It’s the hometown of Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, so anything unusual happening there gets high attention. So what kind of attention do you think a blue snowfall got? How about blue mixed with some deep purple snow?

The strange-colored snow fell on Russia’s second-largest city on December 26th. The St. Petersburg Internet news source www.fontanka.ru reported that approximately 1 cm (0.39 inches) fell on that date, covering the ground, roofs, cars, windowsills and plants.

“Eyewitnesses specify that it is not distributed evenly – by waves, as if the “paint” was blown off somewhere and blown by a wind rose. The thickness of the cover is about 1 cm. All the respondents of Fontanka stated that they see this phenomenon for the first time in their life.”

“First time” in St. Petersburg, perhaps, but if any of them were in Chelyabinsk in February 2015 they would have seen a similar scene – blue snow covering a large area of the city that just two years before survived the great 2013 meteor explosion. The “Chelyabinsk blue” snow was said to have smelled like iron and tasted sweet (who goes around tasting mysterious blue snow that’s not in a cone?) but caused throat irritations (duh). After the usual denials, finger-pointing and conflicting possibilities, a local company that makes Easter egg dye confessed that it had a “minor” spill that was somehow major enough to taint the snowfall, but of course it was “not harmful to humans.” This blue snow came just two weeks after a mysterious orange snow fell on the Russian city of Saratov, which was blamed on orange sand lifted into the atmosphere by a sandstorm in the Sahara desert. How did the Sahara get orange sand? That’s a mystery for them to figure out.

Meanwhile, back in St. Petersburg, residents demanded answers as they shoveled the blue and purple swirls from their sidewalks and driveways and marveled cautiously as their dogs added yellow streams and turned the snow green.

“To find out what substance caused the staining of the snow, the laboratory of the FGBU “TsLATI in the North-West Federal District” took samples. It is expected that the intermediate results of the study of snow will be known in the near future. The Office promises to immediately inform the public about them.”

Non-experts noted two things: the chemicals most likely to cause a blue stain are cobalt or methylene blue, also known as methylthioninium chloride, a substance used to treat methemoglobinemia, a blood condition that usually caused – ironically — by exposure to a drug or chemical. It’s ironic in this case because the locals also noticed that the blue snow coincided with the demolition of the nearby Chemist-Pharmaceutical Plant No. 1.

All together now: “Ah-ha!”

“According to our assumptions, it was brought by the wind from the building of the chemical and pharmaceutical research institute, which they began to demolish on Aptekarsky Avenue.”

A local resident told www.fontanka.ru that the plant once churned out Citrimon, Vitamin C tablets, iodine and oterh medications until it was closed in 2007. The factory buildings were supposed to have been turned into retail shops, but for some ‘mysterious’ reason no one seemed interested in doing the renovations and they were left vacant for 10 years until finally being demolished this past week.

If it’s not in a cone, leave it alone.

As usual, the developers responsible for the demolition say they weren’t aware of any chemicals and promised to bring in “nature management, environmental protection and environmental safety” experts.

What’s the Russian word for “Isn’t it a little late for that?”

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

29-12-2017 om 12:37 geschreven door peter  

The Chupacabra takes its name from the Spanish for “Goat-Sucker.” As I have come to realize over the years, many people assume that it’s just goats that the beast is said to feed on. But, that’s not the case, at all. Pigs, chickens and cats have all fallen victim to the mysterious creature. And then there are the peacock attacks. Back in the summer of 2004, I headed off to Puerto Rico with monster-hunter Jon Downes, along with a crew from the SyFy Channel. We were there for more than a week, seeking out tales of, and witnesses to, the beast.

One of our stops was a ranch high in the hills of Puerto Rico. The drive was an infinitely slow one: practically the last five miles were undertaken on a dirt-filled, track-like road that had a huge drop on its right side. Jon repeatedly advised me to drive as carefully as I conceivably could. I did my best: we survived. We were due to meet a rancher whose bad luck it had been to encounter a Chupacabra. He lived in a large stone house, one that was protected by a tall, cemented white wall. A rolling and flowing landscape, huge peaks, and thick woods were all the order of the day. It turned out that as well as having a huge herd of cattle and numerous goats and pigs, the rancher, Dominic, kept peacocks. And, back in 1998, something very strange happened to some of his brightly plumed birds: four of them were killed, during the early hours of a July morning, by a stealthy and deadly predator.

All four birds displayed evidence of vicious bites to the neck. There was, however, something else too, something that neither of us had seen or heard of before: the skulls of the unfortunate birds had been penetrated by something small and triangular in shape. Angered at the deaths of his prized peacocks, Dominic elected to keep a very careful watch on his remaining birds. This involved staying up all night and ensuring that there were no repeat attacks. Thankfully, there weren’t. But, as Dominic told us, a deadly Chupacabra did make a return visit; in fact, it made a handful of visits. We asked Dominic how he could be so sure, if there was no evidence of further attacks and killings. The answer was one that we were very pleased to hear: he had seen the monster for himself.

This was a major development. Here was a highly credible source, someone who – while protecting his remaining birds throughout the course of the night – came face to face with the killer culprit. Dominic was asked to describe what he saw. The peacocks, said Dominic, were housed in a large, fenced enclosure, a fence that on the night of the killings had been violently ripped open on its north-facing side. Since the birds were more like pets than farm animals, and were treated as such by Dominic, he decided to take a chair and a flashlight, and spend a few nights in the enclosure, in the event that there was a repeat attack. It was a most wise decision.

On the very first night after the attacks, and well after midnight, the creature returned, via the same gaping hole in the fence. When Dominic heard the unmistakable sound of something forcing itself through the opening, he suddenly turned his flashlight on, and in the precise direction of the damaged fence. He was shocked to see a large creature, around four-feet in length and tan in color. Initially, said Dominic, the animal walked on all-fours, but, when hit by the bright beam, it reared up onto its hind legs. As it did so, the beast let out a menacing growl and a large row of spikes suddenly sprung erect down the length of its neck and back.

