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...
28-01-2025
Ingenuity Measured Windspeeds on Mars During its Flights
Ingenuity Measured Windspeeds on Mars During its Flights
One of my gripes with ‘The Martian’ movie was the depiction of the winds on Mars. The lower air density means that the sort of high speed winds we might experience on Earth carry far less of an impact on Mars. During its 72 flights in the Martian air, NASA’s ingenuity helicopter took meticulous records of the conditions. A new paper has been released and reports upon the wind speeds on the red planet at various altitudes. Previous models suggested wind speeds would not exceed 15 m/s but Ingeniuty saw speeds as high as 25 m/s.
Of all the planets in our Solar System, Mars is perhaps the most similar to Earth, similar but with stark differences. The weather on Mars is harsh and extreme, characterised by cold temperatures, a rarefied atmosphere and dust storms. The average temperature is around -60°C but it can reach a toasty 20°C in summer near the equator. It’s atmosphere is composed mostly of carbon dioxide and is about 100 times thinner than Earth’s so it offers little insulation or protection from solar radiation. On occasion, the winds on Mars whip up global dust storms that obscures the planet’s surface from view.
Our model of the Martian atmosphere was believed to be fairly accurate, that is until Ingenuity arrived and completed more than 70 successful flights. As part of the Mars 2020 mission and the first aerial vehicle to successfully complete powered flight on another world, Ingenuity revealed some surprising conditions. Surprisingly too perhaps, the first attempt at powered flight was supposed to be a technology demonstration but instead, it provided high resolution images to help direct the ground based rover and collected data from the atmosphere and became a key part of Mars 2020.
One of the outcomes from Ingenuity’s flights was a better understanding of Martian winds. In a paper written by Brian Jackson and team in the Planetary Society Journal, the team explained their rather ingenious approach. Knowing that the payload was severely limited on board, the decision was taken to use Ingenuity itself to confirm windspeeds. Previous studies had shown that the tilt of a stably hovering drone can be used to calculate speeds. Drones produce forward thrust by tilting in the direction they need to move, if they are stable and in a hover yet the wind is blowing, the drone will drift. Instead and to counteract the drift, the drone tilts flying into wind to maintain position relative to the ground, tilting more in a stronger headwind.
Measuring the tilt is relatively straightforward thanks to a collection of engineering sensors, cameras and accelerometers. With all of the information gathered by these onboard pieces of equipment and returned to Earth, the analysis and calculation of the drone at different altitudes has enabled the wind speeds to be accurately calculated.
The results were a surprise, showing that the winds on Mars were generally higher than anticipated. Speeds were measured at altitudes from 3 to 24 metres and were found to be blowing at anything up to 25 m/s. This perhaps is a result of Ingenuity’s unique capability of being able to measure speeds at different altitudes over a period of time. Previous measurements have been achieved from probes as they have descent through the atmosphere or from probes on the ground. Taking the success of Ingenuity forward, mission specialists working upon the Dragonfly rotorcraft that will be visiting Titan hope to be able to replicate the results and gain a better understanding of its wind profile too.
A terrifying new study has predicted just how many people in Europe will die from climate change by the end of the century.
In total, 5.8 million Europeans will be killed by excess heat between 2015 and 2099, scientists at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine predict.
However, the experts warn that their study doesn't include the effects of catastrophic weather events caused by climate change, such as wildfires and tropical storms – so the actual total will be even higher.
While the team admit that rising temperatures will stop people dying of the cold, overall, the rise in heat deaths will outweigh fewer cold deaths.
Barcelona will see the highest temperature-related death toll by the end of the century, they say, followed by Rome, Napes and Madrid.
'Our results stress the urgent need to aggressively pursue both climate change mitigation and adaptation to increased heat,' said lead author Dr Pierre Masselot.
'This is especially critical in the Mediterranean area where, if nothing is done, consequences could be dire.
'By following a more sustainable pathway, we could avoid millions of deaths before the end of the century.'
A terrifying new study reveals how many people in Europe will die from climate change by the end of the century (file photo)
According to the researchers, some people think that rising temperatures due to global warming will mean fewer people will die of the cold.
This has created the assumption that climate change is 'beneficial' in that it will result in a 'net decrease' in temperature-related deaths.
In other words, the theory agrees that a certain number of people will die of heat, but a greater number of people who would otherwise have died of the cold will be saved.
However, the new study shows that this theory – which is often cited in opposition to 'vital mitigation policies' – is not true, at least in Europe.
'The increase in heat-related deaths consistently exceeds any decrease in cold-related deaths across all considered scenarios,' the experts say in their paper, published in Nature Medicine.
For the new study, Dr Masselot and colleagues analysed temperature and mortality data to predict future temperature-related deaths in 854 European cities between 2015 and 2099.
For each city, the researchers worked out a 'net' figure – the amount of deaths caused by heat minus deaths 'saved' from the cold.
Under a scenario where there's high greenhouse gas emissions (where CO2 emissions double by 2100) and no adaption to heat there will be a total of 5,825,746 excess deaths in Europe due to heat, they found.
Heat-related deaths include heat stress and severe dehydration, while cold-related deaths include hypothermia and frostbite. Pictured, heat in Rome in July 2023
The researchers say: 't. Questions remain as to whether climate change can result in a net decrease in temperature-related mortality'. Pictured, heatwave in Warsaw, Poland August 17, 2024
Top 10 European cities to see the highest temperature-related death tolls by 2099
Barcelona (Spain) - 246,082
Rome (Italy) - 147,738
Naples (Italy) - 147,248
Madrid (Spain) - 129,716
Milan (Italy) - 110,131
Athens (Greece) - 87,523
Valencia (Spain) - 67,519
Marseille (France) - 51,306
Bucharest (Romania) - 47,468
Genoa (Italy) - 36,338
Note:Figures are 'net' increase - so the amount of deaths caused by heat minus deaths 'saved' from the cold
However, 3,480,336 deaths due to the cold will be avoided, giving an overall 'net' mortality rate in Europe by 2099 of 2,345,410.
Researchers say the most vulnerable areas of Europe to heat deaths will be further south – namely the Mediterranean region and the Balkans.
The European city with the highest temperature-related death toll by the end of the century will be Barcelona – at 246,082.
Next will be Rome with 147,738, followed by Naples (147,248), Madrid (129,716), Milan (110,131) and Athens (87,523).
On the other hand, most cities in the British Isles and Scandinavian countries, such as London, Copenhagen and Stockholm will see a 'net decrease' in deaths – meaning more people will be 'saved' from the cold than those killed by the heat.
For example, in London 75,864 people will be killed by the heat but 103,320 will be saved from the cold – an overall net decrease of -27,455.
'London and the UK generally tends to have high vulnerability to cold, and also a lower exposure to heat,' Dr Pierre Masselot told MailOnline.
'In our model, this translates by a slight decrease of deaths in future climate.'
These graphs plot net changes in temperature-related excess death rates from 2015 to 2099 under no adaptation to heat for three SSP scenarios across 854 cities
The new study focuses on daily mean temperature and does not account for specific weather events that could modify the estimated death toll - such as extreme nighttime temperatures and humidity conditions
However, with no adaptation to heat, the increase in heat-related deaths consistently exceeds any decrease in cold-related deaths across Europe, the study found.
Overall, the study shows that even when taking cold-related deaths into account, 2.3 million Europeans will perish due to the heat by 2099.
It also focuses on daily mean temperature and does not account for specific weather events that could modify the estimated death toll.
So the total number of European climate change deaths would likely be bigger once it includes events such as climate induced flooding and wildfires.
It's worth noting the study does not look at the global picture, only Europe.
'Our study, based on a comprehensive assessment of 854 European cities, provides clear evidence that net mortality will increase even under the mildest climate change scenario,' the team conclude in their paper.
'This demonstrates the potential health benefits linked with the implementation of stringent mitigation strategies to strongly reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as adaptation strategies aimed at the most vulnerable countries and population groups.'
Carbon emissions and the greenhouse effect: A primer
The greenhouse effect is the reason our planet is getting too hot to live on.
CO2 released by human activity is accumulating as an 'insulating blanket' around the Earth, trapping more of the sun's heat in our atmosphere.
Without the natural greenhouse effect, heat would pass outwards from the Earth’s surface into space - making it too cold to live. But emissions of gases such as CO2 and methane push the greenhouse effect too far - acting as a blanket that traps heat
CO2 - and other greenhouse gases - are emitted by actions such as burning fossil fuels like coal for energy, burning forests to make way for livestock and
Fertilisers containing nitrogen produce nitrous oxide emissions - another greenhouse gas.
Meanwhile, fluorinated gases are emitted from equipment and products that use these gases.
Such emissions have a very strong warming effect, up to 23,000 times greater than CO2.
Is this another case of a future not only dire but strange, without a narrative to join past to present or an analog for what is to come?
I'm a historian of fire, and my reply is that we have both a narrative and an analog. The narrative is the unbroken saga of humanity and fire, a companionship that extends through all our existence as a species. The analog is that humanity's fire practices have become so vast, especially in recent centuries, that we are creating the fire equivalent of an ice age.
Humanity and fire have been reforging the Earth since the end of the last glaciation, about 11,500 years ago. Generally, these changes have made landscapes more fire-receptive.
