Filer’s Files 34, 2020 New Navy UFO/UAP Task Force - PART I

ALIEN LIFE, UFO- CRASHES, ABDUCTIONS, MEN IN BLACK, ed ( FR. , NL; E )

Geschreven door peter om 00:40 Stuur door

Dinsdag 8 september 2020

'Petrol-drinking' aliens could be living on moons of Saturn, scientists believe

'Petrol-drinking' aliens could be living on moons of Saturn, scientists believe

Experts are divided over whether other life forms exist in extraterrestrial eco-systems

By Tom Bull & Lorna Hughes

Saturn's moon Titan could be home to alien life forms

(Image: Getty Images)

Saturn's moon Titan could be home to alien life forms that drink "petrol", scientists have claimed.

They say its minus-179C temperatures could be sustaining organisms that feed on chemicals - mainly methane and ethane.

Scientists have debated what the definition of alien life should be as they examine which eco-systems would be capable of sustaining a living thing, the Daily Star reports.

But few believe extraterrestrial life - if it exists at all - would rely on the same chemicals we have on Earth.

Zoologist Arik Kershenbaum of the University of Cambridge told The News Alerts.“Nasa needs a definition of life so it knows how to build detectors and what kinds of instruments to use on its missions.

“It would be wrong to assume that our familiar biochemistry is what we’re going to find on other planets.”

One school of thought that has emerged is that alien life could be found in "lakes" on the surface of Titan.

Although it is too cold for water, a mission in 2005 revealed that they are made of hydrocarbons similar to petrol.

And one scientist has suggested that there could be life feeding in the petrol lakes.

Planetary scientist Stuart Bartlett of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena told the outlet: “There could be organisms floating in Titan’s atmosphere that essentially drink petrol to sustain themselves.”

Europa, a moon of Jupiter, is also considered to be a potential breeding ground for alien life.

Nasa and China have both set off on missions to establish whether there has, or is, life on Mars - but the debate over what that life looks like continues.

Astro biologist Lynn Rothschild from Nasa’s Ames research centre told The News Alerts: “You can’t hunt for something if you have no idea what it is.”

{ https://www.getreading.co.uk/ }

Geschreven door peter om 00:28 Stuur door

Maandag 7 september 2020

Unique Painting of Extinct Giant Sloth Discovered in Madagascar Cave

The cave painting, believed to represent the now extinct giant sloth lemur, was discovered in the a limestone cave located in a nature reserve in western Madagascar. Source: gudkovandrey / Adobe Stock

Unique Painting of Extinct Giant Sloth Discovered in Madagascar Cave

A team of scientists exploring a cave in western Madagascar have discovered an ancient painting which they are calling the “only known drawing of an extinct giant lemur” that once lived in the island’s remote western forests until at least 1,000 years ago.

Researchers from the Natural History Museum explain on the museum website that Madagascar used to be home to giant lemurs, which they say could grow to the size of silverback gorillas. Except for the discovery of a few bones, no tangible evidence of what these giant animals actually looked like previously existed, which makes the discovery of this new cave painting particularly exciting.

Exploring the Island of Prehistoric Megafauna

The island of Madagascar is located off the south-eastern coast of continental Africa and is still today home to a diverse range of lemurs. Archaeological finds, such as cut marks on bones found in the northwest, and stone tools in the northeast, tell archaeologists that Madagascar was visited by foragers around 2000 BC. However a 2018 paper published in Science Advances explains that “Early Holocene humans might have existed on the island 10,500 years ago” when a huge range of megafauna, that no longer exists today, dominated the island. This group of megafauna included the largest birds ever to exist, elephant birds , as well as giant tortoises, the Malagasy crowned hawk-eagle and pygmy hippos.

Research has found that when early Holocene humans first lived on the island, it was also inhabited by a wide range of now extinct megafauna, including the giant sloth, elephant birds, giant tortoises and pygmy hippos. (Image: ©Julian Hume)

(Image: ©Julian Hume )

In a new paper published in the Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology , Museum researcher Julian Hume , who studies extinct animals of the Indian Ocean, describes the painting as the “only known drawing of a giant sloth lemur” to have been found in the caves of western Madagascar. In a second paper, published in Quaternary Research , Hume also describes a new fossil site which determines giant lemurs existed on Madagascar until at least 1,000 years ago, a long time after humans first settled the island.

Multiple experts agree that the only creature the cave drawing could represent is the now extinct giant sloth, said to have existed only in Madagascar. (© Burney et al. 2020 / tandfonline)

Multiple experts agree that the only creature the cave drawing could represent is the now extinct giant sloth, said to have existed only in Madagascar.

( © Burney et al. 2020 / tandfonline)

Bizarre Ancient Animal Thought to Represent the Now Extinct Giant Sloth

Hume has concluded that Madagascar was home to multiple species of giant lemurs, some which, according to an article on the Natural History Museum website, “were the size of silverback gorillas that likely spent much of their time on the forest floor.” While the image found in the cave painting doesn’t look like you would expect, multiple experts have all agreed that the only creature it could represent is the now extinct giant sloth which is said to have been found nowhere else in the world.

The paper in the Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology says sloth lemurs were highly specialized animals “reaching up to the size of sheep” that would have hung from tree branches and slowly made their way through the dry forest canopies, and that the sloth lemur Babakotia was “a really bizarre species,” compared to modern sloths that use their claws to hang upside down. Rather, the Babakotia's fingers were elongated and curved to one side forming “rigid hooks” disabling the lemurs to use their hands for anything else.

On the left, a life restoration of the giant sloth lemur. (CC BY-SA 3.0) On the right a male crowned lemur photographed at Ankarana Special Reserve in Madagascar. (Image: CC BY-SA 3.0)

On the left, a life restoration of the giant sloth lemur. ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ) On the right a male crowned lemur photographed at Ankarana Special Reserve in Madagascar.

(Image: CC BY-SA 3.0 )

The team of scientists discovered the fossils of four different species of giant lemur, along with bones from the extinct Madagascan aardvark, or bibymalagasy, and also the remains of extinct giant cuckoos and giant fossa, which was about two thirds larger than the species that survives today. Carbon dates for these bones show that giant lemurs survived into the last millennium. The researchers concluded that one of the main causes for the extinction of most of these large animals “was people,” and that the cave, which is located in a remote dry forest, was one of the last remaining refuges for some of the megafauna.

Skull of the extinct giant sloth lemur, Babakotia radofilai. (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Skull of the extinct giant sloth lemur, Babakotia radofilai.

( CC BY-SA 3.0 )

Astonishing Discovery of Complex Matrix of Ancient Symbols

What the researchers said was “astonishing” is that the cave art included abstract symbols which have only previously been found in a cave site on the island of Borneo, some 7,500 kilometers away, and that date to “2,000 years ago.” This is about the same time that the first Indonesians arrived in Madagascar and it is highly likely that that they carried these symbols with them, a theory which if correct makes the cave site, and painting, anything from 1,000 to 2,000 years old.

The cave art found, also included abstract symbols only previously seen at a cave site on the island of Borneo, 7,500 kilometers away. (Burney et al. 2020 / tandfonline)

The cave art found, also included abstract symbols only previously seen at a cave site on the island of Borneo, 7,500 kilometers away.

