Dit is ons nieuw hondje Kira, een kruising van een waterhond en een Podenko. Ze is sinds 7 februari 2024 bij ons en druk bezig ons hart te veroveren. Het is een lief, aanhankelijk hondje, dat zich op een week snel aan ons heeft aangepast. Ze is heel vinnig en nieuwsgierig, een heel ander hondje dan Noleke.
This is our new dog Kira, a cross between a water dog and a Podenko. She has been with us since February 7, 2024 and is busy winning our hearts. She is a sweet, affectionate dog who quickly adapted to us within a week. She is very quick and curious, a very different dog than Noleke.
DEAR VISITOR,
MY BLOG EXISTS ALREADY 12 YEARS AND 11 MONTHS.
ON 06/05/2024 MORE THAN 1.972.210
VISITORS FROM 134 DIFFERENT NATIONS ALREADY FOUND THEIR WAY TO MY BLOG.
THAT IS AN AVERAGE OF 400GUESTS PER DAY.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG AND HOPE YOU ENJOY EACH TIME.
The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
Zoeken in blog
Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
26-02-2023
The hidden agenda: Metallic UFO and its companion spotted over the Arizona desert
The hidden agenda: Metallic UFO and its companion spotted over the Arizona desert
On January 24, 2023 what seems to be a metallic UFO has been spotted while hovering above the Arizona desert. the UFO is accompanied by another object visible in the distance.
Isn't it strange that these kinds of unknown objects can fly through US airspace at low altitudes seemingly undisturbed and are not intercepted and brought down like the Chinese hot air balloon and the other three unknown objects?
Wouldn't it make sense that these types of objects would also be intercepted and shot down by the US Airforce as happened with the Chinese balloon and the other three unknown objects?
Since the many UFOs and UAPs are left alone, not only does it say a lot about the knowledge the Pentagon and the US government have about these UFOs and UAPs to make the decision not to shoot down these objects, but it also says a lot about the shooting down of the other objects, likely indicating that these actions were carried out as part of a secret agenda behind the scenes, that may not be known to the US government, to archive a particular target in the near future.
Where Are The Aliens? The Search For Extraterrestrial Life
Where Are The Aliens? The Search For Extraterrestrial Life
For more than four decades, scientists have been on a mission to find techno-signatures – signals coming from distant alien civilizations. Despite the search, no convincing evidence has been found for biology beyond Earth. But, considering the vastness of the universe, it is estimated that our galaxy, the Milky Way, which contains about 400 billion stars, is likely to have life beyond our planet.
The Fermi paradox remains unresolved, which states that if intelligent extraterrestrial life exists, then why haven’t we seen any evidence of it? Some scientists have attempted to estimate the number of technologically advanced species in the universe through the Drake Equation, which has seven terms that need to be answered to get an estimate. While this equation has been useful, a slightly different approach has been suggested by Adam Frank from the University of Rochester. Rather than estimating how many civilizations are out there to communicate with today, they estimate how many civilizations have been out there since the beginning of the universe.
The first term of the Drake Equation is the rate of star formation, which we now know is about one star forming per year. The next two terms we’ve recently nailed down are the fraction of stars that have planets and the number of habitable zone planets – planets in the right place for life to form. For every five stars, one of them has a planet in the right place for life to form.
While we have made a lot of progress in the last 20 years, the question remains, where are the aliens? The answer to this question could lie in the search for technological signatures of other civilizations. Several international scientific projects are devoted to searching for evidence of life beyond Earth, from biomolecular detection to exoplanet atmospheres and biomarker detection.
In 2017, an object hurtled through the solar system. Although most astronomers believe it was a natural phenomenon, some believe it was the result of advanced technology developed by an alien civilization. NASA has funded a mission concept known as the Extrasolar object Interceptor.
The search for alien life has progressed a long way. According to a study published in the planetary science journal Planetary Science Journal earlier this month, NASA’s James Webb telescope can detect consistent passive technosigns. One of the most common characteristics of industry on Earth is atmospheric pollution. If this type of pollution is found in an exoplanet’s atmosphere, it could provide evidence of alien technology.
Watch
Where Are The Aliens? The Search For Extraterrestrial Life from Science Time
Civilizations need only be older than ours to have technology that we are incapable of understanding. If we were to meet life from a planet that had no contact with Earth, it would likely be shocking to us. Other planets have different histories of cooking their soup of chemicals and making life out of it. Most stars are different than the sun, which may explain why interstellar tourist agencies never advertise Earth as a desired tourist destination, as all we can offer them is green grass vacation sites illuminated by visible light.
In conclusion, the search for aliens has been ongoing for several decades, and we have made significant progress in our understanding of the universe. The quest to find intelligent extraterrestrial life may still be ongoing, but we continue to make discoveries that bring us closer to the answer.
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- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:ALIEN LIFE, UFO- CRASHES, ABDUCTIONS, MEN IN BLACK, ed ( FR. , NL; E )
Ancient Aliens: Origins of Humanity
Ancient Aliens: Origins of Humanity
Over the past couple of years, the number of reports of extraterrestrial beings being spotted in different parts of the world has increased. These sightings put a question mark over the possibility of alien life. While some believe that the notion of alien life is just science fiction, other believers think that there’s more to it.
One of the most interesting aspects about the UFO phenomenon is the idea that extraterrestrial beings may have been visiting Earth for thousands of years. In ancient cultures, there have been numerous stories about encounters with beings in the sky. These stories provide a glimpse into the beliefs of our ancestors.
In ancient Egyptian literature, the gods were referred to as individuals who came from the sky and taught people how to build structures such as pyramids. In the Bible, there are also references to extraterrestrial beings and chariots of fire. The Mahabharata, which is a part of the Hindu epicurean literature, talks about the gods’ use of flying machines known as “Vimas,” which were capable of moving across different dimensions.
The increasing number of reports about extraterrestrial beings has raised various questions about the nature of our existence. Some believe that these beings could have helped us develop our ancestors by providing us with the necessary tools and knowledge to build advanced civilizations. Others think that they might have left us with advanced technology that governments around the world have been keeping secret.
Although the idea of ancient aliens has been around for a long time, the mainstream scientific community has started to take it seriously in the last couple of years. In 2017, the U.S. Defense Department released footage of an alleged alien encounter, which caught the public’s attention.
Despite the lack of evidence supporting the existence of alien life, the discovery of new planets outside our solar system has raised the possibility that other civilizations could also exist. Some believe that the conditions in the universe are so similar that intelligent life could easily evolve.
Despite the various cover-ups and mysterious nature of alien life, the evidence supporting the notion of alien existence continues to grow. As we continue to search for new planets outside of Earth, it’s possible that we will find more proof of alien life. However, it’s not yet clear if we will ever encounter these beings.
Although it may seem extraterrestrial life is already a distant idea for some people, the evidence suggests there could be more to it than we currently know. We must not lose sight of the fact that these beings have been a part of our culture and history. As the universe continues to expand, we can only look for answers to the many alien-related questions.
Watch FULL documentary movie about Origins of Humanity
Maak kennis met TOI-5205b, een planeet die volgens alles wat wij over de vorming van planeten weten, eigenlijk niet zou mogen bestaan.
Onderzoekers hebben een vrij ongewoon planetair systeem ontdekt. Het gaat om een grote gasreus die rond een kleine rode dwergster cirkelt. De bevindingen dagen lang gekoesterde ideeën over planeetvorming uit.
Rode dwergsterren Rode dwergsterren (M-sterren) zijn de meest voorkomende en langstlevende sterren in het heelal. Ze zijn een stukje kleiner en koeler dan onze eigen zon. Hoewel rode dwergsterren over het algemeen meer planeten herbergen dan andere type sterren, is het vrij onwaarschijnlijk dat ze gasreuzen huisvesten. Dat heeft er onder andere mee te maken dat rode dwergen extreem actief zijn en op krachtige wijze uitbarsten, waardoor een mogelijk rondom cirkelende planeet van zijn atmosfeer wordt ontdaan. Het betekent dat dergelijke zonnestelsels onherbergzame plekken lijken voor de vorming van gasachtige planeten.
Ontdekking Toch is dat precies wat astronomen nu hebben ontdekt. De nieuwe planeet, die de naam TOI-5205b heeft gekregen, kwam als eerste in het vizier van planetenjager TESS. Na verdere analyse bevestigden onderzoekers dat het hier inderdaad om een planeet ging en wisten ‘m met behulp van verschillende instrumenten verder te karakteriseren.
Gasreus Toen uit vervolgmetingen bleek dat onderzoekers hier ook nog eens op een – in verhouding – grote gasreus waren gestuit, stonden ze versteld. “De moederster, TOI-5205, is ongeveer vier keer zo groot als Jupiter, maar toch is het op de één of andere manier gelukt om een planeet ter grootte van Jupiter voort te brengen,” zegt onderzoeker Shubham Kanodia. “Dit is heel verrassend.”
Erwt en citroen Om dit wat beter te begrijpen; onderzoekers hebben vaker Jupiter-achtige planeten rond een zon-achtige ster gevonden, wat je qua grootte kunt vergelijken met een erwt die rond een grapefruit draait. Maar de rode dwergster TOI-5205 is veel kleiner. In dit geval lijkt het meer op een erwt die rond een citroen draait. Wanneer TOI 5205b voor zijn moederster langs beweegt, blokkeert ie zelfs ongeveer zeven procent van haar uitgestraalde licht – een van de grootste bekende planeetovergangen.
De grootte van de gasreus vergeleken met die van zijn moederster. Afbeelding: Katherine Cain is courtesy of the Carnegie Institution for Science
Overigens is het niet voor het eerst dat onderzoekers een gasreus rond een rode dwerg aantreffen. Er is namelijk een klein aantal gasreuzen ontdekt in een baan rond oudere rode dwergsterren. Maar tot nu toe is er nog nooit een gasreus gevonden in een planetair systeem rond een lichte M-ster, zoals TOI-5205.
Verboden planeet Dat de gasreus dus toch het levenslicht rond TOI-5205 heeft gezien, is merkwaardig. Onderzoekers begrijpen er dan ook niet veel van. Sterker nog, ze noemen de gasreus een ‘verboden’ planeet: Op basis van ons huidige begrip van planeetvorming zou TOI-5205b helemaal niet moeten bestaan. De ontdekking daagt dan ook de theorieën over de vorming van gasreuzen uit.
Geboorte van een gasreus Planeten worden geboren in een roterende schijf van gas en stof die jonge sterren omringt. Om een gasreus te vormen, moet ongeveer 10 aardmassa’s van dit rotsachtige materiaal zich ophopen, waardoor een massieve, rotsachtige kern ontstaat. Daarna zal het grote hoeveelheden gas uit naburige gebieden naar zich toetrekken. En zo ontstaat een gigantische gasreus. Het tijdsbestek waarin dit allemaal gebeurt is cruciaal. “Het bestaan van TOI-5205b staat op gespannen voet met wat we weten over de schijven waarin dergelijke planeten geboren worden,” legt Kanodia uit. “Wanneer zo’n schijf net is ontstaan, zit er namelijk nog niet genoeg rotsachtig materiaal in om een kern te vormen. En dus kan er ook geen gasreus geboren worden. Ook aan het einde van de rit, als de schijf verdampt voordat de massieve kern is gevormd, kan er geen gasreus meer gevormd worden. En toch zag TOI-5205b het levenslicht.”
Het bestaan van TOI-5205b roept dus nog veel vragen op. Want hoe kan zo’n lichte ster zo’n grote gasreus hebben voortgebracht? Onderzoekers hopen de bizarre planeet dan ook met toekomstige waarnemingen verder te doorgronden. Het liefst zouden ze de krachtige James Webb-telescoop op de gasreus richten. Zo denken ze dat deze ruimtetelescoop de enige is die licht zou kunnen werpen op de atmosfeer en enkele aanvullende aanwijzingen zou kunnen geven over hoe deze vreemde planeet het levenslicht zag.
In a first, planetary geologists describe an active mantle plume on the surface of Mars.
An illustration of Olympus Mons, the largest known volcano in the solar system. Mars may have a mantle plume that's fueling its earthquakes and recent volcanism.
(Image credit: SEBASTIAN KAULITZKI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via Getty Images)
For decades, astronomers assumed that Mars was geodynamically dead — a planet without rumbling earthquakes and erupting volcanoes. Though remnants of towering volcanoes exist on the surface of the Red Planet today, these colossal structures have been dormant for millions of years. With little to no heat firing the planet's engine, scientists reasoned, Mars became dormant long ago.
However, over the last five years, this assumption has been proven wrong. NASA's InSight mission has detected quakes and even evidence of recent volcanism around one Martian region, known as Elysium Planitia. And now, they think they know why this activity is occuring.
In a paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy(opens in new tab) Dec. 5, scientists describe what appears to be the first active mantle plume discovered on the Martian surface. Study co-author Jeff Andrews-Hanna(opens in new tab), a planetary geologist at the University of Arizona, called the finding a "very big surprise."