The scale is significant. Recent studies speculate that massive depopulation, especially in the Americas, which removed the torch and allowed forests to reclaim land and so sequester atmospheric carbon, may have even helped nudge the planet into the Little Ice Age from the mid-16th to mid-19th centuries.
Still, there were limits. Fire and life had coevolved across 420 million years, and ecological checks and balances limited how far humans could push and pull fire within the constraints of terrestrial landscapes.
The process unquestionably quickened and changed character with the wholesale burning of fossil fuels, or what we might term lithic landscapes. This combustion lies outside the old boundaries: It can burn anytime, anywhere, and its effluent isn't easily absorbed into the old ecology. By warming the atmosphere, it is a leading cause of climate change, which in turn is generally enhancing conditions for wildfires.
Equally important, the transition to a fossil-fuel civilization has affected how people live on the land, how they design cities and peri-urban communities, how they shape living landscapes with agriculture and nature preserves, how they generate and transmit energy, and what kind of fire practices they adopt.
Petrochemicals from fossil biomass replace, or try to substitute for, fire's ecological effects. Energy from fossil fuels displaces the heat, light and power of flame. Instead of challenging wildfire with tamed fire, modern societies fight landscape fire with the counterforce of industrial fire in the form of pumps, engines, bulldozers and aircraft.
This "pyric transition" in types of combustion forces the two different kinds of burning — fires in living landscapes and fires that burn lithic landscapes — to interact in ways that sometimes compete and sometimes collude. Like the power lines that have sparked so many disastrous wildfires, the two realms of fire are crossing, often with lethal consequences.
The prospect for worsening fires because of changing land use and fire practices was apparent before climate change became a serious consideration in the 1990s. U.S. land agencies recognized the ill consequences of removing fire and reformed policies to reinstate good fire over 50 years ago. Unfortunately, bad fire continues to outpace good fire.
As the world burns
No single factor drives fire: It synthesizes its surroundings. It's like a driverless car that barrels down the road, integrating whatever is around it.
Sometimes it confronts a sharp curve called climate change. Sometimes it's a tricky intersection where townscape and countryside meet. Sometimes it's road hazards left from past accidents, such as logging slash, invasive grasses or postburn environments.
Climate change acts as a performance enhancer, and understandably, it claims most of the attention because it's global and its reach extends beyond flames. But the argument over whether climate or land use is more critical is misguided: They both derive, independently, from the conversion to a fossil-fuel society. Megafires, it seems, feed on modernity as hurricanes feed on warm oceans.
In the U.S., the pyric transition sparked a wave of monster fires that rode the rails of settlement — fires an order of magnitude larger and more lethal than those of recent decades. Land clearing and logging slash fed serial conflagrations, which blew up in the late 19th and early 20th centuries — the waning decades of the Little Ice Age.
This havoc inspired the federal government to intervene to end the environmental wreckage, spare watersheds and shield communities, all under the aegis of conservation, which became a global project. Fire control was regarded as foundational; suppressing fires became an index of success. Led by foresters, the belief spread that fire on landscapes could be replaced, as was happening in cities, or caged, as it was in furnaces and dynamos.
With natural fire and traditional burning removed from the landscape, the population of fires fell to the point where flames could no longer do the ecological work required. Instead of reducing risk, landscapes became prone to more explosive burning as fuels accumulated on them over decades.
Now, too much fossil biomass is burned to be absorbed within ancient ecological bounds. Fuels in the living landscape pile up and rearrange themselves. The climate is unhinged. When flame returns, as it must, it too often comes as wildfire.
Welcome to the Pyrocene
Widen the aperture a bit, and we can envision Earth entering a fire age comparable to the ice ages of the Pleistocene, complete with the pyric equivalent of ice sheets, pluvial lakes, periglacial outwash plains, mass extinctions and sea-level changes. It's an epoch in which fire is both prime mover and principal expression.
Humanity's firepower underpins the Anthropocene, which is the outcome not just of anthropogenic meddling but of a particular kind of meddling, made possible by humans' species monopoly over fire. Even climate history has become a subset of fire history.
Fires in living landscapes, fires burning lithic landscapes — the interaction of these two realms of fire has not been much studied. It's been enough of a stretch to fully include human fire practices within traditional ecology. Yet humans — the keystone species for fire on Earth — are merging the two arenas of earthly burning with a give and take that is reshaping the planet in what resembles a slow-motion Ragnarok.
Add up all the effects, direct and indirect: the ice driven off by fire, the areas burning, the biogeographical migrations as biotas move to accommodate changed conditions, the collateral impacts with damaged watersheds and airsheds, the unraveling of ecosystems, the pervasive power of climate change, rising sea levels, a mass extinction, the disruption of human life and habitats. The result is a pyrogeography that looks eerily like an ice age for fire. You have a maturing Pyrocene.
EXCLUSIVE: Sighting of hovering black triangular 'UFO' is DEBUNKED as simply flares slowly descending over California military base in 2021
EXCLUSIVE: Sighting of hovering black triangular 'UFO' is DEBUNKED as simply flares slowly descending over California military base in 2021
A black triangular shaped UFO with five red lights was seen hovering in the night sky at Camp Wilson in California on April 20, 2021
DailyMail.com can reveal the 'UFO sighting' has been debunked and the lights were simply flares
Smoke trails above the five lights indicate they were flares, and long exposure effects suggest they were not hovering but slowly descending, as flares do
By JOSH BOSWELL FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
Videos of a 2021 incident some marines believed to be a triangular UFO hovering over their California base, have been debunked as simply flares.
UFO researcher John Greenewald Jr. obtained dozens of photos, video and documents from the Pentagon last week which appear to explain the lights filmed on April 20, 2021 at Camp Wilson near Twentynine Palms, California, mistaken for a triangular 'craft'.
In May, documentarian Jeremy Corbell and journalist George Knapp shared with DailyMail.com three photos and five videos from the 2021 incident, showing five lights appearing to hover in the sky.
One of the photos appeared to show a solid triangular shape around the lights, and two marines who witnessed the incident said they believed it was a craft.
Corbell and Knapp said they had investigated the incident for two years.
But videos and photos obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) this month by Greenewald – an expert in such requests – show smoke trails above the five lights indicating they were flares, and long exposure effects suggesting they were not hovering but slowly descending, as flares do.
A black triangular shaped UFO with five red lights was seen hovering in the night sky at Camp Wilson in California on April 20, 2021
DailyMail.com can reveal the 'UFO sighting' has been debunked and the lights were simply flares
Smoke trails above the five lights indicate they were flares, and long exposure effects suggest they were not hovering but slowly descending, as flares do
Veteran debunker Mick West, who often appears on UFO shows voicing a skeptical view on alleged exotic incidents, managed to match with precision the alleged UFO lights to a confirmed video of flares shot during a training exercise that evening on the military base.
UFO researcher John Greenewald Jr. obtained dozens of photos, video and documents from the Pentagon last week which appear to explain the lights filmed on April 20, 2021
In a video posted on YouTube, West explained the triangular shape around the lights in one of Corbell and Knapp's photos as 'just the color bleed, which you can see around other objects in the scene.'
Flares often stay lit for between four and seven minutes, and the parachutes they hang beneath can descend slowly enough that they appear from a distance to hover.
'The five lights start out in a nice formation that evokes a triangle, but they quickly separate into more random positions like flares do,' West said in his video.
'John found footage of five flares that looks very similar, I realized this looked like it was taken from the other side. So I flipped it and overlaid it, and it's a near perfect match.'
A mortarman who filmed some of the footage while serving at Camp Wilson spoke with Corbell days afterwards in 2021.
In a recorded interview, he said the lights stuck around for about 10 minutes and left him and his comrades 'baffled'.
'One of my buddies was outside. He was looking at the sky and said that it just kind of appeared out of nowhere,' he said. 'And we all came out and looked and then slowly like 50-plus people started coming out and looking. Those lights appeared out of nowhere.
'If you look at the picture, you can see a black triangular shape.
'With the picture I took with the black triangular shape underneath the lights, it's definitely not any type of flare thing or illumination rounds.'
In May, documentarian Jeremy Corbell and journalist George Knapp (pictured together) shared with DailyMail.com three photos and five videos from the 2021 incident, showing five lights appearing to hover in the sky
Marine Corps discusses training which features green lights
However, military press releases show there was a large training exercise with many flares, aircraft flyovers and drones in the sky on the night of April 20 2021.
The 'Night Air Assault' was conducted by '2nd Marine Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, and aircraft attached to Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1' according to a post published by the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) that day.
The matching footage of the flares, where a smoke trail is visible, was published in a compilation of background night vision video by DVIDS, and first unearthed by Greenewald.
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Veteran debunker Mick West, who often appears on UFO shows voicing a skeptical view on alleged exotic incidents, managed to match with precision the alleged UFO lights to a confirmed video of flares shot during a training exercise that evening on the military base
The marine witnesses told Corbell that flares were fired to try to light up the alleged triangle object.
Among the 128 photos Greenewald obtained this month via FOIA is a picture of two flares in the night sky, next to five smoke trails from extinguished flares which he believes were the source of the five mysterious lights – and could explain the marines' account.
In the May 22 episode of Corbell and Knapp's podcast Weaponized, where they first revealed the footage, Corbell said: 'This was an object. The object was sitting there. I'm not going to say object anymore. It was a craft.