Frozen with fear in his chair, Dominic didn’t even make a move to pick up the rifle that sat next to him. The peacocks were screaming at the top of their lungs. Dominic was struck dumb. And, amid all of the chaos and terror, the Chupacabra stood its ground, swaying menacingly, from side to side. Thankfully, however, the creature seemed not to want to tackle a fully grown man and it suddenly dropped to all-fours and charged out of the hole in the fence. While the creature never again bothered Dominic’s peacocks, he had no less than four or five more sightings of the animal. They all occurred around dusk, and over the next two or three weeks, near to his huge expanse of plantains. On each occasion, the creature beat a hasty retreat into the depths of the field. Finally, it was gone for good.

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

29-12-2017 om 12:25 geschreven door peter  

Experts Share Their Thoughts On UFO Sighting Reports in 2017

The year 2017 has been an exciting year in search of life beyond Earth. There have been objects appearing near the International Space Station, groundbreaking NASA discoveries, and unidentified flying objects stalking planes in Merseyside.

Many do believe that next year could be a breakthrough year. Former Ministry of Defence employee Nick Pope, who is known for his role of investigating UFO sightings for the British Government, revealed what he thought of a video that allegedly shows a UFO.

Observers think the footage shows an American spy plane encountering a flying object at around 130ft with 20 flashing lights near Cyprus. Nick believes it may be genuine, saying that it is a fascinating footage.

Nick adds that the case is from the MoD’s UFO files. He explains that he did not only work on these real-life X-files, but also the public face of a ten-year project to declassify most of the materials.
He stresses that he is aware of the case even though his predecessors investigated the incident. He believes that it was a genuine unknown.

He says that incidents like this one, where several military witnesses and highly classified investigations were involved, show that the mystery raises essential defence, national security, and air safety issues whatever the truth about UFOs. He further stresses that it is a perfect illustration of how the public and the media were misled.

There have been concerns among UFO community as to whether the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is hiding proof of space alien life from the public. Nick believes clips that are supposed to be the proof of attempted cover-ups have a lot of contributing factors as to whether they are UFOs, but also thinks the space administration has no reason to hide anything.

He says that it is complicated to know the size, distance, and speed of an object in space.

Nick believes UFO hunters misunderstand agencies such as ESA and NASA. He explains that these groups of people want to find aliens, not hide evidence of their existence.

Philip Mantle, who is an active British UFO researcher, partly agrees with Nick saying that people should be doing a better job at capturing UFOs with the technology available these days. Mantle says that out of UFO reports, only under 1% remain unidentified. He explains that the number just shows that genuine UFO sightings are scarce. Therefore the chances of capturing a real UFO is almost, but not quite, impossible.

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

29-12-2017 om 12:10 geschreven door peter  

UFO recorded in Mexico City on Christmas day

Here’s one new footage of a solid unidentified flying object that was hovering above Mexico. This was filmed on 25th December 2017.

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

29-12-2017 om 12:02 geschreven door peter  

New season of The X-Files coming in January!

Here’s the preview of the new season of the best UFO show The X-Files! January 3, FOX!

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

29-12-2017 om 11:58 geschreven door peter  

FLEET OF UFO’S SEEN IN TELESCOPE HEADING FOR EARTH

A man who claims to have worked as a consultant for both NASA and the NSA gave a series of mind-blowing statements.

For the past 12 years, Dr. Eric Norton has been an outside consultant for NASA and the National Security Agency (NSA) and his job description included keeping an eye on celestial threats such as asteroids and comets. But in January 2012, Dr. Norton saw something much more menacing—a massive fleet of extraterrestrial craft heading straight for our home world.

On January 22, he was called to the MacDonald Observatory near Fort Davis, Texas. Using the facility’s wide range of instrumentation, Dr. Norton was able to detect a menacing-looking group of unidentified spacecraft.

“What I saw was an array of massive, three dimensional black structures in space, in a straight line formation, advancing in the direction of planet Earth.”

{http://alien-ufo-sightings.com/}

29-12-2017 om 01:55 geschreven door peter  

Extraterrestrial Fascinations: The Pentagon and UFOs

By Dr. Binoy Kampmark

Conspiracies in the extraterrestrial department have always constituted the residue of superstition in a secular age.  Chase away a Christ figure, or ward off God, and the mind still wanders, hoping to be bewitched.  If something cannot be explained, ignorance furnishes an often poor substitute.

The concept of extraterrestrial phenomena straddles scientific probabilities, faith and the sense that governments might not be telling their citizens the whole truth.  Rarely, for instance, does speculation on extraterrestrial research feature in the mainstream press, though the New York Times decided to dabble in the business of UFOs this month. 

The paper noted, quite rightly, that the US Defense Department, known to most others as the Pentagon, had put aside $22 million of its $600 billion annual budget on the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP).  Identifying exactly where it was in the bureaucratic apparatus remained a contrived challenge, and it had its opponents.

The program, run by Luis Elizondo on the fifth floor of the Pentagon’s C Ring, was deeply concealed within the structure itself.  Supposedly concluding in 2012, supporters are certain that funding continues to, if not flow then certainly trickle to it.

A video shows an encounter between a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet and an unknown object. It was released by the Defense Department’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.

By Courtesy of U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE on Publish DateDecember 16, 2017.

The study of UFO phenomena in US bureaucracy is a study of bureaucratic quirkiness itself.  Shadowy and opaque, the connections stretch across from Nevada Democrat Harry Reid, himself a fan of all things space, to billionaire friend, Robert Bigelow, who happily received government sponsorship for his aerospace venture.

