world’s experts figure out what AT2018cow is even in the smallest way was beyond my wildest expectations at the beginning of the summer and something that I will remember for the rest of my life.”
Astronomers using ground-based observatories caught the progression of a cosmic event nicknamed "the Cow," as seen in these three images. Left: The Sloan Digital Sky Survey in New Mexico observed the host galaxy Z 137-068 in 2003, with the Cow nowhere in sight. (The green circle indicates the location where the Cow eventually appeared). Center: The Liverpool Telescope in Spain's Canary Islands saw the Cow very close to the event's peak brightness on June 20, 2018, when it was much brighter than the host galaxy. Right: The William Herschel Telescope, also in the Canary Islands, took a high-resolution image of the Cow nearly a month after it reached peak brightness, as it faded and the host galaxy came back into view.
Credit: Daniel Perley, Liverpool John Moores University
The crosshair indicate where The Cow was spotted
The Cow is nestled in the CGCG 137-068 galaxy which is 200 million light years from Earth.
(Photo: Raffaella Margutti/ SWNS.COM)
All together now … Holy Cow!
Go Astronomers!
A Probing Part of the Betty & Barney Hill Alien Abduction
On September 19, 1961, a New Hampshire husband and wife, Betty and Barney Hill, were driving to their New Hampshire home, after taking a welcome vacation in Montreal, Canada. We might argue they needed another vacation after experiencing what was lurking and looming on the horizon. As the pair headed home, and at around 10.30 p.m., as they drove south of Lancaster, New Hampshire, they were puzzled by the sight of a strange light in the night sky above. Viewing the lighted object through binoculars convinced the Hills that what they were seeing was not an aircraft – of either a commercial or military kind. As they continued their drive through the mountains, Barney and Betty developed an uneasy sense that whoever was flying the craft was specifically watching them; playing a game with them, toying with them, and practically goading them into following the maneuvers of the mysterious vehicle.
Matters came to a sudden hair-raising head when the object approached their car and dropped to a height of around ninety feet, causing a terrified Barney to bring the car to a sudden stop, in the middle of the road, on the darkened, mountain pass. Pancake-like was how Barney later described the unearthly-looking vehicle, after stepping out of the car and staring into the dark skies. As Barney focused on the craft with the binoculars, he couldn’t fail to see close to a dozen beings – wearing caps – milling around and peering down at the now deeply frightened pair. When the machine began to close in on the Hill’s car, Barney shouted to Betty that the things inside were going to kidnap them. They jumped back into the car at sped off at high speed – which is hardly surprising. Craft and crew did not follow – or so it seemed at the time.
The traumatic encounter was far from over: it didn’t take long at all before Betty and Barney realized that there was something very wrong about their journey – around two hours of time was missing from it. Gone. Obliterated from their memories. Finally, after nightmares, restless nights of tossing and turning, and picking up on fragmented memories suggesting there was far more to the incident than they consciously remembered, the pair received help from a psychiatrist and neurologist in Boston, Massachusetts, Dr. Benjamin Simon – who began a series of hypnotic sessions with the Hills in January 1964.
What surfaced out of those sessions, while Barney and Betty were rendered into altered states by the doctor, was, to put it bluntly, astounding: if the results of the hypnosis were not the product of fantasy or suggestion, both of the Hills had been taken on board what was nothing less than an alien spacecraft, and subjected to a number of medical procedures that clearly left Betty and Barney in states of lasting turmoil. One of those procedures – specifically performed on Betty – gave an indication that human reproduction somehow played a role in the matter.
The story is a remarkable one, and one that is comprised of Betty and Barney’s own memories that flooded back into their mind during distressing dreams, and data that surfaced during the hypnosis sessions with Dr. Simon. According to Betty, while under the control and sway of the strange creatures that stood before her on the craft, she experienced something deeply traumatic: laid out flat on something similar to an operating table, Betty – to her horror – witnessed one of the entities inserting a needle-like device into her navel, after informing her he was going to check if she was pregnant. In addition, Betty said the alien performing the procedure assured her that the test would be very helpful – but in what way, and why, exactly, was not explained. Nor was it explained who the procedure would be helpful for: Betty or the ETs. One suspects the latter.