'This is something that was a mass sighting of a UFO, an incursion over a military base. This was a craft.'
But in an episode the following week, they backed off their claims, characterizing the publication as 'an effort to generate additional information'.
'It was like a UFO crime not to have a case completely solved,' Corbell said in the May 29 episode. 'There are some great hypotheses that people have brought forward.'
Knapp joked that they had not 'declared our belief that this is an alien spaceship from the planet Krondak', adding: 'What sold it for me, that it was interesting, was the photos taken with low light features that really do look like they substantiated triangular form.'
In a statement to DailyMail.com this week, Corbell defended the marines' testimony as coming from 'trained military observers', but conceded that 'What appears to be smoke trails illuminated seems compelling and is now a leading theory.'
'We now owe it to our brave service members to fully investigate further based on this new information and further updates can be expected,' the filmmaker said.
Greenewald, who published the FOIA video and pictures on his website The Black Vault, told DailyMail.com that Corbell and Knapp have previously released footage of genuine unidentified objects that have been authenticated by the Pentagon, but that this incident was fully explained.
'I'm confident there is something to these phenomena and I'm not afraid to call out the stuff that is over hyped or potentially even damaging to the UAP conversation,' he said.
'There is ample evidence now the lights which matched the formation of the lights on the alleged 'UAP' were indeed flares.
'I'd love to know why all that is. How have we gone from legitimate and even confirmed evidence being leaked, to this? It's a bizarre progression, and one I feel is far from fully revealed.'
Electronics expert Craig Capel tweeted pointing out that the flares in one picture are purple, a color which can be created by burning cesium or potassium, but these are not usually used for military flares, which usually burn red using strontium
Despite the convincing debunk, others still argue that the lights have a different explanation.
Electronics expert Craig Capel tweeted pointing out that the flares in one picture are purple, a color which can be created by burning cesium or potassium, but these are not usually used for military flares, which usually burn red using strontium.
However, the colors may be affected by the iPhone camera adjusting for low-light conditions, and may not be an accurate depiction of their true color in the sky.
'Given the coincidences with date and location, and the fact that these lights look and act like flares, I think we can safely say that these are the actual flares that were misidentified as a UFO,' West said in his video.
'Military personnel are human, they are subject to the same illusions that we are. Sometimes when faced with something new, they might not be able to identify it. This happens perhaps more than we might like, but it's not something we should ignore, just because it seems impolite.
'When looking at a UFO video, keep an open mind. Consider all the possibilities.'
West writes about attempting to debunk alleged UFO incidents and other claimed conspiracy theories in his book, Escaping the Rabbit Hole: How to Debunk Conspiracy Theories Using Facts, Logic, and Respect, first published in 2018 and re-released in a revised copy last month.
Mojave’s Enigma: The Unexplained Giant Triangular UFO
Mojave’s Enigma: The Unexplained Giant Triangular UFO
Regarding its dimensions, the eyewitness gauged the airborne triangle's size in relation to the mountain it eclipsed, hinting at its enormity. "No less than 75 yards or two football fields in dimension,"
Not long ago.,UFOlogists Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp unveiled a contentious UFO video. Critics were quick to dismiss it as mere flares. However, new reports assert a colossal, soundless triangle was indeed witnessed over the arid expanse of the Mojave desert.
The timing of the sighting coincided with a military training day in the locale. Initial skeptics emphasized the synchronicity of events and training as grounds to dismiss the phenomenon as mere flares. This theory falls flat when considering two major inconsistencies: the uncharacteristic duration of the event, and the vehement denial by military witnesses that flares were involved. Instead, they affirm a triangular silhouette was the source of illumination.
Further Testimony Dismisses Skepticism
Corbell and Knapp, eager to strengthen their case against detractors, have presented additional accounts from the Marines involved in the peculiar event. “It remained for roughly 30 or 35 minutes, quite a while,” shared a Marine. “Absolutely not flares, 100% sure. It resembled an alien craft, making no sound. I’ve never seen such before.”
Mojave’s Giant Triangular UFO
Regarding its dimensions, the eyewitness gauged the airborne triangle’s size in relation to the mountain it eclipsed, hinting at its enormity. “No less than 75 yards or two football fields in dimension,” he surmised. “It was definitely a UFO, something we couldn’t identify.” He shed light on the strange activities of the night, labeling it as “hectic.” “There was a convoy that night headed towards the object. Around 50 to 70 trucks, and helicopters swarming the skies. An anomaly not linked to routine training,” he added. “It seemed they were gearing to intercept it; it was wild.” Another Marine, a data system technician, confirmed that the stationary lights they viewed belonged to a tangible object and were not flares. “Given the distance and size, it was roughly the magnitude of a football field,” he stated.
All other witnesses recount a consistent narrative of an unidentified dark triangle, defined by illuminations on its sides, hovering for around 30 minutes. Every account unequivocally dismissed the flare theory and underscored the abnormal response to this unidentified flying triangle’s presence in a military zone.
In an enthralling Senate Subcommittee Hearing on Emerging Threats and Capabilities held on April 19, Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick, Director of the All Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), unveiled a captivating video of an orb-shaped UFO.
Kirkpatrick’s presentation during the public portion of the hearing, which spanned just over an hour, provided intriguing insights into the activities of the recently established Pentagon UFO office. Currently, AARO is investigating around 650 cases, gathering data on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), such as their most common altitude, shape, and detected speed.
To demonstrate both explained and unexplained cases, Kirkpatrick showcased a declassified video taken by an MQ9 Reaper drone, in which a metallic orb-like object moved swiftly without any visible propulsion method. This UAP remains unidentified. In contrast, he presented a video from South Asia in which an object could be identified as an airplane.
Government Data Release and Resource Concerns
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), the panel chair, addressed the initial batch of government data disclosed after pressure from the late Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Regarding some of the airborne events revealed, Gillibrand expressed regret over the slow and insufficient response due to the UFO stigma. Additionally, she criticized the AARO’s lack of resources and the Pentagon’s apparent disregard for the office’s leadership role, particularly in the Chinese spy balloon incident.
Kirkpatrick acknowledged the need to analyze historical records of events from the past to the present, prioritizing those with defense information crucial to national security. He admitted that answering decades of UAP-related questions would not be possible all at once, but a starting point is necessary.
In his testimony, Kirkpatrick stated that most unidentified objects reported to AARO exhibit mundane characteristics, such as balloons, unmanned aerial systems, or natural phenomena. He pointed out that humans are susceptible to deception and illusion, while sensors can experience unexpected responses, failures, or even intentional interference. When asked about advanced technologies that China and Russia might be using, he mentioned “emerging capabilities” without attributing any specific unexplained sightings to Chinese technology.
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Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) have captivated the curiosity of experts and enthusiasts alike for many years, showcasing behaviors that challenge our conventional understanding of physics and technology.
The USS Nimitz UFO that reportedly hovered over an underwater disturbance in the ocean. Some believe that there was either another mysterious object or an underwater base where UFOs come from.
Credit: US Navy
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) have perplexed observers for years, exhibiting behaviors that defy our understanding of physics and technology. As a result, UFOs have become a popular subject for scientific study, attracting the attention of prestigious organizations like NASA. With increasing evidence and research, public perception has shifted significantly, moving away from the notion of UFOs as mere conspiracy theories and towards recognizing them as a real, unexplained phenomenon that warrants serious investigation.
Astounding Acceleration: One of the unique characteristics of UFOs (UAPs) is that they can perform sudden, deliberate maneuvers, even changing direction instantaneously. These accelerations surpass the tolerance of known biological systems and challenge our current technological capabilities in material manufacturing.
Silent Hypersonic Speeds: UAPs can travel at supersonic velocities without leaving any typical signatures behind. While modern military and reconnaissance aircraft produce detectable signatures like sonic booms, vapor contrails, and atmospheric ionization, UAPs leave no such traces.
Elusive Observability: Whether viewed through electro-optical, electromagnetic means, or the naked eye, obtaining a clear image of UAPs remains a challenge, which is another key characteristic of UFOs. Witnesses struggle to describe them, radar returns are often nonsensical or jammed, and objects appear opaque and semi-metallic, making it difficult to see the object itself.
Mysterious Trans-medium Travel: UFOs (UAP) can seamlessly navigate through various environments and conditions without compromising performance or lift. Unlike human-made vehicles designed specifically for space, air, or water, these objects can traverse all three mediums using the same design, baffling our understanding of physics.
Unexplained Positive Lift: UFOs (UAP) can resist Earth’s gravity without the usual aerodynamic means for lift and thrust, such as engines, propellers, exhaust plumes, wings, rudders, ailerons, or fins. Despite lacking these features, they still move precisely in our atmosphere.
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) have captivated the curiosity of experts and enthusiasts alike for many years, showcasing behaviors that challenge our conventional understanding of physics and technology. This intrigue has led to a substantial shift in public perception, as UFOs are no longer dismissed as mere conspiracy theories but are increasingly regarded as a genuine, enigmatic phenomenon deserving of rigorous investigation.
Prominent institutions such as NASA have recognized the significance of this shift, intensifying their efforts to explore these mysterious occurrences. With growing evidence and ongoing research, it is clear that the coming years will witness a heightened commitment to transparency and discovery, as we strive to unravel the mysteries surrounding UFOs.