The finding suggests that Mars may be cooling significantly more slowly than scientists had anticipated. If this is the case, it could have profound implications not just for the planet's geology but also in the search for water — or perhaps even alien life.
In terms of geology, Mars and Earth have several key differences. Our planet's crust is divided into many tectonic plates, which move around and bump into one another, driving geological activity. "On Earth, most volcanism takes place around the boundaries of these plates," Paul Byrne(opens in new tab), a planetary geologist at Washington University in St. Louis who was not involved in the new research, told Live Science in an email.
Here we see a false color image of Elysium Planitia on Mars. The linear depressions on the left are created by tectonic faults. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU)
But Mars lacks separate tectonic plates; instead, its crust is a single continuous sheet sitting atop the mantle. For this reason, scientists think volcanic activity on Mars, both ancient and more recent (geologically speaking), must be the result of mantle plumes.
A mantle plume is an upwelling of hot, rocky material from a planet's mantle, the layer that sits just beneath the crust like the white of an egg under a shell. Unlike an egg white, however, the mantle isn't liquid. "All that material is actually solid," Andrews-Hanna told Live Science, but "over geologic time scales, it's able to flow." This gradual mantle movement allows plumes to bubble to the surface like wax in a lava lamp. Plume activity is generally believed to drive terrestrial volcanoes in places such as Hawaii and Iceland.
Researchers have known for some time that volcanoes used to exist on Mars; the largest known volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons, was discovered on the Martian surface in 1971. Olympus Mons has been inactive for around 25 million years. Based on what we know of Martian geology, it makes sense for the enormous volcano to be quiet.
Smaller celestial bodies tend to cool faster than their larger counterparts. Planets with a thinner mantle — the geological layer that drives most volcanic activity — also cool off at an even quicker rate. "So, at least in this case, size matters," Byrne said. Mars is about 53% the size of our planet, and its mantle is only 15% as thick. Because of this, scientists have long speculated that Mars should be relatively dead from a volcanic and geological perspective.
This assumption has been challenged in recent years by NASA's InSight mission, which landed a seismometer on Mars in 2018. Since landing in the Elysium Planitia region, Mars' second-largest volcanic region, this device has detected a wellspring of seismic activity. "Maybe 90% of the Marsquakes that we recorded and analyzed come from this one region," study first author Adrien Broquet(opens in new tab), a planetary geophysicist at the University of Arizona, told Live Science.
In 2020, scientists also described fissures in the area that may have been volcanically active as recently as 50,000 years ago. And this hot spot just so happens to be the same place where Broquet and Andrews-Hanna posit that the mantle plume is slowly bubbling up.
They suspect that a mantle plume could explain this unexpected seismic and volcanic activity. "What this is telling us is that Mars' interior is not behaving," Andrews-Hanna said.
However, one mantle plume and several hundred Marsquakes do not mean that Mars is gearing up for a massive eruption anytime soon. Assuming the site is indeed volcanically active, Byrne said, "the amount of energy there is still a tiny amount of what the planet once had." In other words, Mars is still cooling, just more gradually than scientists had assumed.
But there is one other exciting implication of discovering an active mantle plume on Mars. "The heat coming from the plume could allow for water," by melting the ice that exists under the planet's surface and creating aquifers, Broquet said. If this is the case, Elysium Planitia could be the best location on Mars to search for evidence of past or present life.
Depositing the cores is an early step toward the first-ever Mars sample return. “We’re coming up on this really big and exciting milestone,” says Meenakshi Wadhwa, a planetary scientist at Arizona State University in Tempe and NASA’s principal scientist for the Mars sample return.
Perseverance drills and stores rock samples in its belly as it rolls around on Mars; by depositing some of them in what NASA calls a sample depot, it will create a cache of back-up samples that will be safe if something goes catastrophically wrong as the rover continues to explore Jezero. “It guarantees that a scientifically high-value sample collection will be available for Earth return,” Wadhwa said on 16 December, at a press briefing at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union.
The Martian site nicknamed Three Forks, where the Perseverance rover will soon deposit a cache of samples.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS
Perseverance will deposit the tubes at the base of an ancient river delta in Jezero, in a flat area called Three Forks, where it should be easy for future spacecraft to land. The contents of the ten tubes include three samples of sedimentary rock from the delta, which scientists think will offer the best chance of finding evidence of past life on Mars. The sediments probably settled out at the bottom of slow-flowing water in the delta; on Earth, such sediments often preserve signs of microbial life.
The depot will also include four crater-floor samples of igneous rocks, which are volcanically derived rocks that will allow researchers back on Earth to determine, for the first time, the absolute age of rocks from a particular place on Mars. Rounding out the collection will be one sample of Martian dirt, one of the Martian atmosphere and one ‘witness tube’ that will show whether Earth contaminants were present during sample collection.
Ticket to ride
Perseverance has near-duplicates of most of the samples it will cache, and will keep those duplicates on board. After it drops off the ten cores, it will continue exploring Jezero, adding cores from each of the interesting rocks it encounters. The goal is that the rover will ultimately hold the near-duplicates of the cores that it put down at Three Forks, plus more cores that represent an even wider range of geological diversity. If everything goes well, a future spacecraft will fly to wherever Perseverance ends up and will retrieve the samples directly from the rover.
At Three Forks, Perseverance will put the 10 tubes between 6 and 15 metres apart on the surface, says Katie Stack Morgan, the rover’s deputy project scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. That’s to make sure there is enough room for tiny wheeled helicopters to roll up next to them, pick them up and fly them over to the future fetch lander. The collection will then blast off the surface — in the first-ever rocket launch from another planet — and into Mars orbit, and will eventually return to Earth no earlier than 2033.
After the rover lays down the 10 tubes, it will still have 25 empty tubes on board for whatever it might encounter in the years to come.
Op een koude februaridag in 2021 lichtte een ruimtesteen de nachtelijke hemel op in Alberta, Canada. De vuurbal liet de wetenschap schudden op zijn grondvesten.
De ruimtesteen kwam namelijk vanuit de Oortwolk aansuizen en was opgebouwd uit rotsachtig materiaal. Tot op heden werd verondersteld dat objecten uit deze immense wolk aan de rand van ons zonnestelsel alleen uit verschillende soorten ijs, zoals waterijs, methaan, ethaan, koolstofmonoxide of waterstofcyanide konden bestaan.
On Feb. 22, YouTuber Mieszko Paradis caught a glimpse of a meteor as it flew through the sky over Edmonton.
(Video credit: Mieszko Paradis/YouTube)
De Oortwolk bestaat uit vele miljarden komeetachtige objecten rondom ons zonnestelsel. De Nederlandse astronoom Jan Hendrik Oort bedacht deze hypothese in 1950. Volgens Oort is er een stabiele wolk waar zo nu en dan een komeet vandaan komt die richting de aarde gaat, met een omlooptijd van duizenden jaren, zoals de bekende komeet Hale-Bopp. Dichterbij de aarde zijn er de Kuipergordel en de scattered disk, twee schijven vol puin buiten de baan van Neptunus. Hier komen periodieke kometen met een omlooptijd van minder dan tweehonderd jaar vandaan, zoals de komeet Halley. Materiaal uit deze meer dichtbijgelegen verzameling ruimtepuin bestaat vaker uit gesteente.
Mysterieuze Oortwolk Passerende sterren, die mogelijk ook een eigen Oortwolk in hun buitenste schil hebben, duwen de ijzige reizigers uit ‘onze’ Oortwolk soms richting de zon, is de veronderstelling. We kunnen deze kometen dan waarnemen als lange lichtgevende slierten, omdat het ijzige materiaal verdampt en kleur afgeeft. Wetenschappers hebben nog geen objecten in de Oortwolk direct waargenomen, maar alles wat tot nu toe onze kant op is geslingerd, leek gemaakt van ijs. Tot de ontdekking van vorig jaar dus. En dat zet ons begrip van het ontstaan van ons zonnestelsel op z’n kop. Er zouden alleen ijzige objecten moeten bestaan in deze buitenste regionen, in de theorieën is geen plaats voor rotsachtig materiaal.
De astronomie kan echter niet om de rotsachtige meteoroïde heen, die als een oogverblindende vuurbal door de lucht boven centraal Alberta vloog. Vele professionele en amateurastronomen legden de immense vuurbal vast op de gevoelige plaat en analyseerden de data en het beeldmateriaal. Een team van de University of Western Ontarioconcludeerde dat alle tekenen erop wijzen dat de oorsprong van de ruimtesteen recht in het midden van de Oortwolk ligt.
Bom onder ontstaanstheorieën “Deze ontdekking dwingt ons na te denken over een geheel ander model van de vorming van het zonnestelsel, een model dat het idee ondersteunt dat aanzienlijke hoeveelheden rotsachtig materiaal samen met ijzige objecten rondvliegen in de Oortwolk”, zegt expert in de meteoorfysica Denis Vida. “De conclusies uit ons onderzoek stroken niet met de meest gangbare modellen waarin de vorming van het zonnestelsel wordt beschreven. Dit is een complete gamechanger.”
De superscherpe Global Fireball Observatory (GFO)-camera’s van de University of Alberta kregen de rotsachtige meteoroïde van ongeveer 2 kilo, ter grootte van een grapefruit, in het vizier en hebben het laatste stukje van zijn reis door het zonnestelsel en door de aardse dampkring vastgelegd. Het team kon zo berekenen dat de ruimterots zich in een baan bewoog die normaal gesproken alleen wordt afgelegd door ijsklompen uit de Oortwolk.
“In zeventig jaar van regelmatige vuurbalwaarnemingen is dit een van de meest bijzondere ooit geregistreerd. Het is geweldig hoe de GFO, die vijf jaar geleden is opgestart en zo het bereik enorm vergrootte, het voor elkaar heeft gekregen om wetenschappelijke experts van over de hele wereld bij elkaar te brengen”, zegt hoofdonderzoeker van de GFO Hadrien Devillepoix. “We kunnen hierdoor meer kostbare meteorieten vinden en bestuderen, maar misschien nog wel belangrijker: het lukt ons nu om deze zeldzame gebeurtenissen rechtstreeks te volgen en de gegevens op te slaan die zo essentieel zijn voor het begrijpen van ons zonnestelsel.”
Rotsvast bewijs Waarom denkt men nu dat de vuurbal van Alberta van steen was gemaakt en niet van ijs? De ruimteklomp drong veel dieper de atmosfeer binnen dan ijzige objecten die in het verleden in vergelijkbare banen richting het aardoppervlak vlogen. Hij brak op exact dezelfde manier in stukken als een vuurbal, die in rotsachtige delen uit elkaar valt. Dit bewijst dat dit stuk ruimtepuin van steen is gemaakt en niet van ijs.
“We willen erachter komen hoe deze rotsachtige meteoroïde daar aan de rand van ons zonnestelsel is terechtgekomen, omdat we onze eigen oorsprong willen begrijpen. Hoe beter we de omstandigheden begrijpen waarin het zonnestelsel werd gevormd, hoe beter we snappen wat nodig was voor het ontstaan van leven op aarde”, legt Vida uit. “We willen een zo nauwkeurig mogelijk beeld schetsen van deze vroege momenten van het zonnestelsel, die zo cruciaal waren voor alles wat er daarna gebeurde.”
Where could aliens exist in our solar system? Mars, Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's satellites Enceladus and Titan are among the worlds most likely to host extraterrestrial life, experts say - PART I
Where could aliens exist in our solar system? Mars, Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's satellites Enceladus and Titan are among the worlds most likely to host extraterrestrial life, experts say - PART I
MailOnline looks at the worlds in our solar system most likely to harbour alien life
They include Jupiter's moons, a dwarf planet, Mars, Venus and Saturn's satellites
For thousands of years, humanity has wrestled with the idea we may not be alone in our solar system.
Speculation that aliens might exist dates back to philosophers in ancient Greece, but it was the middle of the 20th century when people's imaginations really began to run riot — suddenly 'little green men' were everywhere in popular culture.
Although the use of the phrase is believed to have originated in 1908, it was between the 1920s and 50s that green Martian characters were plastered all over the covers of science fiction
The reality is that if extraterrestrial life does exist in our solar system it will be of a more simpler variety, perhaps hidden in Venus' clouds, beneath Mars' surface or in the vast underground oceans of one of Saturn's icy moons.
But where else is the best bet of finding it? MailOnline speaks to a number of experts to find out.
Are we alone? For thousands of years, humanity has wrestled with the idea that aliens might exist in our solar system. But despite mid-20th century's excitement about 'little green men', if there is extraterrestrial life it will be of a more simpler variety, perhaps hidden in Venus' clouds, beneath Mars' surface or in the vast underground oceans of one of Saturn's icy moons
Mars
The most obvious candidate for extra-terrestrial life either past or present.
Scientists know the Red Planet was once habitable because billions of years ago it had lakes and rivers of liquid water on its surface, as well as a much thicker atmosphere than the thin one it has now.
But although the conditions were right for life to emerge, is that actually what happened?