The official record on US interest in the extraterrestrial research has been sketchy and speculative.  The US government, officially at least, claimed to have stopped gathering information on the subject of UFOs in 1969 with the cancellation of Project Blue Book by the US Air Force.  As the National Archives describes on a sombre note,

“The project closed in 1969 and we have no information on sightings after that date.”

Project Blue Book itself concluded after examining UFO reports since 1948 that no such entity reported, investigated or evaluated by the USAF posed a threat; that such sightings did not suggest “technological developments or principles beyond the range of present-day scientific knowledge” and that, perhaps most damningly of all, no sightings filed as “unidentified” could be deemed extraterrestrial vehicles.

Such reports, far from dissuading, have quite the opposite effect.  In May, Bigelow told Lara Logan of 60 Minutes about his absolute conviction about alien life forms, and “an existing presence, an ET presence. And I spent millions and millions and millions – I spent probably more as an individual than anybody else in the United States has ever spent on this subject.” (Bigelow, typically, confuses expenditure and dedication with verifiable sightings.)

In of itself, Bigelow’s interest is admirable. But curiosity finds idiosyncratic ways of making a mark.  It is not merely the scientific level that matters but one of induced faith, a Damascene conversion that turns a figure into a devotee. 

Interest in investigating the existence of other life forms, Bigelow contends, arose after his grandparents encountered an UFO outside Las Vegas. (Those aliens really have a thing for that part of the world.)

“It really sped up and came right into their faces and filled up the entire windshield of the car.”

That particular object conformed to caricature, darting “off at a right angle and shot off into the distance.”

For Reid, a vital figure behind creating the AATIP, nothing but pride comes to mind.

“I am not embarrassed or ashamed or sorry I got this thing going.  I think it’s one of the good things I did in my congressional service. I’ve done something that no one has done before.”

Reid, however, doesn’t stop there. He speaks about the findings of the Pentagon unit with a dazed piousness, telling Las Vegas news channel KLAS Channel 8, about the inherent dangers. This is the technology imperative, one constantly manifested during the Cold War: the fear that somewhere, something or someone, is so advanced as to strike terror in the human species.  Behind every ET phenomenon and unidentified object is a primordial fear that another earthly being is doing better and just might be a threat. Forget the ETs: the darkness lies within.

As Reid himself explained,

“If China, Russia, Japan, other countries are doing this and we’re not, then something is wrong because if the technology, as described and the way people see this movement took place in anything we have available to us, it would kill everybody.”

The technology imperative, one which acts as a discouragement for certain scientists in contacting potential alien forms, also finds voice in Stephen Hawking’s concerns that aliens could be “vastly more powerful and may not see us as any more valuable than we see bacteria.”

There will always be alien boffins.  Some, like Douglas Vakoch, president of the Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI), envisage a planet or planets in the universe with liquid water, hosting life.  Such grounds do not sound merely sensible but probable.  Then there are the Reids and the Bigelows, a mixture of political and personal enchantment, part crazed part curious.  But to date, the sceptics on the current record of sightings seem to be holding the reins. The truth might be out there, but it remains happily inscrutable.

Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge.  He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne.  Email: bkampmark@gmail.com

The original source of this article is Global Research

Copyright © Dr. Binoy Kampmark, Global Research, 2017

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{ https://www.globalresearch.ca/ }

29-12-2017 om 01:39 geschreven door peter  

LOOKING FOR SIGNS OF LIFE ON DISTANT PLANETS JUST GOT EASIER

  

by Matt Williams

When it comes to searching for worlds that could support extra-terrestrial life, scientists currently rely on the “low-hanging fruit” approach. Since we only know of one set of conditions under which life can thrive – i.e. what we have here on Earth – it makes sense to look for worlds that have these same conditions. These include being located within a star’s habitable zone, having a stable atmosphere, and being able to maintain liquid water on the surface.

Until now, scientists have relied on methods that make it very difficult to detect water vapor in the atmosphere’s of terrestrial planets. But thanks to a new study led by Yuka Fujii of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), that may be about to change. Using a new three-dimensional model that takes into account global circulation patterns, this study also indicates that habitable exoplanets may be more common than we thought.

The study, titled “NIR-driven Moist Upper Atmospheres of Synchronously Rotating Temperate Terrestrial Exoplanets“, recently appeared in The Astrophysical Journal. In addition to Dr. Fujii, who is also a member of the Earth-Life Science Institute at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, the research team included Anthony D. Del Genio (GISS) and David S. Amundsen (GISS and Columbia University).

Artist’s concept of the hot Jupiter WASP-121b, which presents the best evidence yet of a stratosphere on an exoplanet – generated using Engine House VFX.

Credit: Bristol Science Centre/University of Exeter

To put it simply, liquid water is essential to life as we know it. If a planet does not have a warm enough atmosphere to maintain liquid water on its surface for a sufficient amount of time (on the order of billions of years), then it is unlikely that life will be able to emerge and evolve. If a planet is too distant from its star, its surface water will freeze; if it is too close, its surface water will evaporate and be lost to space.

While water has been detected in the atmospheres of exoplanets before, in all cases, the planets were massive gas giants that orbited very closely to their stars. (aka. “Hot Jupiters”). As Fujii and her colleagues state in their study:

“Although H2O signatures have been detected in the atmospheres of hot Jupiters, detecting molecular signatures, including H2O, on temperate terrestrial planets is exceedingly challenging, because of the small planetary radius and the small scale height (due to the lower temperature and presumably larger mean molecular weight).”

When it comes to terrestrial (i.e. rocky) exoplanets, previous studies were forced to rely on one-dimensional models to calculate the presence of water. This consisted of measuring hydrogen loss, where water vapor in the stratosphere is broken down into hydrogen and oxygen from exposure to ultraviolet radiation. By measuring the rate at which hydrogen is lost to space, scientists would estimate the amount of liquid water still present on the surface.

Artist’s impression of the “Venus-like” exoplanet GJ 1132b.