The presence of these five unique observations forces us to reevaluate our understanding of UAPs. To unravel the mystery, we need more data and comprehensive research to better comprehend what we are witnessing.
Researchers Practice Searching for Life on Enceladus, in the Arctic Ocean
When searching for alien life, it’s not unusual to use Earth as a test bed for theories and even practice runs. Perhaps one of the most tantalising places in the Solar System to look for life is Saturn’s moon Enceladus. It has a liquid water interior and it is here that life may just be possible. A team of researchers want to test techniques for searching for life on Enceledaus by exploring the oceans of Earth. They have collected water and ice samples and hope to find chemicals like methane and hydrogen.
The search for alien life is one of that has fascinated humanity for decades. Scientists explore this vast question through various avenues, including the study of exoplanets within the habitable zones of distant stars but there is still hope that maybe, just maybe we will find life elsewhere in our own Solar System. Some of the moon’s of the outer planets offer tantalising possibilities such as Enceladus, a moon of Saturn. It’s an icy moon where, beneath the icy crust, there is the possibility of the global ocean of liquid water teeming with life.
When the Cassini-Huygens probe visited Saturn in 2004 it sampled the cryogenic plumes that had been ejected over the southern pole, Using its Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer and Cosmic Dust Analyser, research teams identified the presence of water ice, methane and other carbon based molecules. Molecular hydrogen, molecular nitrogen and other elements all of which suggest the sub-surface ocean was a salty composition with the necessary elements for primative life. However to date, no evidence has been found.
It’s thought that the ice crust of Enceladus is anything form a few kilometres to up to 40 km thick. Beneath, and in the depths of the ocean are thought to be hydrothermal vents which, just like oceans on Earth, are a source of energy that could drive entire ecosystems. With all the ingredients for life, missions have been discussed to explore the astrobiological aspects of Enceladus. Mission with mass spectrometers have been proposed to identify biosignatures within the ocean.
In the paper published in Planetary and Space Science and written by a team led by F. French from the Università degli Studi di Bari in Italy, the team look at the technical possibility of detecting methane cycling on Enceladus. If it can be observed, then it would give a strong indication that the sub-surface ocean is currently, or has been habitable in the past. The conclusion can be quite reliably drawn since the methane cycle on Earth is often the result of biological and abiotic processes but is generally considered a byproduct of microbial activity.
NASA and ESA have been discussing possible missions to Enceladus but ahead of that, one way of practicing the ability to detect geochemical signatures of life is to see if it can be detected on Earth using the same technology. The Arctic Ocean is a great analogy to the conditions on Enceladus with vents on the sea floor in an ocean covered with ice for the majority of the year. The team conducted experiments to simulate the processes and techniques future missions are likely to employ on Enceladus and other outer moons.
The team found that they were able to detect and measure emitted concentrations of carbon dioxide, other carbon isotopies and other oxygen isotopes within the water. Their results suggest it will be possible to detect the necessary elements using a mass spectrometer at Enceladus. Further studies are appropriate to refine the processes ahead of a future mission.
In April 2026, NASA will launch a crew of four as part of the Artemis II mission, a circumlunar flight that will last 10 days. This mission will set the stage for Artemis III, the long-awaited return to the Moon, currently scheduled for mid-2027. With the deployment of the Lunar Gateway (also scheduled for 2027), NASA intends to conduct regular missions to the Moon (once a year). With the help of international and commercial partners, NASA then hopes to build a lunar base and the related infrastructure that will allow for a “sustained program of lunar exploration and development.”
However, the current schedule is the result of multiple delays, budget restrictions, and issues with the various mission elements. Given the uncertain nature of politics in the U.S. right now, there are concerns that further delays may be inevitable. Meanwhile, China and its partners continue to push ahead with their plans to create a base in the South Pole-Aitken Basin – the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) – that will rival NASA’s Artemis Program. Understandably, this situation has raised concerns about who will send crewed missions to the Moon and establish a base there first.
Back to the Moon to Stay!
For NASA, the long-awaited return to the Moon began two decades ago with the passage of the NASA Authorization Act of 2005. In addition to allocating funds for robotic space exploration and Earth Observation programs, the Act also instructed the agency to “establish a program to develop a sustained human presence on the Moon, including a robust precursor program, to promote exploration, science, commerce, and United States preeminence in space, and as a stepping-stone to future exploration of Mars and other destinations.”
This led to the creation of the Constellation Program, which would see astronauts return to the Moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Since then, NASA’s plans have evolved due to unforeseen circumstances like the Great Recession (2007-2009) and budget shortfalls. By 2010, NASA came back with a new plan known as the Moon to Mars mission architecture, which called for the development of the next-generation Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion spacecraft.
By 2017, the Artemis Program was inaugurated with the long-term goal of creating a “sustained program of lunar exploration and development.” This plan currently includes returning astronauts to the lunar surface by 2028, followed by the creation of a permanent base around the lunar south pole. Since then, they have enlisted the help of several space agencies and national governments through the Artemis Accords and multiple commercial partners through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) and Human Landing System (HLS) programs to realize this goal.
However, in 2021, China and Roscosmos declared a joint plan to establish their own permanent base in the Moon’s south pole region, the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). The program’s timetable calls for Russian cosmonauts and Chinese taikonauts to land on the Moon for the first time by 2030. In 2023, China announced this would consist of two Long March 10 rockets launching the Mengzhouspacecraft and the Lanyuelunar lander, the former carrying two taikonauts and the latter ferrying them to the surface and back.
The Gateway & Base Camp
In 2012, NASA proposed a cislunar station to facilitate its “Moon to Mars” mission architecture, dubbed the Deep Space Habitat. By 2018, the design and the program had matured considerably and was renamed Lunar Gateway. This station is now a multinational collaborative project between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and the UAE’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC).
By 2020, the surface elements of the Artemis Program, known as the Artemis Base Camp, were announced. This camp was described in detail as part of NASA’s Lunar Surface Sustainability Concept. The plan includes three core elements that would enable a sustained lunar presence, emphasizing mobility and the ability to conduct extensive science operations.
A Lunar Terrain Vehicle(LTV) that will transport crewmembers around the landing zone
A pressurized Habitable Mobility Platform (HMP) that will allow crews to take trips across the lunar surface for up to 45 days
A lunar Foundation Surface Habitat (FSH) that will house as many as four crew members on shorter surface stays
The Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion spacecraft are vital to this program, which NASA has been developing since 2011. In 2018, then-Administrator Jim Bridenstine and VP Mike Pence directed NASA to expedite the timetable so astronauts would land on the Moon by 2024. This created a problem since the Lunar Gateway would not be ready in time, leading to the Human Landing Systems (HLS) contract. The resulting concepts include the Starship HLS developed by SpaceX and the Blue Moon Mk. 2 developed by Blue Origin.
The ILRS
In June 2021, the China National Space Agency (CNSA) announced they had partnered with the Russian State Space Corporation (Roscosmos). The detailed plan was made public with the release of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) Guide for Partnership, which explained how international partners could join. According to the design, five facilities will make up the ILRS. They include:
Cislunar Transportation Facility(CLF): An orbital station that mirrors the purpose of the Lunar Gateway.
Telemetry, Tracking, and Command(TT&C): An energy supply network, a thermal management system, and support modules.
Lunar Transportation and Operation Facility(LTOF): A storage facility where lunar vehicles will be stowed and maintained when not in use.
Lunar Scientific Facility: A support lunar science operations on the surface, in-orbit, or in deep space.
Ground Support and Application Facility (GSAF): An operational support facility for communications and missions and a data center for lunar and deep-space missions.
The timeline for the base’s construction is divided into three phases. Phase I—Reconnaissance, which began in 2021 and will last until the end of 2025, consists of exploring the South Pole-Aitken Basin and sample return missions by the Chang’e missions to scout for potential ILRS sites and verify technologies that will allow for soft landings in the southern polar region. This phase has involved multiple launches using China’s Long March 3B (CZ-3B) and Long March 5 (CZ-5), and the Russian Soyuz-2 rocket.
Phase II—Constructionis planned to last from 2025 to 2030. The goals of this phase include verifying technologies related to the ILRS command center, analyzing the Chang’e samples to narrow the selection of potential sites, and delivering cargo to build the base. Other objectives will include technologies related to ISRU, 3D printing, and others necessary for the construction of the ILRS. For Phase II and III, China and Russia would begin relying on the Long March 9, Long March 10, and the Angara 5M heavy launch vehicles.
Phase III – Utilization, which will run from 2030 to 2035, will involve the completion of all in-orbit and surface facilities that provide energy, communication, research, exploration, and transport services. This phase will consist of five IRLS missions to establish the base architecture:
IRLS-1 – establishment of the command center, basic energy, and telecommunications facilities.
IRLS-2 – establishment of lunar research exploration facilities (sample collection, lunar physics, geology, lava tubes).
IRLS-3 – establishment of lunar ISRU technology verification facilities.
IRLS-4 – verification of general technologies like biomedical experiments, sample collection, and return.
IRLS-5 – establishment of lunar-based astronomy and Earth observation facilities.
Issues and Delays
Long before the Artemis Program was first announced, NASA was experiencing significant delays with the development of mission-critical elements. This includes the SLS, which began development in 2011 with a government-mandated launch set for late 2016. However, cost overruns, management issues, and other challenges delayed this for nearly six years. This also caused delays in the development of the Orion spacecraft, which performed its first successful test flight on December 5th, 2014. The next flight, Artemis I, did not occur until almost eight years later.