(Burney et al. 2020 / tandfonline)

The art discovered in the cave also contains lettering resembling ancient Arabic script from Ethiopia, and human figures with head shapes which, the paper explains, “bare a passing similarity to the ancient Egyptian gods.” And while this mixing of Indonesian, African and Malagasy cultural symbols from thousands of years ago is incredibly alluring and suggestive, the researchers said all this was still rather speculative for the time being.

Top image: The cave painting, believed to represent the now extinct giant sloth lemur, was discovered in the a limestone cave located in a nature reserve in western Madagascar.
Source: gudkovandrey / Adobe Stock

By Ashley Cowie

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

ARCHEOLOGIE ( E, Nl, Fr )

Geschreven door peter om 23:41 Stuur door

Maandag 7 september 2020

Researchers Find Unique Ancient Rock Drawing of Extinct Sloth Lemur

Researchers Find Unique Ancient Rock Drawing of Extinct Sloth Lemur

by Sergio Prostak

An international team of scientists has discovered stylistically unique ancient drawings, including the only known prehistoric depiction of a now-extinct giant sloth lemur, on the walls of a rock shelter in western Madagascar.

Photograph (top) and artist’s sketch (bottom) of the inferred hunting scene: hunter (background, left) extends weapon toward inverted large animal in foreground; two dog-like zoomorphs are on the right.

Image credit: Burney et al, doi: 10.1080/15564894.2020.1749735.

The drawings were discovered by Dr. David Burney from Hawaii’s National Tropical Botanical Garden and his colleagues from the United Kingdom, Madagascar and the United States in Andriamamelo Cave near the small village of Anahidrano.

All the depictions are painted with dry-applied black pigments made from charcoal or iron minerals.

They include several image groupings that comprise naturalistic scenes, with anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and human-animal hybrid figures.

Of possible significance is a repeated use of an M-shaped motif (ሐ), with anthropomorphic development in a few cases.

“We have not found this figure in other rock art around the Indian Ocean, except a rare occurrence in Borneo, believed to have been created about 2,000 years ago,” the researchers said.

“It also matches one distinctive character found in the Amharic alphabet of Ethiopia.”

“Eight instances were noted where images and themes suggest Ptolemaic Egyptian mythological characters and symbols, some possibly of stellar constellations,” they added.

“There are no characters from the Latin alphabet. No cattle images, nor any Judaeo-Christian, Muslim, or Hindu symbology.”

Dr. Burney and co-authors also identified several living animals and three representatives of the extinct megafauna: elephant bird, tortoise, and giant sloth lemur.

The latter appears in a hunting scene, with a hunter pointing a weapon, the giant lemur upside down, and two dogs.

The sloth lemurs (family Palaeopropithecidae) are a group of extinct giant lemurs that includes four genera. The common name can be misleading, as these creatures were not closely related to South American sloths. As the name implies, sloth lemurs were designed for treetop living, with long arms and legs, limber joints and hook-like hands and feet. These adaptations allowed them to be adept at both leaping and climbing. It is believed that over-hunting and the burning of their forest habitat by early human residents combined with a naturally slow reproductive rate gradually led to their extinction. This is a life restoration of Babakotia radofilai, an extinct species of medium-sized sloth lemur from Madagascar.

Image credit: Smokeybjb / CC BY-SA 3.0.

“Standing on the left behind the other figures is an anthropomorph that appears to be brandishing a weapon, perhaps drawing a bow,” the scientists said.

“There are two distinct legs, and a third appendage pointing backward in the manner of a tail or a sheathed sword. The posture and detail evoke classical images of the conspicuous constellation Orion.”

“The weapon seems to aim toward a larger and more distinct image in the foreground, a zoomorph lying on its back with legs in the air.”

“We have only a few clues to the identity of this large conspicuous zoomorph. This animal’s profile is consistent with that of the extinct sloth lemurs.”

“These large primates are known as abundant subfossils from Anjohingidrobe Cave also in Beanka, such as Babakotia radofilai. They are generally reconstructed with long forelimbs, a short snout, and small rounded ears.”

“Beyond are two zoomorphs we interpret as dogs, one looking toward the ‘sloth lemur’ and the other, with erect ears, in the opposite direction.”

The authors think the drawings were created approximately in the beginning of the Christian Era or a few centuries before.

“The local people associate the images with a different ethnic group from themselves (Vazimba or Bosy), from an unknown time, who made them in connection with divination,” they said.

The discovery is described in a paper in the Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology.

_____

David A. Burney et al. Rock art from Andriamamelo Cave in the Beanka Protected Area of western Madagascar. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, published online May 26, 2020; doi: 10.1080/15564894.2020.1749735

{ http://www.sci-news.com/ }

ARCHEOLOGIE ( E, Nl, Fr )

Geschreven door peter om 23:30 Stuur door

Maandag 7 september 2020

Pentagon Has ‘Off-World Vehicles Not Made on This Earth’

Pentagon Has ‘Off-World Vehicles Not Made on This Earth’

Bombshell: The government’s once-clandestine UFO program will reveal findings on unexplained materials and crashes.

BY ANDREW DANIELS

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

The Pentagon's on-and-off-again, once-covert UFO program is decidedly back on—and will soon reveal some of its findings to the public.
An astrophysicist who consulted on the UFO program confirms the government possesses materials from “off-world vehicles not made on this earth.”
The news comes on the heels of the Navy's official release of three notorious UFO videos.

Update 7/26: We've updated this story to include official comments provided by the Pentagon to Popular Mechanics, as well as a clarification of Senator Harry Reid's original comments in the New York Times report.

For years, the U.S. government has repeatedly changed its tune regarding its official involvement with UFO research.

As recently as February, a Pentagon spokesperson told Popular Mechanics that, while a government program did investigate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and other unexplained aerial phenomena for some time last decade, funding dried up in 2012. But when Popular Mechanics thoroughly investigated the covert program, multiple sources said it’s still ongoing to this day.

Now, a new report in the New York Times confirms those accounts. The government’s UFO unit currently resides in the Office of Naval Intelligence, where it “deals with classified matters,” per the report, even though the unit itself isn’t classified. The Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force is meant to “standardize collection and reporting” on sightings of UAVs and publicly divulge “at least some of its findings” twice a year, according to the Times.

OUR EXCLUSIVE INVESTIGATION

Inside the Pentagon's Secret UFO Program

In a June Senate Committee Report, the Senate authorized appropriations for fiscal year 2021 for the task force, supporting its efforts to reveal any links that unidentified aerial phenomena “have to adversarial foreign governments, and the threat they pose to U.S. military assets and installations.”

From the report:

The Committee remains concerned that there is no unified, comprehensive process within the Federal Government for collecting and analyzing intelligence on unidentified aerial phenomena, despite the potential threat. The Committee understands that the relevant intelligence may be sensitive; nevertheless, the Committee finds that the information sharing and coordination across the Intelligence Community has been inconsistent, and this issue has lacked attention from senior leaders.