Credit: cfa.harvard.edu

However, as Dr. Fujii and her colleagues explain, such models rely on several assumptions that cannot be addressed, which include the global transport of heat and water vapor vapor, as well as the effects of clouds. Basically, previous models predicted that for water vapor to reach the stratosphere, long-term surface temperatures on these exoplanets would have to be more than 66 °C (150 °F) higher than what we experience here on Earth.

These temperatures could create powerful convective storms on the surface. However, these storms could not be the reason water reaches the stratosphere when it comes to slowly rotating planets entering a moist greenhouse state – where water vapor intensifies heat. Planets that orbit closely to their parent stars are known to either have a slow rotation or to be tidally-locked with their planets, thus making convective storms unlikely.

This occurs quite often for terrestrial planets that are located around low-mass, ultra cool, M-type (red dwarf) stars. For these planets, their proximity to their host star means that it’s gravitational influence will be strong enough to slow down or completely arrest their rotation. When this occurs, thick clouds form on the dayside of the planet, protecting it from much of the star’s light.

The team found that, while this could keep the dayside cool and prevent water vapor from rising, the amount of near-Infrared radiation (NIR) could provide enough heat to cause a planet to enter a moist greenhouse state. This is especially true of M-type and other cool dwarf stars, which are known to produce more in the way of NIR. As this radiation warms the clouds, water vapor will rise into the stratosphere.

Artist’s impression of Proxima b, the closest exoplanet to the Solar System. In the background, the binary system of Alpha Centauri can be seen.

Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

To address this, Fujii and her team relied on three-dimensional general circulation models (GCMs) which incorporate atmospheric circulation and climate heterogeneity. For the sake of their model, the team started with a planet that had an Earth-like atmosphere and was entirely covered by oceans. This allowed the team to clearly see how variations in distance from different types of stars would effect conditions on the planets surfaces.

These assumptions allowed the team to clearly see how changing the orbital distance and type of stellar radiation affected the amount of water vapor in the stratosphere. As Dr. Fujii explained in a NASA press release:

“Using a model that more realistically simulates atmospheric conditions, we discovered a new process that controls the habitability of exoplanets and will guide us in identifying candidates for further study… We found an important role for the type of radiation a star emits and the effect it has on the atmospheric circulation of an exoplanet in making the moist greenhouse state.”

In the end, the team’s new model demonstrated that since low-mass star emit the bulk of their light at NIR wavelengths, a moist greenhouse state will result for planets orbiting closely to them. This would result in conditions on their surfaces that comparable to what Earth experiences in the tropics, where conditions are hot and moist, instead of hot and dry.

Artist’s impression of the surface of the planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri. The double star Alpha Centauri AB is visible to the upper right of Proxima itself.

Credit: ESO

What’s more, their model indicated that NIR-driven processes increased moisture in the stratosphere gradually, to the point that exoplanets orbiting closer to their stars could remain habitable. This new approach to assessing potential habitability will allow astronomers to simulate circulation of planetary atmospheres and the special features of that circulation, which is something one-dimensional models cannot do.

In the future, the team plans to assess how variations in planetary characteristics -such as gravity, size, atmospheric composition, and surface pressure – could affect water vapor circulation and habitability. This will, along with their 3-dimensional model that takes planetary circulation patterns into account, allow astronomers to determine the potential habitability of distant planets with greater accuracy. As Anthony Del Genio indicated:

“As long as we know the temperature of the star, we can estimate whether planets close to their stars have the potential to be in the moist greenhouse state. Current technology will be pushed to the limit to detect small amounts of water vapor in an exoplanet’s atmosphere. If there is enough water to be detected, it probably means that planet is in the moist greenhouse state.”

Beyond offering astronomers a more comprehensive method for determining exoplanet habitability, this study is also good news for exoplanet-hunters hoping to find habitable planets around M-type stars. Low-mass, ultra-cool, M-type stars are the most common star in the Universe, accounting for roughly 75% of all stars in the Milky Way. Knowing that they could support habitable exoplanets greatly increases the odds of find one.

Illustration showing the possible surface of TRAPPIST-1f, one of the newly discovered planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system.

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

In addition, this study is VERY good news given the recent spate of research that has cast serious doubt on the ability of M-type stars to host habitable planets. This research was conducted in response to the many terrestrial planets that have been discovered around nearby red dwarfs in recent years. What they revealed was that, in general, red dwarf stars experience too much flare and could strip their respective planets of their atmospheres.

These include the 7-planet TRAPPIST-1 system (three of which are located in the star’s habitable zone) and the closest exoplanet to the Solar System, Proxima b. The sheer number of Earth-like planets discovered around M-type stars, coupled with this class of star’s natural longevity, has led many in the astrophysical community to venture that red dwarf stars might be the most likely place to find habitable exoplanets.

With this latest study, which indicates that these planets could be habitable after all, it would seem that the ball is effectively back in their court!

Further Reading:

•  NASA,
•  The Astrophysical Journal

{https://www.universetoday.com/ }

29-12-2017 om 00:48 geschreven door peter  

EVIDENCE OF ALIENS? 5 RECENT SIGNS WE ARE NOT ALONE

The universe is not just vaster than we imagine, but vaster than we can imagine. Scientists estimate the cosmos contains hundreds of billions of galaxies. In all probability, somewhere deep in space there is a sun much like our own, which is shining on an alien civilization that is quite likely very different from ours.

Perhaps, this extraterrestrial society is far more advanced than we are. Maybe, they have mastered intergalactic space travel and have visited our planet. Most scientists believe we are not alone — that somewhere in the immense recesses of space there are other intelligent beings. Some contend that aliens have visited the earth and that our government is hiding evidence of their existence. Indeed, here are five recent signs that we will soon discover that extraterrestrial life is for real.

