Scientists map 1,000 feet of hidden 'structures' deep below the dark side of the moon

Related:

• Scientists discover huge, heat-emitting blob on the far side of the moon

These new data suggest the top 130 feet of the lunar surface are made up of multiple layers of dust, soil, and broken rocks, Feng said.  Hidden within these materials was a crater, formed when a large object slammed into the moon. Feng and his colleagues hypothesized that the rubble surrounding this formation was ejecta — debris from the impact. Farther down, the scientists discovered five distinct layers of lunar lava that seeped across the landscape billions of years ago.

Scientists think our moon formed 4.51 billion years ago, not long after the solar system itself, when a Mars-size object slammed into Earth and broke off a chunk of our planet The moon then continued to be bombarded by objects from space for roughly 200 million years. Some impacts cracked the moon's surface. Like Earth, the moon’s mantle at that time contained pockets of molten material called magma, which seeped out through the newly formed cracks in a series of volcanic eruptions, Feng said. 

The new data from Chang'e-4 shows that process slowing down over time: Feng and his colleagues found that the layers of volcanic rock grew thinner the closer they were to the moon's surface. This suggests that less lava flowed in later eruptions compared with earlier ones. "[The moon] was slowly cooling down and running out of steam in its later volcanic stage," Feng said. "Its energy became weak over time."

Volcanic activity on the moon is thought to have petered out about 1 billion years ago (though scientists have discovered some evidence of younger volcanic activity as recently as 100 million years ago). For this reason, the moon is often considered "geologically dead." However, there could still be magma deep underneath the lunar surface, Feng said. 

Chang'e-4 isn't done with its work on the moon yet. Feng hopes that in the future, the craft will give us insight into different, unexpected geological formations. 

Editor's note: 

• This story was updated on Aug. 22 to correct the date of Chang'e-4's lunar touchdown to 2019, rather than 2018. Chang'e-4 launched on Dec. 7, 2018 and landed on the moon on Jan. 3, 2019.

{ https://www.livescience.com/ }

I found a rectangle structure or alien ship on Earths moon in a NASA photo. UFO Sighting News.

I thought this structure was very interesting and just wanted to share it with you all. Some of my readers on X are telling me it's not a building at all, but a spaceship. Indeed it could be. The object is half a mile across making it something very special since it's loaded with alien technology. It would be cool if someone like Elon Musk actually tried to retrieve this alien craft. 

Scott C. Waring 

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

UFO Sighting Astonishes Chinese Authorities

In an event that caught the attention of the world, an unprecedented aerial phenomenon brought one of China’s busiest airports to an unexpected halt, igniting widespread curiosity and concern among both the public and government officials. This incident, occurring on July 7th, 2010, at Hangzhou’s Xiaoshan International Airport, not only disrupted air traffic but also propelled China into a new era of engagement with unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).

The Incident That Shook the Skies

On a seemingly ordinary day, the routine flow of flights at Xiaoshan International Airport was abruptly interrupted when pilots and air traffic controllers reported the sighting of an unidentified flying object (UFO) hovering above the runway. The appearance of this enigmatic object was so alarming that it led to the temporary shutdown of the airport, affecting 18 flights and diverting them to alternative locations. The maneuverability and unusual shape of the UFO sparked a wave of speculation and intrigue, with neither civilian observers nor military experts able to offer a definitive explanation for what was witnessed.

The Ripple Effect

The impact of the sighting extended far beyond the immediate disruption of air traffic. Behind the scenes, it set off a wave of concern among Chinese officials, prompting an investigation into the nature and origins of the phenomenon. This event marked a turning point for China, a nation known for its reticence on matters of national security and unidentified aerial phenomena. The incident at Xiaoshan International Airport became a catalyst for a broader reconsideration of China’s stance on UFOs and UAPs.

China’s Evolving Approach to UAP Investigation

Historically shrouded in secrecy, China’s approach to UAP research has been as enigmatic as the phenomena themselves. However, the incident served as a wake-up call, revealing the necessity for a more open and systematic investigation into these unidentified aerial conditions. By June 2019, the People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s Early Warning Academy publicly acknowledged the increasing frequency of such phenomena and announced the establishment of a new task force dedicated to their study.

This acknowledgment represented a significant shift in policy, showcasing China’s readiness to engage more transparently with the global community on the issue of UAPs. Furthermore, China’s strategy for investigating UFO reports involves close collaboration with independent UFO organizations across the nation. These groups, boasting memberships in the millions, operate with the understanding that their activities are monitored by Chinese authorities, ensuring a controlled yet surprisingly open platform for UFO research.

Pioneering the Use of AI in UAP Analysis

Perhaps most notably, China has declared its intention to become the world’s first country to employ artificial intelligence (AI) in the analysis of UAP-related data. This innovative approach aims to uncover patterns and insights that may elude human researchers, representing a leap forward in the methodical study of UAPs. By harnessing AI, China is positioning itself at the forefront of UAP research, seeking to understand the phenomena in a way that could redefine the global conversation on UFOs and extraterrestrial life.

VIDEO:

• Ancient Aliens: UFO Incident SHOCKS Chinese Officials (Special)
• https://youtu.be/tI9L6s2hcsA

The UFO incident at Xiaoshan International Airport has undeniably propelled China into a new phase of openness and innovation in the realm of UAP research. By breaking away from decades of secrecy and embracing collaboration and advanced technology, China is not only challenging its own historical stance but also encouraging a global reevaluation of how societies approach the mystery of UFOs. As the world watches, the journey of unraveling the enigma of unidentified aerial phenomena continues, with China now playing a pivotal role in this global quest for understanding.

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

Atlantic current shutdown is a real danger, suggests simulation

The most detailed computer model run so far shows that melting ice sheets could cause the collapse of the major ocean current that warms Europe, but it's still unclear how likely this is to happen

By Michael Le Page

Is there a serious risk of the Atlantic current that warms Europe slowing to a halt as the planet heats up? Yes, according to the most detailed computer simulation run so far – but the likelihood of this scenario is still very uncertain.

“We’ve demonstrated with our current setup that it is indeed possible,” says René van Westen at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

At present, warm water that is extra salty due to evaporation flows north from the tropics along the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, keeping Europe much warmer than it would otherwise be. As this water cools, it sinks because its high salinity increases its density. It then flows back to the tropics and into the southern hemisphere along the ocean bottom.

This is known as the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, or AMOC. Studies of past climate suggest that episodes of dramatic cooling around Europe during the past 100,000 years or so are linked to a slowdown or complete shutdown of the overturning current – a so-called tipping point, where small changes can make a system flip into a different state.

The cause is thought to be the melting of ice sheets. If lots of fresh water enters the North Atlantic, it reduces the salinity and thus density of surface water, meaning less of it sinks.

But modelling this has proved tricky. Most simulations of a shutdown involve adding unrealistically large quantities of fresh water all at once. And in some recent simulations with more advanced models, no shutdown has occurred, leading some to doubt whether this is a potential tipping point at all.

Now van Westen’s team has done the most sophisticated simulation so far, requiring a total of six months on the Netherlands’ national supercomputer, called Snellius. That was very expensive, he says.

Unlike in previous simulations, the team added fresh water gradually, rather than in one go. This produced a positive feedback that amplified the effect: as less water sank because of the reduced salinity, less salty water flowed north, reducing salinity still further.

This eventually shut down the overturning circulation, causing temperatures to rise in the southern hemisphere, but plummet in Europe. For instance, in the model, London cools by 10°C (18°F) on average and Bergen in Norway by 15°C (27°F). Other consequences include local sea level rises in places such the US East Coast.