Therefore, the Committee directs the DNI, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the heads of such other agencies as the Director and Secretary jointly consider relevant, to submit a report within 180 days of the date of enactment of the Act, to the congressional intelligence and armed services committees on unidentified aerial phenomena (also known as ‘‘anomalous aerial vehicles’’), including observed airborne objects that have not been identified.

Senator Marco Rubio, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told a CBS affiliate in Florida that he’s most interested to learn from the task force who’s responsible for unidentified aircraft spotted over American military bases. Rubio said he hopes “the Chinese or Russians or some other adversary” hasn’t made “some sort of technological leap” that “allows them to conduct this sort of activity.”

“That to me,” Rubio said, “is a national security risk and one we should be looking into.”

While such UAVs may very well come from foreign adversaries, the other possibility, of course, is that we can’t pinpoint their origins from anywhere on this planet. And that’s where the New York Times report gets really interesting.

Harry Reid, the former Nevada senator who was instrumental in funding the original UFO program, told the Times he believes that “crashes of objects of unknown origin may have occurred and that retrieved materials should be studied.” From the article:

“After looking into this, I came to the conclusion that there were reports— some were substantive, some not so substantive—that there were actual materials that the government and the private sector had in their possession.”

(An earlier version of the Times article said Reid believed “crashes from other worlds” had indeed occurred, and that retrieved materials had been “studied secretly for decades, often by aerospace companies under government contracts.” The Times has corrected Reid's account, and Reid has since clarified his statements in a tweet, below. Popular Mechanics has updated this section of the article accordingly.)

The astrophysicist Eric Davis, who consulted with the Pentagon’s original UFO program and now works for the defense contractor Aerospace Corporation, told the Times that after he examined certain materials, he came to the conclusion that “we couldn’t make [them] ourselves.” In fact, Davis briefed a Department of Defense (DOD) agency as recently as March about retrieving materials from “off-world vehicles not made on this earth.”

MUST-READ

The Long, Strange Truth of the Navy's UFO Video

"As we have said previously, the Department of Defense and all of the military departments take any incursions by unauthorized aircraft into our training ranges or designated airspace very seriously, and examine each report," Pentagon spokesperson Sue Gough tells Popular Mechanics in a statement. "This includes examinations of incursions that are initially reported as 'unidentified aerial phenomena' (UAP) when the observer cannot immediately identify what he or she is observing. Thorough examinations of any incursions into our training ranges or designated airspace often involves assessments from across the department, and, as appropriate, consultation with other U.S. government departments and agencies."

Gough continues:

The safety of our personnel and the security of our operations is of paramount concern. To protect our people and maintain operations security, which includes not providing information that may be useful to our adversaries, DOD does not discuss publicly the details of either the observations or the examination of reported incursions into our training ranges or designated airspace, including those incursions initially designated as UAP.

In regards to the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force mentioned in Times, Gough confirms the Department of Defense "is creating a task force to gain knowledge and insight into the nature and origins of UAPs," as well as their "operations, capabilities, performance, and/or signatures."

The mission, Gough says, "will be to detect, analyze, catalog, consolidate, and exploit non-traditional aerospace vehicles/UAPs posing an operational threat to U.S. national security and avoid strategic surprise."

The Times report, and the anticipated public disclosure of findings from Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force, are the latest in encouraging recent developments surrounding UFO research.

Back in April, the U.S. Navy officially published three videos that show unidentified aerial vehicles are genuine, several years after the notorious clips first leaked online and properly ushered in the UFO renaissance.

In 2019, the Navy confirmed the three videos, taken by Navy pilots, indeed show “unexplained aerial phenomena,” but the service also said the footage should have never been released to the public in the first place. Then in April, the service dropped the clips on its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) page, a repository for documents released under the federal law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of U.S. government information to the public.

The clips were first released in 2017 and 2018 by The New York Times and To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science, a UFO research group from former blink-182 member Tom DeLonge.

“After a thorough review,” a Pentagon spokesperson told Popular Mechanics in April, “the department has determined that the authorized release of these unclassified videos does not reveal any sensitive capabilities or systems, and does not impinge on any subsequent investigations of military air space incursions by unidentified aerial phenomena.”

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Exclusive: Navy UFO Witnesses Reveal What They Saw

The Complete History of UFO Sightings

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UFOs , UAPs , USOS

Geschreven door peter om 23:16 Stuur door

Maandag 7 september 2020

The Battle of the Delta: Ramses III saves Egypt from the People of the Sea

Egyptian relief of the invading Sea Peoples

The Battle of the Delta: Ramses III saves Egypt from the People of the Sea

The ancient Egyptian pharaohs often commemorated military victories over their enemies by having them depicted on the walls of great monuments. One of the most famous conflicts recorded on the walls of an Egyptian temple is that of the Battle of the Delta, fought by the pharaoh Ramesses III against the invading Sea Peoples.

The Battle of the Delta is thought to have been fought during the year 1175 BC. On one side were the Egyptians under Ramesses III, perceived by some to be the last great pharaoh of the New Kingdom. On the other side were the mysterious Sea Peoples, a term used to describe a group of sea-faring raiders mentioned in several Egyptian sources. These include the Peleset (Philistines), Tjekker of Crete, Shekelesh (Sicilians), Shardana / Sherden (Sardinians), and Lukka (possible ancestors of the Lycians).

Rameses III. Scene from tomb of Ramses III. Before 1879, by Emile Prisse d'Avennes

Rameses III. Scene from tomb of Ramses III. Before 1879, by Emile Prisse d'Avennes

( Wikimedia Commons)

Wall relief of Amun receiving gifts from Ramses III, mortuary temple of Ramses III, Medinet Habu, Theban Necropolis, Egypt, 2009 Phot by Remih

Wall relief of Amun receiving gifts from Ramses III, mortuary temple of Ramses III, Medinet Habu, Theban Necropolis, Egypt, 2009 Phot by Remih

Incidentally, several ancient Mediterranean civilizations, i.e. the Hittite, Mycenaeans and Mitanni kingdoms, came to an end around 1175 BC, and one theory claims that their downfall was caused by the Sea Peoples. The ferocity of these raiders is also echoed in an inscription on the walls of the mortuary temple of Ramesses II in Medinet Habu, where the pharaoh’s victory is commemorated. According to the text, “Not one stood before their hands,” and numerous cities were laid to waste.

Procession of Philistine Captives At Medinet-habu.

Procession of Philistine Captives At Medinet-habu.

Egypt seems to have been the next target of these aggressive warriors. Prior to the Battle of the Delta, Ramesses III had obtained a great victory over the ‘Peoples of the Sea’ at the Battle of Djahy. Somewhere along Egypt’s easternmost frontier (modern day southern Lebanon), Ramesses III engaged and defeated an army of the Sea People that was attempting to invade his empire by land. Much of our knowledge of this battle comes from Medinet Habu. Given the lack of other sources, it has been suggested that Ramesses III might not have routed an army at Djahy. It is possible that the pharaoh actually had gained a victory over a group of refugees fleeing from their cities, settlements destroyed by the People of the Sea. Of course, if this were the case, it would not be depicted on the walls of Medinet Habu, unless it were modified.