1. Government officials hint at classified info about aliens

According to polls, 80 million Americans — about one-third of the population — believe in the existence of aliens. Recently a flurry of former high-level government officials have come forward with tantalizing comments. They indicate that major governments know more about extraterrestrials than they are willing to acknowledge.

For example, recently John Podesta, former chief-of-staff for President Bill Clinton and an advisor to President Barack Obama, added his name to a list of A-level government figures who have made comments that have hinted that there is classified info about aliens being withheld from the public.

In an interview with CNN, for instance, Podesta indicated that the time had come for the government to “release any evidence it has about the existence of alien forms of life in outer space.” Podesta fell short of confirming that aliens exist — or that the U.S. government has evidence it won’t reveal publicly — but his carefully-crafted comments seemed to suggest that he knew more than he was letting on. Asked point blank if he himself had seen proof that alien life existed, Podesta responded evasively by saying that is “for the public to judge once they’ve seen all the evidence that the U.S. government has.”

Sensing there was more, perhaps, the reporter then asked if Podesta believed in aliens. The former chief-of-staff responded wryly that, “There are a lot of planets out there.” He then added, “The American people can handle the truth.”

Podesta is hardly the only credible government figure to come forward. In 2005, Paul Hellyer, Canada’s former defense minister, became the first prominent ex-official to openly accuse the major world governments of deliberately withholding information that would confirm the existence of extraterrestrial life.

Recently, speaking at the University of Calgary, Hellyer insisted, “Aliens have been visiting our planet for thousands of years,” but he lamented that “much of the media won’t touch [the documents]” and that governments won’t come clean until the public demands the information about UFOs that is being kept hidden. Many of Hellyer’s claims seem far-fetched — namely, that some alien species originated from Mars, Venus and one of Saturn’s moons. But he insists that extraterrestrials have helped humans develop technologies such the microchip, LED lights and the Kevlar vest.

2. Evidence of microscopic life may have been found on Mars

Is it possible that NASA’s scientists discovered life on Mars in 2007? Recently, news reports have surfaced that researchers examining Martian rover data — the unmanned space probes sending photos and atmospheric samples back to earth — may have found evidence of microscopic life on the red planet.

Apparently, the Spirit rover, which landed in the Gusev crater near the Martian equator, photographed “finger-like” rock formations called stromatolites, which are formed when microbial colonies are trapped in moist sediment. In addition, in 2014, another of NASA’s rovers recorded evidence of methane gas. In fact, over 90 percent of methane gas found on earth is produced by living organisms, leading to the possibility that some microbe life forms may still exist on Mars.  

According to astrophysicist Dan Brown of Nottingham Trent University, “Finding live on Mars or even the past presence of life has been a driving goal and infamous challenge for missions to Mars.” Unfortunately, the Spirit rover, which discovered the distinctive silica patterns that have so intrigued scientists, was decommissioned after it got stuck in the Martian soil. It will be 2020, at the earliest, before the next rover probe is launched to do a follow-up mission.

3. Deeply mysterious signals are coming from space

SETI is a non-profit scientific institute dedicated to discovering the origins of the universe and searching for evidence of extraterrestrial civilizations. In particular, the organization uses a network of radio telescopes to try and detect signals that may indicate the existence of intelligent life somewhere in deep outer space.

In 2007, a researcher named Duncan Lorimer, from West Virginia University, was analyzing data from the Parkes observatory in Australia when he uncovered what seemed to be Ian unusual signal. They have been described as “shrieks from the black abyss of the universe unlike anything ever found before. And they are deeply mysterious.”

Initially, other scientists did not know what to make of the findings. However, similar bursts have since been detected by the Arecibo facility in Puerto Rico. Researchers have dubbed these signals “fast radio bursts” of FRBs for short. No one quite knows what to make of them. They remain unidentified and unexplained, but of tantalizing interest.

4. Extraterrestrial life may have hitched a meteor to Earth

Dr. Eric Haseltine is a neuroscientist who also served as the U.S. Associate Director of National Intelligence in 2006. He’s been asked by programs like 60 Minutes to speak on the record about UFOs and Area 51, where ET enthusiasts believe the government is hiding evidence of alien existence. Haseltine has declined to divulge any information that would violate his national security obligations. However, he has made it clear that the evidence he can talk about publicly strongly points in the direction that alien life has reached the earth.

Haseltine’s comments focus on primitive forms of life — microbes, extremophiles and even insects — that may have hitched a ride to earth via a meteor. To begin with, Haseltine notes that scientists at the National Institute for Aging now believe that DNA itself is older than the existence of the earth. That suggests that the human journey may not have begun on earth, but somewhere else in the galaxy.

In addition, Haseltine mentions several other intriguing findings, most notably a rock found in Antarctica that is believed to have originated from Mars. Some scientists believe the artifact, which cosmologists speculate may have been ejected from the red planet millions of years ago following an asteroid hit, contains fossil evidence of ancient single-celled organisms.

At present, the scientific community is uncertain about the significance of the findings. However, other researchers have found evidence to suggest that microbes, spores and even hardy insects could survive interplanetary travel via meteors. Microbes from outer space may not be quite as exciting as Martians, but the confirmation of any extraterrestrial life forms will be profound.

5. Kepler telescope may have discovered alien megastructure

NASA’s Kepler space telescope is designed to detect earthlike planets orbiting stars. Recently, it discovered a strange anomaly orbiting a sun designated KIC 8462852. Astronomers are not quite sure, but something is causing the starlight from KIC 8462852 to dip and then burst. Researchers have ruled out a variety of possible natural phenomena, leading some scientists to speculate that the most plausible explanation is an alien megastructure, possibly designed to harness solar power, orbiting the star.

The evidence keeps accumulating that we are not alone

Claims about evidence for aliens can range from sensationalistic to scientifically respectable. So, I reached out to a researcher with down-to-earth credentials and a lot of credibility when it comes to the search for extraterrestrial life.