What’s more, some of the changes seen in the model ahead of the collapse correspond with changes being seen in the real Atlantic in recent decades.

However, to produce this collapse, the researchers had to run the model for 2500 years. And they had to add a huge amount of freshwater – less than in previous simulations, but still around 80 times more than is currently entering the ocean as Greenland’s ice sheet melts. “So that is absurd and not very realistic,” says van Westen.

Moreover, the simulation didn’t involve any global warming. The team now plans to rerun the simulation to include it.

“This is the most state-of-the-art model where such an experiment has been done,” says Peter Ditlevsen at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, who was co-author of a 2023 study that forecast that the Atlantic overturning current could collapse between 2025 and 2095 based on how sea surface temperatures are changing.

While the model suggests it will take a lot of fresh water and many centuries to halt the overturning circulation, there are several reasons to think climate models underestimate the risk of non-linear changes like the Atlantic tipping point, says Ditlevsen.

Climate models have to divide the world into large cubes to make computations feasible, which has a smoothing effect, he says. The models are also tuned based on how well they simulate the 20th-century climate, when there was a linear relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and the resulting changes, which might not hold true in the future.

“We should expect the models to be less sensitive than the real world,” says Ditlevsen.

• Journal reference

  Science Advances DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adk1189

{ https://www.newscientist.com/ }

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/space/ }

The invitation-only event was the first public manifestation of the Sol Foundation and its objectives since the think tank’s official launch on August 15, 2023.

“Welcome to Stanford,” said Garry Nolan, Ph.D., the Sol Foundation’s Executive Director of the Board, as the symposium commenced. “The objective here is to legitimize and professionalize and then to seek from you your ideas.”

Over the course of the next two days, speakers that included Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, Ph.D., computer scientist and venture capitalist Jacques Vallée, Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Wilmington religious studies professor Diana Walsh Pasulka, Ph.D., Canadian House of Commons member Larry Maguire MP, former NOAA Administrator Rear Admiral Timothy Gallaudet, Ph.D., U.S. Army Colonel Karl Nell, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Christopher Mellon, and many others presented papers and short talks on various approaches toward the study and resolution of UAP, as well as what the impact of these phenomena could represent across various sectors of society

At the event’s conclusion on Saturday, November 18, a surprise appearance was also made by David Grusch, a former U.S. intelligence officer who first came forward publicly last June with allegations about the existence of a secret program involving UAP and craft of non-human origin acquired by the U.S. government that has been illegally withheld from Congress for decades.

“This is why we have the Sol Foundation,” said Grusch, who it has since been revealed was also a co-founder of the California-based foundation, while joining the event remotely from Washington DC. “We need to basically create a parallel track of research and independent discovery that aren’t necessarily dependent on the U.S. government to provide us all the answers.”

Now, for the first time, videos of presentations featured during the November 2023 symposium will be made available to the public and can be viewed on the Sol Foundation’s official YouTube channel.

“The objective of that is to show openly what it is that the Sol Foundation wants to talk about,” Garry Nolan told The Debrief in advance of the videos appearing online

“That’s an all-of-society approach. Everything from science to religion, to sociology, to government. We represented aspects of that in all of these talks.”

“Those will all be going public,” Nolan said, adding that the foundation “will welcome now the engagement that comes from that.”

Sociocultural anthropologist Peter Skafish, the Sol Foundation’s Director of Research, told The Debrief that one of the uniting goals he and Nolan shared in launching the Sol Foundation and selecting the speakers for its first symposium involved their acknowledgment of the different approaches toward understanding UAP and that providing an academic floor where they could all be discussed would be a necessity.

“We understood the different parts,” Skafish said. “The intellectual, and social, and political, and I would say ontological quandary of UAP. We both had experience with interacting with people out of federal government on this. We both understood the complexities of the kinds of experience with this that experiencers have.”

“We both understood the need to do this—to study this—in a way that is rigorously and normatively academic and intellectual,” Skafish said, “and adheres to all the standards and takes place within the institution.”

“Yet we also understand that you’re going to have to break some rules,” Skafish added, “and transform some things to pull this off because we don’t actually know that our existing frameworks fit here.”

Drawing from his personal background in the social sciences, Skafish emphasized that information gleaned from those who have had firsthand experiences with UAP, while being viewed as lacking in substance for professionals in the physical sciences, are of great value to sociologists, historians, psychologists, and others in similar disciplines.

“We need to listen to people,” Skafish said. “We wanted to make sure that people, both in attendance but also looking at this from the outside, would understand that it’s not just going to be a matter of having certain kinds of hard data, whether it’s from the government or from astronomical projects.”

“It’s gonna be about the testimony that human beings have to offer about this,” Skafish told The Debrief, “and learning to listen to that in both an open and a responsible manner.”

In the months since the event, an ongoing series of controversies have peppered the UAP landscape, which include an effort to stifle a U.S. Senate-sponsored bill designed to facilitate UAP disclosure, as well as the resignation of Sean Kirkpatrick, the Director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), and subsequent assertions by the scientist about a pro-UAP stratagem that he says has advanced the UAP narrative from within various areas of government for more than a decade.

The Sol Foundation, too, has become the target of some of the recent controversy and at least a few of the disparaging appraisals that seem to be inescapable artifacts of modern social media culture. Asked about these criticisms and the recent statements made by the former AARO director, Skafish told The Debrief that he is sympathetic to both sides of the current debate. However, he sees his and Nolan’s work as attempting to navigate beyond the discord that often preoccupies those who follow the UAP topic.

“Rather than weigh in on which perspective is true and which is false,” Skafish says, “I’m sympathetic to, actually, all parties here, including very skeptical parties.”

Skafish told The Debrief that the Sol Foundation works to remain focused on how it can provide guidance and make research-oriented contributions to the field.

“I would say what we’re trying to do is really take, ourselves, an evidence-based approach about matters of fact which are social, historical, political [and] legal in nature, and get to the bottom of things to the extent that can be done,” Skafish said.

“If there’s not a ‘there’ there, fine. If there is a ‘there’ there, and we have credible testimony coming from a lot of people in federal government about that, then Congress certainly should pursue that. And academics as well, and journalists should also be pursuing that, asking questions about it, and we’ll eventually settle the matter that way.”

“There is so much emotion in the discussion,” Nolan added, also acknowledging recent commentary featured in Scientific American and from those in the broader scientific community who do not seem to reflect the Sol Foundation’s willingness to engage with the UAP topic.

“I don’t want to get distracted by that,” Nolan said. “Let’s actually now start talking about the data.”

Nolan said that while there has been an obvious effort toward reaching a renewed degree of government transparency on the UAP issue in recent years, he also believes there has been enough pushback from officials to elicit a renewed effort by academics like himself in properly engaging with the topic and interpreting the available data.

“If there’s nothing there to see, let me see the data,” Nolan argues. “And if the remaining five percent you can’t classify yet—and I mean classify in the terms of a scientific classification—then don’t say that there’s no evidence of anything. Don’t conclude that there’s no evidence of anything if in the remaining five percent the evidence exists.”

Reflecting on the November symposium and the lectures the Sol Foundation has now made available for viewing online, Skafish told The Debrief that he felt those in attendance at the event were as important as the speakers it featured.

“That audience was as important to me in organizing as the lineup of speakers was,” Skafish said, “and we were very deliberately careful in evaluating the requests for invitations to make sure that we had people from a broad swath of professions and institutions present.”

