There is absolutely no doubt that the world, right now, is a dangerous place. An extremely dangerous place. In light of that, an important questions needs to be asked – and answered. If war comes – and it turns nuclear – will those who run the nations of this world head deep below the surface of the planet, only to return years later to claim what remains of the planet and human civilization? Such a thing is not at all impossible.

In fact, there are significant signs that plans are indeed being made to ensure that the underground will be the place to be if the apocalypse occurs. But, as is usually the case, it will be the controlling elite who will be calling the shots, rather than the rest of us. Let’s take a look at several of the highly-classified installations that exist on our planet and how they may be used if the unthinkable happens. Today, I’ll focus on Russia (with certain other countries to follow).

Given the fact that Russia amounts to a huge area of land, there are plenty of areas in which secure, underground facilities can be built – and which have been built. The U.S. Intelligence community has known for decades that at least two, massive facilities exist – and which have the ability to survive nuclear strikes, chiefly as a result of the fact that they are built deeply into almost impenetrable mountains. Those same mountains are Mount Yamantau and Kosvinsky Mountain.

As for Yamantau, it stands at in excess of 5,000 feet and is the highest mountain in the Urals. A couple of decades ago the Russians began the construction of a massive facility within Mount Yamantau, primarily to provide the controlling elite with a secure place in which to survive a nuclear exchange between the super-powers.

American spy-satellites have confirmed massive digging on the mountain, suggesting that huge, hollowed out sections of the mountain now exist – and which have been turned into the perfect locations for literally hundreds of thousands of people to survive an attack. And make no mistake, the Yamantau facility is gigantic. Studies undertaken by American intelligence agents suggest that its size is that of Washington, D.C.’s huge Interstate 495, which surrounds the capitol of the United States. Given that I-495 has a circumference of more than sixty miles and that will give you an idea of the scale of the Yamantau facility.

As for the Kosvinsky Mountain installation, that is equally almost impenetrable. Built well into the heart of the mountain – which is located in the northern Urals – it is protected by around 1,200-feet of granite and, just like the Yamantau base, is designed to provide housing for the elite in the event of a nuclear attack – and also to allow for some form of continuation of government. Presuming, of course, there is anyone left to be governed after a major nuclear exchange between the most powerful nations on the planet.

All that’s really known for sure is that the construction of the base was completed by the mid-1990s and that it, like Yamantau, can house thousands of people – with a near-indefinite supply of food, water, medical supplies and all the provisions needed to survive underground not just for months but for years. Some intelligence estimates suggest possibly even for decades.

Moving away from the Urals, but still focused on Russia, there is Kapustin Yar, which is situated in Astrakhan Oblast. Construction of the installation began back in the 1940s – with the intention being to create the ultimate facility for building and testing new and novel rockets. The first such rocket launch took place in October 1947 – it was a test using a captured Nazi A-4 rocket; one of a number that the Russians got their hands on when the Nazi regime collapsed in 1945. As the base grew in size and scope, yet further rocket tests were undertaken and by the early 1950s atomic-bombs tests were carried out in close proximity.

Spy-satellites of the United States’ National Reconnaissance Office have noted that in the last few years massive digging has been afoot at Kapustin Yar, all of which suggests that the base is no longer just used for rocket and missile tests; but that it may be being refurbished on a gigantic scale – to essentially turn portions of it into a huge, underground bunker, one designed to withstand the terrible effects of a nuclear war.

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

01-01-2018 om 17:30 geschreven door peter  

Mensen staan voor mysterie nadat “groene ufo” door de lucht vliegt tijdens oudejaarsavond: “Nog nooit eerder gezien”

Het vliegende object was zowel te zien boven Engeland als delen van Schotland. Zo had James MacCallum uit de stad Dundee als een van de eerste de mogelijkheid om een korte video te maken van het verschijnsel. “Het is misschien wel de slechtste video ooit, maar zonet vloog hier een meteoriet door de lucht”, tweette hij bij zijn beelden. “Het was best cool.” Intussen duiken ook steeds meer dashcambeelden op van het speciale zicht.

Het gros van de tweets over de ‘groene ufo’ bleven weliswaar beperkt tot een kort bericht over het moment dat ze het object opmerkten. “We zagen een groene en gouden meteoor over Nord Bottleshop in Whitley Bay vliegen toen we wat aan het drinken waren”, aldus Alyson Dodd. “Ik dacht dat het vuurwerk was, mijn vriend meende dat het om een straaljager ging.”

Ook Tom Gold, die het fenomeen in het Engelse Corbridge zag, blijft het spektakel een groot mysterie. “Het was een buitengewoon zicht, zoiets heb ik nog nooit eerder gezien” vertelde hij aan ChronicleLive. Wat het object daadwerkelijk was, is voorlopig niet helemaal duidelijk, al lijkt de kans groot dat het om een meteoor ging.

{ http://www.nieuwsblad.be/ }

01-01-2018 om 17:18 geschreven door peter  

Ball of Light flying towards Tourist's Camera in Bello Colombia

A tourist in Bello Colombia recorded a disturbing video with the camera of his mobile on December 30, 2017.