Wall Relief of Ramses III fighting the People of the Sea, on Migdol at Medinet Habu, Theban Necropolis, Egypt

Wall Relief of Ramses III fighting the People of the Sea, on Migdol at Medinet Habu, Theban Necropolis, Egypt, 2009 by Remih

Palace of Ramses III, at Medinet Habu, Theban Necropolis, Egypt

Palace of Ramses III, at Medinet Habu, Theban Necropolis, Egypt, 2009 by Remih

ARCHEOLOGIE ( E, Nl, Fr )

The Sea Peoples were also attempting to invade Egypt in ships. Compared to these expert sailors of the Mediterranean, the Egyptians may have been inferior seamen, and their ships technologically less advanced. Yet, Ramesses III had a cunning plan. Instead of engaging his enemies in open waters, he allowed them to sail unopposed into the Nile Delta. Powered by both sail and oars, the Egyptian ships were more manoeuvrable in this terrain than the sailing ships of their opponents, thus giving them an advantage. On the banks of the Nile, bowmen were placed to prevent the Sea Peoples from landing on Egyptian soil. Bowmen were also placed in the Egyptian ships to fire their deadly arrows at the enemies. The Sea Peoples, who were armed with swords and spears, were not able to counter-attack. Moreover, grappling hooks were used by the Egyptians to capsize many of the enemy ships.

Due to Ramesses III’s victory at the Battle of the Delta, the Egyptians were able to avoid being conquered by the Sea Peoples and suffering destruction at their hands. Nevertheless, there was a heavy price to pay. As a result of this conflict, the Egyptian treasury was drained and the Egyptian army was exhausted, thus contributing to the end of the glory days of the empire. Matters only got worse after the death of Ramesses III, as their eastern possessions were later colonized by the Philistines. In the long term, the weakening of Egypt due to the conflict with the People of the Sea, along with other important factors, would lead to the Third Intermediate Period about a century after the Battle of the Delta.

Featured image: Egyptian relief of the invading Sea Peoples ( Wikimedia Commons )

By Ḏḥwty

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{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/general }

Geschreven door peter om 22:36 Stuur door

Maandag 7 september 2020

A Mysterious Crater Suddenly Opened Up in the Arctic Tundra

A Mysterious Crater Suddenly Opened Up in the Arctic Tundra

Mysterious craters have been popping up in the Arctic tundra in recent years, and the latest example is 50 meters deep.

By Maddie Bender

SCREENGRAB: YOUTUBE/ ВЕСТИ ЯМАЛ

Siberian media reported the discovery of a 50-meter deep crater in the Arctic tundra that suddenly opened up. Craters like these have been found since 2014, and scientists believe they may be a result of cryogenic eruptions—in other words, ice volcanoes.

According to the Siberian Times, a TV crew from station Vesti Yamal observed the massive crater by chance while traveling from an assignment. The crater is one of several on the Yamal and Taymyr peninsulas in Siberia, and these geological phenomena have been subjects of research for years.

One research group led by Lomosnosov Moscow State University geologist Andrey Bychkov proposed that the first discovered crater in the region was caused by an ice volcano eruption. In 2018, they published a paper in the journal Scientific Reports to explain the origin of what they dubbed the “spectacular crater.”

Bychkov said in an email that cryovolcanism is a known phenomenon on other planets, but prior to their study, ice volcanoes were not believed to exist on Earth. However, he found that a cryogenic eruption would adequately explain how the crater was formed.

At the time, others theorized that the crater may have been caused by a meteorite impact or deep migration of gas under the Earth’s surface.

In the paper, the authors describe how an ice-cored hill called a pingo would have exploded to produce the crater. First, a talik—an area of unfrozen ground surrounded by permafrost—forms underneath a thaw lake, a process lasting thousands of years. The top of the talik freezes over while methane and carbon dioxide builds up inside its core. The pneumatic pressure pushing up on the frozen top of the talik produces a pingo that eventually bursts.

Bychkov said that all but one of these explosions have happened in remote locations. People recorded smoke and loud sounds in the one instance that a crater formed near human habitation. According to Bychkov, these craters don't remain gaping holes in the Earth forever; water eventually fills these craters, producing round lakes that are widespread in the Arctic.

“There are thousands of round lakes; they may have been craters,” he said.

The explosions of pingos into craters also seem to be associated with unusually warm summers. The heat, according to Earther, likely weakened the Siberian permafrost, facilitating the explosion of methane from the pingo. Bychkov said we still do not know exactly how these warm temperatures affect cryovolcanism, though.

For Bychkov, it’s not the craters themselves that fascinate him; rather, it’s the ecology and composition of the taliks, ecosystems that have been shut off from the rest of the world for millennia.

“The most interesting thing is the life in the talik,” Bychkov said. “It is a closed world with evolution separated from oxygen for thousands of years. Special microbes can live at low temperatures and produce gases, which provide cryovolcanism. This world has not been explored.”

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MYSTERIES ( Fr, Nl, E)

Geschreven door peter om 22:13 Stuur door

Maandag 7 september 2020

There May Be A Hidden Planet Orbiting Three Suns In Distant Star System

There May Be A Hidden Planet Orbiting Three Suns In Distant Star System

Jocelyne LeBlanc

According to a new study, groups of stars can actually rip apart their planet-forming disks resulting with misaligned, broken, warped rings.

For eleven years, researchers from the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Chile, and the United States studied a young triple star system called GW Orionis that’s located 1,300 light-years away from Earth. They analyzed the data produced by the AMBER (Astronomical Multi-BEam combiner) and the GRAVITY instruments on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). Then they analyzed data collected by the SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch) instrument on the VLT and with the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) telescope. (Pictures can be seen here.)

This superimposed image shows images from ALMA and SPHERE superimposed.

This superimposed image of of the GW Orionis star system shows images from the ALMA radio telescope (in blue) overlayed on the ESO Very Large Telescope's SPHERE instrument's view, which shows the shadow of the system's innermost ring.

(Image credit: ESO/Exeter/Kraus et al., ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO))

This artistic impression (left) shows the inner region of the disc in the triple-star system GW Orionis.

(Image credit: ESO/L. Calçada, Exeter/Kraus et al.)

They noticed that its ring-shaped planet-forming disks were being ripped apart by the three stars. “This data allowed us to build a detailed computer model of the system, which predicted that the circumstellar disk would be bent and even torn to form a separate inner ring,” Alison Young, who is from the Universities of Exeter and Leicester in England as well as a co-author of the study, explained in an email to Space.com.

She went on to say, “There have been a number of theoretical studies on disk-tearing effects, but this is the first direct evidence of effect occurring in a planet-forming disk,” adding, “This demonstrates that it is possible for such disks to be warped and broken and raises the possibility that planets could form on highly inclined orbits around multiple star systems.”

If scientists could find a planet within that triple star system, it would be the first time ever that a planet orbiting three suns would have been discovered. They did find 30 Earth-masses of dust in the interior portion of the disk which means that there is enough material present to form into planets. Stefan Kraus, who is a professor of astrophysics at the University of Exeter in the UK and the lead author of the study, went into further details, “It’s the best mechanism for forming planets on such extreme orbits, such as been found so far,” adding, “But … from the planet-detection side, we don’t have a way of detecting these planets yet.”