“We want the Sol Foundation to be a kind of nerve center in which serious professionals across academia, across government, within investment and technology communities, within civil society institutions such as religious bodies, to be able to come together and be able to network, to listen to cutting-edge research on this, and to be able to incubate their own projects while they’re in a space with a lot of other like-minded individuals.”

“We really see ourselves as being in service to people who are serious about this,” Skafish said.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

Tall Aliens Made A Russian Teenager Disappear In Front of Several People In 1989

A few minutes later, another UFO appeared in the same place, and the people saw a giant alien. It was looking around, dressed in a silver suit and bronze shoes. The alien did not have a real head, only something like a hump between its shoulders.

Three eyes could be seen on this hump, and the eye in the center was intensely turning forward and backward. When the creature disappeared into the ship again, the hatch closed, and the craft descended and approached with a loud hum.

Read also:

• Alien Named Akon Took Woman For 4 Months To His Planet In Alpha Centauri, Where She Gave Birth To Alien Child
• Ex-CIA Agent Claimed That Aliens Kidnap More Than One Million People Every Year
• A Tall Alien Took A Man From West Virginia To His Planet Lanulos In 1967
• FBI: Three UFOs With One Humanoid Alien Inside Each Of Them Recovered In New Mexico In 1950 By Air Force

The brightly-glowing ship stopped one meter above the ground, rocking back and forth. Four landing pillars emerged from the base of the object and sank to the ground.

According to eyewitnesses, the object was oval, egg-shaped, approximately 15 meters long and 6 meters high.

After the landing, a hatch slowly opened, and two grim humanlike figures (one of them was 3-4 meters high) came out.

The aliens were moving like robots. The shape of the aliens was described as boxes with arms and legs, and buttons were glowing on their chests.

At that very moment, a boy from the group of children playing nearby screamed in fear. The tall alien cast his gaze at him with his central eye, without moving his head. A light came out of his eye and hit the boy, which made him motionless for several minutes.

The two creatures returned to their flying machine, and the witnesses thought the aliens were about to disappear. But after a few minutes, they returned, and now, the giant was holding a silver 1.2-meter long pipe in his hand, which it pointed at a 16-year-old boy who dared to get too close to a flying object.

To the horror of witnesses, the boy suddenly disappeared without a trace. Then the creatures turned around and slowly climbed the ladder into their flying machine, entered it, and closed the hatch. The ship rose above the ground, soared into the air, and flew away at an ever-increasing speed.

It dodged to the side, passed over a tall residential building, and disappeared into the sky very quickly. The witnesses said that exactly at the moment when the spacecraft disappeared, the 16-year-old boy appeared in the park again.

Russian News Agency TASS was the first one to announce this shocking UFO landing incident happened in Voronezh on October 9, 1989.

Russian journalist Vladimir Lebedev said he had talked with many witnesses, including three children (Zhenya Blinov, Vasya Surin, and Yulia Sholokhova).

When the children were asked to draw the UFO, their sketches were the same, and the object had a banana shape.

Journalist Lebedev also claimed that there had been three landings between September 23 and 29 during that time. This meant that the Voronezh UFO incident was the second landing.

Many media houses called the “Voronezh UFO incident” a hoax because of the lack of photographic and medical evidence. Nevertheless, other news agencies like The Washington Post showed some interest in the incident.

• https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1917&dat=19891011&id=-xQxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=y-AFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1042,2604606
• https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/11/world/ufo-landing-is-fact-not-fantasy-the-russians-insist.html

 { https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

THE US military is in possession of video footage showing a UFO intercepting and disabling a nuclear missile with laser beams, according to whistleblowers.

Retired US Air Force officers say the disc-shaped object circled an unarmed dummy warhead during a routine test after it detached from an Atlas missile booster.

 

Lieutenant Bob Jacobs and Major Florenze Mansmann say they saw the recording of the 1964 encounter before the tape mysteriously disappeared.

The former officials were part of a team responsible for capturing footage of missile test launches in California with telescopic photography and videography equipment. 

Two days after they recorded the video, they say that two plain-clothed CIA agents confiscated the clip and ordered them to keep schtum.

Some UFO experts have identified a pattern where UFOs seem to interfere with nuclear weapons. 

US weapons officer Robert Salas previously claimed a UFO shut down ten missiles in a bizarre incident in 1967.

And now the new whistleblowers have revealed another UFO encounter which they claim happened on September 15, 1964.

It has now been thrown into the spotlight due to an investigation by author Robert Hastings.

According to a post made by Hastings on The UFO Chronicles website earlier this month, former intelligence officer, Luis Elizondo, claimed to have also seen the video.

Rep. Tim Burchett attended the meeting after shocking testimony was given by whistleblower and former US intelligence officer David Grusch.

Ex-first lieutenant in USAF Robert Jacobs giving his testimony on how he captured a UFO on film

Major Florenze J Mansmann (pictured) ordered Jacobs never to speak of what he saw

{ https://www.the-sun.com/news/ }

Multiple US military whistleblowers reveal how a disc-shaped UFO intercepted nuclear missile and disabled it with 'laser-beams' in mid-air over California

• Multiple former military officials report seeing video of a UFO disabling warhead 
• The video was taken on September 15, 1964, but has gone missing in years since
• READ MORE: UFOs seem to disable warheads and blast missiles out of the sky 

By PETER HESS FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

The US military is in possession of a video of a UFO apparently disabling a nuclear warhead during a routine test, according to multiple former officials.

They claim the video in question captured a saucer-shaped craft circling the unarmed, dummy warhead shortly after it detached from the Atlas missile booster, then shooting four beams of light at the warhead, disabling it.

Retired US Air Force officers Lieutenant Bob Jacobs and Major Florenze Mansmann claim to have viewed the recording of the 1964 encounter before the tape went missing.  

The former officials were part of a team responsible for capturing video of missile test launches in California with telescopic photography and videography equipment. 

Two days later, after they screened the video, they claim that two plain-clothed CIA agents confiscated the footage and swore them to secrecy.

The incredible account is part of a pattern that some UFO experts have identified, where UFOs seem to interfere with nuclear weapons. 

Retired Air Force Major Florenze Mansmann claimed he saw a flying saucer disable a dummy nuclear warhead during a missile test. He was ordered not to breathe a word of what he had seen

The alleged incident occurred nearly six decades ago, on September 15, 1964, but it has more recently come into public knowledge due to author Robert Hastings investigating it.

Luis Elizondo acknowledged the existence of the video and claimed he has seen it, according to a February 10 post by Hastings on The UFO Chronicles website. 

Elizondo says he was the former director of the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) program to study UFOs, and he has been involved in several high-profile leaks of military footage purporting to show UFOs.

Graphic re-creation of what happened in the 1964 video when a UFO allegedly intercepted the Atlas rocket over the Pacific Ocean

An unnamed source revealed to Hastings that Elizondo confirmed the details of the event in internal interviews.

Back in the 1960s, Jacobs was in charge of a military telescopic photography site in Big Sur, California, which captured the video as the missile traveled several thousand miles per hour in its planned flight path over the Pacific Ocean.

At the time, Mansmann was the chief photographic imagery analyst at Vandenberg Air Force Base - now called Vandenberg Space Force Base - in Santa Barbara County, California.

The Cold War was progressing apace, including lots of black ops programs testing sophisticated and secret military hardware. Some UFO skeptics have claimed that reports of UFOs provided cover for these programs. 

Lieutenant Bob Jacobs, at the middle and bottom, pictured with his crew. Jacobs reported his sighting in the press in 1982 but was ridiculed and threatened for his claims

The craft inadvertently caught on film was domed and disc-shaped, according to Jacobs and Mansmann.