Scientists have been trying to find out since the 19th century, although the answer has so far eluded them. Telescopes and probes have offered clues, while NASA has also deployed rovers to hunt for evidence over the past two decades.
Near neighbour: Mars is the most obvious candidate for another world in our solar system to harbour alien life either past or present. NASA's Perseverance rover is currently collecting samples in its search for evidence of ancient life, which will be analysed on Earth in the 2030s
Opportunity and Curiosity began the work, but today that baton has very much been handed over to Perseverance and its accompanying Ingenuity helicopter, which touched down on the Red Planet in February 2021.
Car-size robot Perseverance, nicknamed Percy, has so far collected 18 samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) from the Jezero Crater where a river flowed billions of years ago.
Busy: Car-size robot Perseverance (pictured) has so far collected 18 samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) from the Jezero Crater where a river flowed billions of years ago
MARS: THE BASICS
Mars is the fourth planet from the sun, with a 'near-dead' dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere.
Mars is also a dynamic planet with seasons, polar ice caps, canyons, extinct volcanoes, and evidence that it was even more active in the past.
It is one of the most explored planets in the solar system and the only planet humans have sent rovers to explore.
One day on Mars takes a little over 24 hours and a year is 687 Earth days.
Facts and Figures
Orbital period: 687 days
Surface area: 55.91 million mi²
Distance from Sun: 145 million miles
Gravity: 3.721 m/s²
Radius: 2,106 miles
Moons: Phobos, Deimos
When these sample tubes are eventually collected and returned to Earth by a European spacecraft some time in the 2030s, it could help scientists determine whether microbial left ever existed in the region.
If there are signs of ancient life, it is also possible that there are still alien microbes on Mars today, although these would more likely be underground rather than on the surface.
Several studies have previously used radar observations to show that reservoirs of liquid water probably exist just over a mile below the surface, but it would take future exploration – and likely a tricky mission – to try and establish once and for all if life exists there.
Professor Andrew Coates, from the Department of Space & Climate Physics at University College, said the UK-built Rosalind Franklin rover could help with this.
'We're searching for evidence of biomarkers with the Rosalind Franklin rover (launch 2028), which will drill 2m under the surface, below where UV and oxidants are, and below where energetic solar and galactic radiation can penetrate,' he told MailOnline.
Professor Coates said Mars would be in his top three most likely worlds to host life in our solar system.
'Mars had the right conditions 3.8 to 4 billion years ago – with evidence for water on the surface, CHNOPS [the six elements of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur make up 98 per cent of living matter on Earth] and energy – at about the same time life was starting on Earth,' he added.
'It is the nearest possibility for life beyond Earth. Even the cold night side on the Mars surface (about 150K) is warmer than the surfaces on Europa (140K), Enceladus (70K) and Titan (90K).
Professor Michael Garrett, of the University of Manchester, said: 'There is probably no life above ground (Mars' atmosphere is thin to absorb sterilizing UV radiation from the sun) but underground looks a better bet.
'There is likely to be significant quantities of water underground and the temperature is also higher, so it's possible some sort of basic life might be hiding there, like microbial life.'
How are we going to confirm either way?
In all likelihood, Perseverance. There are high hopes for the Mars rover, but it won't be for another decade until we potentially get an answer.
Venus
Earth's closest neighbour and the second planet from the sun, Venus is a hellish world where surface temperatures are hot enough to melt lead and its atmosphere is thick with carbon dioxide.
But despite such inhospitable conditions, there has been a lot of excitement recently that it might in fact host a type of life in an unusual place.
Scientists claimed that the planet could be becoming 'more habitable' after identifying a chemical pathway by which life could neutralise Venus' acidic environment, creating a self-sustaining, habitable pocket in the clouds.
For nearly 50 years experts have been baffled by the presence of ammonia, a colourless gas made of nitrogen and hydrogen, which was tentatively detected in Venus' atmosphere in the 1970s.
Hellish world: Venus has been in the news a lot recently amid excitement that the planet might host life. Just over a year ago, a new study suggested that alien lifeforms 'unlike anything we've ever seen' may be living in the clouds of Earth's 'evil twin'
CO2 AND SULPHURIC ACID DROPLETS EXIST IN THE ATMOSPHERE OF VENUS
Venus's atmosphere consists mainly of carbon dioxide, with clouds of sulphuric acid droplets.
The thick atmosphere traps the sun's heat, resulting in surface temperatures higher than 470°C (880°F).
The atmosphere has many layers with different temperatures.
At the level where the clouds are, about 30 miles (50 km) up from the surface, it's about the same temperature as on the surface of the Earth.
As Venus moves forward in its solar orbit while slowly rotating backwards on its axis, the top level of clouds zips around the planet every four Earth days.
They are driven by hurricane-force winds travelling at about 224 miles (360 km) per hour.
Atmospheric lightning bursts light up these quick-moving clouds.
Speeds within the clouds decrease with cloud height, and at the surface are estimated to be just a few miles (km) per hour.
On the ground, it would look like a very hazy, overcast day on Earth and the atmosphere is so heavy it would feel like you were one mile (1.6km) deep underwater.
At the heart of the confusion is that it should not be produced through any chemical process known on the hellish planet.
In the study by Cardiff University, MIT and Cambridge University, researchers modelled a set of chemical processes to show that if ammonia is present, the gas would create a cascade of reactions that would neutralise surrounding droplets of sulphuric acid.
If that were the case, this would then result in the acidity of the clouds dropping from -11 to zero, which although still very acidic on the pH scale, is a level that life could potentially survive at.
As for the source of ammonia itself, the authors believe the most plausible explanation is of biological origin, rather lightning or volcanic eruptions.
This chemistry suggests that life could be making its own environment on Venus.
'No life that we know of could survive in the Venus droplets,' said study co-author Sara Seager, from MIT.
'But the point is, maybe some life is there, and is modifying its environment so that it is liveable.'
If the researchers are correct, the lifeforms are likely to be microbes similar to bacteria found on Earth.
However, a separate study by Cambridge University scientists – published in the summer of last year – claimed to have found no evidence of life in the planet's clouds.
Any life form in sufficient abundance is expected to leave chemical fingerprints on a planet's atmosphere as it consumes food and expels waste.
But the Cambridge experts found no sign of this in the atmospheric and biochemical models they used.
'We wanted life to be a potential explanation [for the strange behaviour going on in Venus' clouds], but when we ran the models, it isn't a viable solution,' said lead author Sean Jordan from Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy.
The debate rages on and will likely not end until the various hypotheses can be tested with proposed Venus-bound missions set to launch later this decade.
The belief that life may exist in Venus's clouds has been disputed. Some studies say it could but others have ruled it out. Pictured is an artist's impression of what microbial life could look like
How are we going to confirm either way?
Two new NASA probes, coming in at a total cost of $500million (£352m), are set to blast-off later this decade and head for Venus. They have cool acronyms – DAVINCI+ and VERITAS – but they won't actually be able to confirm the existence of life.
Despite this, scientists hope the information and findings they can gather will at least get us closer to answering that question more concretely.
VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy), will orbit Venus and peer through its thick clouds to map the surface.
Its aim is to understand the planet's geological history and investigate why it developed so differently to Earth. The probe could also discover whether volcanoes and earthquakes are still happening on Venus.
WHAT ARE NASA'S TWO NEW MISSIONS TO VENUS?
In June NASA announced that it is sending two new missions to Venus to examine the planet's atmosphere and geological features. They will be the first US probes sent to explore the hellish world in 30 years.
The missions, which have each been awarded $500million (£352m) in funding, are:
DAVINCI+
Pictured: The Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging probe (DAVINCI+) that will carry out flybys of Venus and land on its surface
What does it stand for?
Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging
What will it do?
As it drops to the surface the high-tech probe will measure Venus' acrid atmosphere to understand how it formed and evolved.
It will also aim to determine whether Venus — which is the hottest planet in the solar system with a surface temperature of 500C — ever had an ocean.
As it heads toward the surface, DAVINCI+ is expected to return the first high resolution images of the planet's 'tesserae' geological features in Alpha Regio.
Scientists believe these features could be comparable to continents on Earth and may possibly suggest that Venus has plate tectonics.
When will it launch?
2029
When will its scientific experiments begin?
The spacecraft will carry out two flybys of the planet in 2030 to study its atmosphere and the nightside surface.
Seven months after the two flybys, the craft will make a one-hour descent through the clouds, beaming back data all the way down to its landing site Alpha Regio.
What could its big discovery be?
Whether Venus ever had an ocean.
VERITAS
Pictured: The Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy (VERITAS) probe that will orbit Venus and peer through its clouds to map the surface
What does it stand for?
Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy
What will it do?
VERITAS will orbit Venus and peer through its thick clouds to map the surface.
The aim is to understand the planet's geological history and investigate why it developed so much differently than Earth.
When will it launch?
2028
What could its big discovery be?
Whether volcanoes and earthquakes are still happening on Venus.
DAVINCI+ (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging), meanwhile, will go one step further by actually landing on the hothouse world.
As it drops to the surface the high-tech probe will measure the planet's acrid atmosphere to understand how it formed and evolved.
It will also aim to determine whether Venus — which is the hottest planet in the solar system with a surface temperature of 900°F (500°C) — ever had an ocean.
US company Rocket Lab is also developing the first privately-funded science mission to Venus called Venus Life Finder (VLF).
It will see a probe inserted into the planet's hot, thick cloud layers to spend just five minutes searching for signs of habitable conditions.
The plan is for VLF to be launched in May this year and arrive at Venus in October, but if it misses this target lift-off date it will have to wait until the next launch window in January 2025.
Enceladus
You wouldn't think that an object completely covered in ice would offer even the remotest chance of hosting life.
But although the surface of Enceladus is freezing cold, there is a lot of activity going on beneath it.
Scientists know this because Saturn's sixth largest moon ejects liquid water, ice and organic material from its core out into space.
The organic molecules have been identified as nitrogen and oxygen-bearing compounds, similar to those involved in chemical reactions on Earth that produce the amino acids that are the building blocks of life.
Saturn's moon Enceladus is thought to have a vast salty, liquid water ocean hidden below its frozen crust, while NASA has also found evidence of hydrothermal activity deep underground. This, scientists believe, could provide the source of heat needed to give life a chance to thrive
WHY IS ENCELADUS SO EXCITING?
Enceladus is Saturn's sixth largest moon, at 313 miles wide (504 kilometres).
It is an icy satellite with hydrothermal activity - a rare combination - with vents spewing water vapour and ice particles out from a global ocean buried beneath the moon's frozen crust.
A handful of worlds are thought to have liquid water oceans beneath their frozen shell, but only Enceladus sprays its ocean out into space, where a spacecraft can sample it.
According to Nasa observations, the plume includes organic compounds, volatile gases, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, salts, and silica.
Microbes on our planet either produce these compounds or use them for growth, leading some to speculate that tiny organisms live in Enceladus's hidden ocean.
This means that while Enceladus may look 'inhospitable' like Saturn's other moons, it is a prime candidate in our search for alien life.
The world is thought to have a vast salty, liquid water ocean hidden below its frozen crust, while NASA has also found evidence of hydrothermal activity deep underground.
This, scientists believe, could provide the source of heat needed to give life a chance to thrive.
'If the conditions are right, these molecules coming from the deep ocean of Enceladus could be on the same reaction pathway as we see here on Earth,' Nozair Khawaja, of the Free University of Berlin, has previously said.
He carried out research on data from NASA's Cassini mission, which discovered the organic compounds during a 13-year mission that ended in 2017.
'We don't yet know if amino acids are needed for life beyond Earth, but finding the molecules that form amino acids is an important piece of the puzzle,' Khawaja added.
Professor David Rothery, of the Open University, said he believed Enceladus was one of two worlds in our solar system most likely to harbour extraterrestrial lifeforms.
'The big unknown is how likely it is for life to get started, if conditions are suitable for life,' he told MailOnline.
'However, Enceladus and Europa both have internal (below an ice shell) oceans sitting on top of tidally-heated (so warm) rock.
'Chemical reactions between water and hot rock probably result in "hydrothermal vents" (hot springs) on the ocean floor, where microbes can feed off the chemical energy.
'It doesn't matter that sunlight can't penetrate to those depths — we have similar "chemosynthetic life" clustered around hydrothermal vents on Earth's sunless ocean floors too.
'If there are microbes, maybe some more complex forms of life have evolved that eat the microbes.'
Active: Saturn's sixth largest moon ejects liquid water, ice and organic material from its core out into space. It is thought to have a salty, liquid water ocean hidden below its frozen crust, while NASA has also found evidence of hydrothermal activity deep underground (pictured)
Professor Andrew Coates, of UCL, also said Enceladus was one of the leading contenders to host alien life.
'The plumes discovered by Cassini-Huygens come from a subsurface salty ocean under the ice, and the mission also discovered evidence for silicates in the plumes, which likely come from vents on the ocean floor, perhaps a bit like black smokers on Earth,' he told MailOnline.
'Also hydrogen was directly found, completing CHNOPS at Enceladus. [The six elements of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur make up 98 per cent of living matter on Earth.]'