Young finished off by stating, “It is exciting to see mathematical predictions verified in observations so clearly. I find the SPHERE image particularly amazing because we can really see the disk is a 3-dimensional structure with a surface covered in bumps and shadows.” “We are looking at what could eventually become an unusual type of planetary system in the very process of forming.”

While scientists have already determined that multi-star systems can rip apart their disks, if they could find a planet within that system, it would be an even bigger historical discovery. We’ll have to wait and see what they can find.

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Geschreven door peter om 20:48 Stuur door

Maandag 7 september 2020

Three Suns Seen Over Poland Sept 7, 2020, Photos, UFO Sighting News.

Three Suns Seen Over Poland Sept 7, 2020, Photos, UFO Sighting News.

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Date of sighting: Sept 7, 2020
Location of sighting: Poland
Source:

https://www.instagram.com/grzegorz.ok/

These glowing UFOs were caught during sunset in Poland last week. There is a disk on the top and the bottom has two large glowing orbs. I wish he had captured some video of the event, but still this is amazing. I believe the large dis on top is the sun, but for it to have two mini suns in front of it is just...impossible. I have heard about reports of two suns recorded, but never three. Absolutely alien.
Scott C. Waring

Eyewitness states:

This year is full of such strange events that the sight of an alien looking at me no longer touches me. This is one sun, but the clouds obscured it. This is a picture without filter, 100% original.

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

Geschreven door peter om 19:03 Stuur door

Maandag 7 september 2020

Bright Light Moves Over Homes, Lighting Them Up, Florida, Aug 22, 2020, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Bright Light Moves Over Homes, Lighting Them Up, Florida, Aug 22, 2020, Video, UFO Sighting News.

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Date of sighting: Aug 22, 2020
Location of sighting: Palm Coast, Florida, USA
Source: MUFON

Watch as a glowing light is seen moving slowly over the rooftops and suddenly the UFO lights up powerfully and the home outdoor lights for both houses also light up. The UFO has an aura of electricity that clearly activated the light bulbs. If you have ever held a light bulb near a static source...you would see the light bulb in your hand light up. Its amazing but its real science. Thats how we know this is 100% a real UFO. No helicopter, drone or plane could ever do that.
Scott C. Waring - Taiwan

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{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

Geschreven door peter om 18:56 Stuur door

Maandag 7 september 2020

Alien Disk Recovered, Slides Off Truck, Eyewitness Is Blown away, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Alien Disk Recovered, Slides Off Truck, Eyewitness Is Blown away, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: Sept 2020
Location of sighting: USA, city unknown

Here is an interesting video of a trailer and truck having a bit of a problem with....a UFO sliding a bit too far and getting off balance. Now UFOs have been transported like this before. Why? Because lack of military trucks and police vehicles causes less alarm and draws less attention. Especially if they only have to take the craft short distances. Why not fly it you ask? If its a new disk given to the US military from aliens in trade for items...then who is going to know how to pilot it? No one, thus moving it to a secure location for pilot testing is important. This is 100% alien or it would not need to be transported anywhere. Maybe traded for, maybe a UFO crash in the area, what ever the case, we know this is headed to a military base, probably Area 51.

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan

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{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

Geschreven door peter om 18:53 Stuur door

Maandag 7 september 2020

Hidden anomalies of Antarctica which they are trying to keep secret

Hidden anomalies of Antarctica which they are trying to keep secret

Brad Olsen who has visited some of the research stations in Antarctica will talk about the work that is being performed down there by scientists.

Coordinates: 75°00'47.0"S 0°04'52.7"E

Furthermore Brad explores the possibility of a massive craft under the ice, pyramids in the Shackleton Range, megalithic architecture being uncovered, and the possibility of giants and Ice Age animals being uncovered from the ice.

Why are many of the elite going down there, to a location called the "Illuminati Disneyland"? These locations and more will be explored!

Related videos, selected and posted by peter2011

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

MYSTERIES ( Fr, Nl, E)

Geschreven door peter om 17:57 Stuur door

Maandag 7 september 2020

Unknown lights in the sky above Marcy, New York 6-Sep-2020

Unknown lights in the sky above Marcy, New York 6-Sep-2020

marcy-ufo

Here’s one new footage of unidentified flying object hovering in the sky above Marcy, NY.

Witness report:

5 strange lights over crowd footage. At first the lights were in a triangle formation then they changed shape & vanished. Recorded on 9/6/2020

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

ALIEN LIFE, UFO- CRASHES, ABDUCTIONS, MEN IN BLACK, ed ( FR. , NL; E )

Geschreven door peter om 17:39 Stuur door

Maandag 7 september 2020

Real aliens? Here are all the scientists arguing UFOs exist

Are UFOs real? Still not convinced in life from other planets? Click to learn about all the scientists arguing UFOs really do exist.

Real aliens? Here are all the scientists arguing UFOs exist

With the help of social media and even recent announcements by the U.S. Navy, more than ever believers are pushing to prove UFOs exist. If fuzzy pictures or government conspiracies aren’t enough to convince you, maybe these scientists can.

From documenting key evidence to tightening their arguments, the scientific community is changing the dialogue on UFOs. Here are all the outspoken scientists arguing for the existence of UFOs.

UFOs exist: So do Earthlings from the future

Refusing to denounce the recent stockpile of images & testimonials of UFO sightings is the stance of Michael Masters – a biological anthropology professor at the University of Montana.

In the argument for the existence of UFOs, Masters doesn’t think these objects are the vehicle of choice for little green people. Instead, Masters proposed UFOs are driven by humans from the future. Master’s discussed the theory in his book, Identified Flying Objects: A Multidisciplinary Scientific Approach to the UFO Phenomenon (2019).

Putting stake in the greater proof of UFOs than of aliens, Masters discussed his theory with Leonard Davis from Space.com. Davis theorized, “We know that we’ve had a long evolutionary history on this planet. And we know our technology is going to be more advanced in the future. I think the simplest explanation, innately, is that it is us.”

An astronaut knows aliens are real

Scientist & astronaut Helen Sharman was Britain’s first astronaut. Sharman took a trip to the Soviet Mir space station in 1991, and returned with a conclusive thought: “aliens exist, there’s no two ways about it.”

Sharman spent eight days working in space as a chemist and researcher. She even believes many of us may have had encounters with aliens during our lives and didn’t know. If perspective from the ground isn’t enough to convince you, what about from someone who’s seen our very civilization from above?

In January 2020 Sharman told The Observer, “There are so many billions of stars out there in the universe that there must be all sorts of different forms of life” – although Sharman doesn’t know if they’re carbon-based like humans. She even suggested, “It’s possible they’re here right now and we simply can’t see them.”

UFOs exist: They’re worth a “serious study”

Those are the beliefs of Kevin Knuth – a NASA researcher and assistant professor of physics at the University of Albany in NY. Knuth remembered always being interested in UFOs, and professed, “there’s plenty of evidence to support UFO sightings.”

With a firm understanding of the scientific method, Knuth admitted studying or testing for UFOs is “extremely challenging” – the appearance of UFOs can’t just be repeated. Knuth discussed the “discrepancy between the expectation that there should be evidence of . . . and the presumption that no visitations have been observed.”