It was a 'classic disc, the center seemed to be a raised bubble...the entire lower saucer shape was glowing and seemed to be rotating slowly,' according to a letter Mansmann wrote about the incident in 1983.

'At the point of beam release...the object turned like an object required to be in a position to fire from a platform...but again this could be my own assumption from being in aerial combat.'

Forty years later, a US Senate investigator told Hastings that Elizondo had confirmed this description in an official interview last year.

'During that briefing, the former AATIP director confirmed the existence of the video, the details regarding what it showed, and the location of a copy of it in AATIP’s workspaces,' Hastings wrote in the new post. 

Despite Mansmann telling Jacobs not to discuss what they had seen, Jacobs began to talk about the event in 1982, thinking enough time had passed since the event that he could speak freely about what he saw. 

But his claims were dismissed by skeptics, and he was even subjected to harassment and anonymous death threats.

Hastings' new report appears to match up with Elizondo's recollection of the video.

Luis Elizondo, former director of the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) told a Senate investigator that he had seen the 1964 video

When investigators went to look for the DVD recording of the video, where Elizondo had told them it was, it was not there, Hastings reported. 

And although the recording is missing and the story of Elizondo viewing the recording comes secondhand from an investigator, Hastings reported that he has additional evidence to support it:

'On November 10, 2023, a highly-reliable source - who I am not at liberty to identify - told me that UAP [unidentified anomalous phenomena] whistleblower David Grusch has privately confirmed that Elizondo also told him about having screened the Big Sur film, and that it did indeed capture an amazing, UFO-related, dummy warhead-interference event.'

It seems that the video may have been lost when the Pentagon destroyed Elizondo's files and emails, Hastings wrote. This would have occurred in 2017 after he resigned as AATIP director, which he claimed was in protest of the Pentagon covering up UFO matters. 

'This highly unusual move by the Pentagon is in direct violation of a legal Preservation Order that was mandated based on Elizondo’s other duties at the time,' Hastings wrote. 'The order requires all of Elizondo’s electronic and hard copy files to be preserved indefinitely, including email and correspondence.'

Beyond the video, there is some limited evidence supporting the story. 

A declassified but unreleased set of radar data of the September 15, 1964 event apparently confirmed that an unidentified aerial object was observed near the dummy warhead during the missile test, a source told Hastings. 

The analysis of the radar data at the time suggested that the unidentified object could have been debris. It's also possible that it was 'chaff,' metallic objects meant to confuse radar to prevent enemies from pinpointing the exact location of a warhead.

'So, perhaps the mysterious target tracked on radar near the warhead was merely the chaff,' Hastings wrote. 'On the other hand, it may have indeed been the actual UFO, whose presence the author of the radar data report would probably not have known about, given the incident’s Top Secret status.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

Are there aliens in YOUR neighborhood? Fascinating map reveals the UFO hotspots across the US

• Nearly 113,000 alien sightings have been submitted to the National UFO Reporting Center between 2000 and 2023 
• Currently, the national average of alien sightings is 34.3 per 100,000 residents
• A highly classified air force base is within the county that has had the most alien sightings between 2000 and 2023

By EMMA SALETTA FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Individuals hoping to find aliens and UFOs in the US will likely have the best luck in spotting them out west.

According to data submitted by the National UFO Reporting Center and the US Census Bureau, more than 100,000 alien sightings have been submitted to the Reporting Center between 2000 and 2023.

Unveiling America’s UFO Hotspots: A Journey from Coast to Coast

Today, the national average of alien sightings between those years nationwide is 34.3 per 100,000 residents. 

But, one county that is known for being home to maybe the most famous alien landmark ranks on top of the list. Lincoln County, Nevada, home to Area 51, is the county with the most of the list. 

The county is home to a whopping 820.9 sightings per 100,000 residents.

Other areas that have all had nearly 500-600 alien sightings between 2003 and 2023 are Alpine County, California, Petroleum County, Montana, and La Paz County, Arizona. 

According to data submitted by the National UFO Reporting Center and US Census Bureau, more than 100,000 alien sightings have been submitted to the Reporting Center between 2000 and 2023.  Lincoln County, Nevada , home to Area 51, is the county with the most of the list.

Area 51 is one of the most famous classified air force bases that has been full of urban legends regarding aliens and UFOs

Area 51 is one of the most famous classified air force bases that has been full of urban legends regarding aliens and UFOs.

Eric Taber has been a defense aerospace contractor for 13 years and has held a security clearance to work on military aircraft. 

In a recent interview with DailyMail.com, he revealed the story his late great uncle Sam Urquhart, an Area 51 contractor, told him about a UFO at the mysterious desert base. 

Taber testified in May to the Pentagon's UFO investigation unit, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), who are collecting accounts of alleged government possession of non-human craft.

The claim – though an unverified story from a now-deceased witness – is part of a long history of rumors about potential extraterrestrial craft or futuristic spaceships stored at the Nevada desert airbase near Groom Lake, north of Las Vegas.

Urquhart began his job at Area 51 working for defense contractor EG&G, which later partnered with Raytheon to become JT3 LLC and subsequently JT4 LLC.

'He was head of security for his engineering group, and a data configuration specialist. His group did radar cross-section testing.

'I kept asking him about UFOs. He said 'I know nothing'. Then one day we were on his back porch and he said 'Ok, I'll tell you about one craft that I knew of.'

'He said, 'When I first got there in 1997, I had a personal conversation with a senior EG&G engineer whose group was tasked with trying to reverse-engineer an object that was brought there by some CIA people in the 1980s.'

'It was supposedly just found in a remote desert location fully intact.

'The senior EG&G engineer described to my great uncle that it was egg-shaped, about the size of an SUV, smooth and seamless, metallic-looking, silverish gray in color, with no control surfaces, no flaps, no inlet, and no exhaust, and no writing or symbols on the outside.

'These are the best and brightest engineers you can think of. They tried to no avail to figure out what the power source was, how to activate it, and how it works. They tried to induce electricity to it.

'X-rays couldn't penetrate it; it showed up on X-ray as a solid object. They tried to open it and penetrate its hull; they couldn't.

'They said that they were able to take some very small samples of the material. And I'm not an expert in chemistry, but I guess from the isotope ratio or the mixture of elements, they concluded it was not made on Earth.'

But, Area 51 and Nevada aren't the only places where UFO sightings are common. Arthur County, Nebraska, placed second on the list  with 618.6 sightings. The tiny county is home to just 434 people.

Third on the list  was Alpine County, California, which is home to 1,204 people and the population votes entirely by mail.

Petroleum County, Montana, was fourth on the list and was the last of the state's 56 countries to be organized. It is home to just 524 people and two rivers.  

Fifth on the list was La Paz County, Arizona, which is home to about 16,557 people. The county is located in rural western Arizona and home to several ghost towns.

La Paz County in Arizona (pictured) also ranked high on UFO sightings. The county is home to about 16,557 people.

According to veteran scientist and intelligence officer Sean Kirkpatrick, individuals who believe in aliens may hold a position in the US government.

'True believers are not just outside of government; many of them are inside government,' said Kirkpatrick.

Nevada's late US Senator Harry Reid was one such believe of extra terrestrial life.

'Senator Harry Reid was a true believer and thought that 'Hey, the government is hiding this from congressional oversight,'' the scientist stated.

More discussions have occurred over the years from individuals looking to get answers on the existence of aliens and UFOs.

US representative Robert Garcia even voiced an opinion about unidentified aerial phenomena last year.