How are we going to confirm either way?
Unfortunately there aren't currently any missions scheduled to study Enceladus. A number of proposals have been put forward, including several to NASA, but nothing has been picked to actually go to Saturn's moon.
This is a shame, given that many scientists believe Enceladus to be one of the most likely candidates to host extra-terrestrial life.
If and when we ever do go there, digging into the ocean would be the best way to see if any lifeforms exist on the moon, although it might also be possible to detect biosignatures in cryovolcanoes.
These are volcanos that erupt vaporised materials such as water or ammonia rather than molten rock.
Europa
Another popular candidate to host alien life — and this time there might soon be an answer from missions scheduled to fly to it.
Europa is the smallest of Jupiter's four Galilean moons but it is seen by most experts as the most likely to have the right ingredients for life.
Part of the reason is its massive subsurface, and potentially salty, ocean which is heated up by tidal forces.
This is believed to create an internal circulation system which keeps waters moving and replenishes the icy surface on a regular basis.
Such a theory is significant because it means scientists would not necessarily have to delve deep into the underground ocean to find evidence of life, as the fact that the ocean floor interacts with the surface means it could throw up clues there.
A big contender: Europa is the smallest of Jupiter's four Galilean moons but it is seen by most experts as the most likely to have the right ingredients for life
'Of the Galilean satellites, Europa is the most likely [to have alien life] as the ocean is likely in contact with sand/rock according to models,' Professor Coates told MailOnline, 'whereas at Ganymede and Callisto the ocean floor would be ice due to lower temperature'.
He added that because Europa is bathed by Jupiter's energetic radiation belts this too could be useful for emerging life, as it could result in oxygen potentially finding its way into the subsurface oceans.
Professor Garrett, of the University of Manchester, added: 'The giant planets like Saturn and Jupiter tend to churn up the interiors of their icy moons, so there is a lot of mixing of water with carbon rich chemistry — but it would probably be microbial life, if there is any life at all.
'If we do find life in the solar system, I wouldn't be shocked if we discover it somewhere we think is least likely — new science is always full of surprises.'
How are we going to confirm either way?
NASA's Europa Clipper will provide the best chance of confirming the existence of extraterrestrial life on Europa.
The spacecraft is due to launch in 2024 and reach the Jovian moon in 2030, at which point it will carry out a series of low-altitude flights to study the surface.
Clipper will also investigate the subsurface environment where possible, in an attempt to find signs of alien activity.
More data will also be provided by the European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft, which is due to launch in April.
It will make two flybys of Europa during its time in the Jovian system and is set to explore three of Jupiter's moons during its mission.
The Europa Clipper (pictured) will provide the best opportunity of confirming the existence of extraterrestrial life on Jupiter's moon. It is due to launch in 2024 and reach Europa in 2030
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Where could aliens exist in our solar system? Mars, Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's satellites Enceladus and Titan are among the worlds most likely to host extraterrestrial life, experts say - PART II
Where could aliens exist in our solar system? Mars, Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's satellites Enceladus and Titan are among the worlds most likely to host extraterrestrial life, experts say - PART II
MailOnline looks at the worlds in our solar system most likely to harbour alien life
They include Jupiter's moons, a dwarf planet, Mars, Venus and Saturn's satellites
For thousands of years, humanity has wrestled with the idea we may not be alone in our solar system.
Speculation that aliens might exist dates back to philosophers in ancient Greece, but it was the middle of the 20th century when people's imaginations really began to run riot — suddenly 'little green men' were everywhere in popular culture.
Triton
Now we're going a bit further afield.
Triton is Neptune's largest moon and one of just five natural satellites in our solar system confirmed to be geologically active.
Scientists know this because it has active geysers that spew out sublimated nitrogen gas.
Much like Enceladus, it is a freezing cold world. But that's in part because it is so far from the sun, circling the most distant planet in our solar system.
Its surface is mostly frozen nitrogen, while it has water ice in its crust and an icy mantle.
Freezing: Triton is Neptune's largest moon and one of just five natural satellites in our solar system confirmed to be geologically active. However, despite there being a possibility of alien microbes, the fact that the moon is so cold makes it unlikely anything could stay unfrozen for long enough to exist
WHERE ARE THE VOYAGERS NOW?
Voyager 1 is currently 14.5 billion miles away from Earth, travelling northward through space.
The probe sent back data to NASA once it reached interstellar space that cosmic rays are as much as four times more abundant in that region, beyond the sun's direct influence, than in the vicinity of Earth.
This suggests that the heliosphere, the region of space that contains our solar system's planets, may act as a radiation shield.
Meanwhile, Voyager 2 is now 12 billion miles from Earth, travelling south towards the interstellar region.
The contrasting locations of the two spacecraft allow scientists to compare two regions of space where the heliosphere interacts with the interstellar medium.
Voyager 2 crossing into the interstellar medium allows scientists to sample the medium from two different locations at the same time.
However, because of a gravitational phenomenon known as tidal heating, it is thought to receive some heat from Neptune that could help warm its waters and create conditions possible for life.
An example of how this works elsewhere in the solar system is the gravitational tug-of-war between Jupiter's moons and the planet itself, causing the natural satellites to stretch and squish enough to warm them.
It that some of the icy moons contain interiors warm enough to host oceans of liquid water, and in the case of the rocky moon Io, tidal heating melts rock into magma.
However, despite there being a possibility of alien microbes on Triton, the fact that the moon is so cold makes it unlikely anything could stay unfrozen for long enough to exist.
Most scientists agree that the world is pretty low down on the list of potential sources of extraterrestrial life.
How are we going to confirm either way?
Finding life on Triton seems highly unlikely, in part because the only mission to ever visit the world was Voyager 2 in 1989, and there is nothing else scheduled in the near future.
One of the main stumbling blocks for this is that the window for such a mission to Triton only opens every 13 years.
A concept to explore Triton, along with flybys of Jupiter and Neptune, was proposed to NASA in 2019.
However, the so-called Trident mission seems unlikely because it was beaten out by other concepts chosen by the US space agency, including the two probes to Venus.
Finding life on Triton seems like a very distant possibility, as the only mission to ever visit the world was Voyager 2 in 1989. The spacecraft (pictured) is now 12 billion miles and 18 hours' light distance from us
Ganymede
Not only is Ganymede Jupiter's largest moon, it is also the biggest natural satellite in our entire solar system.
Like some of the other moons mentioned, Ganymede has an icy shell with secrets hidden beneath its surface.
Once again, it has a saltwater ocean so vast that it is believed to contain more water than all of Earth's oceans combined, a potential breeding ground for life.
The moon also has two more things going for it which would be beneficial for any extraterrestrial lifeforms.
The first is an extremely thin oxygen atmosphere and the second is a magnetic field, something that is vital in protecting worlds from the sun's radiation and an attribute that no other moon in the solar system has.
All very positive you may think.
The problem is that Ganymede is much colder than Earth, with daytime surface temperature ranging from 90 to 160 Kelvin (or -297 to -171 degrees Fahrenheit).
Not only that, but Jupiter and its moons receive less than 1/30th the amount of sunlight that the Earth does, and Ganymede has essentially no atmosphere to trap heat.
Biggest moon in the solar system: Ganymede has a saltwater ocean so vast that it is believed to contain more water than all of Earth's oceans combined, a potential breeding ground for life
How are we going to confirm either way?
Sadly, there are no dedicated missions due to study Ganymede.
However, the JUICE mission mentioned above will take a close look at the moon when it enters its orbit in 2032.
The European spacecraft may have an opportunity to peer down at the surface and study Ganymede's interior with radar, perhaps providing an insight into whether it is in any way habitable.
Titan
Saturn's largest moon Titan is so huge it is actually bigger than the planet Mercury.
Interesting though that may be, what really makes the world exciting is that it is extremely rich in organic materials and possesses the sort of simple chemistry that is believed to have been vital in the creation of life on Earth.
Thanks to flybys from the Cassini spacecraft, experts have also found evidence of great lakes and signs of rain near the moon's north pole, while it has one of the thickest atmospheres for a rocky world outside of Earth and Venus.
The methane in this atmosphere is what makes Titan's chemistry possible, but where this gas comes from is a mystery.
Like other moons mentioned above, Titan is also thought to have a subsurface ocean that is around 35 to 50 miles (55 to 80 kilometres) below its icy ground.
On the surface, the world is teeming with lakes, rivers, and seas, but rather than being made of water these are actually liquid methane and ethane, providing a potentially habitable environment for life.
The only problem, once again, is that Titan is very cold. It is nine times further from the sun than Earth, so only receives about 1 per cent the amount of solar warming.
Massive: What really makes Saturn's largest moon Titan so exciting is that it is extremely rich in organic materials and possesses the sort of simple chemistry that is believed to have been vital in the creation of life on Earth
COULD PRIMITIVE LIFE EXIST ON TITAN?
Using data collected as Cassini flew through Titan's upper atmosphere, at about 950–1300 km (590-807 miles) above the surface, researchers have identified what are known as 'carbon chain anions'.
These are thought to be the building blocks of more the more complex compounds that make life possible.
Researchers say the data from Cassini's plasma spectrometer (CAPS), suggest the carbon chains 'seeded' larger molecules at Titan, as they were found to dwindle closer to the moon, while precursors to larger aerosols underwent rapid growth.
Not only does the discovery suggest Titan may contain molecules that drive prebiotic chemistry, but it could also help to explain how life sprung up on Earth, according to the European Space Agency.
It all adds up to the theory that if there is extraterrestrial life on this world it will be very alien indeed, and certainly different to us.
That's because anything on the surface would have to be ethane-based rather than water-based, and molecules such as DNA would not work.
Nevertheless, Titan still sits at the number 4 spot on Professor Coates' list of worlds most likely to harbour extraterrestrial life, in part because of its thick atmosphere and prebiotic chemistry he told MailOnline.
Dr Joanna Barstow, of the Open University, also had Titan in her top three.
She told MailOnline: 'I would consider Titan to be a contender because it is the only other body in the solar system to have surface lakes [besides Earth].
'In the case of Titan, these are made of liquid hydrocarbons (methane and ethane) not water — but it isn't impossible that life elsewhere could have evolved to make use of these liquids instead.
'If there is anything there, we would expect it to be microorganisms.'
How are we going to confirm either way?
NASA's mission to Titan, known as Dragonfly, will fly more than 100 miles around the celestial satellite. It was originally set to launch in 2026, but the Covid pandemic pushed back the launch date to 2027.
The mission will see the US space agency send a drone helicopter to explore Titan's atmosphere from 2034 in an attempt to shed further light on the moon's prebiotic chemistry.
The craft will explore diverse environments from organic dunes to the floor of an impact crater where liquid water and complex organic materials key to life once existed together for possibly tens of thousands of years.
It will also investigate the moon's atmospheric and surface properties and its subsurface ocean and liquid reservoirs, while trying to search for chemical evidence of past or current life.
NASA's Dragonfly mission will see the US space agency send a drone helicopter (depicted) to explore Titan's atmosphere
Callisto
The most fascinating fact about Jupiter's moon Callisto is that it has the oldest surface of any world in our solar system, at about 4 billion years old.
That doesn't have any real bearing on its potential for life, but it is another world thought to have a large ocean deep underground and an interesting atmosphere.
It is thin, but Callisto's atmosphere is more Earth-like than most other moons in the solar system as it contains oxygen, hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
The drawback to there actually being life is again how cold the moon is.
In the past, scientists always thought Callisto was a boring 'ugly duckling moon' and a 'hunk of rock and ice' because it was a crater-covered world which didn't seem to have much going on geologically.
The chance of it actually having life is less likely than some of the other planets and moons listed here, but it is certainly not seen as being as boring as it once was.
The most fascinating fact about Jupiter's moon Callisto (shown bottom) is that it has the oldest surface of any world in our solar system, at about 4 billion years old
How are we going to confirm either way?
Once again, JUICE will offer the most insight. The spacecraft will make several close flybys of Callisto during its mission to carry out detailed observations of Jupiter and its three large ocean-bearing moons.
After a seven or eight-year cruise to Jupiter, utilising Earth and Venus gravity assists to get there, JUICE will go into orbit around the gas giant in 2031.
So we'll have to wait another decade before we have any more clues as to whether they could be life on Callisto or Jupiter's other moons.
The European Space Agency's JUICE spacecraft will make several close flybys of Callisto during its mission to carry out detailed observations of Jupiter and its three large ocean-bearing moons
Ceres
We've looked at the planets and moons that could host alien life in our solar system, but what if the most likely candidate is actually a dwarf planet?
It's an interesting thought, but seems unlikely.
Scientists think Ceres – which sits between Mars and Jupiter – could be home to liquid water deep underground, perhaps around 25 miles below the surface.
If this is the case, it would almost certainly be extremely salty and therefore would stop the water from freezing.
Not only that, but NASA's Dawn probe found evidence of organic compounds on Ceres while orbiting the world between 2015 and 2018.
As mentioned in relation to some of the other leading candidates for life above, this could provide the raw materials needed for life, but the world would need some heat source to actually create it.