Steve Vogt is a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California in Santa Cruz. He is also a member of the Lick Observatory, which home to the Automated Planet Finder, a program that is at the forefront of the scientific search for interstellar environments that could harbor life. I asked Vogt about the chances of finding life in outer space.  Here is some of what he had to say:

”Life (as we understand it) requires a stable place where water can exist in liquid form for the billions of years necessary for evolution to work its magic. If you look around the universe, those places where water is likely to exist stably in liquid form for billions of years is on or near the surface of a planet or similar body in a stable orbit in the habitable zone of a star. Our exoplanet program (now 20 years underway) has been aimed at determining how common such potentially habitable planets are in the universe.”

Asked about space aliens, Vogt said he couldn’t comment. However, he added, “We can now say, with great confidence, that potentially habitable rocky planets are exceedingly common, and occur around at least one out of every two stars (at least in our local stellar neighborhood). If you assume that our corner of the universe is typical, the numbers indicate that there are more potentially habitable rocky planets in the universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of Earth. With such statistics, it would be pretty hard to argue that life does not exist elsewhere.”

Vogt’s confidence is echoed by other highly respected scientists too. For instance, “I think we’re going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth within a decade, and I think we’re going to have definitive evidence within 20 to 30 years,” insists Ellen Stofan, NASA’s chief scientist. In all probability, there will be some earth-shattering findings and revelations ahead. The evidence is accumulating that we are not alone.

 Scott O’Reilly

{http://alien-ufo-sightings.com/}

29-12-2017 om 00:23 geschreven door peter  

NASA photos reveal ‘hazardous’ 4 mile-wide astroid has mysterious ‘heart of darkness’

A HUGE asteroid that could potentially smash into Earth has a mysterious “dark void” at its centre.

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NASA

✔@NASA

The most powerful astronomical radar system on our planet recently provided the highest-resolution images to date of a near-Earth asteroid, 3200 Phaethon, during its Dec. close approach to Earth, ~1.1 million miles away: http://go.nasa.gov/2BkdwWD 

2:04 AM - Dec 23, 2017

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“A crater or some other topographic depression that did not reflect the radar beam back to Earth”

Patrick Taylor, NASA

28-12-2017 om 23:57 geschreven door peter  

A recently discovered giant filament – 2.3 light-years long – points toward Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at our galaxy’s heart.

The bright source near the bottom of this image, Sagittarius A* – pronounced Sagittarius A-star – is thought to be the location of the supermassive black hole at the center of our home galaxy, the Milky Way. See the filament appearing to point toward it? The filament might be caused by high-speed particles kicked away from the black hole, or it might be something even stranger.

Image via NSF/ VLA/ UCLA/ M. Morris et al./ CfA.

One of the most mysterious and interesting known locations in our neighborhood of space is the center of our home galaxy, the Milky Way. It’s thought to contain a supermassive black hole, with a mass of some 4 million suns. Astronomers call this region and its possible black hole Sagittarius A* (aka Sgr A*, pronounced Sagittarius A-star). In 2016, Farhad Yusef-Zadeh of Northwestern University reported his discovery of an unusual filament in this region. The filament is about 2.3 light-years long and appears to curve around the site of the black hole. Now, another team of astronomers has employed a new technique to obtain a high-quality image of the curved filament. These astronomers said their new image supports the idea that the filament is pointing toward the black hole. The new image has led to some fascinating speculations as to the nature of this mystery filament.

A paper describing the new image – and astronomers ideas based upon it – was published in the December 1, 2017 issue of the peer-reviewed Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Mark Morris of the University of California, Los Angeles, led the imaging study. He said in a December 20, 2017 statementfrom the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA):

With our improved image, we can now follow this filament much closer to the galaxy’s central black hole, and it is now close enough to indicate to us that it must originate there. However, we still have more work to do to find out what the true nature of this filament is.

Artist’s concept of Milky Way galaxy, showing the locations of the central, supermassive black hole and our solar system. The entire galaxy is about 100,000 light-years across. Our sun lies about 26,000 light-years from the center.

Image via ZMEScience.

Researchers have considered three possible explanations for the filament:

The first is that it is caused by high-speed particles kicked away from the supermassive black hole. A spinning black hole coupled with gas spiraling inwards can produce a rotating, vertical tower of magnetic field that approaches or even threads the event horizon, the point of no return for infalling matter. Within this tower, particles would be sped up and produce radio emission as they spiral around magnetic field lines and stream away from the black hole.

The second, more fantastic, possibility is that the filament is a cosmic string, theoretical, as-yet undetected objects that are long, extremely thin objects that carry mass and electric currents. Previously, theorists had predicted that cosmic strings, if they exist, would migrate to the centers of galaxies. If the string moves close enough to the central black hole it might be captured once a portion of the string crosses the event horizon.

The final option is that the position and the direction of the filament aligning with the black hole are merely coincidental superpositions, and there is no real association between the two. This would imply it is like dozens of other known filaments found farther away from the center of the galaxy. However, such a coincidence is quite unlikely to happen by chance.

Each of the scenarios being investigated would provide intriguing insight if proven true. The scientists’ statement continued:

For example, if the filament is caused by particles being ejected by Sgr A*, this would reveal important information about the magnetic field in this special environment, showing that it is smooth and orderly rather than chaotic.

The second option, the cosmic string, would provide the first evidence for a highly speculative idea with profound implications for understanding gravity, space-time and the Universe itself.

Evidence for the idea that particles are being magnetically kicked away from the black hole would come from observing that particles further away from Sgr A* are less energetic than those close in. A test for the cosmic string idea will capitalize on the prediction by theorists that the string should move at a high fraction of the speed of light. Follow-up observations with the VLA should be able to detect the corresponding shift in position of the filament.