'UAPs, whatever they may be, may pose a serious threat to our military and our civilian aircraft, and that must be understood,' he stated.

'We should encourage more reporting, not less on UAPs. The more we understand, the safer we will be.'

Mysterious footage shows a group of UFOs flying above Philadelphia - with two of the crafts even strangely merging together

Late last year, President Joe Biden's December visit to Los Angeles for a campaign fundraiser caused such a hullaballoo even aliens may have wanted to see what all the fuss was about 

At about 4:14 PM on November 7, 2006, a ramp employee at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago spotted a metallic, saucer-shaped craft hovering in the sky. Pictured: An image of the UFO believed to be taken on an airport employee's phone

There have been countless UFO sightings across America in recent years. Earlier this year, mysterious footage shows a group of UFOs flying above Philadelphia - with two of the crafts even strangely merging together.

A witness uploaded the bizarre video of the sighting on Reddit and described the large cluster of lights as 'spinning and darting back and forth.'

The user said the multicolored lights were flying 'very high' above Philadelphia.

Late last year, President Joe Biden's December visit to Los Angeles for a campaign fundraiser caused such a hullaballoo even aliens may have wanted to see what all the fuss was about!

Planespotters caught a UFO on camera hovering above Air Force 1 in Los Angeles during Biden's December 10 trip, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The spherical white or silver object was filmed several times over LAX airport and spotted by multiple witnesses.

In 2006, a ramp employee at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport spotted a metallic, saucer-shaped craft hovering in the sky. 

The sighting, which lasted for five minutes and was witnessed by at least 12 United Airlines staffers, made international headlines thanks to a tape of Federal Aviation Administration radio communications released via the Freedom of Information Act.

Although the FAA attributed the incident to a 'hole-punch cloud' and astronomer Mark Hammergren, then with Chicago's Adler Planetarium, agreed, the case has remained unresolved — and tantalizing to UFO researchers ever since. 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

Andrew McAuley Disappears In Middle of Ocean, Leaving Behind Terrifying Video

Andrew McAuley was born on August 7, 1968, in Gurn, Australia. Growing up, McAuley and his brother engaged in various outdoor activities, such as swimming, climbing trees, and diving from cliffs, fostering a fearless and adventurous spirit. This early exposure to the great outdoors laid the foundation for McAuley’s extraordinary exploits in the years to come.

McAuley’s journey into kayaking began during a trip to South America in the late 1990s. Encountering a severe storm while mountaineering, McAuley and his friends navigated through mountain gorges using kayaks. This experience revealed the raw power and freedom of kayaking, leaving a lasting impact on McAuley.

In the early 2000s, McAuley’s kayaking exploits gained momentum. In 2003, he achieved a significant milestone by becoming the first person to kayak solo across the notorious Bass Strait, a treacherous 250 km stretch of water between mainland Australia and Tasmania. This journey, completed in 35 hours, showcased McAuley’s skill, determination, and meticulous planning.

Not content with this accomplishment, McAuley embarked on a nearly 600 km journey across the Gulf of Carpentaria in northern Australia in the following years. This week-long expedition tested his endurance, resilience, and ability to sleep in his kayak – preparing him for even greater challenges.

Antarctic Expedition and Recognition

McAuley’s reputation as an adventurer was solidified in 2005 when the Australian Geographic Society awarded him the Adventurer of the Year. His journeys were not merely about personal achievement; they were about venturing into the unknown and facing life-threatening situations.

In 2006, McAuley led an Antarctic expedition where kayakers covered an 800 km stretch along the Antarctic coast. This experience further honed McAuley’s skills and deepened his expertise in navigating through perilous conditions.

The Ultimate Challenge – Tasman Sea Crossing

McAuley’s ultimate challenge lay in the Tasman Sea, a vast and volatile stretch of water between Australia and New Zealand. Considered one of the most dangerous and unpredictable oceans globally, the Tasman Sea presented a daunting challenge that had defeated many before him. Undeterred, McAuley aimed to be the first to cross it solo in a kayak.

The preparation for the Tasman Sea crossing was exhaustive. McAuley worked closely with engineers to design a kayak capable of withstanding the sea’s worst conditions. The resulting kayak, named Mirage, featured a specially designed capsule known as Casper. This capsule, made from fiberglass, was watertight and buoyant, providing McAuley with shelter during storms and allowing him to sleep relatively comfortably.

The Voyage Across the Tasman Sea

The Tasman Sea crossing was not just another expedition for McAuley; it was the ultimate test of his mettle. Stretching approximately 2,000 km, the Tasman Sea was notorious for its rough conditions, including treacherous waves, unpredictable weather, and strong currents.

McAuley’s meticulous planning included researching weather patterns, studying previous attempts, and understanding the sea’s behavior. Physical fitness was paramount, and McAuley underwent a rigorous training regimen to prepare his body for the continuous strain of paddling and the challenges of being confined to a small space.

Andrew McAuley’s solo sea kayak journey across the Tasman Sea was a monumental undertaking. The stormy southern ocean proved to be a formidable adversary, with relentless waves transforming it into a tumultuous sea of mercury. Amidst this chaos, McAuley found himself battling the elements, struggling to keep his touring kayak afloat. The howling wind whipped the waves into a stinging spray, creating a hostile environment for the intrepid adventurer.

“I GUESS I’M REALLY DRAWN TO A JOURNEY LIKE THIS—IT’S A REAL PERSONAL CHALLENGE. THERE’S A GREAT DEAL OF SATISFACTION IN COMING UP WITH AN ADVENTURE THAT’S UNLIKELY AND IMPROBABLE.”

– Andrew McAuley

As McAuley pressed on with his journey, one night in January 2007, he found himself in the midst of a ferocious storm. He was two-thirds through the 1,600-kilometer open ocean crossing from the east coast of Tasmania to New Zealand’s South Island. Locked up in his kayak for 28 hours, McAuley faced the relentless fury of the storm, both external and internal battles raging simultaneously.

“THIS REALLY IS EXTREME. IT’S FULL ON. I REALLY COULD DIE.”

– Andrew McAuley

Days later, with the storm behind him and the seas relatively calm, McAuley vanished. The mountaintops of New Zealand’s southern Alps loomed on the horizon, and the paddling community, along with his family and friends, was left grappling with a perplexing mystery. What had happened to the experienced adventurer so close to completing such a challenging journey?

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

– André Gide

Andrew McAuley had been drawn to this adventure by a deeply felt inner voice, seeking personal challenge and satisfaction in the face of the unlikely and improbable. He was no stranger to risk, having spent nearly a decade preparing for the journey. McAuley, an IT consultant from suburban Sydney, had a diverse adventurous background, previously dedicating his energies to mountaineering and making first ascents in challenging terrains like Pakistan, Patagonia, and Australia.

“When you do [a trip like this], you are exposing yourself to criticism. I take risks, but they are calculated risks, and I want to be beyond criticism.”

– Andrew McAuley

The solo sea kayak crossing was not taken lightly by authorities. Both Tasmanian police and Australia’s search and rescue service had cautioned against the inherently dangerous trip. McAuley’s kayak, a standard 19-foot Mirage modified for sleeping inside the cockpit, underwent thorough testing to ensure its seaworthiness. A yellow fiberglass canopy, humorously named “Casper,” provided self-righting capability and protection during storms.

“We had strongly advised against the trip to start with because we believed it was inherently dangerous.”

– AusSAR spokesperson

McAuley’s journey took him below the 40th parallel, known as the Roaring Forties, a region feared by sailors for its treacherous weather and storms. Two-thirds into his voyage, he faced a 40-knot gale that knocked out his spare satellite phone and tracking beacon. Surviving the storm, McAuley sent a triumphant text message to his family when he was just 120 kilometers away from his destination.