While filming the surrounding area from his hotel room, a ball of light suddenly flying towards the camera of the tourist before it vanishes. 

It seems that more people in that area have witnessed similar unexplained sightings. One commenter says that he already has witnessed similar ball of lights two times. "It always appears at the same location in the sky, then goes vertically downwards, like an inverted L and flies very low."

Since the uploader's account does not show any irregularities such as fake or cgi created videos we may wonder whether the tourist captured a paranormal phenomenon or the creators of the video just wanted to make a prank.

  

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

01-01-2018 om 16:59 geschreven door peter  

Happy Newyear 2018

Happy Newyear and best wishes for 2018!!!

And thank you for your visit to my blog!

Peter2011

31-12-2017 om 19:55 geschreven door peter  

The Goals of Extraterrestrial AI May “Conflict With Those of Biological Life”

 

Daniel Schweinert/Thinkstock

{ https://futurism.com/ }

31-12-2017 om 19:51 geschreven door peter  

Stanton Friedman weighs in on Pentagon's Secret UFO Search, with Kathleen Marden, 12-27-17

Stan Friedman with Kathleen Marden weigh in on the Pentagon's Secret UFO Search. Stan mentions he is pleased with Tom DeLonge's efforts and the team of high profile people on the To The Stars Academy board. Kathy mentions how important Luis Elizondo, Chris Mellon and Dr. Hal Puthoff among others are to the board as well. Stan: "It's a new ballgame for UFOlogy!" https://podcastufo.com/ In hour two, along with replying to caller's questions, they discuss the Betty & Barney Hill case including some never mentioned before family dynamics when they decided to go public.

Bio: Nuclear Physicist-Lecturer Stanton T. Friedman received his BSc. and MSc. Degrees in physics from the University of Chicago in 1955 and 1956. He was employed for 14 years as a nuclear physicist by such companies as GE, GM, Westinghouse, TRW Systems, Aerojet General Nucleonics, and McDonnell Douglas working in such highly advanced, classified, eventually cancelled programs as nuclear aircraft, fission and fusion rockets, and various compact nuclear powerplants for space and terrestrial applications.

He became interested in UFOs in 1958, and since 1967 has lectured about them at more than 600 colleges and 100 professional groups in 50 U.S. states, 10 Canadian provinces and 18 other countries in addition to various nuclear consulting efforts. He has published more than 90 UFO papers and has appeared on hundreds of radio and TV programs including on Larry King in 2007 and twice in 2008, and many documentaries. He is the original civilian investigator of the Roswell Incident and co-authored Crash at Corona: The Definitive Study of the Roswell Incident.

And more, source: http://www.stantonfriedman.com/index....

Bio: Kathleen Marden is a leading researcher of contact with nonhuman intelligence, an author, and lecturer. Her educational background in the social sciences has shaped her interest in scientific ufology. Extensive research and investigation into alien abduction has convinced her that some abductions are real.

She earned a B.A. degree in social work from the University of New Hampshire and participated in graduate studies in education while working as a teacher and education services coordinator. Her scholarship led to acceptance into the Alpha Kappa Delta sociology honor society. During her fifteen years as an educator, she innovated, designed and implemented model educational programs. She also held a supervisory position, coordinating, training and evaluating education staff.

Her interest in UFOs dates back to September 20, 1961, when her aunt, Betty Hill, phoned her childhood home to report that she and Barney had encountered a flying saucer in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. A primary witness to the evidence of the UFO encounter and the aftermath, Kathleen has intimate knowledge of the Hill’s biographical histories, investigation files, and scientific interest in their sensational experience. This led to a journey of exploration, leaving no stone unturned, to find answers through scholarly work, investigation and social research. She is recognized as the world’s leading expert on the Betty and Barney Hill abduction.

Source: http://www.kathleen-marden.com/my-bio...

{ http://www.theufochronicles.com/ }

31-12-2017 om 19:39 geschreven door peter  

Here are 7 of the most-viewed news and feature stories of this past year.

1.  Scientists reveal secrets of lost continent Zealandia.

In February, scientists were discussing whether a submerged realm called Zealandia should be recognized as a full-fledged Earth continent. In October, a team of researchers returned from an expedition to Zealandia and reported their results.

A rainbow seen from the research ship JOIDES Resolution, during the Zealandia expedition.

Image by Tim Fulton via International Ocean Discovery Program/ JRSO/ NSF.

2. Close shave from an undetected asteroid.

Whoosh! Astronomers discovered a small asteroid – now designated as asteroid 2017 OO1 – on July 23. That was 3 days after it passed 1/3 the moon’s distance from Earth. More.

Artist’s concept of an asteroid passing near Earth.

3. When’s the next U.S. total solar eclipse? 

After 2017’s awesome total solar eclipse on August 21, the next total solar eclipse visible from North America will be April 8, 2024. More.

Image via Fred Espenak at the NASA Eclipse Web Site.

4. Biblical signs in the sky on September 23, 2017?

A mirror in the sky to “signs” from the Bible’s Book of Revelation? Possibly. But this same sky scene has been seen 4 other times in the past 1,000 years. An astronomer explains.