According to Betty, the needle was somewhere between four and six inches in length and had a tube attached to it. Far from feeling like the slight discomfort associated with a regular, medical needle, however, Betty said that the pain – as it was inserted – was more along the lines of what she thought it would feel like to have the blade of a knife plunged into her. In other words, it was excruciating. Both the entity carrying out the task, and an additional one that was perceived by the Hills as the leader, reacted in a surprised and concerned fashion – to the extent that the creature overseeing the situation waved his hand across Betty’s eyes, something which immediately removed all of the agony. At least, that was the scenario in Betty’s dreams.
Under hypnosis, however, the story was that the pain did not go away: Betty was still in pain and deeply stressed. This is highly suggestive of the probability that her subconscious state had attempted to place a more positive, and far less traumatic, slant on the experience – but one that the hypnosis sessions demonstrated was far worse than her mind was trying to telling her. In fact, such was the stressful, pain-filled, and fear-dominated state that Betty was in, Dr. Simon took the immediate step of bringing the hypnotic session to a rapid halt. This particular aspect of the Hill affair brings us to the matter of something called amniocentesis.
When a woman becomes pregnant, the developing fetus is enveloped in what is termed amniotic fluid. It is a liquid that is very much like water, and from a study of which a great deal can be ascertained about the health and development of the fetus. Alpha-fetoprotein and developing skin cells are two of the main things that the Amniocentesis procedure focuses on, as it seeks to confirm the condition of the fetus. During the process, a needle is inserted into the mother’s uterus, via her abdomen, usually between fifteen and eighteen weeks into pregnancy. Since the procedure can at times be a tricky one, it is constantly overseen via ultrasound scanning. The goal is to use the needle to secure a small amount of amniotic fluid, which can then be studied and analyzed.
Typically, the procedure is performed for genetic reasons, such as to determine if the developing baby may have Muscular Dystrophy, Cystic Fibrosis, or Down syndrome. It’s a procedure which is very often undertaken on women in their mid-thirties or older (and who have a markedly higher chance of developing chromosomal disorders), and those who have given birth to a previous child with either physical or mental disorders. It may not be a coincidence that when Betty was subjected to that curious procedure, she was already in her early forties. It must be said that there is one notable difference between amniocentesis and the procedure that Betty Hill experienced. Namely, that the needle inserted into Betty went via her navel. In amniocentesis, it’s via the abdomen and then into the uterus. Nevertheless, it’s still intriguing that Betty’s aliens informed her that the needle-inserting procedure was linked with determining if she was pregnant.
Those doubtful of Betty’s account might take note of the fact that in 1930, the team of Leland E. Holly, Thomas Orville Menees, and J. Duane Miller, performed an amniocentesis procedure on a pregnant woman. In this case, it involved injecting dye into the amniotic sac, specifically to study the placenta and the fetus. Could Betty have heard of, or read about, these early, pre-1960s era examples of amniocentesis? Certainly, it’s not impossible. In addition, in 1960, only one year before the encounter of the Hills, and for the very first time, amniocentesis was used to identify hemophilia-related issues relative to mother and fetus. It was a development reported on, at the time – albeit primarily in the pages of in-house medical journals. If Betty did have an awareness of what amniocentesis is, it’s not impossible that buried memories of reading about it had a bearing on both her dream-based and hypnotic recollections. But, on the other hand, why would Betty say the needle was inserted into her navel, if she knew that amniocentesis was a technique that was focused only on the abdomen and the uterus?
In some respects, what Betty told of sounds far more like a laparoscopy, in which a small insertion can be made into the belly and a lighted tube is inserted to allow for an examination of the pelvic organs to be undertaken. So, given that the pelvic organs include the uterus, the Fallopian tubes, the vagina, and the ovaries, a case can still be made – to a degree – that the procedure performed on Betty was of a gynecological nature, even if it wasn’t a case of amniocentesis.
Lots of STRANGE things going on in the skies of YOUR planet!
There May Be Creatures on This Planet More Intelligent Than Humans, Study Says
It has long been known that humans are very intelligent, often thought of as the most intelligent. However, could there be something far more intelligent that blows us humans out of the water? Quite a lot of people think the answer to that question is yes. What is it though?