Even if the filament is not physically tied to Sgr A*, the bend in the shape of this filament is still unusual. The bend coincides with, and could be caused by, a shock wave, akin to a sonic boom, where the blast wave from an exploded star is colliding with the powerful winds blowing away from massive stars surrounding the central black hole.

Co-author Miller Goss, from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, New Mexico, said:

We will keep hunting until we have a solid explanation for this object. And we are aiming to next produce even better, more revealing images.

Unannotated image of the great cosmic filament at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. This radio image is from the NSF’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array.

Image via NSF/ VLA/ UCLA/ M. Morris et al./ CfA.

Bottom line: Astronomers have obtained a new image of the 2.3-light-year-long filament that curves around Sagittarius A*, the region of our galaxy thought to contain a supermassive black hole.

SOURCE:

A Nonthermal Radio Filament Connected to the Galactic Black Hole?

Via CfA

{ http://earthsky.org/ }

28-12-2017 om 23:33 geschreven door peter  

Yes! Time Travel Is “Technically Possible”

By: Nidhi Goya

{ http://www.industrytap.com/ }

28-12-2017 om 23:10 geschreven door peter  

The Sole Survivor of the Cassini Mission Is Still Lost in Space

By Rae Paoletta

{https://www.inverse.com/ }

28-12-2017 om 22:48 geschreven door peter  

WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR RELIGION IF WE FIND EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE

How will humankind react after astronomers hand over rock-solid scientific evidence for the existence of life beyond the Earth? No more speculating. No more wondering. The moment scientists announce this discovery, everything will change. Not least of all, our philosophies and religions will need to incorporate the new information.

Searching for signs of life

Astronomers have now identified thousands of planets in orbit around other stars. At the current rate of discovery, millions more will be found this century.

Having already found the physical planets, astronomers are now searching for our biological neighbors. Over the next fifty years, they will begin the tantalizing, detailed study of millions of planets, looking for evidence of the presence of life on or below the surfaces or in the atmospheres of those planets.

And it’s very likely that astronomers will find it. Despite the fact that more than one-third of Americans surveyed believe that aliens have already visited Earth, the first evidence of life beyond our planet probably won’t be radio signals, little green men or flying saucers. Instead, a 21st century Galileo, using an enormous, 50-meter-diameter telescope, will collect light from the atmospheres of distant planets, looking for the signatures of biologically significant molecules.

Astronomers filter that light from far away through spectrometers – high-tech prisms that tease the light apart into its many distinct wavelengths. They’re looking for the telltale fingerprints of molecules that would not exist in abundance in these atmospheres in the absence of living things. The spectroscopic data will tell whether a planet’s environment has been altered in ways that point to biological processes at work.

If we aren’t alone, who are we?

With the discovery in a distant planet’s light spectrum of a chemical that could only be produced by living creatures, humankind will have the opportunity to read a new page in the book of knowledge. We will no longer be speculating about whether other beings exist in the universe. We will know that we not alone

An affirmative answer to the question “Does life exist anywhere else in the universe beyond Earth?” would raise immediate and profoundly important cosmotheological questions about our place in the universe. If extraterrestrial others exist, then my religion and my religious beliefs and practices might not be universal. If my religion is not universally applicable to all extraterrestrial others, perhaps my religion need not be offered to, let alone forced on, all terrestrial others. Ultimately, we might learn some important lessons applicable here at home just from considering the possibility of life beyond our planet.

In my book, I investigated the sacred writings of the world’s most widely practiced religions, asking what each religion has to say about the uniqueness or non-uniqueness of life on Earth, and how, or if, a particular religion would work on other planets in distant parts of the universe.

Extrasolar sinners?

Let’s examine a seemingly simple yet exceedingly complex theological question: could extraterrestrials be Christians? If Jesus died in order to redeem humanity from the state of sin into which humans are born, does the death and resurrection of Jesus, on Earth, also redeem other sentient beings from a similar state of sin? If so, why are the extraterrestrials sinful? Is sin built into the very fabric of the space and time of the universe? Or can life exist in parts of the universe without being in a state of sin and therefore without the need of redemption and thus without the need for Christianity? Many different solutions to these puzzles involving Christian theology have been put forward. None of them yet satisfy all Christians.

Mormon worlds

Mormon scripture clearly teaches that other inhabited worlds exist and that “the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God” (Doctrines and Covenants 76:24). The Earth, however, is a favored world in Mormonism, because Jesus, as understood by Mormons, lived and was resurrected only on Earth. In addition, Mormon so-called intelligences can only achieve their own spiritual goals during their lives on Earth, not during lifetimes on other worlds. Thus, for Mormons, the Earth might not be the physical center of the universe but it is the most favored place in the universe. Such a view implies that all other worlds are, somehow, lesser worlds than Earth.

Bahá’í without bias

Members of the Bahá’í Faith have a view of the universe that has no bias for or against the Earth as a special place or for against humans as a special sentient species. The principles of the Bahá’í Faith – unifying society, abandoning prejudice, equalizing opportunities for all people, eliminating poverty – are about humans on Earth. The Bahá’í faithful would expect any creatures anywhere in the universe to worship the same God as do humans, but to do so according to their own, world-specific ways.

Light years from Mecca

The pillars of the faith for Muslims require the faithful to pray five times every day while facing Mecca. Because determining the direction of Mecca correctly could be extremely difficult on a quickly spinning planet millions of light years from Earth, practicing the same faith on another world might not make any sense. Yet the words of the Qu’ran tell us that “Whatever beings there are in the heavens and the earth do prostrate themselves to Allah” (13:15). Can terrestrial Muslims accept that the prophetically revealed religion of Muhammad is intended only for humans on earth and that other worlds would have their own prophets?