“See you 9 a.m. Sunday!”

– Andrew McAuley

Tragically, McAuley disappeared shortly after this message. A scrambled radio call with distressing words led to a search that uncovered his upturned kayak in near-perfect condition, just offshore of Milford Sound. The cockpit canopy was missing, but the paddle, satellite phone, GPS, and emergency beacon were inside and functional. Despite extensive search efforts, McAuley was not found.

“The EPIRB is a last resort. It is far better (if possible) to make contact by phone or radio and let people know the exact situation—rather than the huge panic and search that an EPIRB generates.”

– Laurie Ford

Speculation arose about McAuley’s fate, with the kayak’s designer suggesting that he may have capsized without the cockpit cover and became separated from his kayak. The mystery of Andrew McAuley’s disappearance continues to perplex, leaving the paddling community and McAuley’s loved ones with unanswered questions about the fate of this adventurous soul.

McAuley’s past experiences of capsizing twice, coupled with the complicated re-entry procedure due to the cockpit cover, video camera, and other deck-mounted gear, made him cautious about a potential capsize during his Tasman Sea journey. His kayak had an oversized cockpit and lacked a standard seat, making rolling impossible. Modifications, such as removing the seat for sleeping and accessing gear, were necessary. He sat on a beanbag, doubling as a pillow, and retrieved gear from the rear compartment by lying down and rolling onto his stomach, using strings to pull his gear forward.

“Responsible adventure is character-building and good for people, but I felt that to continue on this occasion was not on.”

– Andrew McAuley

Paul Hewitson, the kayak’s designer, speculated that McAuley, with the mountains in sight, might have been eager to reach land and pushed too hard. Facing a small cold front, he might not have worn his drysuit, a decision he planned to make in rough weather. Disaster often strikes those nearing safety, and McAuley, possibly fatigued, may have prioritized making miles over seeking shelter beneath the canopy.

“Andrew thinks the same as I do on this subject… The EPIRB is a last resort. It is far better (if possible) to make contact by phone or radio and let people know the exact situation—rather than the huge panic and search that an EPIRB generates.”

– Laurie Ford

After a possible capsize, McAuley might have unscrewed the rear hatch to access his VHF radio and drysuit. During the struggle into the drysuit, he could have become separated from the kayak, along with the Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB). McAuley’s decision not to trigger the EPIRB immediately raised questions, but Tasmanian kayaker Laurie Ford suggested that McAuley, like himself, considered the EPIRB a last resort. McAuley may have intended to use it once he was in the drysuit, but the kayak’s separation thwarted his plans.

“It was the separation from the kayak that brought him undone.”

– Laurie Ford

Tragically, McAuley had overlooked a crucial detail—attaching the EPIRB to himself, not the boat. Ford speculated that a strobe light might have increased the chances of being spotted by rescuers on the first night of the search.

“Andrew thinks the same as I do on this subject… It is far better (if possible) to make contact by phone or radio and let people know the exact situation—rather than the huge panic and search that an EPIRB generates.”

– Laurie Ford

In McAuley’s final days, he acknowledged the possibility of miscalculations, pushing boundaries too far, and the extreme nature of his adventure. A self-portrait taken near the end of his journey revealed a stark contrast to the confident athlete seen in earlier photographs. At a memorial service, a haunting message recovered from McAuley’s kayak emphasized the severity of his endeavor:

“THIS REALLY IS EXTREME. IT’S FULL ON. I REALLY COULD DIE.”

– Andrew McAuley

Despite the public criticism of extreme adventuring, McAuley’s family, especially his wife Vicki, emphasized that it was Andrew’s drive to explore his limits that defined him. In the face of inevitable questions about the perceived selfishness or imprudence of his adventure, Vicki highlighted a quote from André Gide on McAuley’s website:

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

– André Gide

Andrew McAuley’s attempt to cross the Tasman Sea solo in a kayak was an epic journey that left an indelible mark on the world of adventure. McAuley’s story became a beacon for discussions on safety, preparedness, and the spirit of exploration within the kayaking community and among solo adventurers worldwide.

The legacy of McAuley’s journey extended beyond his final voyage. It prompted discussions on safety protocols, risk management, and the importance of advanced preparation for solo expeditions. McAuley’s story inspired innovations in kayaking equipment and technology, leading to improved safety measures and communication devices.

His disappearance remains a profound mystery, fueling continued speculation and intrigue within the adventure community. McAuley’s enduring impact is reflected in the changes and conversations sparked within the kayaking community, emphasizing the delicate balance between the human spirit’s desire to explore and the respect owed to the unpredictable forces of nature.

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

After Three Years on Mars, NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter Mission Ends 

Perseverance Checks Out Ingenuity: NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is seen Aug. 2, 2023, in an enhanced-color image captured by the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard the agency’s Perseverance Mars rover.

Credits: JPL/Caltech-ASU/MSSS. Download image ›

NASA has proven powered, controlled flight is possible on other worlds, just as the Wright brothers proved it was possible on Earth.

Ingenuity’s View of Sand Ripples During Flight 70: NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter captured this view of sand ripples during its 70th flight, on Dec. 22, 2023. The smooth, relatively featureless terrain proved difficult for the helicopter’s navigation system to track during Flight 72, on Jan. 18, 2024, resulting in a rough landing. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Download image ›

NASA’s history-making Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has ended its mission at the Red Planet after surpassing expectations and making dozens more flights than planned. While the helicopter remains upright and in communication with ground controllers, imagery of its Jan. 18 flight sent to Earth this week indicates one or more of its rotor blades sustained damage during landing and it is no longer capable of flight.

Originally designed as a technology demonstration to perform up to five experimental test flights over 30 days, the first aircraft on another world operated from the Martian surface for almost three years, performed 72 flights, and flew more than 14 times farther than planned while logging more than two hours of total flight time.

Ingenuity Spots the Shadow of Its Damaged Rotor Blade: After its 72nd flight on Jan. 18, 2024, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter captured this color image showing the shadow of one of its rotor blades, which was damaged during touchdown. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Download image ›

“The historic journey of Ingenuity, the first aircraft on another planet, has come to end,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “That remarkable helicopter flew higher and farther than we ever imagined and helped NASA do what we do best – make the impossible, possible. Through missions like Ingenuity, NASA is paving the way for future flight in our solar system and smarter, safer human exploration to Mars and beyond.”

NASA to Discuss Ingenuity Mission in Media Call Today

In addition to video comments shared from Nelson about the mission’s conclusion, NASA will host a media teleconference at 5 p.m. EST today, Thursday, Jan. 25, to provide an update on Ingenuity Mars Helicopter.

• Audio of the call will stream live on the agency’s website.

Participants in the call are expected to include:

• Lori Glaze, director, Planetary Science Division, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington
• Laurie Leshin, director, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California
• Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity project manager, NASA JPL

Ingenuity landed on Mars Feb. 18, 2021, attached to the belly of NASA’s Perseverance rover and first lifted off the Martian surface on April 19, proving that powered, controlled flight on Mars was possible. After notching another four flights, it embarked on a new mission as an operations demonstration, serving as an aerial scout for Perseverance scientists and rover drivers. In 2023, the helicopter executed two successful flight tests that further expanded the team’s knowledge of its aerodynamic limits.

“At NASA JPL, innovation is at the heart of what we do,” said Leshin. “Ingenuity is an exemplar of the way we push the boundaries of what’s possible every day. I’m incredibly proud of our team behind this historic technological achievement and eager to see what they’ll invent next.”