A study from last year (2018) suggests that Dolphins are highly intelligent creatures, so much so that they may surpass human intelligence in some respects. One of those ways being self-awareness. The study used was a mirror-self recognition (MSR) test which basically consists of presenting a mirror to the test subject and seeing how long it takes them or it to recognize themselves.
When presented with a mirror, human infants aren’t usually able to recognize themselves until they are around 12 months old. Bottlenose dolphins, on the other hand, are able to recognize themselves at just seven months old. The experiment was done on both male and female dolphins to get a range of results.
They are capable of far more than anyone had ever realized. They are even able to create personalized whistles which can be seen as their equivalent of names for different members of their pod. They can solve problems as well as communicate with each other with no difficulty whatsoever. Some people actually believe we should treat them as people in a sense because of their high intellect.
Here is a small extract from the report on the dolphins;
We exposed two young bottlenose dolphins to an underwater mirror and analyzed video recordings of their behavioral responses over a 3-year period. Here we report that both dolphins exhibited MSR, indicated by self-directed behavior at the mirror, at ages earlier than generally reported for children and at ages much earlier than reported for chimpanzees. The early onset of MSR in young dolphins occurs in parallel with their advanced sensorimotor development, complex and reciprocal social interactions, and growing social awareness. Both dolphins passed subsequent mark tests at ages comparable with children. Thus, our findings indicate that dolphins exhibit self-awareness at a mirror at a younger age than previously reported for children or other species tested.
Dolphins have both been here longer than us, and have much larger brains than us. We can learn a lot from these animals whether we seem them as our equals or not. They should be studied and tested further to see what they are really capable of. A TedEd talk video on dolphins can be seen below which explains how smart dolphins really are.
In my opinion, this is really exciting news! I don't think dolphins will be walking out of the water and taking over the human race anytime soon but I do believe there is more to them than we know and they should be treated as such.
Sources:
UFO Captured By Drone In Utah
What I don't understand is why does it make a turn like a plane, I mean UFOs don't have to do that as they have inertial dampeners or gravity nullifiers with that rotating like that is done because of the ailerons, this object is rotating to make a turn like a plane does and that's illogical, might be something from the Air force new type of plane with that.
Europe is testing self-driving Mars rovers
Rovers on Mars today are amazing, but slow, and still mostly controlled by humans back on Earth. Europe is testing new self-driving software to help future Marsrovers travel faster and farther each day.
Engineers watch the progress of one of the test rovers in Morocco.
Image via ESA.
Despite the fact that landing on Mars is hard, robotic rovers and landers have now become a regular feature of Mars exploration. These advanced exploratory machines are sending back unprecedented information about this fascinating red world. One limitation, however, has been that rovers and landers are still, for the most part, controlled by human operators back on Earth. On December 18, 2018, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced the testing of software for new Mars rovers that’ll help make their future exploration more autonomous – “smarter” and more capable of making their own decisions, such as deciding where to go and how to get there – i.e. self-driving.
Three different rovers – Sherpa, Mana and Minnie – were tested at five locations at the Ibn Battuta Test Centrein Morocco, near Erfoud on the northern edge of the Sahara Desert, in December 2018. With more than 40 engineers involved, this was the end of the first phase of the Strategic Research Cluster on space robotics technologies, a scheme funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme.
As explained by Gianfranco Visentin, head of ESA’s Automation and Robotics section:
This is important for the future, when there will be many more rovers going to Mars and they’ll be moving hundreds of meters [yards] per day. There won’t be schools of analysts to scrutinize every image – intelligent rover systems will be needed to detect what is interesting and send it back to Earth.
Another view of the U.K.’s test rover Sherpa.
Image via Crown copyright.
The Mana and Minnie rovers, during the field test in Morocco in December 2018.
Image via ESA.
The research cluster is coordinated by the PERASPERA Ad Astra (Latin for “to the stars through hardships”) project, which is a partnership of Italy’s ASI space agency, France’s CNES space agency, the DLR German Aerospace Center, Spain’s CDTI technology agency and the U.K. Space Agency, UKSA, coordinated by ESA.
The wind-blown desert environment in Morocco was selected by the EU’s Europlanet Research Infrastructure as a good match for Mars, with its red, rocky and dusty terrain. The location has also been used by Hollywood and Chinese documentary makers. The Ibn Battuta Test Centre is named after the 14th century Islamic explorer of the same name.