What Knuff described is called the Fermi Paradox, spawned by the belief the billions of stars must hold life beyond our knowledge. Knuff also discussed sightings by military governments. He proposed, “some of the strange flying objects that outperform the best aircraft in our inventory and defy explanation may indeed be visitors from afar.”

In Kevin Knuth’s opinion, the biggest issue with the very topic of UFOs is its taboo nature in the scientific community. Instead, he turns to the wide array of multiple witnesses, photographic evidence, and patterns of activity. If UFOs and aliens exist, they need to be taken seriously if they’re going to be documented with substantial proof.

Take UFOs seriously: A scientist’s argument

In response to the recent comments on possible UFO existence from the U.S. Navy, Vox spoke to Alexander Wendt – an author & political scientist. Wendt hasn’t tried hiding his own frustrations with the scientific community for their underwhelming reaction to new evidence on UFOs & alien life.

Wendt specializes in topics related to social science and interpersonal interactions, and is intrigued by the unknown something blocking scientists from taking UFO studies seriously. At a loss, Wendt stated, “. . . anything else even remotely this interesting would generate limitless research dollars.”

In his Vox interview, Wendt acknowledged his true feelings on the significance for such a discovery: “Because if ETs were discovered, it would be the most important event in human history.” Now it’s hard to argue with the truth in those words, and more than ever it feels like unwilling scientists are the ones affecting progress – not a lack of UFOs.

Aliens are real, but not recognizable

Again casting aside the theory of green people or Earth destroyers from films, several scientists are aligned with the belief aliens may be among us. However, unlike cinematic depictions, the creatures just aren’t in a form we’d expect – or even recognize.

Such are the beliefs of Andrew Fraknoi – a member of the board for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence in Mountain View, and former professor of astronomy at Foothill College in California.

Instead of full-size beings, Fraknoi adheres to a different popular belief amongst some astrobiologists. Aliens may be among us, but arrived in the form of microorganisms. From our lands to our oceans, it’s hard to keep track of everything falling to Earth. Fraknoi instilled in his students the belief intelligent life comes in every shape & size.

All related videos, selected and postyed by peter2011

{ https://filmdaily.co/ }

Geschreven door peter om 02:10 Stuur door

Maandag 7 september 2020

The Biggest Background Investigation Myths

Sean Bigley

UFO’s, Bigfoot, a second shooter on the grassy knoll. America’s history is rich with urban myths and conspiracy theories. In many, if not most, of these fantastical tales, the federal government plays a prominent role. I think a healthy skepticism of government is a good thing within reason, irrespective of whether Uncle Sam is writing your paychecks or merely extracting taxes from them. But those who work for the government are, in my experience, sometimes the wariest of governmental power. They’ve seen up-close-and-personal the vast resources and long arm of our nation’s law enforcement and intelligence apparatuses in a way that most private citizens can only imagine. They know what the government is capable of when the wheels start turning.

HOW DEEP DOES A BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION GO?

And so, it is perhaps unsurprising that many of the people who call my office looking for legal help in preparing for a security clearance background investigation are not first-time, blissfully ignorant applicants, but rather current clearance holders up for periodic review. They are commonly concerned about something the government might dig up and frequently wondering, “how deep does this investigation go?”.

Truth be told, not very deep. Despite incredible advances in technology over the past few decades, the security clearance background investigation process remains decidedly low-tech and horribly outdated. Policy-makers within the federal bureaucracy are working to change this, but the process is something akin to repositioning a cruise-liner: slow and incremental.

INVASIVE INVESTIGATIONS NEED CONSENT

Until and unless radical transformations occur, security clearance background investigators won’t be reading your emails, surveilling your movements, bugging your telephones, or surreptitiously tracking your internet browsing history – all questions I’ve been asked by current clearance holders over the years.

Even with hypothetical policy changes allowing for more invasive means of investigation, efforts like these would legally require the security clearance applicant’s affirmative consent. The only alternative would be if authorities obtained a search warrant pursuant to specific and articulatable evidence of criminal conduct obtained via otherwise authorized investigative methods.

LACK OF RESOURCES

Part of the reason for this is that the government simply lacks the resources to do a deep investigative dive on every security clearance applicant. Security officials have to instead assess risk and allocate resources accordingly. No doubt there are some particularly paranoid security officials out there advocating for the Orwellian state, but it isn’t happening – at least not any time soon.

BIG BROTHER ISN’T NECESSARILY WATCHING

So, rest-assured that applying for a security clearance doesn’t mean Big Brother will be watching your every move. But do remember to exercise reasonable prudence and common sense, lest those otherwise private activities you’d like to keep private unexpectedly spill out into the open.

{ https://www.clearancejobs.com/ }

Diversen (Eng, NL en Fr)

Geschreven door peter om 01:44 Stuur door

Maandag 7 september 2020

Record-breaking gravitational waves reveal that midsize black holes do exist

Record-breaking gravitational waves reveal that midsize black holes do exist

Spacetime ripples reveal the most massive and most distant black hole collision yet

Two black holes orbited each another, sending out ripples of gravitational waves (illustrated in blue and pink in this computer simulation) before merging to form the first definitive example of a midsize black hole.

DEBORAH FERGUSON, KARAN JANI, DEIRDRE SHOEMAKER, PABLO LAGUNA/GEORGIA TECH, MAYA COLLABORATION

By Emily Conover

The biggest. The farthest. The most energetic. A new detection of gravitational waves from two colliding black holes has racked up multiple superlatives.

What’s more, it also marks the first definitive sighting of an intermediate mass black hole, one with a mass between 100 and 100,000 times the sun’s mass. That midsize black hole was forged when the two progenitor black holes coalesced to form a larger one with about 142 solar masses. It significantly outweighs all black holes previously detected via gravitational waves, ripples that wrinkle spacetime in the aftermath of extreme events.

“This is the big guy we’ve been waiting for, for the longest time,” says Emanuele Berti, a physicist at Johns Hopkins University who was not involved with the research. One of the behemoth’s two progenitors was itself so massive that scientists are pondering how to explain its existence.

Detected on May 21, 2019, the gravitational waves originated from a source about 17 billion light-years from Earth, making this the most distant detection confirmed so far. Because of the expansion of the universe, that distance corresponds to a travel time of about 7 billion years, meaning that the gravitational waves were emitted when the universe was about half its current age. It’s also the most energetic event yet seen, radiating about eight times the equivalent of the sun’s mass in energy, says astrophysicist Karan Jani of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. “I hope it deserves its own entry in the record book.”

The new event dethrones the previous record-holder, a collision that occurred about 9 billion light-years away that radiated about five solar masses worth of energy, and created a black hole of 80 solar masses (SN: 12/4/18).

Researchers with LIGO, or the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, in the United States and Advanced Virgo in Italy reported the new detection September 2 in two papers in Physical Review Letters and the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

While scientists know of black holes with tens of solar masses and others with millions or billions of solar masses, the intermediate echelon has remained elusive. Previous purported sightings of intermediate mass black holes have been questioned (SN:1/22/16).