Also working against Ceres is its size. The tiny dwarf planet is 13 times smaller than Earth, making it a complete mystery as to how the fraction of gravity on the world could affect any potential life.
Tiny dwarf planet: Scientists think Ceres (pictured) – which sits between Mars and Jupiter – could be home to liquid water deep underground, perhaps around 25 miles below the surface
How are we going to confirm either way?
As some of the interesting features about Ceres have only been discovered in the past decade, there is no mission currently scheduled to visit the dwarf planet.
So it will be a while before we get any concrete answers.
That being said, there has still been a series of proposals for how Ceres could be better studied by future missions.
KEY DISCOVERIES IN HUMANITY'S SEARCH FOR ALIEN LIFE
Discovery of pulsars
British astronomer Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell was the first person to discover a pulsar in 1967 when she spotted a radio pulsar.
Since then other types of pulsars that emit X-rays and gamma rays have also been spotted.
Pulsars are essentially rotating, highly magnetised neutron stars but when they were first discovered it was believed they could have come from aliens.
'Wow!' radio signal
In 1977, an astronomer looking for alien life in the night sky above Ohio spotted a radio signal so powerful that he excitedly wrote 'Wow!' next to his data.
In 1977, an astronomer looking for alien life in the night sky above Ohio spotted a radio signal so powerful that he excitedly wrote 'Wow!' next to his data
The 72-second blast, spotted by Dr Jerry Ehman through a radio telescope, came from Sagittarius but matched no known celestial object.
Conspiracy theorists have since claimed that the 'Wow! signal', which was 30 times stronger than background radiation, was a message from intelligent extraterrestrials.
Fossilised Martian microbes
In 1996 Nasa and the White House made the explosive announcement that the rock contained traces of Martian bugs.
The meteorite, catalogued as Allen Hills (ALH) 84001, crashed onto the frozen wastes of Antarctica 13,000 years ago and was recovered in 1984.
Photographs were released showing elongated segmented objects that appeared strikingly lifelike.
Photographs were released showing elongated segmented objects that appeared strikingly lifelike (pictured)
However, the excitement did not last long. Other scientists questioned whether the meteorite samples were contaminated.
They also argued that heat generated when the rock was blasted into space may have created mineral structures that could be mistaken for microfossils.
Behaviour of Tabby's Star in 2005
The star, otherwise known as KIC 8462852, is located 1,400 light years away and has baffled astronomers since being discovered in 2015.
It dims at a much faster rate than other stars, which some experts have suggested is a sign of aliens harnessing the energy of a star.
The star, otherwise known as KIC 8462852, is located 1,400 light years away and has baffled astonomers since being discovered in 2015 (artist's impression)
Recent studies have 'eliminated the possibility of an alien megastructure', and instead, suggests that a ring of dust could be causing the strange signals.
Exoplanets in the Goldilocks zone in 2017
In February 2017 astronomers announced they had spotted a star system with planets that could support life just 39 light years away.
Seven Earth-like planets were discovered orbiting nearby dwarf star 'Trappist-1', and all of them could have water at their surface, one of the key components of life.
Three of the planets have such good conditions, that scientists say life may have already evolved on them.
Researchers claim that they will know whether or not there is life on any of the planets within a decade, and said: 'This is just the beginning.'
They are often depicted as either little green men, bug-eyed creatures or terrifying monsters intent on wiping out all life on Earth.
But if aliens do exist, what might they actually look like?
MailOnline asked a number of experts what they think — both for potential extraterrestrial life within our own solar system, as well as on distant exoplanets in faraway galaxies.
Among the wide-ranging answers were features such as big brains, enormous wings and gravity-induced spindly frames, while 'crab or squid-like beasties', jellyfish-esque creatures and aliens that look almost human-like are also a possibility.
The latter might seem surprising given how aliens are often portrayed in popular culture, but some experts think if another intelligent civilisation exists, life could have evolved in a similar way to us.
Mystery: If aliens do exist, what might they actually look like? MailOnline asked a number of experts and these were some of their answers
Mystery: They are often depicted as either little green men, bug-eyed creatures or terrifying monsters intent on wiping out all life on Earth (stock image), but this is unlikely to be the case
As one scientist put it, the reason is 'simple physics, plus competition for food and the need to escape predation will favour organisms with similar body plans to those that are successful on Earth'.
Closer to home, if alien life does exist on Mars, Jupiter's moon Europa or Saturn's satellites Enceladus or Titan, it is likely to be somewhat anti-climactic because it would probably just be 'scum-like' microbes.
Professor David Rothery, of the Open University, said it would probably be 'invisible to the unaided eye if you are trying to see an individual'.
He told MailOnline that it could well be 'like a scum or a stain on the rocks of an ocean floor or a discolouration in the surface ice if there is a colony'.
That may sound a little boring, but Professor Rothery does have hope that something slightly more interesting could exist in our solar system.
'There may be larger organisms that have evolved to browse on the microbes,' he said, 'but crab-like, shrimp-like and squid-like beasties in Europa's ocean are probably too much to hope for.'
NASA also believes that on Jupiter's icy moon, 'the best chance for life would be microbial'.
Professor Andrew Coates, of University College London, thinks any life forms in our solar system would be 'simple, single cell'.
'But we won't know until we find it,' he added, 'and the hunt is on with missions like Rosalind Franklin [the UK-built Mars rover due to launch in 2028].'
That's near Earth though. Surely there are more mind-bending and endless possibilities in distant galaxies?
Astronomer Michael Garrett, a professor at Manchester University, thinks 'we might be in for a shock'.
He told MailOnline: 'I think the way complex life might appear will depend a lot on the environment within which it evolves.
'For example, a more massive planet where the force of gravity is strong might favour life forms that are quite squat and muscular, while a less massive planet (where the force of gravity is weaker) might suit the evolution of complexities that are more delicate and potentially quite spindly and tall.'
Professor Garrett also said that if the world had a low density atmosphere, it may have 'life forms with wings of enormous scale'.
'Or if your star is a red giant, you might find life with eyes that are much more sensitive and larger than ours,' he added.
'Anyway, I'd be prepared for something very different that might be quite shocking at first but we'd hopefully soon get over that and begin to also see some similarities.'
NASA scientists have previously studied an 'extreme shrimp' ecosystem in the Caribbean (pictured) to find clues about what life could be like on other planetary bodies such as Europa, which has a subsurface ocean
Astronomer Michael Garrett, a professor at Manchester University, said the appearance of aliens would depend on their environment. For example, a less massive planet (where the force of gravity is weaker) might suit creatures 'quite spindly and tall', he added (stock image)
Professor Garrett is one of a number of scientists who think human-like aliens are also a possibility.
'Intelligent life like humans would presumably have relatively big brains, and have limbs and flexible digits that can record history and advances in knowledge that can then be passed on from one generation to the next, always building on what has gone before,' he said.
HOW MIGHT ALIENS HAVE EVOLVED ON OTHER PLANETS?
Researchers have previously shown how evolutionary theory can be used to predict alien behaviour.
Their theory supports the argument that foreign life forms undergo natural selection, and like us, are evolving to be stronger over time.
Using the idea of alien natural selection as a framework, the researchers addressed extra-terrestrial evolution, and how complexity will arise in space.
On Earth, species have become more complex as a result of a handful of events.
These transitions occur when a group of separate organisms evolve into a higher-level organism - when cells become multi-cellular organisms, for example.
Data suggests that extreme conditions are required for major transitions to occur.
Both Professor Rothery and Professor Simon Conway Morris, a palaeontologist at the University of Cambridge, agree that extraterrestrial life, if out there, would resemble the creatures we see around us on Earth, with limbs, heads, and bodies.
'There is a school of thought that says that simple physics plus competition for food and the need to escape predation will favour organisms with similar body plans to those that are successful on Earth,' Professor Rothery told MailOnline.
'It is clearly effective to have your sense organs at the front (or top).'
He added: 'On other Earth-like planets some have surely developed complex life forms, but its anybody's guess what they look like.'
Professor Morris also said that any Earth-like exoplanet should evolve predators like sharks, pitcher plants, mangroves, and mushrooms, among many other things.
Another previous study suggests that in reality, aliens could be more similar to us than some would think.
The University of Oxford research indicates that life would potentially be shaped by the same processes that created humans, such as natural selection, and that these extraterrestrials may even 'look like us'.
Lead author Sam Levin said: 'We still can't say whether aliens will walk on two legs or have big green eyes.
'But we believe evolutionary theory offers a unique additional tool for trying to understand what aliens will be like, and we have shown some examples of the kinds of strong predictions we can make with it.
'By predicting that aliens have undergone major transitions — which is how complexity has arisen in species on Earth, we can say that there is a level of predictability to evolution that would cause them to look like us.'
He added: 'We can't say whether or not we're alone on Earth, but we have taken a small step forward in answering, if we're not alone, what our neighbours are like.'
Arik Kershenbaum, author of The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy, also agrees that Darwinian natural selection would apply throughout the universe.
Welcoming our new jellyfish overlords: This is what evolution might have come up with on a world such as Saturn's moon Titan, Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock believes
The University of Cambridge astrobiologist said this would result in alien creatures that have symmetrical bodies with wings, legs or fins.
They would also be intelligent, have a developed language and possibly technology, he believes, and even added that humans might be able to 'have tea with an alien' if we came into contact with them.
Others don't think extraterrestrial life would look like us.
One leading space scientist previously claimed that aliens could look like giant jellyfish.
Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, a satellite expert and former government adviser, said extraterrestrial life was likely — but just more alien-like than some might imagine.
She believes Saturn's moon Titan could have aliens that look like football field-sized jellyfish, complete with onion-shaped appendages and an orange underbelly or bottom.
Generated from silicon, rather than the carbon that is the basis of life as we know it, the creatures she envisions would be able to live off light absorbed through their 'skin' and chemicals sucked in through their giant mouths.
KEY DISCOVERIES IN HUMANITY'S SEARCH FOR ALIEN LIFE
Discovery of pulsars
British astronomer Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell was the first person to discover a pulsar in 1967 when she spotted a radio pulsar.
Since then other types of pulsars that emit X-rays and gamma rays have also been spotted.
Pulsars are essentially rotating, highly magnetised neutron stars but when they were first discovered it was believed they could have come from aliens.
'Wow!' radio signal
In 1977, an astronomer looking for alien life in the night sky above Ohio spotted a radio signal so powerful that he excitedly wrote 'Wow!' next to his data.
In 1977, an astronomer looking for alien life in the night sky above Ohio spotted a radio signal so powerful that he excitedly wrote 'Wow!' next to his data
The 72-second blast, spotted by Dr Jerry Ehman through a radio telescope, came from Sagittarius but matched no known celestial object.
Conspiracy theorists have since claimed that the 'Wow! signal', which was 30 times stronger than background radiation, was a message from intelligent extraterrestrials.
Fossilised Martian microbes
In 1996 Nasa and the White House made the explosive announcement that the rock contained traces of Martian bugs.
The meteorite, catalogued as Allen Hills (ALH) 84001, crashed onto the frozen wastes of Antarctica 13,000 years ago and was recovered in 1984.
Photographs were released showing elongated segmented objects that appeared strikingly lifelike.
Photographs were released showing elongated segmented objects that appeared strikingly lifelike (pictured)
However, the excitement did not last long. Other scientists questioned whether the meteorite samples were contaminated.
They also argued that heat generated when the rock was blasted into space may have created mineral structures that could be mistaken for microfossils.
Behaviour of Tabby's Star in 2005
The star, otherwise known as KIC 8462852, is located 1,400 light years away and has baffled astronomers since being discovered in 2015.
It dims at a much faster rate than other stars, which some experts have suggested is a sign of aliens harnessing the energy of a star.
The star, otherwise known as KIC 8462852, is located 1,400 light years away and has baffled astonomers since being discovered in 2015 (artist's impression)
Recent studies have 'eliminated the possibility of an alien megastructure', and instead, suggests that a ring of dust could be causing the strange signals.
Exoplanets in the Goldilocks zone in 2017
In February 2017 astronomers announced they had spotted a star system with planets that could support life just 39 light years away.
Seven Earth-like planets were discovered orbiting nearby dwarf star 'Trappist-1', and all of them could have water at their surface, one of the key components of life.
Three of the planets have such good conditions, that scientists say life may have already evolved on them.
Researchers claim that they will know whether or not there is life on any of the planets within a decade, and said: 'This is just the beginning.'
Jupiter’s second Galilean moon, Europa, is one of the most fascinating planetary objects in our Solar System with its massive subsurface ocean that’s hypothesized to contain almost three times the volume of water as the entire Earth, which opens the possibility for life to potentially existon this small moon. But while Europa’s interior ocean could potentially be habitable for life, its unique surface features equally draw intrigue from scientists, specifically the large red streaks that crisscross its cracked surface.
While these red streaks are one of the most striking features on Europa, scientists have been unable to identify its chemical signature since no substance on Earth possesses a complementary signature itself. They have previously made their own hypotheses to their origins, with a 2015 study suggesting the red streaks could come from Europa’s interior ocean sea salt that has been blasted with radiation on the surface.