A variety of new technologies were tested on the rovers, including data fusion systems, a plug-and-play sensor suite and an open-source operating system for robotic control. More specifically, according to a U.K. Government press release:
The ERGO Autonomy framework: The autonomy framework lets the rover make decisions by itself without the need for human intervention. These decisions could be about the path a rover needs to take to get to its destination. It also means the rover can make decisions about managing its resources, for example shutting down certain functions to conserve power. It will also give the rover the ability to investigate things it deems to be interesting, things which human operators might miss.
The INFUSE Data Fusion: Data fusion is about the fusing together of data from different sensors and sources in order to create useful information such as maps, which the rover can then use to navigate successfully across the difficult Martian landscape. The data will be provided by different types of camera, sensors, trackers and torches to give the rover a full understanding of the Martian world around it.
The I3DS Plug And Play Sensor Suite: The rover needs various sensors to enable it to see, perceive and understand the Martian world. Using a ‘plug-and-play’ approach means that sensors can be installed and removed easily according to the mission requirements. The Sensor suite also has a unique, built-in computer called an ICU (Integration Control Unit) that processes the signals from the sensors into information before passing that information to the Data Fusion system.
The ESROCOS Operating System: Robots need operating systems to function, just like your computer, tablet, phone or laptop at home. The operating system provides the low-level software and libraries required by the robot to undertake basic functions. It also provides the language and framework with which the other software (such as the ERGO Autonomy Framework and the INFUSE Data Fusion) must adhere in order to create a coherent and integrated system. In other words, this is the core software that provides the rules which bind all the other systems and software together.
According to Visentin:
What this kind of field test gives you is the proof of the pudding that your design is working well, even in some of the most challenging environments we can imagine.
Lab testing of the hardware we design doesn’t take account of the variability nature brings, from the light of the sky to the shape of the landscape, the texture and colours of the sand and rock. Operating outdoors in this way proves that our systems work in much more complex and elaborate settings than can ever be simulated.
To give an example during this field test, the very smoothness and homogeneity of some of the big sand dunes proved difficult for computer vision algorithms to navigate, because they are based on identifying features based on difference, so they started to behave in unexpected ways we haven’t seen before.
Our excellent results also included some good successes: the SherpaTT rover managed a 1.3-km [.8 mile] journey on an entirely autonomous basis, while its autonomous science element triggered a scientific acquisition on its own, unprompted: it spotted some strange shaped stones then asked the main planner to move into a better position to take more images.
This is important for the future, when there will be many more rovers going to Mars and they’ll be moving hundreds of meters [yards] per day. There won’t be schools of analysts to scrutinize every image – intelligent rover systems will be needed to detect what is interesting and send it back to Earth.
A drone being used to map the surrounding terrain where the rovers were being tested.
Image via ESA,
The U.K.’s Sherpa rover during the field test in Morocco in December 2018.
Image via ESA.
Before the testing began, ESA also flew a drone to map the location, producing digital elevation models down to a resolution of 4 cm (1.6 inches). This kind of “ground truthing” was needed to compare data from the rovers with observed reality.
Current rovers are limited to driving a few dozen meters (yards) per day, but with the new software, future rovers could travel up to a kilometer (.6 miles) per day, a big improvement which would let rovers investigate a greater number of scientifically interesting locations during their missions.
Various companies and universities in the U.K. also participated in the testing, including Airbus Defence & Space, Thales Alenia Space, Scisys, King’s College London, the University of Strathclyde and GMV-UK.
Illustration of the upcoming ExoMars rover, scheduled to launch in 2020. New rovers like this will be able to use more advanced software to become “self-driving.”
Image via ESA/ATG medialab.
More advanced self-driving technology will be essential for future Mars rovers, so they can navigate the terrain without needing to be so dependent on human engineers uploading commands to them from Earth. NASA’s Curiosity rover does have a certain amount of autonomous capability, but it will need to be improved as new rovers land in potentially even more challenging terrain, including the upcoming Mars 2020 rover (NASA) and ExoMars rover (ESA).