On November 16th, 2022, the SLS launched for the first time, sending the Artemis I spacecraft (without crew) on a circumlunar flight. This was to be followed by Artemis II, a crewed circumlunar flight, in 2023 and Artemis III in 2024. In November 2021, due to legal challenges over the HLS contract, NASA declared that Artemis III‘s launch date would be pushed until 2025. On January 2024, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced that Artemis II and III would launch no sooner than September 2025 and 2026.
However, by the end of the year, Nelson announced that these missions would be delayed due to the months of engineering investigations into issues with the life support system and heat shield, but should occur no later than April 2026 and mid-2027. There have also been delays on SpaceX’s end. While the company has made several impressive strides with the launch and recovery of the Starship, the first successful orbital test flight took place on June 6th, 2024 – a year after its first crewed launch was scheduled to take place (the dearMoon project) and the same year it was to assist the Artemis III mission.
The complex architecture for that mission also involves orbital refueling, which SpaceX anticipates hopes to test sometime this year. However, concerns have been raised about the number of refuelings needed to allow the Starship to make a Trans-Lunar Injection (TLI) maneuver. At present, the Artemis III and IV missions will involve a Starship HLS docking with a refueling facility in orbit before making a TLI. This facility will be serviced by multiple Starship propellant tankers, but estimates vary on how many launches will be needed to refuel the HLS fully.
Whereas Musk has previously stated that it could be between 4 and 8, others estimate that 16 launches will be needed to fuel a single Starship HLS. SpaceX also hopes to conduct 25 launches with the Starship in 2025, including an orbital refueling followed by an uncrewed TLI and lunar landing in preparation for Artemis III. However, due to the recent loss of a Starship during the most recent flight (January 16th, 2025) and the resulting FAA penalties, these missions may not occur before the year’s end.
Keith Cowing, an astrobiologist and former rocket scientist, is currently the editor of the publications NASA Watch and Astrobiology. As he summarized to Universe Today via messenger:
“The main problem with Artemis as a whole has been poor cost projections, inadequate cost monitoring, bad contract oversight, and over-optimistic schedules that are driven by the need to look like you are making good progress. Any one of these can cause cost overruns and schedule delays. When you have all of them happening, you can have substantial problems.
“The main problems have had to do with the ground infrastructure for launch, issues with the Orion spacecraft, and the impact of earlier cost saving attempts. The most unusual of which was a decision to re-use the avionics from Artemis II Orion in the Artemis III Orion instead of simply building one set of avionics for each. It takes a lot of time to remove things, re-install them, and re-certify them for flight.”
Is Roscomos Out?
However, Roscosmos has also suffered serious setbacks due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This includes Roscosmos terminating its involvement in the International Space Station (ISS) and the European Space Agency (ESA) suspending cooperation with Roscosmos for the ExoMars rover mission. Roscosmos has also seen a significant drop in revenue since 2022, reporting financial losses of 180 billion rubles ($2.1 billion) in February 2024 due to canceled contracts.
In addition, Roscosmos has experienced a significant drop in launches per year, a trend that began with the annexation of Crimea in 2014. This includes missions related to the ILRS, like the Luna-25 mission. After a two-year delay, the mission was lost when it crashed on the lunar surface in August 2023. This mission and the subsequent launch ofLuna-26 and Luna-27, originally scheduled for 2024 and August 2025 (respectively), were a key part of Phase I of the IRLS’ development.
Since the loss of Luna-25, these missions have been delayed until 2027 and 2028. The Luna-28mission, meant to play an important role in Phase II of the ILRS’ development, has also been pushed back to 2030. In addition, these three missions, and several payload deliveries in Phase II and III are dependent on Russia’s Angara A5 rocket. The design of this heavy-lift rocket was formalized in 2004, and the first test flight occurred in December 2014, but the next flight did not occur for another six years (December 2020).
The third followed in December 2021, which failed to deliver its payload to the intended orbit. The Angara 5M, unveiled in 2017 to address problems with earlier models, made its maiden flight in April 2024. While multiple launches are scheduled between 2025 and 2030s, none are associated with the Luna program or the ILRS. Said Cowing:
“Russia is cash-strapped and is still isolated from most of the world’s economic systems. In addition, their space sector was already suffering from draconian budget cuts, over-promising things that never happened, and increasingly shoddy workmanship from their contractors. The manufacturing problems with a Soyuz capsule and the malfunction of thrusters in the Nauka module, plus the aging of their part of the ISS, simply serve to exacerbate these challenges further.
Despite these setbacks, China continues to pursue the ILRS and there is little doubt that China will be able to continue without Russian involvement. The success of the Chang’e program to date and their progress with the Long March 9 (CZ-9) is certainly an indication of that.
“China, on the other hand, has a rather robust human spaceflight program of its own, including a large space station,” added Cowing. “They also have an ambitious lunar program that has chalked off one success after another. And their robotic and space station programs are all focused on methodically developing the ability to send their astronauts to the Moon. They really do not need the Russians, and the Russians cannot afford to do much anyway.”
Conclusions?
As it stands, China plans to send the first taikonauts to the Moon in 2030, and they appear to be on track to achieve that. This includes the first launch of the Long March 10, slated for 2026, and the successful test of the Mengzhou spacecraft in 2020. In April 2024, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced that the initial development of the Lanyue lander was complete. This was followed by an announcement in October that a separation test for the lander and its propulsion stage had been carried out. However, unforeseen delays may occur that could cause the target date to be pushed.
Meanwhile, NASA has experienced multiple delays and there are still logistical questions that need to be worked out with the Starship HLS. However, NASA and its commercial partners still have the lead regarding the major mission elements. For instance, they have already built and validated the SLS and Orion spacecraft, while SpaceX has successfully completed multiple orbital flights with the Starship. While the target date of mid-2027 may slip further, they could still make their original (pre-Artemis) target date of 2028.
What’s more, NASA has the benefit of experience, having already sent six missions and 12 astronauts to the Moon. In addition, NASA has launched over 1,000 uncrewed and 250 crewed missions into Earth orbit or beyond since its inception in 1958, plus thousands more through its commercial programs. As of January 23rd, 2025, China has conducted 558 launches using the Long March family of rockets and trails the U.S. significantly in terms of annual launches. As the saying goes, “There’s no substitute for experience.”
So… will China send its first taikonauts to the Moon before NASA can make its long-awaited return? In Cowing’s estimation, the chance of that happening is “doubtful.” However, there is little doubt that their robust space program will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming decades, be it in orbit, on the Moon, and (in all likelihood) on Mars!
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Shapeshifters and Ancient Aliens: Unraveling Humanity’s Mysterious Origins
Shapeshifters and Ancient Aliens: Unraveling Humanity’s Mysterious Origins
The enigmatic tales of shapeshifters and ancient alien origins have fascinated humanity for centuries, weaving a complex tapestry of myth, folklore, and speculative theories. From ancient shamanic rituals to modern interpretations of extraterrestrial influence, these mysteries challenge our understanding of reality and humanity’s place in the cosmos. Are shapeshifting legends and ancient alien theories connected? Could they reveal a hidden link between humanity and otherworldly beings? Let’s delve into these unsolved mysteries.
The Shapeshifter Phenomenon
Shapeshifters are beings capable of transforming their physical form, often taking on the appearance of animals, other humans, or even inanimate objects. This phenomenon appears in nearly every culture worldwide, suggesting a universal human fascination with transformation and the supernatural.
Cultural Roots of Shapeshifting:
The earliest depiction of a shapeshifter is found in a cave painting in France, showing a shaman transforming into a deer or elk. This ancient artwork suggests that shapeshifting has been part of human consciousness since prehistoric times.
In Native American traditions, skinwalkers are believed to be witches or shamans who can transform into animals, often for malevolent purposes.
European folklore is rich with tales of werewolves, humans who transform into wolves, often under the influence of a curse or a full moon.
Japanese folklore features yokai, supernatural beings that can shapeshift into animals, objects, or even other humans.
Voluntary vs. Involuntary Shapeshifting:
Voluntary shapeshifters, like skinwalkers or werewolves, are said to control their transformations, often using their abilities for specific purposes.
Involuntary shapeshifters, on the other hand, are transformed against their will, often as a result of divine punishment or curses, as seen in Greek and Roman myths where gods transform mortals into animals or objects.
Shamanic Rituals and Transformation:
Shamans in various cultures, such as the Kalahari Bushmen, use rituals involving dance, percussion, and hallucinogens to enter trance states. During these rituals, they believe they transform into animals, gaining their abilities and perspectives.
These practices suggest that shapeshifting may have roots in altered states of consciousness, where the boundaries between human and animal identities blur.
Ancient Alien Theories and Shapeshifting
The idea that shapeshifting legends might be connected to ancient alien origins has gained traction in recent years. Proponents of this theory argue that these myths could be evidence of extraterrestrial influence on human history.
The Ancient Astronaut Hypothesis:
Popularized by authors like Erich von Däniken (Chariots of the Gods) (Amazon link), the ancient astronaut hypothesis suggests that extraterrestrial beings visited Earth in ancient times, influencing human civilization and leaving behind clues in myths and religious texts.