It is these red streaks, and more specifically their chemical origin, that an international team of researchers led by the University of Washington (UW) have addressed in a recent study with the discovery of a new kind of solid crystal that could help explain the scientific processes responsible for the red streaks’ existence on Europa. While this new crystal was created in a laboratory setting, scientists hypothesize it could also form at the bottom of the deep oceans on worlds like Europa, as well. The newly discovered solid crystal is formed from water and table salt (sodium chloride), which are two of the most common substances found on Earth.
Learn more about this remarkable study here!
“It’s rare nowadays to have fundamental discoveries in science,” said Dr. Baptiste Journaux, who is an acting assistant professor in UW’s Department of Earth and Space Sciences, and lead author of the study. “Salt and water are very well known at Earth conditions. But beyond that, we’re totally in the dark. And now we have these planetary objects that probably have compounds that are very familiar to us, but at very exotic conditions. We have to redo all the fundamental mineralogical science that people did in the 1800s, but at high pressure and low temperature. It is an exciting time.”
For the study, the researchers investigated what is known as a hydrate, which is an icy lattice formed in cold water temperatures from the combination of salts and water. Until now, only one sodium chloride hydrate was known to exist, known as hydrohalite, which consists of one salt molecule for every two water molecules.
Using transparent diamonds and cold temperatures, the team compressed a miniscule amount of salty water near 25,000 times Earth’s atmospheric pressure, where they observed two new sodium chloride hydrate crystal structures. The first structure contains two sodium chloride molecules for every 17 water molecules, and the other contains one sodium chloride molecule for every 13 water molecules. It was also discovered that the structure containing 17 water molecules remained stable even near vacuum pressure, which is equivalent to the Moon’s surface, while the structure containing 13 water molecules only maintained its stability at high pressure. It is hypothesized that these unique crystal structures could help explain the “watery” signatures from Jupiter’s moons.
This microscopic image displays the study’s newly discovered hydrate containing two sodium chloride molecules for every 17 water molecules. This crystal structure was produced at high pressure but maintains its stability under cold and low-pressure environmental conditions. Scale bar: 50 micrometers = 0.000050 meters. (Credit: Journaux et al./PNAS)
Previously known sodium chloride hydrate containing one salt molecule for every two water molecules (left); two newly discovered crystal structures with two sodium chloride molecules for every 17 water molecules (center) and one sodium chloride molecule for every 13 water molecules (right). (Credit: Baptiste Journaux/University of Washington)
“We were trying to measure how adding salt would change the amount of ice we could get, since salt acts as an antifreeze,” said Dr. Journaux. “Surprisingly, when we put the pressure on, what we saw is that these crystals that we were not expecting started growing. It was a very serendipitous discovery.”
These same cold, high-pressure environments likely exist on Europa, as scientists postulate its interior ocean could be hundreds of kilometers deep underneath approximately 5 to 10 kilometers of ice, with denser ice structures possibly existing at the bottom of the ocean where the temperatures and pressures would be even colder and more extreme.
For next steps, the researchers wish to create or collect a bigger sample to conduct a more in-depth investigation regarding whether icy moons signatures such as the red streaks found on Europa complement the two recently discovered hydrates.
Both NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) currently have a few planetary missions scheduled to visit Europa and Titan to explore their potential habitability. These include the ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, also known as JUICE, which is slated to launch in April of this year and arrive at the Jupiter system in July 2031; NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which is slated to launch in October 2024 and arrive at the Jupiter system in 2030; and NASA’s Dragonfly mission to Titan, which is slated to launch in 2027 and arrive at Titan in 2034. All these missions will attempt to learn more about the chemical compositions of these mysterious and intriguing worlds, which will help scientists determine the best ways to search for life.
Get a recent update on NASA’s Europa Clipper mission here!
“These are the only planetary bodies, other than Earth, where liquid water is stable at geological timescales, which is crucial for the emergence and development of life,” said Dr. Journaux. “They are, in my opinion, the best place in our solar system to discover extraterrestrial life, so we need to study their exotic oceans and interiors to better understand how they formed, evolved and can retain liquid water in cold regions of the solar system, so far away from the sun.”
What new discoveries will scientists make about Europa, its chemical signatures, and potential for life in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
Passenger on Allegiant Flight 1127 Captures Video of Pulsating UFO Lights – over West Virginia/Pennsylvania Border
Passenger on Allegiant Flight 1127 Captures Video of Pulsating UFO Lights – over West Virginia/Pennsylvania Border
Flashing UFOs filmed from a plane over West Virginia – Pennsylvania border
On February 20, 2023, a peculiar incident occurred in the skies over the West Virginia/Pennsylvania border. A passenger aboard Allegiant Flight 1127, captured footage of a flashing unidentified flying objects while the plane was descending into Pittsburgh. The witness took a picture of the sunset and later noticed an unusual object in the frame. Curiosity led the individual to switch to video mode and capture footage of the lights emanating from the unidentified object.
The footage captured by the witness shows a small, circular object with a glowing aura, slowly moving across the sky. The lights emanating from the object are bright and pulsating, with different colors appearing at different times. The video lasts for approximately 2 minutes and provides a clear view of the object from different angles.
Upon closer inspection of the footage, it appears that the object is following the same flight path as the commercial airplane. The witness reported that the object was visible for a significant amount of time and that other passengers on the flight were also able to witness the strange phenomenon.
The witness has not provided any further information about the incident, and there has been no official statement from Allegiant Air or any relevant authorities. The incident has garnered attention from UFO enthusiasts and researchers, with many speculating about the nature of the object and its purpose.
The West Virginia/Pennsylvania region has been a hotspot for UFO sightings in the past, with numerous reports of strange objects and lights in the sky. While many sightings can be easily explained as natural phenomena or man-made objects, some incidents remain unexplained and shrouded in mystery.
The sighting on February 20, 2023, adds to the list of unexplained phenomena in the region, and the footage captured by the witness has sparked interest and curiosity among those interested in the UFO phenomenon. While the incident remains a mystery, it is a reminder that there is still much to be explored and discovered about the world around us.
Pentagon Withholds Images of Unidentified Objects from Recent Shootdowns
Pentagon Withholds Images of Unidentified Objects from Recent Shootdowns
U-2 Spy Plane Pilot’s Selfie Goes Viral After Being Released by U.S. Department of Defense
The U.S. Department of Defense recently released a photograph taken by a pilot of a U-2 spy plane showing a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon flying over the continental U.S. While the image provided unprecedented details of the balloon, the release of the photo has left many wondering about the images showing the three unidentified objects shot down over Alaska, northern Canada, and Lake Huron over the weekend of February 10.
Although the Pentagon has not officially confirmed the presence of images of the incidents, it is not planning on releasing them to the public. A spokesperson for the office of the secretary of defense stated that there are currently no other aerial images available.
The three objects shot down are suspected to have been benign amateur hobbyist or research balloons rather than state-sponsored espionage. However, the “unidentified” status of the objects has fueled public speculation that these could be something more than just wayward hobby balloons.
Social media users have speculated that the shoot downs were part of a cover-up operation to conceal the truth about the US’ involvement in the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage. Others have claimed that the objects were alien spacecraft. The lack of debris recovery and images has also been interpreted as part of an attempt by the government to conceal its UFO activities.
It’s believed that the Pentagon obtained some of the captured images and video of the objects before they were shot down. However, it’s not clear if they were able to identify the objects using the jet’s targeting pods.
To investigate the object spotted near Alaska, a couple of F-35 aircraft were launched. These aircraft were equipped with the EOTS, which was designed to provide high-definition and electro-optical images. Unfortunately, the system was not able to capture images of the object. Two F-16C airplanes from Wisconsin’s 148th Fighter Wing were able to shoot down the object. They were equipped with the Sniper ATP, which is a sophisticated targeting pod.
According to the audio recordings of the cockpit conversations of the fighter planes, which were captured by amateur radio users, it’s almost certain that video of the object was taken during the shoot down. However, these descriptions do not provide enough evidence to identify the object.
An aura of mystery will remain over the incident until the Pentagon decides to release the captured images. Although the objects were likely benign, the lack of transparency by the Pentagon has led to various conspiracy theories and speculation.
President Ronald Reagan Felt Burden Of Knowing Aliens Exist, Sept 1983 United Nations Speech, Video, UFO Sighting News.
President Ronald Reagan Felt Burden Of Knowing Aliens Exist, Sept 1983 United Nations Speech, Video, UFO Sighting News.
Date of speeches: Sept 16, 1983
Location of speech: United Nations
Below is a video, of US President Reagan speaking at three different engagements, and in each...he tries to leak the truth...that aliens exist. He really tried hard to inform the public, even when he knew it was against national security to do so. On Sept 16, 1983, US President Ronald Reagan gave a memorable speech in front of the United Nations. In it, he subtly suggests that aliens exist and that all of humanity could be lost if they decide to attack. President Reagan states:
Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world.
Of course President Reagan had inside information from the CIA and NASA and was told that aliens do exist. But he couldn't just come out and say so without breaking national security rules. So instead...he subtly hinted to the rest of the world leaders about what he had learned from the CIA and NASA. He also knows that a small percentage of the other presidents at the United Nations meeting also knew about the existence of aliens. He even hints at one other president...he talked to the General Secretary Gorbachov...who then later became Russian president. Now pondering about world peace is nice...but I feel that President Reagan felt a weight on his shoulders...a burden of carrying this knowledge of the existence of aliens. Remember its was the 1980s and back they the technology was very inferior to today tech marvels. It must have been very frightening for him to know that aliens existed, but to have so few people he could sit down and talk about this subject openly. Watch the video below and see. He is trying to tell the world the truth...that aliens exist. Scott C. Waring
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- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:ALIEN LIFE, UFO- CRASHES, ABDUCTIONS, MEN IN BLACK, ed ( FR. , NL; E )
The Soviet X-Files: Decoding the Enigma of the Petrozavodsk UFOs
The Soviet X-Files: Decoding the Enigma of the Petrozavodsk UFOs
If you are fascinated by the unknown and the unexplained, you might have heard of the UFO sightings over Petrozavodsk, a city in the northwestern part of the Soviet Union (now Russia), in the fall of 1977. The sightings involved multiple witnesses, including military personnel and civilians, who reported seeing strange, glowing, and sometimes pulsating objects in the sky. The objects appeared to move in a controlled manner, sometimes hovering or changing direction abruptly, and emitting bright beams of light. The sightings attracted the attention of both Soviet and international media, as well as ufologists and skeptics, who offered various explanations, ranging from natural phenomena to extraterrestrial visitations.
However, the true nature of the Petrozavodsk phenomenon remains elusive and controversial to this day. While some experts have dismissed the sightings as a result of misperception, hoaxes, or propaganda, others have suggested that they might be related to top-secret experiments by the Soviet military or intelligence agencies. In this article, we will explore two different angles of the UFO sightings over Petrozavodsk and the wider Soviet Union, based on two primary sources: the eyewitness testimonies and the official investigations by the Soviet Academy of Sciences.
Eyewitness testimonies:
Unearthed: The Long-Lost Photograph of the Mysterious Petrozavodsk Object
According to the accounts of the witnesses, the UFO sightings over Petrozavodsk and other parts of the Soviet Union were not isolated incidents, but rather part of a pattern of unexplained aerial phenomena that had been occurring since at least the early 1970s. The witnesses described the objects as large, bright, and silent, often shaped like spheres or ellipsoids, and emitting intense and colorful light. Some witnesses reported feeling a sense of awe or fear, while others tried to approach the objects or even shoot at them. However, none of the witnesses could identify the origin or purpose of the objects, and some reported being harassed or intimidated by the authorities for their testimonies.
The Soviet Academy of Sciences launched several investigations into the UFO sightings over Petrozavodsk and other areas, involving scientists, engineers, and military experts. However, the official reports were inconclusive and sometimes contradictory. Some investigators suggested that the sightings might be related to natural phenomena, such as auroras, meteorites, or chemiluminescence, while others proposed that they might be linked to Soviet space missions, rocket tests, or ionospheric experiments. However, none of the hypotheses could fully explain the observed characteristics of the objects, such as their high altitude, speed, maneuverability, and radiation.
Soviet Academy of Sciences Dispatches Expert Group to Karelia in 1978 to Investigate Unexplained Phenomenon
Conspiracy theories
Given the lack of consensus among experts and the secrecy of the Soviet regime, the UFO sightings over Petrozavodsk have spawned various conspiracy theories, ranging from the benign to the bizarre. Some theorists have claimed that the objects were extraterrestrial spacecraft, sent by aliens to study or communicate with humanity. Others have suggested that the objects were secret weapons or surveillance devices, developed by the Soviet military or intelligence agencies to spy on the West or intimidate their own citizens. Still, others have speculated that the objects were part of a wider cover-up or disinformation campaign, aimed at confusing or distracting the public from other sensitive issues, such as nuclear tests or political dissent.