Green arrows show the “9” stars of Leo.Blue arrows show the planets Mercury, Venus, and Mars. Red arrow is Jupiter. Violet arrow is the moon (shown enlarged). The sun is at Virgo’s shoulder.

Image via Christopher M. Graney.

5. Mysterious rock-comet 3200 Phaethon.

This asteroid-comet hybrid was closest to Earth December 16. Its presence near Earth may be why the Geminid meteors put on a good show in 2017. Info and images of the rock-comet here.

6. History of global temperature 1880-2016.

Take 14 seconds to watch the change in Earth’s surface temperature from 1880 through 2016. More.

7. And, lastly, the ever-popular … Betelgeuse will explode someday.

Someday, the star Betelgeuse will run out of fuel, collapse under its own weight, and then rebound in a spectacular supernova explosion. Someday … but probably not soon. More.

Betelgeuse imaged in ultraviolet light by the Hubble Space Telescope and subsequently enhanced by NASA. The bright white spot is likely one of this star’s poles.

Image via NASA/ESA.

Bottom line: EarthSky’s 7 most-viewed news and feature stories of 2017. Happy new year to our readers, and thank you for visiting EarthSky!

{ http://earthsky.org/ }

31-12-2017 om 19:30 geschreven door peter  

Here are the most popular photo galleries from 2017:

1. Moon sweeps past Venus and Mars.

As 2017 opened, the young moon swept past dazzling Venus in the west after sunset. Mars was there, too, and, for those with optical aid, Neptune! Go to gallery.

As seen from the Northern Hemisphere, the moon, Venus and Mars arced up and to the left of the sunset Sunday evening, January 1, 2017.

Photo by Gowrishankar Lakshminarayanan Parsippany, New Jersey. More photos here.

2. February 10-11 lunar eclipse.

A penumbral eclipse is subtle, but has a quiet beauty all its own. Go to gallery.

February 10, 2017 full moon rising over northeast Oklahoma, with a tinge of Earth’s penumbral shadow visible.

Photo by Mike O’Neal. More photos.

3. Moon and Jupiter.

Wonderful photos of the moon and Jupiter on June 3, 2017, from around the world. Go to gallery.

Moon and Jupiter on June 3, 2017 from Deirdre Horan in Dublin, Ireland. More photos.

4. Summer full moon. 

EarthSky friends are moon-lovers! Favorite photos of the July 2017 full moon from EarthSky friends around the world. Go to gallery.

John Ashley at Glacier National Park, Montana, wrote: “The July 2017 full moon rises over Mount Saint Nicholas on its way into a warm summer dusk. Video on my FB page at JohnAshleyFineArt. More photos. ”

5. Total solar eclipse.

We received many more wonderful photos of the August 21 eclipse than for any prior event. Go to gallery.

Sue Waddell contributed this eclipse composite from Eastview, Kentucky, where there was a 98.3% eclipse. More photos.

6. Orionid meteor shower.

October’s Orionid meteor shower didn’t disappoint. Go to gallery.

Composite image of meteors seen on the morning of October 21, 2017 from Simon Lee Waldram of Fuerteshoot in Spain. More photos.

7. A grand year for the Geminids.

December’s Geminid meteor shower was thought to have a better-than-average chance of producing a rich display, since the Geminids’ parent body – a strange rock-comet called 3200 Phaethon – is nearby. And so it was! Go to gallery.

“The Geminids are good,” reported veteran meteor observer Eliot Herman in Tucson, Arizona, who captured this fireball on the morning of December 14 around 4 a.m. More photos.

Bottom line: Favorite Earthsky photo galleries of 2017.

{http://earthsky.org/ }

31-12-2017 om 18:45 geschreven door peter  

Mike Wehner @MikeWehner

Science fiction has taught us to expect our first contact with alien life to be a momentous event, with radio signals from another civilization filling our airwaves and perhaps even the arrival of an alien spaceship or two. Reality is somewhat less exciting, and scientists have long expected our first discovery of extraterrestrial life to be on the microscopic scale. Now, the Russian space agency claims they may have stumbled upon just that, and it may have been hiding under our noses the entire time.

Russian cosmonauts have reportedly discovered tiny bacteria on a swab collected from outside the International Space Station, and they’re confident that the organisms didn’t originate on our planet. If the discovery can be confirmed, it would be the very first concrete evidence of extraterrestrial life. That’s a pretty big deal.

The swabs, which were collected years ago but seemingly overlooked, contained living bacteria which may have come from outer space. “Somehow these swabs reveal bacteria that were absent during the launch of the ISS module,” Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov explains. “That is, they have come from outer space and settled along the external surface. They are being studied so far and it seems that they pose no danger.”

Along with the purported alien bacteria, other bacteria thought to have originated on Earth was also found on the swabs. Surviving in the vacuum of space is no easy feat, and intense temperature fluctuations failed to kill the bacteria over the course of three years, which is mighty impressive. It’s unclear exactly how the researchers were able to differentiate between terrestrial bacteria and the alien bacteria that appeared within the same samples.

The bacteria was brought back to Earth on the swabs and is now being studied, though the Russian space agency says it shouldn’t be considered dangerous. The group apparently didn’t actually know the bacteria was present on the swab samples until it was returned to Earth for closer examination.