Shapeshifting legends, such as gods transforming into animals or humans, could be interpreted as encounters with advanced beings capable of altering their appearance.
The Role of Folklore and Fiction:
The connection between ancient alien theories and shapeshifting can be traced back to the works of H.P. Lovecraft, whose horror fiction explored themes of ancient gods, extraterrestrial beings, and transformation.
Lovecraft’s stories, such as The Call of Cthulhu, inspired later writers and researchers, including Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier (The Morning of the Magicians), who in turn influenced von Däniken’s work.
Critiques and Skepticism:
While the ancient alien theory is compelling, it faces criticism from scholars who argue that it often misinterprets ancient texts and artifacts.
For example, Zecharia Sitchin’s claim about the planet Nibiru (Amazon link) lacks support from mainstream scholars, who argue that the term likely refers to the ancient city of Nippur rather than a celestial body.
Hybridization: A Recurring Theme
A recurring theme in both shapeshifting legends and ancient alien theories is the idea of hybridization—the blending of human and otherworldly traits.
Ancient Texts and Hybrid Beings:
The Book of Genesis (6:1-4) describes the “sons of God” (interpreted as spiritual beings) interbreeding with human women to produce the Nephilim, a race of giants.
The Book of Enoch expands on this narrative, suggesting that these hybrid beings were part of a larger plan to corrupt humanity.
Modern Interpretations:
Some researchers argue that modern accounts of alien abductions and hybridization experiments could be a continuation of this ancient phenomenon.
These theories propose that extraterrestrial beings are still interacting with humanity, possibly for genetic experimentation or other unknown purposes.
The Intersection of Myth and Reality
The mysteries of shapeshifters and ancient alien origins blur the line between myth and reality, inviting us to question the nature of existence and our place in the universe.
Psychological and Symbolic Interpretations:
Shapeshifting legends may symbolize humanity’s desire to transcend physical limitations or explore different aspects of identity.
Ancient alien theories, while speculative, reflect our fascination with the unknown and the possibility of life beyond Earth.
The Role of Modern Research:
Researchers like John Kachuba (Shapeshifters: A History) (Amazon link) and Derek Gilbert (Destination Earth) (Amazon link) explore these themes through a blend of historical research, folklore, and modern speculation.
Their work highlights the enduring appeal of these mysteries and their potential to reveal deeper truths about humanity’s past and future.
VIDEO:
Unsolved Mysteries of Shapeshifters and Ancient Alien Origins
The unsolved mysteries of shapeshifters and ancient alien origins continue to captivate our imagination, offering a glimpse into the unknown and the extraordinary. Whether rooted in ancient myths, shamanic practices, or encounters with otherworldly beings, these phenomena challenge us to explore the boundaries of reality and consider the possibility that we are not alone in the cosmos. As we continue to investigate these mysteries, we may uncover new insights into the nature of existence and humanity’s connection to the stars.
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The record-breaking winds are circling the nearby "puffy" exoplanet WASP-127b, and are traveling six times faster than the alien world spins.
The record-breaking jetstream discovered on WASP-127b spins six times faster than the exoplanet does.
(Image credit: ESO/L. Calçada)
Astronomers have spotted a "supersonic jetstream" on a nearby alien world, with winds reaching 20,500 mph (33,000 km/h) — the fastest planetary gusts detected anywhere in the cosmos.
The record-breaking weather is raging on WASP-127b, a "puffy" gas giant around 500 light-years from Earth that is slightly larger than Jupiter but has a fraction of the mass. The exoplanet, discovered in 2016, has a large band of strong winds, or jetstream, circling its equator — similar to the winds that cause the stripes seen on the solar system's gas giants. However, the speed of this jetstream had remained a mystery until now.
But in a new study, published Jan. 21 in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, researchers finally determined the jetstream's speed by measuring it against the rest of the exoplanet's spinning atmosphere, using data collected by the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile.
"Part of the atmosphere of this planet is moving towards us at a high velocity while another part is moving away from us at the same speed," study lead author Lisa Nortmann, an astrophysicist at the University of Göttingen in Germany, said in a statement. "This signal shows us that there is a very fast, supersonic, jet wind around the planet’s equator."
The winds on WASP-127b are traveling at 5.6 miles per second (9 kilometers per second), which is around 130 times faster than the threshold for a Category 5 hurricane or roughly 15 times faster than a speeding bullet.
It is also around 18 times faster than the winds in Neptune's largest jetstream, which can hit 1,100 mph (1,800 km/h) — the fastest gusts recorded in the solar system, according to NASA.
WASP-127b's jetstream is traveling roughly six times faster than the exoplanet spins. "This is something we haven't seen before," Nortmann said.
Complex weather
Researchers determined the composition of WASP-127b's clouds by analyzing the light that passed through the puffy planet's atmosphere. This showed that water vapor and carbon dioxide are both present in the spinning clouds. However, while these compounds are both associated with life on Earth, they can also be explained by abiotic processes so are not proof of extraterrestrial life.
Temperature data collected by the VLT showed that WASP-127b's polar regions are colder than the rest of the planet, and that there are slight temperature variations between the day and night sides of the planet. "This shows that the planet has complex weather patterns just like Earth and other planets of our own [solar] system," study co-author Fei Yan, an astronomer at the University of Science and Technology of China, said in the statement.
At the moment, only ground-based telescopes like the VLT can measure distant planetary winds because orbiting observatories, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, do not have the "necessary velocity precision," the researchers wrote.
New ground-based telescopes currently under construction, such as ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope, will "likely resolve even finer details of the wind patterns [on gas giants] and expand this research to smaller, rocky planets," Nortmann said.
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This animation shows supersonic jet winds pummeling the equator of the giant exoplanet WASP-127b, located about 520 light-years from Earth. With speeds up to 9 km per second (almost 33 000 km/h), it is the fastest jetstream of its kind ever measured in the Universe.
The Planet With Supersonic Winds | The Planets | Earth Science
Exoplanet with Atmosphere Discovered by Scientist WASP 127b
Since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1953, conquering the world's highest peak has been a goal of almost every serious mountaineer on the planet.
But this famous peak pales in comparison to two secret mountains, which are more than 100 times taller than Everest's 8,800-metre summit, scientists have discovered.
Reaching heights of around 620 miles (1,000km) these continent-sized 'islands' of rock dwarf anything else found on our planet.
However, confused adventurers can rest easy.
Scientists from Utrecht University have revealed that these gargantuan peaks are not found on our planet's surface.
Instead they are buried some 1,200 miles (2,000km) beneath our feet.
The researchers estimate that the mountains are at least half a billion years old but could date back to the formation of Earth four billion years ago.
Lead researcher Dr Arwen Deuss says: 'Nobody knows what they are, and whether they are only a temporary phenomenon, or if they have been sitting there for millions or perhaps even billions of years.'
Scientists have discovered two hidden mountains more than 100 times larger than Mount Everest (pictured)
These mountains (red) are hidden beneath the Earth on the boundary between the core and the mantle beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean
Earth is made up of three layers – the crust, the mantle and the core, which was later separated into 'inner' and 'outer'. These mountains exist in the region where the outer core meets the mantle
The two monstrous structures sit on the boundary between Earth's core and the mantle, the semi-solid area beneath the crust, beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean.
Around them is a 'graveyard' of sunken tectonic plates which have been pushed down from the surface in a process called subduction.
In a new study, researchers found that the islands are much hotter than the surrounding slabs of the Earth's crust and many millions of years older.
But when these waves pass through something dense or hot, they are slowed down, weakened, or reflected altogether.
So, by listening carefully to the 'tone' that arrives on the other side of the planet, scientists are able to build up a picture of what lies beneath.
The mountains are called Large Low Seismic Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs) because they slow down passing seismic waves. They are located in an area called a 'slab graveyard' where pieces of the crust sink down towards the core. Since these slabs are colder, waves pass through them much faster
Over the years, studies have revealed that there are two enormous regions of the mantle where shockwaves dramatically slow down, dubbed the Large Low Seismic Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs).
Dr Deuss says: 'The waves slow down because the LLSVPs are hot, just like you can't run as fast in hot weather as you can when it's colder.'
When waves pass through a region that is much hotter, they need to expend a lot more energy to make their way through.
Co-author Dr Sujania Talavera-Soza says: 'Just like when the weather is hot outside and you go for a run, you don’t only slow down but you also get more tired than when it is cold outside.'
That means you would expect the tone of a wave passing through the hot LLSVPs to be both out of tune and quieter than other areas, an effect scientists call damping.
However, when the researchers examined the data, they were surprised to find a very different picture.
'Against our expectations, we found little damping in the LLSVPs, which made the tones sound very loud there,' says Dr Talavera-Soza.
'But we did find a lot of damping in the cold slab graveyard, where the tones sounded very soft.'
Scientists used the shockwaves from earthquakes to make an image of the planet's interior. They found that waves passed slowly through the LLSVPs but weren't as quiet, or dampened, as they would expect. This suggests that the LLSVPs are both very hot and have a large grain structure which must have formed over billions of years
Earth's 4 layers
Crust: To a depth of up to 44 miles, this is the outermost layer of the Earth, covering both ocean and land areas.
Mantle: Going down to 1,800 miles with the lower mantle, this is the planet's thickest layer and made of silicate rocks richer in iron and magnesium than the crust overhead.