Bottom line: New self-driving rovers being designed and tested by the ESA via Europe’s Horizon 2020 program will help future Mars rovers travel faster and farther without human assistance.
California UFO Releases A Fleet Of UFOs
There's something happening in the skies of California in the US because recently there's been a spike in UFO activity and it doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Because this Mothership (if you like) is releasing all these Orbs is this where other Orb UFO sightings originated, at this particular one?
This is a great example of a UFO releasing orbs or drones all of which are still UFOs in their own right because we just don't know what they are and they're flying around skies that are supposedly protected or at least monitored?
Two balls of light come out briefly from the main UFO - before being sucked back in to the main UFO and then it bursts out the Orbs as if it's firing them out in a specific distance?
They must be seeing something on their screens and if the reason they're doing nothing is because they don't have resources then that's terrible. Or are they been directed to do nothing? It makes me wonder...
Anyways apparently it's being investigated by Ufos Magazine and hopefully they will share their results straight away? I know they'll share the results but I just hope it's sooner rather than later?
It looks real, it feels real and if it is real then that would make this yet another Mothership (yes it's a Mothership) and there's other Motherships over the USA as we've posted only recently about other ones deploying what appears to be metallic UFOs which can be seen here?
Below is an image of the other UFO Mothership dropping what looks like a metallic UFO drone:
Many times the public have caught some very striking footage of UFOs flying past extremely fast or from a plane in the clouds etc but for a UFO to be filmed actually releasing what looks like Orbs or metallic drones then that must send chills through the government if they know that these are real (they know some things that we don't) and to be privy to top secret information and then see it on film, well it must be weird?
What's going on, especially since President Trump announced this Space Force? Has this been the main reason why we're seeing more UFOs over the US?
Will we ever get to know the truth, I believe when the investigation is over we might be closer to the overall truth?
Here's the video:
ufosmagazine:
We are investigating this sighting done in California where a gigantic orb releases a fleet of other smaller orbs the preliminary analysis does not show manipulation of the video.
Source Ufos Magazine Instagram.
Mysterious 'Cow' Blast in Space May Reveal Birth of a Black Hole
So, researchers around the world soon trained a variety of telescopes on the puzzling light source. For example, Margutti's team studied The Cow in X-ray wavelengths using NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and the European Space Agency's International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) and XMM-Newton spacecraft; in radio waves using the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Large Array (VLA); and in optical light using the MMT Observatory in Arizona and the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope in Chile.
The above image shows a long exposure of the SOAR telescope with overlaid illustrations of a highly magnetised neutron star (top left) and an accreting black hole (top right). Research has now revealed it was the birth of a new black hole or neutron star, caught at the exact moment of its creation - but experts are unsure which one it is
The scientists also probed The Cow's shape and chemical makeup using instruments installed on the two big telescopes at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii.
This latter work revealed the presence of hydrogen and helium, ruling out Cow scenarios involving dramatic mergers between black holes and neutron stars, the researchers said. So, the light was probably largely generated by the newborn object gobbling up debris from its shattered progenitor.
The cross hairs indicate the location of the AT2018cow. A sky survey telescope in Hawai'i observed the mysteriously bright glow on June 17, 2018
"It took a while for us to realize what we were looking at — I would say months," said co-author Brian Metzger, associate professor of physics at Columbia University in New York. "We tried several possibilities and were forced to go back to the drawing board multiple times. We were finally able to interpret the results, thanks to the hard work of our incredibly dedicated team."
The new study will appear in The Astrophysical Journal. The team also announced its results today (Jan. 10) during a news conference at the 233rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Seattle — and they were not alone.
Several other research groups presented their Cow findings at the briefing as well, and not all of them agreed with the interpretation laid out above. For example, a team led by Paul Kuin, an astrophysicist at University College London, backs the black-hole-eating-white-dwarf hypothesis.
So, there's still a lot of mystery surrounding this odd light source.
Supermassive black holes are incredibly dense areas in the centre of galaxies with masses that can be billions of times that of the sun. They cause dips in space-time (artist's impression) and even light cannot escape their gravitational pull
Asteroid Accompanied By Cigar-Shaped Object Flies Past Earth
Astronomers at the Giant Arecibo Radar in Puerto Rico have made a strange discovery. On January 7th, Asteroid 2016 AZ8 flew past Earth.