There will surely be plenty of scientific interest and certainly debate over where the bacteria originated, but if you’ve seen sci-fi movies you already know that the bacteria will become sentient and lead to the total destruction of the Earth within a few weeks anyway, so get your affairs in order.

{ http://bgr.com/ }

31-12-2017 om 17:32 geschreven door peter  

MIT Astronomer's 'Zoo Theory' Explains Why Aliens Have Not Made Contact With Earth

It may be an old theory that was first proposed almost 45 years ago. But with SpaceX’s recent rocket launch sending many Los Angeles residents into a frenzy due to what they thought was a UFO sighting, and reports claiming that the U.S. government was secretly involved for years in the study of such phenomena, the so-called “Zoo Theory” is again making headlines for its unusual explanation as to why there has yet to be a confirmed UFO or alien sighting to this day.

The Zoo Theory was first proposed in 1973, when Massachusetts Institute of Technology radio astronomer John A. Ball wrote that aliens behave in a similar way to zookeepers, avoiding actual contact with humans to allow them to function normally and perform their everyday tasks. As Newsweek explained, the theory suggests that aliens are quietly watching us behind the scenes, but not interfering with the evolution of humanity because we are “too unevolved and uncivilized” to pose a significant threat or distraction to extraterrestrial beings.

In a 2016 article, Science Alert opined that the Zoo Theory is plausible, as there is a chance that life on other planets, if it does exist, evolved at a much faster pace than life evolved on Earth. That could lead to some interesting hypotheses about how these highly-evolved, possibly older civilizations could be much more technologically advanced than humanity currently is.

“An OC [other civilization] that is, say, a century younger than we are might not be able to communicate over interstellar distances; a century ago we couldn’t,” Ball wrote.

“And an OC a millennium older than we are would probably be using a technology for interstellar communications, such as modulated gamma rays, that we humans haven’t yet learned how to do.”

Stunning ‘Zoo Theory’ by MIT Radio Astronomer proves ‘Why have not made contact with Aliens’ https://t.co/wSeCWiiRfCpic.twitter.com/D94xnzu2zV

— Science Examiner (@ScienceExaminer) December 31, 2017

As further noted by Newsweek, the Zoo Theory is just one of many that explain why we have yet to confirm alien life on other planets, though other theories are leaning toward the possibility of non-intelligent life, as opposed to extraterrestrial beings that boast of advanced technology. Scientists have been exploring worlds such as Saturn’s moon Enceladus, in hopes of confirming whether the necessary ingredients of life are present. But while there could be a chance Enceladus, which is notable for its subsurface ocean, is habitable, experts believe that the moon might only be able to support microbial forms of life.

Despite the best efforts of scientists to confirm the existence of extraterrestrial life, recent efforts have not come anywhere close to proving that we aren’t the only form of intelligent life in the universe. Last month, a team of scientists conducted the first extensive search for radio signals from alien life, only to come up empty due to a lack of signals from distances of 50 parsecs (963 trillion miles) from Earth in all directions. According to Cosmos, the researchers concluded that the chances of signals from high-duty-cycle radio transmitters ever being detected within that 50-parsec distance are less than 0.1 percent.

Even with the Zoo Theory in place, as well as the continued lack of evidence to support the belief that other planets can support alien life, whether intelligent or non-intelligent, some researchers are still confident in the possibility of confirming extraterrestrial life in the foreseeable future. Earlier this year, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute senior astronomer Seth Shostak spoke to Futurism, quipping that he “bet everybody a cup of coffee” that scientists will be able to confirm intelligent alien life within the next 20 years.

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{ http://w-e-a-t-h-e-r-s.com/ }

31-12-2017 om 17:19 geschreven door peter  

31-12-2017 om 12:55 geschreven door peter  

Strange Light in the sky off Newport Beach Coast California releases Bright Spheres

On October 21, 2017 the witness saw a huge bright light over his house in Long Beach, California.

At first he spotted two objects crossing paths with each other then focused on the larger one. As he zoomed in his camera the huge bright light started ejecting smaller spheres into the atmosphere.

The first ejection formed a triangular formation. As he kept filming the object the object started emitting many spheres in a steady stream.

There were at least 40 smaller spheres emitted from the main object. Interestingly the smaller spheres were only visible through his infrared camera. This was recorded with his full spectrum Canon SX60 with a monopod in his backyard in Long Beach CA.

On December 30, 2017, once again a strange light has been spotted off the coast of Newport Beach, California. This time the light in the form of a ‘hexagon’ appeared for approximately 30 minutes during the very early morning hours.

The first video shows the enhanced version of the November 21, 2017 sighting. Original video here.
The second video shows the December 30, 2017 sighting including an analysis of both events.

  

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

31-12-2017 om 12:30 geschreven door peter  

Most remarkable UFO sightings in December 2017

11th December 2017; lights in the sky – Liberty, Arizona

12th December 2017; lights in the sky – Rosarito, Mexico

21st December 2017; unknown objects in formation – Long Beach, California

31-12-2017 om 12:20 geschreven door peter  

Formerly Classified US Military Footage Apparently Shows Navy Pilots Tracking An Unidentified Flying Object

A previously classified footage has apparently revealed that the US fighter jets were sent to investigate a mysterious UFO as it hovered off the coast of San Diego.