Outer core: Running from a depth of 1,800 - 3,200 miles, this region is made of liquid iron and nickel with trace lighter elements.
Inner core: Going down to a depth of 3,960 miles at the very centre of planet Earth, this region has been thought to be made of solid iron and nickel. But this new study suggests that it contains both mushy and hard iron.
The pieces of rock from the crust cause lots of damping because they recrystallise into a tight structure as they sink down towards the core.
This suggests that the mountains are made up of much larger grains than the surrounding slabs since these wouldn't absorb so much energy from passing seismic waves.
'Those mineral grains do not grow overnight, which can only mean one thing: LLSVPs are lots and lots older than the surrounding slab graveyards,' says Dr Talavera-Soza.
At the low end, the researchers estimate that these underground mountains are at least half a billion years old.
But they could be much older, potentially even dating back to the formation of the Earth itself.
This goes against the traditional idea that the mantle is in a constant state of movement.
Although the mantle is not actually liquid, it does move like a liquid over extremely long time frames.
Previously, it had been thought that the mantle would, therefore, be 'well mixed' by flowing currents.
Some scientists think that the LLSVPs were formed when a Mars-sized planet called Theia collided with Earth 4.5 billion years ago. Some of Theia became the moon while the rest sunk into the Earth to form these structures
But the fact that these structures are billions of years old shows that they haven't been moved or disrupted by mantle convection, meaning that the mantle is not well mixed after all.
Recently, scientists have suggested that the LLSVPs might be the remnants of an ancient planet which crashed into Earth billions of years ago.
After running a series of simulations, the researchers found that a significant amount of 'Theian' material - around 2 per cent of Earth's mass - would have entered the lower mantle of the ancient planet Earth.
That would explain why these regions seem to be so much denser, hotter, and older than the surrounding slab graveyard.
About 4.45 billion years ago, 150 million years after the solar system formed, Earth was hit by a Mars-size object called Theia.
The collision created the moon, but debate has raged exactly what happened during this event - and a mystery has persisted on why the moon and Earth are so similar in their composition.
The impact of Theia with Earth was so violent, the resulting debris cloud mixed thoroughly before settling down and forming the moon.
This cloud would have been composed of some Earth material, explaining the similarity between Earth and the moon, and other material.
The colliding body is sometimes called Theia, after the mythical Greek Titan who was the mother of Selene, the goddess of the Moon.
But one mystery has persisted, revealed by rocks the Apollo astronauts brought back from the moon - why are the moon and Earth so similar in their composition?
Several different theories have emerged over the years to explain the similar fingerprints of Earth and the moon.
Perhaps the impact created a huge cloud of debris that mixed thoroughly with the Earth and then later condensed to form the moon.
Or Theia could have, coincidentally, been isotopically similar to young Earth.
A third possibility is that the moon formed from Earthen materials, rather than from Theia, although this would have been a very unusual type of impact.
Mountains Taller Than Everest Found Deep Inside Earth
Archaeologists have uncovered two lost settlements of ancient Rome, suggesting the empire's control stretched wider than previously believed.
They found an ancient slab of volcanic rock fashioned into a rectangular artifact, which was used to mark land borders in Galilee, between northern Israel and southern Lebanon.
Carved in Ancient Greek lettering, the stone proclaims that the previously unknown towns of Tirathas and Golgol were under the control of the Roman Empire, and featured the name of four governors in charge of managing the empire's territories abroad.
The etchings date back 1,720 years ago during the reign of Caesar Marcus Aurelius Alexander, the ruler featured in the original 2000 Gladiator movie.
The location showed that people living within the boundary were under imperial rule, being taxed by the Roman Empire located 2,500 miles away in Italy.
The team, from the Hebrew University, emphasized that 'such discoveries provide a unique glimpse into the lives of ancient inhabitants, the pressures they faced and the enduring traces of their communities in the archaeological record.'
Professor Uzi Leibner said: 'Finding a boundary stone like this not only sheds light on ancient land ownership and taxation but also provides a tangible connection to the lives of individuals who navigated these complex systems nearly two millennia ago.'
Archaeologists uncovered a stone (left shows the inscription highlighted) in the region where
The ancient Romans controlled a large portion of the Middle East, including Anatolia, the Levant, parts of Mesopotamia, and Arabia. They also had power over Israel from 63 BC until 135 AD.
The stone was found at the site of Abel Beth Maacah, an ancient city in the Upper Galilee region of Israel.
'The names Tirthas and Golgol are not known from any other boundary stones found in the area, nor from any ancient source,' the team shared in the study, saying that these are two new settlements of the vast Roman Empire.
Archaeologists speculated that a large ruin found in the area in the late 19th century could have resided in Tirthas. The previous excavation recorded the site as Kh. Turritha.
'The resemblance of the names Turritha – Tirthas, located in the same vicinity, can hardly be coincidental and it is likely that the former preserves the ancient name,' researchers wrote.
'The surveyors did not provide any description besides 'large heaps of basalt stones', and we could find no archaeological information on this site, located today on the Lebanese side of the border.'
However, the border stone was made of basalt which is a dark-colored, igneous rock that forms when lava cools quickly at the Earth's surface.
'If the suggestion to identify Tirthas with Kh. Turritha is correct, then the field(s) of Golgol/m could have been located anywhere to the west, south, or north of the original spot of the boundary stone,' reads the study.
Archaeologists unearthed a boundary stone in Galilee that featured ancient Greek inscriptions of previously unknown territories, revealing the Roman Empire's control extended further and for longer than previously believed The stone was found at the site of Abel Beth Maacah
Galilee, located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon, is mentioned in the Bible as the venue for most of Jesus' ministry and where he walked on water and was baptized
Archaeologists speculated that a large ruin found in the area in the late 19th century could have resided in Tirthas. The previous excavation recorded the site as Kh. Turritha
There are some sites with Roman-period remains west of tell Abel Beth Maacah, but none bear a name resembling Golgol.
'However, there is a low, round hill, standing less than a kilometer from the eastern slopes of Abel Beth Maacah that may be identified with it,' said the researchers.
They linked Golgol with Gilgal and Golgotha because of the linguistic, topographical and cultural similarities between the names.
Gilgal, mentioned in the Book of Joshua, was the eastern border of Jericho where the Israelites camped after crossing the Jordan River following their exodus from Egypt.
And Golgotha is the name of the hill in Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified, as described in the Bible's four Gospels. The name translates to 'place of the skull'.
This discovery adds to a unique corpus of over 20 boundary stones concentrated in the northern Hula Valley and surrounding areas.
The stones mark a period of heightened administrative control aimed at standardizing taxation and clarifying land ownership.
This specific find highlights the interconnectedness of historical geography, economic policies and local settlement patterns.
Vera Rubin Completes its Comprehensive System Tests
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, previously known as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), will be the first observatory of its kind. Jointly funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy (DOE), Rubin will conduct the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) – a 10-year survey of the southern hemisphere. The observatory is expected to collect 15 terabytes of data a night, which will be used to create an ultra-wide, ultra-high-definition, time-lapse record of the cosmos, containing tens of billions of stars, galaxies, and astronomical objects.
After ten years of construction, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is less than one year away from starting this revolutionary observation campaign. In preparation for this, the observatory recently completed a series of full-system tests using an engineering test camera. With this milestone complete, the stage is now set for the installation of the 3200-megapixel LSST Camera (LSSTCam), the world’s largest digital camera. Once mounted on the Simonyi Survey Telescope, the observatory will have finished construction and be ready to collect its first light.
The engineering test camera, the Commissioning Camera (ComCam), is a much smaller version of the LSSTCam. It relies on a mosaic of nine 3.2-megapixel Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) sensors, providing a total area coverage of 144 megapixels – about twice the size of a full Moon. During the ComCam engineering test campaign, which took place from October 24th to December 11th, 2024, the camera acquired approximately 16,000 exposures to test the Rubin Observatory’s hardware, software, and data pipeline.
The tests were conducted by Rubin’s international commissioning team, composed of hundreds of engineers, scientists, and observing specialists. According to a statement issued by the Rubin Observatory, the test included verifying that the telescope’s complex systems were all working together, testing the early image quality in all six of the system’s filters, and running the data processing pipelines. They also verified that the system can transmit large amounts of data from the observatory to the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
They also confirmed the Active Optics System (AOS), which maintains the precise positions and shapes of the telescope’s three large mirrors. The Simonyi Survey Telescope, the camera, data systems, networks, and everyone involved in the engineering test were said to have performed exceptionally well. The test delivered high-quality images within the first hours, even though most of the detailed optical adjustments and environmental controls were not fully activated. Per the statement:
“Thanks to the dedicated efforts and talents of thousands of people over many years, the telescope had been assembled with all its complex parts positioned correctly to better than about one millimeter. Equally satisfyingly, the high-speed network connecting Chile and the data center at SLAC, the data systems, and the algorithms for analyzing the data worked well, too.”
The LSSTCam has 189 CCD sensors, giving it a field of view roughly 45 times the size of a full Moon – over 21 times that of the ComCam. For the final phase of construction, the LSSTCam will replace the ComCam on the Simonyi Survey Telescope. When coupled with this 8.4-meter (27.5-ft) telescope, the LSTTCam will capture images of very faint and variable objects at an unprecedented rate. The installation will take a few months, followed by the observatory capturing its “First Look” images of the cosmos.