Astronomers as paradigm-shatterers

At certain moments throughout history, astronomers’ discoveries have exerted an outsized influence on human culture. Ancient Greek astronomers unflattened the Earth – though many then chose to forget this knowledge. Renaissance scholars Copernicus and Galileo put the Earth in motion around the Sun and moved humans away from the center of the universe. In the 20th century, Edwin Hubble eliminated the very idea that the universe has any center at all. He demonstrated that what the universe has is a beginning in time and that, bizarrely, the universe, the very fabric of three-dimensional space, is expanding.

Clearly, when astronomers offer the world bold new ideas, they don’t mess around. Another such paradigm-shattering new idea may be in the light arriving at our telescopes now.

No matter which (a)theistic background informs your theology, you may have to wrestle with the data astronomers will be bringing to houses of worship in the very near future. You will need to ask: Is my God the God of the entire universe? Is my religion a terrestrial or a universal religion? As people work to reconcile the discovery of extrasolar life with their theological and philosophical worldviews, adapting to the news of life beyond Earth will be discomfiting and perhaps even disruptive.

Source www.rawstory.com

{ http://alien-ufo-sightings.com/}

28-12-2017 om 22:18 geschreven door peter  

NASA astronomer told why scientists have not yet found aliens

Humanity has not yet established contact with extraterrestrial civilizations or has not found traces of extraterrestrial life because most of the potentially inhabited planets are most likely formed by ice-covered water worlds, said Alan Stern, the head of the New Horizons mission, at the annual planetary conference DPS in the US Provost.

“Oceans worlds are one of the most ideal environments for the birth of life, the conditions in the waters of such planets are almost independent of which stars they revolve around, how far away they are from them and how long such a star has to live.” They are not threatened by supernova explosions , meteorite impacts, sudden climate changes and other events that can destroy life on Earth, “explains Stern.

More than half a century ago, the American astronomer Frank Drake developed a formula for calculating the number of civilizations in the Galaxy, with whom contact is possible, trying to assess the chances of discovering extraterrestrial intelligence and life.

The physicist Enrico Fermi, in response to a sufficiently high estimate of the chances of interplanetary contact by Drake’s formula, formulated a thesis now known as the Fermi paradox: if there are so many alien extraterrestrials, why does humanity not observe any of their tracks?

This paradox scientists have tried to solve in many ways, the most popular of which is the hypothesis of the “unique Earth”. It says that for the emergence of intelligent beings, unique conditions are necessary, in fact, a complete copy of our planet.

Other astronomers believe that we can not communicate with aliens because the galactic civilizations either disappear too fast for us to notice them, or because they actively hide the fact of their existence from humanity.

Stern proposed his own explanation of this phenomenon, which does not require the existence of galactic “camarillas” of rational races or justifications for the uniqueness of the Earth.

Studying the lists of newly discovered exoplanets that are inside the “life zone”, a special area of ​​the orbit where water can exist in liquid form, the planetologist from NASA drew attention to the fact that many planets, similar in size to the Earth, are not stony celestial bodies, but oceanic worlds.

They can be either completely covered with liquid water or the ice crust under which the icy ocean lies, similar to those found on satellites of Saturn and Jupiter.

This observation made him think about how often life can arise on such planets, which will influence the probability of its origin and how such water forms of life can establish contact with mankind.

As his calculations showed, such oceans, covered with a thick crust of ice, should be much more friendly for the birth and development of life than the “open” planets, similar to the Earth. As Stern believes, if extraterrestrial life exists, then it most likely lives in the depths of such water worlds.

“The inhabitants of such worlds will not even suspect that there are stars, cosmos and other planets in the Universe, the closest equivalent of our space program will be the access to the surface of their water world, so neither we nor they will suspect about the existence of each other, – concludes the scientist.

{ https://voiceofpeopletoday.com/ }

28-12-2017 om 21:46 geschreven door peter  

Watch Two Brothers Build a UFO Gingerbread House

The truth is out there.

BY PAULA MEJIA

DURING THE HOLIDAY SEASON, FAMILIES often build intricate gingerbread houses. Yet two brothers, Sverker and André Högbom, of Östersund, Sweden, construct gingery ephemera that stretch the limits of what royal icing can hold. (Royal icing is the kind that hardens, which is ideal for gingerbread construction projects.) This year, they built a gingerbread house that levitates. The anti-gravitational force, of course, is a UFO.

The Högboms have been building gingerbread houses since childhood, as they recently told The Local. They’ve come a long way since then; they’ve built volcanoes, turtles, and carousels out of gingerbread. As evidenced by the video below, their latest creation is perhaps the most awe-inspiring of all.

Typically the Högboms begin building in November, then bake in December on nights here and there. (André is an illustrator and truck driver, and Sverker is a civil engineer.) To give the house its characteristic, creepy levitating effect, the brothers mounted it onto a mirror that “is carefully sandblasted to let light though [sic], in order to create the illusion of the beam, decoration lights in the tree, and so on,” they write.

While they taste the dough while baking, the Högboms don’t usually eat their creations, since they spend months on the counter. Which proves that even unidentified flying baked objects get old, too.

We’ve launched a food section! Gastro Obscura covers the world’s most wondrous food and drink. Sign up for our weekly email.

{ https://www.atlasobscura.com/ }

28-12-2017 om 21:18 geschreven door peter  

27 UFO Sightings In Illinois Since September

But there were no reports in the town one researcher calls the "UFO Capital of Chicagoland."

28-12-2017 om 21:04 geschreven door peter  

Colorado UFO investigators react to retired UFO Pentagon program and video

by Kasey Kershner

28-12-2017 om 20:37 geschreven door peter  

Dig Deep: DARPA Contest Aims to Take People Underground

28-12-2017 om 20:23 geschreven door peter  

PENTAGON UFO PROBE - Truth about UFO videos the US Government did NOT release

CLAIMS the US Government is on the brink of a major revelation about "alien visitations of Earth" were today undermined after it emerged there was no official disclosure of UFO video footage, as was widely believed.

28-12-2017 om 19:58 geschreven door peter