The US Department of Defence (DoD) released a video that seems to show Navy pilots reacting with a surprise as they looked for the whitish oval object that glided over the Pacific Ocean.

A secret multimillion-dollar programme reportedly studied the footage. The programme was tasked with investigating UFO sighting reports.

The Pentagon confirmed reports that the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Programme (AATIP) ran from 2007 to 2012 with annual funding of $22m (£15m) for DoD budgets.

The released footage shows an encounter between a UFO, roughly the size of a commercial jet, and two Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets in 2004, from the aircraft carrier Nimitz.

Asked to investigate the object were Commander David Fravor and Lieutenant Commander Jim Slaight, who were on a routine training mission 100 miles out into the Pacific.

Naval cruiser USS Princeton detected the mysterious object appearing suddenly at 80,000 feet. The Naval cruiser had been tracking the UFO for two weeks.

In the video, a voice can be heard from one of the pilots saying “look at that thing, dude. It’s rotating.”

Commander Fravor told The New York Times the strange aerial thing was around 40ft long, had no plumes, wings or rotors. Fravor added that the object outpaced their F-18s and was big enough to churn the sea 50ft below it.

Fravor had no idea what he saw as the object accelerated like nothing he had ever seen.

The Navy superiors of the pilot did not investigate any further. Until today, the object has never been clearly identified.

The Pentagon said the AATIP was closed when defence officials shifted funding and attention to other priorities.

However, it was not clear whether officials continue to investigate UFO sighting reports. According to its backers, the programmed remains in existence without the public knowledge.

The initial funding of the programme came primarily at the request of former Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, who is known for his space phenomena enthusiasm.

Pentagon spokesperson Laura Ochoa said that the AATIP ended in the 2012 timeframe. She explained that it was determined that there were other issues in higher priority that merited funding and it was in the DoD’s best interest to make a change.

Asked if the department continued to investigate such case, she said that the DoD takes all threats and potential threats to their people, assets, and mission seriously and takes action to credible information.

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

31-12-2017 om 12:13 geschreven door peter  

Aliens are HERE? Most BAFFLING ‘UFO sightings and ET videos’ from 2017 REVEALED

ALIEN hunters claimed to have recorded baffling footage of extra-terrestrial beings and spacecraft in 2017 – but are these the most convincing?

31-12-2017 om 00:54 geschreven door peter  

“Look at that thing, dude.”

This could be the most famous quote in ufology for the year 2017. “Look at that thing, dude” was uttered by a pilot on one of the two infamous videos released this month by parties identifying them as evidence of UFO encounters by U.S. military personnel. The “parties” are now in question, as the Department of Defense has backed off on saying it was involved in the release, and Luis Elizonso, the former head of the $22 million semi-secret UFO department called Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program and a current member of Tom DeLonge’s To The Stars Academy, was found to have previously stated that he was going to use the videos for pilot training. Nonetheless, there’s no question that pilots dispatched on November 14th, 2004, by the USS Nimitz saw things they could not believe.

“There’s a whole fleet of them. Look on the S.A.”

The “S.A.” this pilot was referring to is the synthetic aperture radar, which was picking up the objects. And that’s where Raytheon comes in. Instrumentation inside the F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets is manufactured by this massive government contractor, including the most important part of this whole story – the Raytheon Advanced Targeting Forward Look Infrared sensor (ATFLIR) which was mounted under one of the fighters and captured the video which prompted the “Look at that thing, dude.”

Raytheon ATFLIR (AN/ASQ-228)

Is Raytheon, normally pretty secretive about weapons contracts and equipment, upset to be linked to this UFO story?

“We might be the system that caught the first evidence of E.T. out there. But I’m not surprised we were able to see it. ATFLIR is designed to operate on targets that are traveling in excess of Mach 1. It’s a very agile optical system with a sensitive detector that can distinguish between the cold sky and the hot moving target quite easily.”

They’re not upset … they’re excited! At least Aaron Maestas, director of engineering and chief engineer for Surveillance and Targeting Systems at Raytheon’s Space and Airborne Systems business, is. He is quoted on the company’s web site in an article entitled “The UFO Spotter: Navy Pilots Used Raytheon Tech to Track a Strange UFO,” which explains that ATFLIR (designated AN/ASQ-228 by the Navy) is a “single pod that combines mid-wave infrared targeting and navigation FLIRs, an electro-optical, or visual light, sensor, a laser rangefinder and target designator, and a laser spot-tracker. It can locate and designate targets day or night at ranges exceeding 40 nautical miles and altitudes surpassing 50,000 feet.”

Sounds impressive, but Dr. Steve Cummings, vice president of Technology Development and Execution at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems wants to see more data. His UFO spotter would have …

“Wide-area search of some form or another. I would want at least two sensors, like radar and [electro-optical/infrared], to search the skies…One way to actually verify these and be absolutely certain that this is not an anomaly is to get the same target, behaving the same way on multiple sensors.”