The 430-meter large rock passed the Earth-Moon system at a distance of only 2.8 million miles.
When the radar team took a closer look at the object with a beam of radio energy, they noticed that the spherical asteroid is accompanied by an elongated cigar-shaped object. It is assumed that this is a small moon.
Chinese Rover Wakes Up on Moon's Far Side After Lunar Nap
China's far-side moon rover Yutu 2 has woken up from its nap as planned, according to Chinese media reports.
"China's space engineers care about the reactivation, as the last model [Yutu 1] failed its first awakening in February 2014," China's Global Television Network (CGTN) reported today (Jan. 10). Yutu 1 was the rover on China's Chang'e 3 moon mission, which landed on the near side in December 2013.
On Jan. 2, the Chang'e 4 mission pulled off the first-ever soft landing on the moon's far side. The rover-lander duo touched down on the floor of the 110-mile-wide (186 kilometers) Von Kármán Crater, which lies within the South Pole-Aitken Basin, the largest and deepest basin in the solar system. [China's Chang'e 4 Farside Moon Landing in Pictures]
Why Is Uranus on Its Side? Incredible Simulations Could Solve the Mystery.
Far Side of the Moon Captured in Panoramic Photos for First Time in History
By Sarah Sloat
The “dark side” of the Moon didn’t get its nickname because it never sees light. Rather, it’s that Earth never sees it. But our lack of visibility changed last week when the Chinese lander Chang’e-4 became the first spacecraft to touch down on the side of the Moon that faces away from our planet. Now Earthlings are the recipients of a consistent stream of unprecedented images sent from the far side, the newest of which was released Friday by officials at the Chinese Lunar Exploration Project (CELP).
CELP, which is overseen by the China National Space Administration, released two stunning images on the Chinese Twitter-like microblogging website Sina Weibo. A topographical camera on the Change’4 lander captured the “ring shot” and the panoramic shot, an incredibly detailed conglomerate of 80 individual photographs.
The huge panoramic shot, broken down in the slideshow below, shows the perspective of the lander. You can see the rover, nicknamed Jade Rabbit 2 (or Yutu-2), exploring the lunar terrain.
According to the Weibo post, the researchers have completed the preliminary analysis of the lunar surface topography seen here around the landing site. Getting these photographs from the far side of the moon to Earth wasn’t easy: The images first had to be sent from the lander to the relay communication satellite Queqia (which translates to “Magpie Bridge”), which in turn sent it to Earth.
It was launched in May 2018 for this purpose. Because the lander is on the far side of the Moon, the planetary body itself blocks direct radio contact with Earth — making satellite communication the only option.
The pictures, which CLEP says indicate that the spacecraft and the relay satellite are both in good condition, reveal a smooth lunar surface and small craters in the distance. The jagged edges of the craters, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, are poised to be a challenge for the controllers who plot the rover’s travels. The seemingly serene flatland currently around the rover, planetary science associate professor Juliane Gross explained to Inverse last week, is an upper surface layer called the regolith. The bulk of this layer is a fine, extremely light gray soil — fine pieces that exist because of eons of space weathering and lunar surface bombardment.
As the Jade Rabbit 2 continues its journey, it will measure the chemical composition of the regolith, study cosmic rays, and observe the solar corona. The team behind the mission also hopes that observations of the Moon’s far side will reveal insight about the early days of the solar system. It’s a fresh step in moon science — and we can watch it from the comforts of Earth.
Media via CLEP, Chinese Lunar Exploration ProjectNa eeuwen denken wetenschappers één van de grootste mysteries van Paaseiland ontsluierd te hebben - HLN.be
Bron: Time, The Guardian
Paaseiland ligt bijna 3.700 kilometer ten westen van Chili en meer dan 2.000 kilometer van het meest nabij gelegen bewoonde land, en is daarmee een van de meest afgelegen eilanden ter wereld. Bijna duizend metershoge moai-beelden werden er tussen de 12de en 15de eeuw door de Rapa Nui gebouwd en herinneren aan de bloeiende civilisatie. Op het hoogtepunt van de moai-beschaving woonden er tien- tot twaalfduizend mensen.