But, for the new event, “there’s no doubt,” says astrophysicist Cole Miller of University of Maryland at College Park, who was not involved with the study. “This demonstrates that there is now at least one intermediate mass black hole in the universe.”

The black hole’s two progenitors were themselves heftier than any seen colliding before — at about 85 and 66 times the mass of the sun. That has scientists puzzling over how this smashup came to be.

Kicking it up a notch

On May 21, 2019, the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave observatories detected two merging black holes. The duo combined to create a new black hole much larger than those found in previous mergers. Here, colored circles represent the relative sizes of black holes, with bluer colors representing bigger black holes.

Newfound black hole masses compared with previous mergers

R. HURT/IPAC/CALTECH, MIT, LIGO

Normally, physicists expect that the black holes involved in these mergers would each have formed in the collapse of a dying star. But in the new event, the larger of the pair is so big that it couldn’t have formed that way. The known processes that go on within a star’s core mean that stars that are the right mass to form such a big black hole would blow themselves apart completely, rather than leaving behind a corpse.

Instead, it might be that one or both of the colliding black holes formed from an earlier round of black hole mergers, within a crowded cluster of stars and black holes (SN: 1/30/17). That would make for a family tree that began with black holes lightweight enough to form from collapsing stars.

But there’s a problem with the multiple-merger explanation. Each time black holes merge, that coalescence provides a kick to their velocity, which would normally launch the resulting black hole out of the cluster, preventing further mergers.

However, mergers as massive as the new event seem to be very rare, given that LIGO and Virgo have detected only one. That means, Miller says, “my gosh, you’re allowed to invoke a tooth fairy,” a relatively unlikely process. Perhaps, he says, the kick might sometimes be small enough that the black holes could stay within their cluster and merge again.

The May 21 gravitational wave event had previously been publicly reported as an unconfirmed candidate, to allow astronomers to look for flashes of light in the sky that might have resulted from the collision. Some researchers had suggested that the waves might have been associated with a flare of light from the center of a distant galaxy (SN: 6/25/20). But that galaxy is significantly closer than the distance now pinpointed in the new papers, at about 8 billion light-years from Earth rather than 17 billion, making the explanation less plausible.

The longer LIGO and Virgo observe the heavens, the more the bounty of unusual events can be expected to grow, Miller says. “We are going to have a set of ‘gosh, didn’t expect that’ type of events, which are thrilling to think about and extremely informative about the universe.”

Questions or comments on this article? E-mail us at feedback@sciencenews.org

Editor's Note:

This story was updated September 3, 2020, to clarify how the gravitational waves could have come from a source 17 billion light-years away.

CITATIONS

LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo Collaboration. GW190521: A binary black hole merger with a total mass of 150M_☉. Physical Review Letters. Published online September 2, 2020. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.101102.

LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration. Properties and astrophysical implications of the 150M_☉ binary black hole merger GW190521. Astrophysical Journal Letters. Published online September 2, 2020. doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/aba493.

{ https://www.sciencenews.org/ }

Geschreven door peter om 01:05 Stuur door

Maandag 7 september 2020

A weirdly warped planet-forming disk circles a distant trio of stars

A weirdly warped planet-forming disk circles a distant trio of stars

The bizarre geometry of this system is the first known of its kind

The star system GW Orionis is surrounded by a complicated trio of rings that could form planets, as shown in this artist’s illustration.

L. CALÇADA/ESO, S. KRAUS ET AL, UNIV. OF EXETER

By Lisa Grossman

In one of the most complex cosmic dances astronomers have yet spotted, three rings of gas and dust circle a trio of stars.

The star system GW Orionis, located about 1,300 light-years away in the constellation Orion, includes a pair of young stars locked in a close do-si-do with a third star making loops around both. Around all three stars is a broken-apart disk of dust and gas where planets could one day form. Unlike the flat disk that gave rise to the planets in our solar system, GW Orionis’ disk consists of three loops, with a warped middle ring and an inner ring even more twisted at a jaunty angle to the other two.

The bizarre geometry of this system, the first known of its kind, is reported in two recent studies by two groups of astronomers. But how GW Orionis formed is a mystery, with the two teams providing competing ideas for the triple-star-and-ring system’s birth.

In a Sept. 4 study in Science, astronomer Stefan Kraus of the University of Exeter in England and colleagues suggest that gravitational tugs and torques from the triple-star ballet tore apart and deformed the primordial disk. But in a May 20 study in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, Jiaqing Bi of the University of Victoria in Canada and colleagues think that a newborn planet is to blame.

“The question is how do you actually form such systems,” says theoretical physicist Giuseppe Lodato of the University of Milan, who was not on either team. “There could be different mechanisms that could do that.”

Astronomers have seen tilted disks of gas and dust around binary star systems, but not systems of more than two stars (SN: 7/30/14). Around half of the stars in the galaxy have at least one stellar companion, and their planets often have tilted orbits with respect to their stars, going around more like a jump rope than a Hula-Hoop (SN: 11/1/13). That misalignment could originate with the disk in which the planets were born: If the disk was askew, the planets would be too.

About a decade ago, astronomers first realized that GW Orionis has three stars and a planet-forming disk, and the scientists scrambled to get a closer look. (At the time, it was impossible to tell if that disk was a single loop or not.) Bi’s team and Kraus’ team aimed the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile at the triple-star system.

Both groups spotted the trio of stars: one about 2.5 times and another about 1.4 times the sun’s mass orbiting each other once every 242 days, and another 1.4 solar mass star orbiting the inner pair about every 11 years.

The observations also revealed three distinct rings of dust and gas encircling the stars. The closest ring to the star trio lies about 46 times the distance from Earth to the sun; the middle one about 185 times the Earth-sun distance; and the outermost ring about 340 times that distance. For perspective, Neptune is about 30 times the distance from Earth to the sun.

That innermost ring is strongly misaligned with respect to the other rings and the stars, the teams found. Kraus’ group added observations from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope to show the shadow of the inner ring on the inside of the middle loop. That shadow revealed that the middle ring is warped, swooping up on one side and down on the other.

GW Orionis seem from ALMA and SPHERE

Astronomers looked at GW Orionis with the ALMA telescope array (left, blue) and the SPHERE instrument on the Very Large Telescope (right, red), both in Chile. The ALMA observations revealed the disk’s tri-ringed structure, while the SPHERE images showed the shadow cast by the innermost ring, allowing scientists to describe the rings’ deformed shapes in detail. LEFT IMAGE: ALMA/ESO, NAOJ, NRAO; RIGHT IMAGE: ESO, S. KRAUS ET AL, UNIV. OF EXETER

Next, both groups ran computer simulations to figure out how the system formed. This is where their conclusions begin to differ, Bi says. His team suggests that a newly formed, not-yet-discovered planet cleared its orbit of gas and dust, splitting the inner ring off from the rest of the disk (SN: 7/16/19). Once the disk was split, the inner ring was free to swing around the stars, settling into its skewed alignment.

Simulations from Kraus’s team, though, found that the chaotic gravity from the triple stars’ orbital dance alone was enough to break up the disk, a phenomenon called disk tearing. Each star tends to keep the disk aligned with itself, and the tug-of-war warped and sheared the disk, and twisted the inner ring even further. Theoretical studies had suggested disk tearing might happen in multiple star systems, but this is the first time it’s been seen in real life, Kraus contends.