USS Nimitz

So, despite the fact that 12 pilots and weapons system operators in six different planes, along with radar operators on the USS Princeton in the Nimitz fleet, saw the UFOs, Cummings wants the next generation of UFO hunters to have better equipment.

From Raytheon, of course.

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/}

30-12-2017 om 23:54 geschreven door peter  

ER IS IETS GROOTS GAANDE IN DE RUIMTE ( VIDEO )

Afgelopen week stonden de mainstream media bol van de verhalen over mensen die dachten dat de gelanceerde Space X raket een grote UFO was. 

Het werkelijke verhaal is dat er iets groots gaande moet zijn in de ruimte waarvan de Space X raket een onderdeel vormt. 

Net voor kerst was de complete wereld in de ban van het volgende: 

Los Angeles werd gisteravond opgeschrikt door een vreemd verschijnsel. Bestuurders zetten hun auto's stil op snelwegen om foto's en video's te maken en bewoners tot in San Diego bij de Mexicaanse grens belden TV-stations om melding te doen van "een mysterieus licht aan de hemel."

De brandweer van Los Angeles was er snel bij om het mysterie op te helderen: het ging om een raket. Ruimtevaartbedrijf SpaceX had een Falcon9 vanaf Vandenberg Air Force Base gelanceerd. Aan boord waren tien communicatiesatellieten die succesvol hun baan om de aarde bereikten.

Deze SpaceX raket zou maar liefst tien satellieten de ruimte in brengen.

Rond precies dezelfde tijd schiet ook Japan een raket de ruimte in met een tweetal satellieten aan boord. Alhoewel dit ongeveer gelijktijdig gebeurt met de SpaceX lancering is het in Japan inmiddels al zaterdag.

Dan, enkele dagen later lanceren de Russen een raket met aan boord naar verluid één satelliet. Er is verder weinig te vinden in de media over deze lancering. 


Op vrijwel hetzelfde moment dat de Russen een raket lanceren, doen ook de Chinezen dat en ook deze raket zou een onbekend aantal satellieten de ruimte in brengen.

De vier grootste en machtigste landen ter wereld, Amerika, Rusland, China en Japan, lanceren allemaal in een tijdsbestek van enkele dagen een raket de ruimte in.

De reden weten we niet, maar wel dat dit absoluut geen toeval is en dat er iets groots gaande is in de ruimte, waardoor ze nu allemaal plotseling satellieten daar naartoe moeten brengen. 

Het is niet dat we niet genoeg satellieten in de ruimte om de aarde hebben, dat er nu met spoed door deze vier landen een aantal nieuwe bij gelanceerd moeten worden. Er speelt iets anders, maar wat, dat is de grote vraag.

{

30-12-2017 om 23:41 geschreven door peter  

The red giant Pi1 Gruis. Astronomers used ESO’s Very Large Telescope with the PIONIER instrument to see the convective cells on its surface. Each cell covers more than a quarter of the star’s diameter and about 75 million miles (120 million km) across.

Image via ESO.

With just a few exceptions, throughout the ages, whether using the eye alone or telescopes, astronomers have seen stars as pinpoints. Stars are really great balls of roiling gases, shining powerfully into space via thermonuclear reactions taking place in their interiors. But all stars besides our sun are so very distant that, even with telescopes, we’ve had very few direct glimpses of their surface features. Now, for the first time, astronomers have directly observed granulation patterns, caused by massive convection currents rising from the star’s interior, on the surface of a star outside our solar system. It’s no coincidence the star is a huge one, the aging red giant Pi1 Gruis, whose diameter is about 700 times that of our sun. The astronomers have seen the giant convective cells that make up the surface of this huge star. These new results are being published this week in the peer-reviewed journal Nature.

These astronomers used the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO’s) Very Large Telescope to make this observation, along with an instrument called PIONIER (Precision Integrated-Optics Near-infrared Imaging ExpeRiment). They said in their statement from ESO:

Located 530 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Grus (The Crane), Pi1 Gruis is a cool red giant. It has about the same mass as our sun, but is 700 times larger and several thousand times as bright. Our sun will swell to become a similar red giant star in about five billion years.

An international team of astronomers led by Claudia Paladini of ESO … found that the surface of this red giant has just a few convective cells, or granules, that are each about 75 million miles (120 million km) across — about a quarter of the star’s diameter. Just one of these granules would extend from the sun to beyond Venus. The surfaces — known as photospheres — of many giant stars are obscured by dust, which hinders observations. However, in the case of Pi1 Gruis, although dust is present far from the star, it does not have a significant effect on the new infrared observations.

When Pi1 Gruis ran out of hydrogen to burn long ago, this ancient star ceased the first stage of its nuclear fusion program. It shrank as it ran out of energy, causing it to heat up to over 100 million degrees. These extreme temperatures fueled the star’s next phase as it began to fuse helium into heavier atoms such as carbon and oxygen. This intensely hot core then expelled the star’s outer layers, causing it to balloon to hundreds of times larger than its original size. The star we see today is a variable red giant.

Until now, the surface of one of these stars has never before been imaged in detail.

A piece of our sun’s surface, showing a sunspot and solar granulation. In part because the sun is more compact than Pi1 Gruis, it has millions of convective cells, instead of just a few.