Maar het doel van de beelden en bijhorende ceremoniële platforms, ook wel ahu genoemd, bleven grote raadsels voor wetenschappers. Ook vroegen onderzoekers zich af hoe de inwoners op zo’n afgelegen eiland overleefden met schaarse middelen. Zo was het een raadsel waar de inwoners, de Rapa Nui, hun drinkwater haalden. Voor die twee mysteries lijken wetenschappers nu een verklaring te hebben.
Volgens een nieuwe studie die gepubliceerd werd in het wetenschappelijk tijdschrift Plos One, werden de monolieten geplaatst om de weg naar drinkbaar water in de buurt van kustgebieden aan te wijzen.
Een team wetenschappers onderzocht de locaties van 93 ahu’s en koppelde die aan drie factoren die de onderlinge strijd tussen nederzettingen bepaalden: landbouw, visgronden en de aanwezigheid van zoetwater. Men kwam tot de vaststelling dat de ahu’s overeen kwamen met locaties waar water naar beneden sijpelde en vervolgens de oceaan bereikte, meer bepaald plaatsen waar poreuze rotsen de oceaan ontmoeten.
Bij laagtij ontstond er vervolgens een zoetwaterstroom in de zee. Het zilte water zou drinkbaar geweest zijn en werd opgevangen door de Rapa Nui. Onderzoek van historische bronnen van Europese toonde immers aan dat de bevolking “grotendeels afhankelijk was van brak water en vrij veel uit de Stille Oceaan dronk”. De beelden zijn dus gepositioneerd op plekken waar zoet water te vinden is.
“Wat belangrijk is, is dat het onderzoek laat zien dat de locaties van de beelden geen rituele plaatsen zijn, maar geïntegreerd in het leven van de gemeenschappen”, aldus Carl Lipo, professor antropologie aan de universiteit van Binghamton.
“Op plaatsen waar enorme hoeveelheden zoet water te vinden was, zien we gigantische beelden”, zei Lipo ook nog. Daarmee willen de auteurs van het onderzoek ook suggereren ook dat de grootte van de moai-beelden en ahu de hoeveelheid en de kwaliteit van het water op de locatie aangeven.
AP
AP
VIDEO. Duizenden spreeuwen ‘dansen’ in de lucht boven Iers dorp - HLN.be
Bron: Storyful
Deze spreeuwen hebben vorige week in het Ierse Cullahill een mooi show gegeven. Spreeuwen blijven zo dicht bij elkaar om makkelijker samen te werken.
VIDEO. Dit is de achterkant van de maan: grillig en met talrijke kraters - HLN.be
Begin dit jaar landde er voor het eerst in de geschiedenis een onbemande Chinese ruimtesonde op “the dark side of the moon”, meer dan vijftig jaar na de eerste maanlanding.
Chang’e 4 landde op 3 januari in een gigantische inslagkrater aan de zuidpool, met als gevolg een historische landing en een grote technologische doorbraak. Minuten na de landing stuurde de sonde de eerste beelden naar de aarde. Die revolutionaire beelden tonen voor het eerst de structuur van de achterkant van het maanoppervlak.
Chinese experten bestempelden de missie vooraf als zeer veeleisend. De grote moeilijkheid was onder meer de communicatie met de aarde, omdat vanop de achterkant van de maan geen rechtstreekse radioverbinding mogelijk is.
Daarom brachten de Chinezen al in mei de transmissiesatelliet Queqiao (‘Eksterbrug’) in stelling, om signalen uit de radioschaduw door te kunnen sturen. De 360° beelden werden teruggestuurd via dezelfde satelliet, die opereerde op ongeveer 455.000 kilometer van de aarde, waar het zowel de aarde als de verste kant van de maan kan zien.
China noemt zijn missie naar de achterzijde van de Maan een “compleet succes”, zo heeft het staatspersbureau Xinhua vandaag gemeld. De maanmissie moet bewijzen dat China’s ambitieuze ruimtevaartprogramma grote vooruitgang boekt. Een nieuw ruimtestation is een andere belangrijke pijler van dat programma. Onderzoekers gaan alvast nu met de beelden aan de slag om het grondoppervlak grondig te kunnen analyseren en meer achtergrondinformatie te vergaren om zo’n station te kunnen bouwen.
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