Ingenuity’s team planned for the helicopter to make a short vertical flight on Jan. 18 to determine its location after executing an emergency landing on its previous flight. Data shows that, as planned, the helicopter achieved a maximum altitude of 40 feet (12 meters) and hovered for 4.5 seconds before starting its descent at a velocity of 3.3 feet per second (1 meter per second).

However, about 3 feet (1 meter) above the surface, Ingenuity lost contact with the rover, which serves as a communications relay for the rotorcraft. The following day, communications were reestablished and more information about the flight was relayed to ground controllers at NASA JPL. Imagery revealing damage to the rotor blade arrived several days later. The cause of the communications dropout and the helicopter’s orientation at time of touchdown are still being investigated.

Triumphs, Challenges

Over an extended mission that lasted for almost 1,000 Martian days, more than 33 times longer than originally planned, Ingenuity was upgraded with the ability to autonomously choose landing sites in treacherous terrain, dealt with a dead sensor, cleaned itself after dust storms, operated from 48 different airfields, performed three emergency landings, and survived a frigid Martian winter.

Designed to operate in spring, Ingenuity was unable to power its heaters throughout the night during the coldest parts of winter, resulting in the flight computer periodically freezing and resetting. These power “brownouts” required the team to redesign Ingenuity’s winter operations in order to keep flying.

With flight operations now concluded, the Ingenuity team will perform final tests on helicopter systems and download the remaining imagery and data in Ingenuity’s onboard memory. The Perseverance rover is currently too far away to attempt to image the helicopter at its final airfield.

“It’s humbling Ingenuity not only carries onboard a swatch from the original Wright Flyer, but also this helicopter followed in its footsteps and proved flight is possible on another world,” said Ingenuity’s project manager, Teddy Tzanetos of NASA JPL. “The Mars helicopter would have never flown once, much less 72 times, if it were not for the passion and dedication of the Ingenuity and Perseverance teams. History’s first Mars helicopter will leave behind an indelible mark on the future of space exploration and will inspire fleets of aircraft on Mars – and other worlds – for decades to come.”

More About Ingenuity

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was built by NASA JPL, which also manages the project for NASA Headquarters. It is supported by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley and NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, provided significant flight performance analysis and technical assistance during Ingenuity’s development. AeroVironment Inc., Qualcomm, and SolAero also provided design assistance and major vehicle components. Lockheed Space designed and manufactured the Mars Helicopter Delivery System. At NASA Headquarters, Dave Lavery is the program executive for the Ingenuity Mars helicopter.

For more information about Ingenuity:

• https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter

News Media Contacts

• Alise Fisher / Alana Johnson
  NASA Headquarters, Washington
  202-358-2546 / 202-358-1501
  alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov
• DC Agle
  Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
  818-393-9011
  agle@jpl.nasa.gov

Perseverance Spots Ingenuity at Its Final Airfield

Mars Report: The Most Extreme Flights of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter

The Legacy of Ingenuity: The Frontier of Extraterrestrial Flight

{ https://mars.nasa.gov/mars-exploration/# }

A ‘Very Rare’ Kind of Space Rock Fell in Germany—and Scientists Recovered the Pieces

Analyses revealed the asteroid was an “aubrite,” a classification that applies to only 80 of 70,000 previously found meteorite fragments

 Tara Wu

Reporter

Researchers pose with a fragment of asteroid 2024 BX1 they found in Germany. The rock is a very rare type of meteorite called an aubrite. 

Cevin Dettlaff

The meteorites are fragments of 2024 BX1, a small asteroid first spotted by an astronomer in Hungary. Credit...Peter Jenniskens/The SETI Institute

Just after midnight on January 21, a roughly three-foot-long asteroid fell through Earth’s atmosphere—burning up in a blazing fireball seen across much of Europe and crashing to the ground as fragments of meteorite near Berlin, Germany.

Numerous cameras caught the asteroid’s entry over Germany. Video by Michael Aye, via Storyful.CreditCredit... Michael Aye, via Storyful

“Currently, there isn't an agreed-upon origin of aubrites, and several candidates have been put forward: the Nysa asteroid family, asteroid 3103 Eger and even the planet Mercury,” Denis Vida, a meteor physics researcher at Western University in Canada, tells Robert Lea of Space.com. “They make up only 1 percent of all known meteorites, making it very rare indeed.”

Hungarian astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky first spotted the asteroid, named 2024 BX1, about three hours before impact, and NASA tracked its trajectory to predict where it would fall—in itself a rare feat. The object did not harm any people.

As news of the impact spread to the public, meteorite hunters began scouring Ribbeck, a village near Berlin, for fragments of the rock. But the search proved particularly challenging. Unlike most meteorites, which have a thin crust of black glass, aubrites do not appear glossy or dark in color.

“Aubrites look more like a gray granite,” Christopher Hamann from Berlin’s Natural History Museum says in the statement. “It looks completely different than most other meteorites. Aubrites are therefore difficult to detect in the field.”

Peter Jenniskens, an astronomer at the SETI Institute, flew to Germany from California hours after he heard about the 2024 BX1 impact, reports Jonathan O’Callaghan of the New York Times. Though he had participated in three other meteorite searches in the past, it took several days for Jenniskens and a team of students and volunteers to come across these fragments about the size of a walnut.

“They were devilishly difficult to find, because from a distance, they look like other rocks on Earth. Close up, not so much,” Jenniskens says in the statement. “We only spotted the meteorites after a Polish team of meteorite hunters had identified the first find and could show us what to look for.”

The advice proved valuable—two hours after receiving the pointers, Jenniskens’ team found their first fragment. By the time they stopped looking, their search had revealed more than 20 meteorite pieces.

The official classification as an aubrite, following a mineralogy assessment conducted with an electron beam microprobe, came from Berlin’s Natural History Museum. Then, the International Nomenclature Commission of the Meteoritical Society confirmed it, reports Kelly Kizer Whitt for EarthSky. The museum collection contains a fragment from the first known aubrite meteorite that fell in 1836 near the village of Aubrés in France, which became the type’s namesake.

“Based on this evidence, we were able to make a rough classification relatively quickly,” Ansgar Greshake, scientific head of the museum's meteorite collection, says in the statement. “This underlines the immense importance of collections for research. So far, there is only material from 11 other observed falls of this type in meteorite collections worldwide.”

A meteorite that fell near Berlin on Jan. 21 was found be an aubrite, a rare class with unknown origins that some scientists argue may be pieces of the planet Mercury.

Credit...Peter Jenniskens/The SETI Institute

While Mercury remains a potential origin of aubrite meteorites, some astronomers find it unlikely in this case. The initial calculated orbit of 2024 BX1 appears wider, suggesting it came from outside of Earth’s orbit, per the Times.

“Therefore, this object could not have come to us directly from Mercury,” Marc Fries, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, tells the publication.

In a way, though, it might have come indirectly from Mercury, since the inner planet may have projected aubrites to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter long ago. One of these might have just made its way to Earth, and that could account for the wide orbit. But Fries remains doubtful, per the Times.

Despite the uncertainty regarding the meteorite’s origin, its fragments hold information that can help scientists better understand the universe.

{ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/ }

Rare Meteorites That Could Be Long Lost Chunks of Mercury Just Fell To Earth

The meteorites are an extremely rare type of space rock called aubrites.

BY KIONA SMITH

picture alliance/Getty Images

A handful of meteorites crash-landed outside Berlin in late January and, after further inspection, turned out to be one of the rarest types of space rock ever recovered on Earth.