Image via the Hinode spacecraft.

In many ways, Pi1 Gruis is like our sun; both are stars, after all, and subject to many of the same processes. But, as with people, stars can be very different from each other. Pi1 Gruis has slightly more mass than our sun (about 1.5 solar masses), and a much larger volume, because it’s in a more advanced stage of its evolution. That may be why – in contrast to Pi1 Gruis’ few, very large convective cells – our sun’s photosphere contains about two million convective cells, with typical diameters of just 1,000 miles (1,500 km). The ESO statement explained:

The vast size differences in the convective cells of these two stars can be explained in part by their varying surface gravities. Pi1 Gruis is just 1.5 times the mass of the sun but much larger, resulting in a much lower surface gravity and just a few, extremely large, granules.

Doubtless if we could see Pi1 Gruis’ surface in even more detail, we’d be boggled at its beauty and complexity. That’s certainly the case with our own sun, whose surface has been revealed to us in recent decades by spacecraft, such as NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which captured the images to make the mesmerizing video below:

ESO also pointed out that the stage of life at which we see Pi1 Gruis is short-lived, on the timescale of stars:

While stars more massive than eight solar masses end their lives in dramatic supernovae explosions, less massive stars like this one gradually expel their outer layers, resulting in beautiful planetary nebulae. Previous studies of Pi1 Gruis found a shell of material 0.9 light-years away from the central star, thought to have been ejected around 20,000 years ago. This relatively short period in a star’s life lasts just a few tens of thousands of years – compared to the overall lifetime of several billion – and these observations reveal a new method for probing this fleeting red giant phase.

The video below, from ESO, zooms in on Pi1 Gruis.

Bottom line: For the 1st time, astronomers have seen giant bubbles roiling up to the surface of a star beyond our solar system. The star is an aging red giant, Pi1 Gruis, located about 530 light-years away.

Source: Large granulation cells on the surface of the giant star Pi1 Gruis

Via ESO

{ http://earthsky.org/ }

30-12-2017 om 23:31 geschreven door peter  

Evidence of life processes found in fossils in 3.5-billion-year-old rocks. Scientists say this work suggests life in our universe is widespread.

J. William Schopf and colleagues from UCLA and the University of Wisconsin analyzed the microfossils with a cutting-edge technique called secondary ion mass spectroscopy.

Image via UCLA.

This month, scientists from UCLA and the University of Wisconsin–Madison announced the results of their analysis of rock samples found decades ago in Western Australia. They say the rocks contain fossils of 3.465-billion-year-old microorganisms, the oldest ones known. The study’s lead author – paleontologist J. William Schopf of UCLA – collected the fossils in 1982 and interpreted them then as early life. Critics had argued they were just odd minerals that only looked like biological specimens. The new study shows that two of the species appear to have performed a primitive form of photosynthesis, another apparently produced methane gas, and two others appear to have consumed methane and used it to build their cell walls. Thus, according to these scientists, the new findings show the microfossils are indeed biological.

Plus, they said, the fossils provide:

… strong evidence to support an increasingly widespread understanding that life in the universe is common.

Their work was published December 18, 2017 in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

These scientists say their work strengthens the case for life existing elsewhere in the universe because, they say, it shows a diverse group of organisms had already evolved extremely early in the Earth’s history. That early earthly life — combined with our knowledge of the vast number of stars in the universe and the growing understanding that planets orbit so many of them — suggests life is common in the universe. Schopf commented in a statement:

… it would be extremely unlikely that life formed quickly on Earth, but did not arise anywhere else.

The microfossils came from the Apex Chert, a rock formation in Western Australia. This area is among the oldest and best-preserved rock deposits in the world.

Image via John Valley/ UW-Madison.

An epoxy mount containing a sliver of a nearly 3.5-billion-year-old rock from Australia’s Apex Chert deposit.

Image by Jeff Miller/ UW-Madison.

The scientists say their study is the most detailed ever conducted on microorganisms preserved in such ancient fossils. They said their study is:

… the first to establish what kind of biological microbial organisms they are, and how advanced or primitive they are.

The study describes 11 microbial specimens from five separate taxa. According to these scientists, some represent now-extinct bacteria and microbes from a domain of life called Archaea, while others are similar to microbial species still found today.

The scientists analyzed the microorganisms at the Wisconsin Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer Lab (WiscSIMS) in Madison. It is one of just a few places in the world where this type of work can be done. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy revealed the ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-13 isotopes in the fossils.

The scientists then were able to use this information to determine how the microorganisms lived. The study’s co-author, geoscientist John Valley of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said:

The differences in carbon isotope ratios correlate with their shapes. Their C-13-to-C-12 ratios are characteristic of biology and metabolic function.

When these fossils were formed, these scientists said, there was very little oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere. In fact, oxygen would have been poisonous to these microorganisms, and would have killed them, they said. Oxygen first appeared on Earth approximately half a billion years later, before its concentration in our atmosphere increased rapidly starting about 2 billion years ago. Thus, at the time these ancient microorganisms were alive, advanced photosynthesis didn’t exist yet.