Soviet ancient aliens: The Petrozavodsk Phenomenon – FULL DOCUMENTARY
Conclusion
In conclusion, the UFO sightings over Petrozavodsk and other parts of the Soviet Union remain a mystery, shrouded in secrecy, controversy, and speculation. While some experts have offered natural or human-made explanations, the eyewitness testimonies and the official investigations suggest that the objects were highly unusual and unexplained by conventional means. Whether the sightings were a result of a technological breakthrough, a psychological projection, or an extraterrestrial visit remains a matter of debate and conjecture. The lack of reliable and verifiable data, coupled with the political and ideological context of the Soviet Union, makes it difficult to separate fact from fiction and truth from propaganda. Nevertheless, the UFO sightings over Petrozavodsk continue to fascinate and intrigue people around the world, serving as a reminder of the enduring mystery and wonder of the universe. Whether you are a believer, a skeptic, or something in between, the Petrozavodsk phenomenon invites us to keep an open mind and a curious spirit, and to explore the boundaries of our knowledge and imagination. Who knows what other mysteries and surprises await us in the vastness of the cosmos?
Big black holes in dwarf galaxies on course for smash-up
For the first time, NASA Chandra X-ray telescope has been used to discover a pair of black holes in dwarf galaxies that are on a collision course. The Chandra team explains.
Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart
China and Russia to build a Moon base, laughing at SpaceX&NASA...
It happened! China and Russia to build a Moon base (No SpaceX) ….
In the next decade, an International coalition plans to build a lunar research station to transform humanity's exploration and observation of the moon. The planning phase is already underway, and it is going well. Construction is slated for 2026 through 2035, and crews could start operating from the base by 2036. The station will feature a lunar orbiter, a large, multi-level, habitat to enable surface-based activities, and play host to several lunar rovers. If this sounds a lot like the NASA and SpaceX Lunar Gateway program, think again. The station, called the International Lunar Research Station, is a rival to the U.S. space agency’s plans to put humans permanently on the surface of the Moon within a similar time frame. Instead, the ILRS is the brainchild of China and Russia — two of the U.S.’ greatest rivals on Earth. " We're in a space race today just as we were in the 1960s. And the stakes are even higher." Let’s dive into China's Secret Plans to Build A Moon Base and More in today’s episode of Alpha Tech!
On March 9, 2021, Zhang Kejian, the administrator of China National Space Administration (CNSA), and Rogozin, the General Manager of State Space Corporation “Roscosmos” (ROSCOSMOS), signed the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of the Russian Federation Regarding Cooperation for the Construction of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS).
Presently, China’s lunar presence includes the Chang’e 4 lander and the Yutu 2 rover, whose arrival in 2019 marked humanity’s first landings on the dark side of the moon. Both lunar crafts is performing scientific experiments, with Chang’e 4 conducting a lunar biosphere experiment to see how silkworms, potatoes, and Arabidopsis (a small flowering plant) seeds grow in lunar gravity, while the Yutu 2 rover is exploring the Von Kármán crater.
China and Russia to build a Moon base, laughing at SpaceX&NASA...
KSP 2: Interstellar, Multiplayer, Colonies and more! Interview with lead developers about the future
Just one more day until launch everyone! For today's KSP 2 video, I sit down with creative director Nate Simpson and senior designer Chris Adderley to ask some questions about what they're most excited about, what features they wish could be ready sooner, and Nate gives us lots of information about how colonies and multiplayer will work! Rest assured, the future is looking very exciting for Kerbal Space Program 2!
Is The Earth In The Wrong Place In The Galaxy?
By now we have no doubt. We are not at the center of the solar system, nor are we at the center of our galaxy... Much less are we at the center of the universe... One step back at a time, we have finally realized that our planet is just one of many, among billions of billions of others. Sure, a lucky planet, it seems... favored by exceptional cosmic coincidences... But are we really sure? For example, are we really sure that the position where the Solar System was formed in the Milky Way is just the absolute best? Could we have found better? Could we have found worse?
Agreed, we are not in a "privileged" position in the universe. But perhaps the fact that we are not is in itself a special thing. Who knows? But we are not here to philosophize... Our purpose is to try to understand whether Earth's position in the Milky Way may have positively or negatively affected its own development. We all know that what we call the Milky Way is nothing more than the galaxy that houses our planetary system. In this case, it is a spiral galaxy about 120,000 light-years in diameter (just to understand what a boundless size we are talking about, one light-year is equivalent to about 63,000 times the distance between Earth and the Sun). Its basic structure consists of a stellar component compressed into a disk about 1,500 light-years thick--a disk filled with hundreds of billions of stars, dust, and gas, mostly arranged in irregular spiral arms. Globular clusters surround the disk in a spherical swarm concentrated toward the center of the disk
UFO Disguised As the Sun Spotted In The Sky
UFO Disguised As the Sun Spotted In The Sky. A small white light appears to launch from the top of Popocatépetl Volcano, also known as El Popo. Yes, it’s the volcano from the legend. It explodes into a giant ball and looks exactly like the sun but moving at a faster speed. And if you think that this is one of the instances that something strange has been seen over Mexico city, then let us show you what a second camera facing El Popo spotted on a different day.
Blue Origin Reveals MAJOR NEW Breakthrough On The Moon!
Blue Origin Reveals MAJOR NEW Breakthrough On The Moon!
Can a 3-D Printed Rocket Compete With SpaceX? | WSJ
Startup Relativity Space is developing the world's first 3-D printed rocket, which it says is cheaper and quicker to manufacture than conventional rockets. Ahead of the company’s first orbital launch attempt, WSJ visited its California facility to meet founder Tim Ellis.
0:00 Startup Relativity Space is creating new ways to manufacture rockets
0:51 Background on the global commercial space industry
2:47 How Relativity uses 3-D printers to produce rockets faster
3:30 Relativity’s 3-D printers use proprietary metal alloys
3:50 To refine its rocket designs, Relativity uses algorithms and machine learning
4:20 Following Terran-1, Terran-R is the second rocket from Relativity
6:30Relativity is planning to be first for a commercial mission to Mars, before Space-X
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope spots six massive galaxies that are so old they shouldn't EXIST – in discovery that 'pushes the limits of our understanding of cosmology'
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope spots six massive galaxies that are so old they shouldn't EXIST – in discovery that 'pushes the limits of our understanding of cosmology'
NASA's new space telescope has found six massive galaxies in the early universe
Discovery upends what experts previously thought about the origins of galaxies
NASA's new super space telescope was built to peer back to the dawn of time and give us clues about how the universe burst into existence.
In less than a year, James Webb has already dazzled us with incredible images — but now it is challenging our very understanding of the origins of galaxies.
That's because the $10 billion (£7.4 billion) observatory has just spotted six massive galaxies in the early universe that are so old they shouldn't actually exist.
'These objects are way more massive than anyone expected,' said Joel Leja, assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State.
'We expected only to find tiny, young, baby galaxies at this point in time, but we've discovered galaxies as mature as our own in what was previously understood to be the dawn of the universe.'
Ground-breaking: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has just spotted six massive galaxies in the early universe (pictured) that are so old they shouldn't actually exist. One of the sources (bottom left) could contain as many stars as our present-day Milky Way
The researchers said their new discovery 'pushes the limits of our understanding of cosmology' and suggests that galaxies grew massive quicker than expected early in the history of the universe.
'We've been informally calling these objects "universe breakers" — and they have been living up to their name so far,' Leja said.
INSTRUMENTS ON THE JAMES WEBB TELESCOPE
NIRCam (Near InfraRed Camera) an infrared imager from the edge of the visible through the near infrared
NIRSpec (Near InfraRed Spectrograph) will also perform spectroscopy over the same wavelength range.
MIRI (Mid-InfraRed Instrument) will measure the mid-to-long-infrared wavelength range from 5 to 27 micrometers.
FGS/NIRISS (Fine Guidance Sensor and Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph), is used to stabilise the line-of-sight of the observatory during science observations.
He added that the galaxies were so big they came into conflict with 99 per cent of the models for cosmology.
To account for the high mass, it means these models would either have to be changed, or astronomers would have to alter their fundamental understanding of how galaxies formed in the early universe.
Namely, that they started as small clouds of stars and dust that gradually grew larger over time.
Whichever way scientists go, Leja said it would require a fundamental rethink about how the universe came to be.
'The revelation that massive galaxy formation began extremely early in the history of the universe upends what many of us had thought was settled science,' said Leja.
He said the international team of researchers had 'no idea what we were going to find' when they looked at Webb's first batch of data from the early universe.
'It turns out we found something so unexpected it actually creates problems for science. It calls the whole picture of early galaxy formation into question,' Leja added.
The new findings show that the six galaxies were as mature as our Milky Way when the universe was just 3 per cent of its current age — about 500-700 million years after the Big Bang.
Webb is capable of seeing as far back in time as 13.5 billion years – around two million years after the universe was formed – because it has infrared-sensing instruments that are able to detect light emitted by the most ancient stars and galaxies.
Baffling: Researchers said their new discovery suggests that galaxies grew massive quicker than expected early in the history of the universe. These images are a composite of separate exposures taken by the James Webb Space Telescope using its NIRCam instrument
'This is our first glimpse back this far, so it's important that we keep an open mind about what we are seeing,' Leja said.
'While the data indicates they are likely galaxies, I think there is a real possibility that a few of these objects turn out to be obscured supermassive black holes.
'Regardless, the amount of mass we discovered means that the known mass in stars at this period of our universe is up to 100 times greater than we had previously thought.
'Even if we cut the sample in half, this is still an astounding change.'
The research was carried out using the spectroscopic data and Webb's first full-colour images, which were released by NASA in July last year.
'When we got the data, everyone just started diving in and these massive things popped out really fast,' Leja said.
'We started doing the modelling and tried to figure out what they were, because they were so big and bright.
Time machine: Webb (pictured in an artist's impression) is able to see as far back in time as 13.5 billion years – around two million years after the universe was formed – because it has infrared-sensing instruments that are capable of detecting light emitted by the most ancient stars
'My first thought was we had made a mistake and we would just find it and move on with our lives. But we have yet to find that mistake, despite a lot of trying.'
Leja said the way for astronomers to confirm his team's findings would be to take a spectrum image of the massive galaxies.
This, he added, would provide data on the true distances of the galaxies and also the gasses and other elements they are made of, which in turn would allow experts to create a clearer picture of how massive they truly were.
'A spectrum will immediately tell us whether or not these things are real,' Leja said.
'It will show us how big they are, how far away they are. What's funny is we have all these things we hope to learn from James Webb and this was nowhere near the top of the list.
'We've found something we never thought to ask the universe — and it happened way faster than I thought, but here we are.'
The discovery has been published in the journal Nature.
The James Webb Telescope: NASA's $10 billion telescope is designed to detect light from the earliest stars and galaxies
The James Webb telescope has been described as a 'time machine' that could help unravel the secrets of our universe.
The telescope will be used to look back to the first galaxies born in the early universe more than 13.5 billion years ago, and observe the sources of stars, exoplanets, and even the moons and planets of our solar system.
The vast telescope, which has already cost more than $7 billion (£5 billion), is considered a successor to the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope
The James Webb Telescope and most of its instruments have an operating temperature of roughly 40 Kelvin – about minus 387 Fahrenheit (minus 233 Celsius).
It is the world's biggest and most powerful orbital space telescope, capable of peering back 100-200 million years after the Big Bang.
The orbiting infrared observatory is designed to be about 100 times more powerful than its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope.
NASA likes to think of James Webb as a successor to Hubble rather than a replacement, as the two will work in tandem for a while.
The Hubble telescope was launched on April 24, 1990, via the space shuttle Discovery from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
It circles the Earth at a speed of about 17,000mph (27,300kph) in low Earth orbit at about 340 miles in altitude.
Astronomen ontdekken oeroude sterrenstelsels die niet zouden mogen bestaan
De James Webb-ruimtetelescoop heeft sterrenstelsels ontdekt die bijna zo groot zijn als onze eigen Melkweg. Op zich niets uitzonderlijk, ware het niet dat niemand ze op die plaats verwacht had. Meer nog, ze konden daar gewoonweg niet zijn. Niemand kan verklaren hoe ze zich gevormd hebben. Een mysterie dat heel wat astronomen hoofdpijn bezorgt.
Afbeeldingen van zes kandidaat-zware sterrenstelsels, 500-800 miljoen jaar na de oerknal gezien. Een van de bronnen (linksonder) zou evenveel sterren kunnen bevatten als onze huidige Melkweg, maar is 30 keer compacter.
Een half dozijn sterrenstelsels vormen een raadsel voor wetenschappers van over heel de wereld. Het is de James Webb-ruimtetelescoop die ze heeft vastgelegd op een zogenaamd ‘deep field’-beeld. Daarbij kijkt men naar het zwakke licht van sterren en sterrenstelsels die zich enorm ver weg bevinden. De sterrenstelsels die in dit nieuw wetenschappelijk onderzoek zijn beschreven liggen zo ver van ons af dat ze enkel op het beeld van onze krachtigste ruimtetelescoop ooit verschijnen als kleine rode stippen. Door dit licht te bestuderen, kunnen we te weten komen hoe oud ze bijvoorbeeld zijn.