“I think it’s plausible that there could be planets somewhere in the system, but they’re not needed to explain the misalignment,” he says. “We don’t need to invoke undiscovered planets to explain what we see.”

A trio of stars in GW Orionis are surrounded by an enormous, warped disk of gas and dust, new observations reveal. This animation, which is based on computer simulations and observational data, shows the complex geometry of the deformed and broken-apart disk.

The difference may lie in the assumptions that the groups made about the disk’s properties, in particular its viscosity, says astrophysicist Nienke van der Marel, Bi’s colleague at the University of Victoria. A more viscous disk would tear like how Kraus and colleagues propose, but a less viscous disk needs a planet to break apart, she says. She thinks her team’s work is more realistic based on observations of other star systems. But with current technology, there’s no way to tell what the properties of GW Orionis’ disk are really like.

And neither group could explain what made the disk split into three. “We don’t really know what’s causing the outer ring,” Klaus says.

Lodato, who predicted the disk-tearing effect in 2013, thinks GW Orionis is proof that the phenomenon really exists. Back then, Lodato and colleagues were “very worried” that their simulations showed an effect that was introduced by the computations, not real physics, he says. “Now observations tell us that it does happen in reality.”

Future telescopes may also be able to spot the planet if it exists, van der Marel says.

Questions or comments on this article? E-mail us at feedback@sciencenews.org

CITATIONS

S. Kraus et al. A triple-star system with a misaligned and warped circumstellar disk shaped by disk tearing. Science. Vol. 369, September 4, 2020, p. 1233. doi:10.1126/science.aba4633.
J. Bi et al. GW Ori: Interactions between a triple-star system and its circumtriple disk in action. The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Published online May 20, 2020. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ab8eb4.

{ https://www.sciencenews.org/ }

Geschreven door peter om 00:47 Stuur door

Zondag 6 september 2020

VENUS MAP WITH WATER: STUNNING TERRAFORMING IMAGE SHOWS ALTERNATIVE TO MARS

Venus map with water: stunning terraforming image shows alternative to Mars

VENUS MAP WITH WATER: STUNNING TERRAFORMING IMAGE SHOWS ALTERNATIVE TO MARS

A new image shows what Venus would look like if it had water on its surface, similar to the Earth.

WHAT WOULD VENUS LOOK LIKE IF IT HAD A SIMILAR AMOUNT OF SURFACE WATER TO EARTH?

A viral map highlights how terraforming Venus could result in an impressively Earth-like planet.

The map was shared in a Reddit post by a user called "Dragonite-2" on the "MapPorn" subreddit on August 21. It visualizes one of the BOLDEST PROPOSALS FOR TERRAFORMING THE SOLAR SYSTEM.

The map bears similarities to Aaditya Raj Bhattarai's water-filled map of Mars, which was shared on Reddit earlier this month. Proposals for terraforming elsewhere in the Solar System tend to focus on the Red Planet. One of the most popular is Elon Musk's idea for colonizing Mars. Musk plans to build a city on Mars, and then somehow release the planet's carbon dioxide stores, creating an atmosphere that humans could move around in with just a breathing apparatus.

Venus is a totally different story. Unlike Mars' comparatively tranquil surface, Venus would be tough for humans to inhabit – its surface temperature is a scorching 465 degrees Celsius, and the atmosphere's thick, acidic clouds whizz all the way around the planet in just five days.

But experts like Carl Sagan have proposed methods for terraforming the treacherous planet, and making its surface a bit more hospitable. It also has benefits over Mars – Venus is similar in size to Earth, and much closer to our planet. Mars is about twice as far from Earth as Venus.

"Dragonite-2"'s post gives an idea of how the end results of such a terraforming mission could look. The map shows a mountainous continent to the north, a flatter series of lands to the east, a series of large islands to the west, and a large archipelago to the south.

Map of Venus if it has as much water as Earth.

The post sparked widespread discussion. Other users shared ideas about where they would live and set up settlements on the new world: one user, called "JPRCR," wrote: "if I had to settle there, I think I would choose the massive continent on the north, probably it will have colder temperatures on the ridges and fertile valleys in the southern part."

BUT HOW ACCURATE IS THE MAP?

Paul Byrne, associate professor of planetary sciences at North Carolina State University, who has written before about Venus' surface, tells Inverse that it's perhaps best to take it with a pinch of salt.

"The map is fairly accurate, in that someone has taken the real-world digital elevation model for Venus and added a 'sea level' to it," Byrne says.

"I don't know how realistic the 'if Venus had as much water as Earth' part is, but I'm guessing that whoever made this map picked an average ocean depth for Earth and 'flooded' the Venus topography to that same depth."

That's where the realism ends, unfortunately. Byrne explains that oceans like that would create rivers, rainfall, and lakes, meaning the surface would look pretty different after erosion and other natural movements. A planet with oceans would likely have plate tectonics, which would also change the arrangement of the geographic features.

Perhaps most importantly, Byrne says, Venus' climate would be terrible for hosting oceans.

"In reality, it's not remotely realistic," Byrne says.

But that doesn't mean the map holds no value. Byrne notes that there's some evidence Venus may once have had Earth-like oceans, and it's something humanity can research in the future.

"Although a Venus with oceans wouldn't look much like the Reddit image, it is fun to think about what a blue Venus might once have looked like — and why its climate turned into the hellish world it is today," Byrne says.

Venus, as seen by Mariner 10.

Venus, as seen by Mariner 10. Wikimedia Commons

HOW TO TERRAFORM VENUS

Terraforming Venus could involve various approaches. Carl Sagan proposed in 1961 using algae seeded into the clouds to photosynthesize and reduce the carbon dioxide. Three decades later, he had to admit his plan wouldn't work: the atmosphere was later discovered to be thicker than expected.

In a 1991 Journal of the British Interplanetary Society paper, scientist Paul Birch proposed using a sunshade to cool the planet, an insulating cover to stop re-evapotation, smashing an ice moon to add some water, using solar mirrors to move its orbit, and using a soletta device to create a more hospitable 24-hour day and night cycle. Birch suggested the whole process could take around 200 years.

Transforming the planet on this scale would not be an easy task. NASA engineer Geoffrey A. Landis explained in a 2011 research paper that most proposals involved trying to undo the rampant greenhouse gas effects, which would require huge amounts of energy or highly advanced technology. In practice, Landis says, these proposals are aiming to reverse climate change and return Venus to a hypothetical earlier state.

But although the relatively peaceful Mars has captured the imagination of pro-terraforming researchers, Byrne argues that Venus could be a better candidate. It's closer in size, which would make the gravity closer to Earth's. It's also likely easier to remove carbon dioxide from Venus' existing atmosphere than to try and bulk up Mars' feeble atmosphere.

"If we were to terraform anywhere, then I'd pick Venus over Mars," Byrne says. "But, to be clear: it's going to be orders of magnitude more achievable to stop fucking up our own climate here on Earth than trying to make anywhere else even remotely habitable for humans."

The lush, water-filled planet of the future could be closer than it seems.

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