The scientists also said the very existence of the rocks they analyzed is remarkable. That’s because the average lifetime of a rock exposed on Earth’s surface is about 200 million years. William Schopf commented that, when he began his career, there was no fossil evidence of life dating back farther than 500 million years ago. He added:

The rocks we studied are about as far back as rocks go.

An example of one of the microfossils discovered in a sample of rock recovered from the Apex Chert. A new study used sophisticated chemical analysis to confirm the microscopic structures found in the rock are biological.

Image via J. William Schopf via UW-Madison.

Schopf also said:

By 3.465 billion years ago, life was already diverse on Earth; that’s clear — primitive photosynthesizers, methane producers, methane users. These are the first data that show the very diverse organisms at that time in Earth’s history, and our previous research has shown that there were sulfur users 3.4 billion years ago as well.

This tells us life had to have begun substantially earlier and it confirms that it was not difficult for primitive life to form and to evolve into more advanced microorganisms.

Schopf said scientists still don’t know how much earlier life might have begun. But, he said:

… if the conditions are right, it looks like life in the universe should be widespread.

Geoscientist John Valley, left, and research scientist Kouki Kitajima collaborate in the Wisconsin Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer Lab (WiscSIMS). 

Photo via Jeff Miller/ University of Wisconsin.

Bottom line: Scientists analyzed fossil microorganism specimens from 3.465 billion years ago, providing strong evidence to support an increasingly widespread understanding that life in the universe is common.

Source:

SIMS analyses of the oldest known assemblage of microfossils document their taxon-correlated carbon isotope compositions

Via UCLA and UW-Madison

{ http://earthsky.org/ }

30-12-2017 om 23:15 geschreven door peter  

2017 YZ4: NEWLY-DISCOVERED ASTEROID APPROACHES EARTH

Updated | On Christmas Day, astronomers at the Mount Lemmon Survey near Tucson, Arizona, discovered an asteroid fast approaching Earth. The newly named 2017 YZ4 skimmed past the planet at 10:50 a.m. ET (7:50 a.m. PT) today. 

Fast and furious

The previously unknown rock hurtled through space at almost 21,500 miles per hour. It flew past the Earth closer than the moon. It is believed to measure between 22.6 and 49 feet in diameter according to observation news website The Watchers.

The asteroid’s trajectory is marked in green. The orbit of the moon is drawn in gray.

NASA

Lindley Johnson, Planetary Defense Officer at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C, tells Newsweek: “2017 YZ4 is the 52nd known asteroid to fly by Earth within one lunar distance this year and the first since two such asteroids flew past us on November 21. They varied from 1 to 80 meters [3 to 260 feet] in size.”

Unusually close flyby

The asteroid 2017 YZ4 hurtled through space at almost 21,500 miles per hour. The previously unknown rock flew past the Earth closer than the moon.

JUDY SCHMIDT/JENS MEYER/NASA/FLICKR

Astronomers estimate it reached less than 139,000 miles of Earth. That’s only just longer than half the distance between the Earth and the Moon.

Even at its closest, 2017 YZ4 was incredibly unlikely to breach the Earth’s atmosphere. However, it came unusually close for a celestial boulder.

NASA considers it a Near-Earth Asteroid. This designation is reserved for any asteroid closer than six million miles to Earth.

Johnson tells Newsweek, “As of December 25, there are 17,506 known Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), in orbits around the Sun that could come close to our planet; 17,400 are asteroids and 106 are comets.

“This year, we’ve discovered 1,996 Near-Earth Asteroids so far. There were 1887 such objects discovered in 2016 and 1,566 in 2015.”

Celestial objects pass by the Earth regularly. Few, however, pass so close to home. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory compiles a list of upcoming near-Earth flybys that can help you make sure you build an underground fallout shelter on time. Or, of course, just get out your telescope.

Over the 2018, the next closest asteroid to fly past Earth will be 2017 DR109. Don’t start building your underground shelter just yet, as the hunk of rock shouldn’t get closer than 880,000 miles from Earth. That is roughly three-and-a-half times the distance to the moon.

On Friday April 13, 2029, an asteroid called 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4) will come far closer to Earth than 2017 YZ4. It will fly past at only one-tenth the distance to the moon. Apophis is named for the Egyptian god of evil and destruction living in eternal darkness.

Don’t be fooled by the name, however. While this is a remarkably close encounter, Apophis is unlikely to actually hit Earth.

There are many more asteroids waiting to be discovered, Johnson explains. “Near-Earth Asteroids are never ‘new,’” he says. “They’ve been there for many millennia. We just haven’t discovered them all yet.”

Busy winter skies

This has been a big month for stargazers, with 2017’s only supermoon and the Geminid meteor shower. The Geminids brought us a “potentially hazardous” 3200 Phaethon asteroid, imaged in new detail by the newly restored Arecibo Observatory Planetary Radar in Puerto Rico. The second-largest single-dish radio telescope in the world was damaged by Hurricane Maria earlier this year.

View image on Twitter

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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This article has been updated to reflect 2017 YZ4’s journey past Earth and to include upcoming asteroid events in addition to comment from NASA’s Lindley Johnson.

30-12-2017 om 22:45 geschreven door peter