Die ouderdom blijkt een probleem te vormen. Volgens analyses is het licht van de zes sterrenstelsels vertrokken toen ze amper 500 tot 700 miljoen jaar oud waren. Het universum stond op dat moment nog in zijn kinderschoenen, net na de oerknal. Dat er toen al sterrenstelsels bestonden is niet verrassend, wel dat ze zo goed ontwikkeld waren. De sterrenstelsels lijken te groot, de sterren te oud. Dat is volledig in strijd met onze bestaande ideeën over hoe het universum er in zijn beginjaren uitzag en evolueerde. Het komt ook niet overeen met de eerdere observaties van Webb zijn voorganger, de Hubble.
“Deze objecten zijn veel groter dan iemand had verwacht”, vertelt Joel Leja, assistent-professor astronomie en astrofysica aan de universiteit van Penn State, in een persbericht. “We hadden verwacht dat we alleen kleine babystelsels zouden vinden. In de plaats daarvan hebben we sterrenstelsels ontdekt die net zo volwassen zijn als onze Melkweg. En dat in de tijdsperiode die we beschouwen als de dageraad van het universum.”
Dat deze sterren en sterrenstelsels ouder waren dan verwacht kunnen de wetenschappers zien aan de kleur. Jonge sterren schijnen meestal met een helderblauwe kleur. Bij het ouder worden krijgen ze dan een rode gloed. Dat de James Webb-telescoop zulke rode sterren ziet bij het terugkijken in de tijd had men gewoonweg niet verwacht. En ook niet dat de sterrenstelsels zo kolossaal zijn. Ze zijn bijna even massief als ons eigen sterrenstelsel op een moment dat het universum nog maar 3 procent van zijn huidige leeftijd was.
“Nog nooit hebben we zo ver terug in de tijd kunnen kijken, dus het is belangrijk dat we openstaan voor nieuwe ontdekkingen”, zegt Leja. “De data geven aan dat het waarschijnlijk sterrenstelsels zijn, maar wie weet zijn een paar van deze objecten verborgen superzware zwarte gaten. Hoe dan ook, met deze ontdekking zijn we te weten gekomen dat de massa van sterren uit deze periode 100 keer groter is dan we eerst dachten. Dat is verbazingwekkend.”
Tijd dus om de kosmologische theorieën over hoe sterrenstelsels na de oerknal ontstonden te herschrijven. Al moeten astronomen er eerst voor zorgen dat ze zeker zijn dat de rode stippen echt niet iets anders zijn. Maar zelfs als dat zo is, zal men hele nieuwe concepten moeten uitdenken voor deze alternatieven. Al hoeft dat niet lang te duren. Astronomen zijn van plan om binnenkort Webbs spiegel opnieuw naar deze sterrenstelsels te richten voor een lichtspectrum. Daarmee kunnen ze onmiddellijk vertellen of hun hypothesen juist zijn. Spannend dus, want deze eerste ontdekking is misschien wel het begin van een transformatie van hoe we de wereld om ons heen bekijken.
Dust Storms on Mars Generate Static Electricity. What Does This Do to Its Surface?
Dust storms are a serious hazard on Mars. While smaller storms and dust devils happen regularly, larger ones happen every year (during summer in the southern hemisphere) and can cover continent-sized areas for weeks. Once every three Martian years (about five and a half Earth years), the storms can become large enough to encompass the entire planet and last up to two months. These storms play a major role in the dynamic processes that shape the surface of Mars and are sometimes visible from Earth (like the 2018 storm that ended the Opportunity rover’s mission).
When Martian storms become particularly strong, the friction between dust grains causes them to become electrified, transferring positive and negative charges through static electricity. According to research led by planetary scientist Alian Wang at Washington University in St. Louis, this electrical force could be the major driving force of the Martian chlorine cycle. Based on their analysis, Wang and her colleagues believe this process could account for the abundant perchlorates and other chemicals that robotic missions have detected in Martian soil.
Dr. Wang led an international team of researchers from Texas Tech University, the University of Delaware, the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences (MCSS), and Oxford University. The paper that describes their findings recently appeared in the Geophysical Research Letters. In it, Wang and her colleagues demonstrated how electrical discharge caused by dust storms could be responsible for decomposing chloride salts and creating atmospheric chlorine and other chemical compounds found on the surface (chlorates. perchlorates, and carbonates).
Close-up image of a Martian dust storm acquired by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) on Nov. 7th, 2007. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
On Mars, chlorine is considered one of five ” mobile elements,” the others being hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and sulfur. Like Earth’s water cycle (or Titan’s methane cycle), this means that chlorine is transferred between the Martian surface and the atmosphere in different forms. It exists in gaseous form in the atmosphere, while chloride deposits are found across the surface. These deposits are similar to salt pans found across Earth, like the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, the Etosha Pan in Namibia, and the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia (the largest in the world).
Similar to Earth, these chloride deposits are likely to be the dried remains of briny patches of water that existed on the surface. It is theorized that they formed from interactions between the surface and atmosphere during the Amazonian period. This geological era extends to this day and is thought to have begun with the end of the Hesperian period (ca. 3 billion years ago) when Mars was still transitioning from a warmer, wetter environment to what we see there today (extremely cold and desiccated).
Since there is no longer exchange between the surface and atmosphere, scientists have wondered how atmospheric chlorine and chloride deposits could be linked. In their new study, Wang (a faculty fellow with the MCSS) and her colleagues demonstrated that electrical discharges caused by dust storms are an efficient way for chlorine exchange between the surface and air. The possibility that dust storms might be a source of reactive chemistry on Mars was first proposed when the Viking 1 and 2 missions landed there in the 1970s.
However, the chemical effects of dust activities were difficult to study since the ESA’s Schiaparelli lander (which would study the phenomenon) crashed on the surface in 2016. As a result, scientists have had to stick with climate modeling and experimental studies, including research that Wang and other planetary scientists have done in recent years. These have shown that when electrostatic discharges interact with chlorine salts in a carbon dioxide-rich environment (like the Martian atmosphere), chlorine gas is released, and perchlorates and carbonates can be generated.
A Martian dust devil in the Amazonis Planitia region on March 14th, 2012, captured by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
However, this latest study was the first time planetary scientists attempted to quantify how much of these chemicals are produced during Martian dust storms. This was done through a series of experiments at Washington University’s Planetary Environment and Analysis Chamber (PEACh), where the team subjected various common chloride mineral salts to electrical discharges under Mars-like conditions. As Wang indicated in a Washington University (The Source) press release, the results confirmed their theory:
“Frictional electrification is a common process in our Solar System, with Martian dust activities known to be a powerful source of electrical charge buildup. The thin atmosphere on Mars makes it much easier for accumulated electrical fields to break down in the form of electrostatic discharge. In fact, it’s a hundred times easier on Mars than on Earth.
“The reaction rates are huge. Importantly, the released chlorine in a short-time mid-strength electrostatic discharge process is at a percent level. No other process that we know of can do this, especially with such quantitatively high yield of chlorine release.”
During a seven-hour simulated electrostatic discharge experiment, they found that at least 1 out of 100 chloride molecules decomposed and released a chlorine atom. In addition, the electrical discharge also accounted for the very high global concentrations of perchlorate and carbonate compounds in Martian topsoil – though the formation rates were slightly lower (sub-percent per-thousand levels). The experiment also showed that the observed concentration ranges could be accumulated within half of the Amazonian period.
Simulated views of a darkening Martian sky from NASA’s Opportunity rover’s point of view, the right side simulating Opportunity’s view in the global dust storm as of June 2018. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/TAMU
Lastly, the high yields could account for the high atmospheric concentrations of hydrogen chloride observed during the 2018 and 2019 dust storms. Said Kevin Olsen, a research fellow at The Open University and a co-author of the new study:
“The high-releasing rate of chlorine from common chlorides revealed by this study indicates a promising pathway to convert surface chlorides to the gas phases that we now see in the atmosphere. These findings offer support that Martian dust activities can drive a global chlorine cycle. With the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, we see repeated seasonal activity that coincides with global and regional dust storms.”
Another interesting takeaway from this study was how the team theorized what electrostatic discharges might look like on Mars. According to Wang, the discharge would not look like a flash of lightning (as is the case on Earth). Instead, she said, it would be more akin to a glow due to Mars’ thin atmosphere. “It could be somewhat like the aurora in polar regions on Earth, where energetic electrons collide with dilute atmospheric species,” she said.
To date, no robotic missions on Mars, be they landers, rovers, or orbiters, have witnessed an electrical discharge during a dust storm. The glows would likely be obscured by the heavy dust concentrations and not be visible from orbit. Meanwhile, surface missions that rely on solar power are forced to suspend operations in heavy storms to preserve power (as was the case during the recent storm season for the Ingenuity helicopter). But perhaps the nuclear-powered Curiosityor Perseverancerover could get a candid shot of this phenomenon before their missions are complete.
Otherwise, we might have to wait on crewed missions to see one of these “aurora,” which could lead to a Mark Whatney-like situation!
Clouds of Carbon Dust Seen When the Universe was Less Than a Billion Years Old
The Milky Way Galaxy contains an estimated one hundred billion stars. Between these lies the Interstellar Medium (ISM), a region permeated by gas and dust grains. This dust is largely composed of heavier elements, including silicate minerals, ice, carbon, and iron compounds. This dust plays a key role in the evolution of galaxies, facilitating the gravitational collapse of gas clouds to form new stars. This galactic dust is measurable by how it attenuates starlight from distant galaxies, causing it to shift from ultraviolet to far-infrared radiation.
However, the origin of various dust grains is still a mystery, especially during the early Universe when heavier elements are thought to have been scarce. Previously, scientists believed that elements like carbon took hundreds of millions of years to form and could not have existed before about 2.5 billion years after the Big Bang. Using data obtained by the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES), an international team of astronomers and astrophysicists report the detection of carbonaceous grains around a galaxy that existed roughly 1 billion years after the Big Bang.
Galaxy GN-z11 superimposed on an image from the GOODS-North survey. Credit: NASA/ESA/STScI
The JADES program is an extragalactic survey and a collaborative effort between the JWST Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) instrument teams. The purpose is to conduct deep parallel mid-infrared imaging and spectroscopy of roughly 100,000 galaxies in two extragalactic deep fields (GOODS-South (CDF-S) and GOODS-North (HDF)). These fields were previously imaged in the optical, infrared, and ultraviolet (UV) bands by the Hubble, Spitzer, and Chandra space telescopes as part of the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS).
So far, the JADES survey has pushed the boundaries of astronomy by discovering and confirming galaxies that are about 13.4 billion light-years away – the most distant galaxies ever observed. By comparing these to the optical spectroscopy and morphology of galaxies 10 to 11.5 light-years distant, JADES will reveal more about the early phases of galaxy formation. Of particular concern is the role of cosmic dust – the stuff stars, planets, organic molecules, and all life are made of – and when certain grains formed.
The JWST is particularly well-suited to studying dust grains because of its advanced infrared imaging capabilities. As Dr. Joris Witstok, a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Kavli Institute for Cosmology (University of Cambridge), told Universe Today via email:
“Dust grains catalyze the formation of molecules and the fragmentation of gas clouds, two mechanisms that are essential to star formation. Furthermore, while the dust mass of a galaxy is negligible compared to its stellar or gas mass, dust grains absorb a significant fraction of the optical and ultraviolet (UV) light and thermally re-emit the absorbed energy in the infrared (IR).”
An international team of astronomers has used data from the JWST to report the discovery of the earliest galaxies confirmed to date (ca. 13.4 billion years ago).
Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA
Based on the data obtained from these fields, the team observed direct evidence of carbonaceous grains that existed up to one billion years after the Big Bang (ca. over 13 billion years ago). This was evident from the broad UV absorption feature in the deep near-infrared spectra (2175 angstrom). This feature had previously been observed only in older galaxies at redshifts of z=< 3 (less than 11.476 billion years ago). These grains were previously believed to be produced by Red Giant stars over the course of hundreds of millions of years. Said Witstok:
“Most dust formation models typically rely on carbonaceous dust grains being formed in the stellar winds of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, while stars can only reach this evolutionary stage ~300 million years after they form. Therefore, it is surprising to see evidence for carbon dust in such early galaxies, the most distant of which is seen when the age of the Universe was only 800 million years: this implies its star formation started only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang (which, in cosmic timescales, is very early), or instead the carbonaceous dust grains can be formed through another faster mechanism.”
These results imply that a more rapid mechanism was responsible for forming carbonaceous dust grains in the early Universe. As Witstok explained, he and his colleagues suspect that supernovae seeded the early Universe with carbon as they blew off their outer layers. “This has important implications for galaxy evolution because the carbon from which the grains are made are also synthesized by these stars, meaning certain elements may spread through the galaxy more quickly than previously thought,” he said.
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 73 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