Last month, a three-foot-wide asteroid plummeted to its fiery doom in Earth’s atmosphere. Astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky of Konkoly Observatory in Hungary spotted the small asteroid, formally called 2024 BX1, only a matter of hours before it collided with Earth’s upper atmosphere. The next few hours were a frenzy of activity, with astronomers from NASA, the ESA, and several universities working together to track the meteor’s trajectory through the sky.

High above the ground, 2024 BX1 broke apart in a bright fireball, and astronomers at the Czech Academy of Sciences calculated where the pieces would fall (south of the German village of Ribbeck, outside Berlin) based on the weather, particularly strong winds. SETI Insitute meteor astronomer Peter Jenniskens and a team of staff and students from several universities combed the fields around Ribbeck for meteorites: fragments of the asteroid that had survived the heat and friction of falling through Earth’s atmosphere.

Aubrites formed from cooling magma, although it’s not clear if they originally formed as part of a large asteroid or a newborn planet.

SETI INSTITUTE

Recent testing at the Museum of Natural History in Berlin showed that the meteorites are an extremely rare type of space rock called aubrites.

Aubrites make up only about 1 in 10,000 recovered meteorites. They look like gray granite with a thin crust of translucent glass, and they’re made of magnesium silicate minerals with almost no iron mixed in, which is highly unusual for a meteorite. Their big, chunky crystals are evidence that aubrites formed from cooling magma.

Aubrites probably formed as part of an asteroid, only to end up broken off by impacts with other drifting space rocks; 3103 Eger is the leading candidate. Some astronomers, however, have suggested that aubrites may actually be long-lost chunks of the planet Mercury.

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

Unveiling America’s UFO Hotspots: A Journey from Coast to Coast

Unveiling America’s UFO Hotspots: A Journey from Coast to Coast

In an era where the unknown beckons with a mix of intrigue and mystery, the United States stands out as a canvas painted with the extraordinary. Recent data has illuminated the contours of this canvas, revealing the hotbeds of unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings across the nation. A fascinating map, compiled from submissions to the National UFO Reporting Center between 2000 and 2023, showcases nearly 113,000 instances where the sky whispered secrets of the cosmos to those willing to look up.

The map highlights a national average of 34.3 UFO sightings per 100,000 residents, a testament to America’s keen interest in celestial phenomena. Yet, certain locales emerge as veritable nexuses of extraterrestrial activity, drawing the curious and the skeptical alike into their orbit. Lincoln County, Nevada, with its legendary Area 51, leads the pack with an astounding 820.9 sightings per 100,000 residents. This county, synonymous with UFO lore, is but the tip of the iceberg in a list that includes Alpine County, California; Petroleum County, Montana; and La Paz County, Arizona, each with sightings nearing the 500-600 mark within the same period.

These numbers not only quantify the sightings but also narrate the evolving relationship between humans and the universe’s mysteries. They speak of nights spent under stars, of eyes scanning the heavens, and of the relentless human quest for understanding.

In a reflection of this quest’s penetration into popular culture, the 2024 Super Bowl bore witness to an unprecedented melding of entertainment and enigma. A Squarespace commercial, directed by none other than Martin Scorsese, took the grand stage with a UFO-themed spectacle. Costing approximately $7 million for a 30-second slot, this ad ventured where few have dared, integrating UFOs into the tapestry of the Super Bowl’s illustrious advertising space.

The commercial humorously depicted humans, engrossed in their phones, oblivious to the dramatic antics of UFOs vying for attention overhead. Scenes interspersed with real soundbites from congressional hearings and news segments lent a grounding reality to the fantastical display. One particularly striking moment showed a woman on her phone, scrolling past a video labeled “Proof of Extraterrestrials” in favor of a cat video, a poignant commentary on modern-day distractions.

This blend of humor and reality serves not only as entertainment but as a reflection of a society at a crossroads. With the increasing legitimacy given to UFO sightings, as evidenced by the detailed map of hotspots and the mainstreaming of UFO discussions through platforms like the Super Bowl, America finds itself navigating a new era of curiosity and skepticism.

The Super Bowl commercial, titled “Hello Down There,” does more than just sell a product; it encapsulates a moment in time where the line between the known and the unknown blurs. It reminds viewers that, sometimes, looking up from our screens can reveal a universe of possibilities waiting to be explored.

• https://youtu.be/xp5v3-3Hc-E

As we chart the course through America’s UFO hotspots, from the deserts of Nevada to the remote expanses of Montana, the journey is as much about the destinations as it is about the quest itself. It’s a journey fueled by the human spirit’s unquenchable thirst for knowledge, a testament to our eternal desire to understand what lies beyond our reach. In the end, the map of UFO sightings and the spectacle of a Super Bowl commercial are but chapters in humanity’s ongoing story with the stars—a story that, day by day, grows ever more fascinating.

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

Early Mars was Tectonically and Volcanically Active, Study Suggests

The relatively well-preserved ancient crust of Mars provides a natural window into early planetary evolution not available on Earth. Mars has generally been considered a one-plate basaltic planet, though recent evidence suggests magmatic evolution resulting in felsic crust might have occurred sporadically. New research shows multiple lines of evidence for diverse volcanism and complex volcanotectonics in the southern highlands of Mars within and around the 3.5 to 4-billion-year-old Eridania basin.

A topographic map of the Eridania region of Mars; volcanic structures described by Michalski et al. are classified by morphology and morphometrics.

Image credit: Michalski et al., doi: 10.1038/s41550-023-02191-7.

Contrary to Earth, present-day Mars has little to no volcanic or tectonic activity.

Further, almost half of the planet’s surface is more than 3.5 billion years old, indicating that there has been no extensive crustal recycling — a phenomenon usually powered by tectonics such as those on Earth in which surface material is recycled into the mantle — since then.

Recent discoveries suggest that this was not always the case, but Mars’ geological activity in the first billion years after its formation is still unclear.

“Geological exploration of other rocky planets provides clues to early crustal evolution and volcanotectonic processes because other bodies exemplify comparable geosystems with variable mass, gravity and composition,” said Dr. Joseph Michalski from the University of Hong Kong and his colleagues.

“Observed through the lenses of different gravity fields, bulk planet compositions and heat flow, it is possible to test models for crustal resurfacing and so discover the steps that led to plate tectonics and other forms of crustal recycling.”

“The planet Mars represents a particularly valuable puzzle piece in this regard.”

The authors studied the morphology and mineralogy of the Eridania region in the southern hemisphere of Mars.

They analyzed remote sensing data from various orbiters, including NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The Eridania region offers the strongest crustal remnants of Mars’ ancient magnetic field and various signatures of volcanism.

The researchers identified 63 instances of four different types of volcanoes (volcanic domes, stratovolcanoes, pyroclastic shields, and caldera complexes) with possibly hundreds more in the Eridania region alone, likely leftover from a vigorous period of geologic activity approximately 3.5 billion years ago.

This suite of observations is consistent with the presence of crustal recycling on early Mars driven by vertical tectonics, a kind of tectonic process precursor of full plate tectonics on Earth.

Such a variety of volcanic structures could be more widespread on ancient Mars than previously thought.

“The observed remnants of this activity may be the closest analogue on the planet to the hydrothermal origin of life scenarios proposed for Earth,” the scientists said.

• Their paper was published today online in the journal Nature Astronomy.
• J.R. Michalski et al. Diverse volcanism and crustal recycling on early Mars. Nat Astron, published online February 12, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41550-023-02191-7

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