“The success of the engineering test phase has given a surge of excitement and anticipation to the team,” said Deputy Director for Rubin Construction Sandrine Thomas. “Reaching this milestone has offered a small taste of what is to come once Rubin Observatory begins its 10-year survey.” Once the final testing and verification phase is complete, the Rubin Observatory will begin the most comprehensive data-gathering mission ever performed in the history of astrophysics.
The observatory is named in honor of American astronomer Dr. Vera C. Rubin, whose work was foundational to the theory of Dark Matter. By repeatedly scanning the southern sky with its cutting-edge instruments for a decade, Rubin will create an ultra-high-definition time-lapse record of the cosmos. This data will allow scientists to investigate Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and other mysteries facing astronomers, astrophysicists, and cosmologists today.
There are Places on Earth Which Could Have Life, but Don’t. What Can We Learn?
Don’t know about you but when I think of Earth my mind is filled with the diversity of life and the rich flora and fauna. In reality, about 99% of Earth is uninhabitable; deep underground places with high pressure and temperature where even the toughest bacteria cannot survive. There are places though where life thrives from tiniest toughest bacteria to the largest elephant. Then there are places that are habitable but devoid of life; lava flows are a great example and the space between microbes. A paper recently released looks at these uninhabited, habitable areas and wonders what we may learn as we search for life in the Universe.
Life on Earth has taken millions of years to evolve to the state we see today and has invaded nearly every corner of the planet. That is, except those places where the environment is so extreme that even the toughest extremophile cannot survive. These regions include places like the Atacama Desert in Chile, one of the driest places on Earth, where rainfall is so rare that even microbial life struggles to survive. Similarly, parts of Antarctica’s dry valleys feature subzero temperatures, minimal liquid water, and high salinity in some soils, creating an environment hostile to most life forms. It raises interesting questions and perhaps pose limitations on life’s ability to survive.
We can learn a lot from life on Earth as we hunt for live elsewhere in the Universe. At the moment, there is just one place in the cosmos where we know life has evolved, that’s on Earth. A paper recently authored by Charles S Cockell from the University of Edinburgh explores what we might learn from the inhospitable places on Earth and how that might inform our search for extraterrestrial life. The paper discusses places where active microorganisms cannot be found in particular those places where the physical and chemical conditions are not far from areas that support life.
The physical spaces where microbes cannot sustain the essential metabolic activity or even reproduce can be categorised into two groups: those with uninhabitable conditions and those with habitable but uninhabited spaces, also known as uninhabited habitats. You might need to read that a few times but it does make sense! Uninhabitable conditions occur in environments where life cannot exist due to extreme factors like intense heat, cold, salinity, or acidity. In contrast, uninhabited habitats are environments that are theoretically capable of supporting life but remain unoccupied, often due to barriers to colonisation or the absence of necessary organisms. The paper draws a strong differentiation between these ‘vacant niches.’
These uninhabited habitats, which form on both macroscopic and microscopic scales through diverse processes, offer opportunities for scientific investigation. They can act as negative control environments, helping to reveal how living organisms influence geochemical processes, and how they can provide a framework for studying processes like microbial succession and community development. Despite their potential significance, the occurrence of these habitats in environments at the physical and chemical extremes of life remain poorly understood.
As we continue our search for life across the universe, we may find many more locations like these. Doing so will help to expand our understanding of the distribution of habitable conditions and the potential for life across the universe. They may offer insights into the processes that make a location suitable for life, as well as the factors that have prevented life from arising or persisting there.
There are Places on Earth Which Could Have Life, but Don’t. What Can We Learn?
Don’t know about you but when I think of Earth my mind is filled with the diversity of life and the rich flora and fauna. In reality, about 99% of Earth is uninhabitable; deep underground places with high pressure and temperature where even the toughest bacteria cannot survive. There are places though where life thrives from tiniest toughest bacteria to the largest elephant. Then there are places that are habitable but devoid of life; lava flows are a great example and the space between microbes. A paper recently released looks at these uninhabited, habitable areas and wonders what we may learn as we search for life in the Universe.
Life on Earth has taken millions of years to evolve to the state we see today and has invaded nearly every corner of the planet. That is, except those places where the environment is so extreme that even the toughest extremophile cannot survive. These regions include places like the Atacama Desert in Chile, one of the driest places on Earth, where rainfall is so rare that even microbial life struggles to survive. Similarly, parts of Antarctica’s dry valleys feature subzero temperatures, minimal liquid water, and high salinity in some soils, creating an environment hostile to most life forms. It raises interesting questions and perhaps pose limitations on life’s ability to survive.
We can learn a lot from life on Earth as we hunt for live elsewhere in the Universe. At the moment, there is just one place in the cosmos where we know life has evolved, that’s on Earth. A paper recently authored by Charles S Cockell from the University of Edinburgh explores what we might learn from the inhospitable places on Earth and how that might inform our search for extraterrestrial life. The paper discusses places where active microorganisms cannot be found in particular those places where the physical and chemical conditions are not far from areas that support life.
The physical spaces where microbes cannot sustain the essential metabolic activity or even reproduce can be categorised into two groups: those with uninhabitable conditions and those with habitable but uninhabited spaces, also known as uninhabited habitats. You might need to read that a few times but it does make sense! Uninhabitable conditions occur in environments where life cannot exist due to extreme factors like intense heat, cold, salinity, or acidity. In contrast, uninhabited habitats are environments that are theoretically capable of supporting life but remain unoccupied, often due to barriers to colonisation or the absence of necessary organisms. The paper draws a strong differentiation between these ‘vacant niches.’
These uninhabited habitats, which form on both macroscopic and microscopic scales through diverse processes, offer opportunities for scientific investigation. They can act as negative control environments, helping to reveal how living organisms influence geochemical processes, and how they can provide a framework for studying processes like microbial succession and community development. Despite their potential significance, the occurrence of these habitats in environments at the physical and chemical extremes of life remain poorly understood.
As we continue our search for life across the universe, we may find many more locations like these. Doing so will help to expand our understanding of the distribution of habitable conditions and the potential for life across the universe. They may offer insights into the processes that make a location suitable for life, as well as the factors that have prevented life from arising or persisting there.
Mysterious radio signal is coming from a nearby galaxy - Scientists Shocked by Space Radio Signal 01 22 2025
Scientists have tracked an intense radio signal coming from deep in space to its origin – and been left shocked by what they found.
For years, researchers have been looking to explain fast radio bursts, or FRBs, which are very short and very powerful blasts energy coming from deep in space. Possible explanations have included everything from black holes to alien technology.
Researchers hope to be able to understand more about them by following them back to their original galaxies, in the hope of seeing what extreme conditions might send out such powerful blasts across the universe.
Now, scientists have tracked one of those blasts back to its home galaxy. But that galaxy is very old and dead, as well as being strangely shaped.
Previously, researchers have only found FRBs coming from much younger galaxies. As such, it breaks our existing understanding of where they might be coming from.
The discovery might mean that the mysterious cosmic events are coming from much more diverse places than we ever realised, scientists say.
“This new FRB shows us that just when you think you understand an astrophysical phenomenon, the universe turns around and surprises us,” said Northwestern’s Wen-fai Fong, a senior author on two studies reporting the new findings. “This ‘dialogue’ with the universe is what makes our field of time-domain astronomy so incredibly thrilling.”
The FRB in the new study was first spotted in February 2024. It continued to pulse through July 2024, which helped researchers to find its position in the sky.
Once that was done, researchers turned satellites towards the location – and were surprised by what they saw. Instead of a young galaxy, it was coming from one 11.3 billion years old and just two billion light years from Earth.
Scientists then simulated what conditions might be like in that galaxy. Those simulations showed that the galaxy appears to be very bright and very massive, with 100 billion times the mass of the Sun, making it the most massive FRB host galaxy to date and one of the most massive found of any kind.
The work is described in two new papers, ‘A repeating fast radio burst source in the outskirts of a quiescent galaxy” and “The massive and quiescent elliptical host galaxy of the repeating fast radio burst FRB 20240209A’, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
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34 US government officials have contributed to it
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A new documentary claims it is going to expose the 80-year long cover-up of the existence of non-human intelligent life.
The Age of Disclosure is directed and produced by Dan Farah and features contributions from 34 members of the US government, military and intelligence community.
The Age of Disclosure | Official Trailer (2025)
In the UFO documentary it is claimed that for the past 80 years the existence of intelligent life beyond humans has been kept a secret and that governments around the world have been locked in a secret conflict with one another to use this alien technology for their own benefit.
Over in the US the UAP Disclosure Act was introduced in the senate, with the aim of this thing to publicly disclose what the US government knows about unidentified anomalous phenomena.
These are essentially things which happen in the air, sea or in space which can't be explained as being man made or occurring from some natural phenomenon that we know of.
If there are things happening which cannot be explained by what we know about ourselves and our planet then they're UAPs, and this act will release information about them which has been kept secret from us.
In the trailer for The Age of Disclosure, former Defense Intelligence Agency official Jay Stratton claims to have seen 'non-human craft and non-human beings' with his own eyes.
The truth is out there.
(Youtube/The Age Of Disclosure)
In the trailer he said: "The first country that cracks the code on this technology will be the leader for years to come. This is similar to The Manhattan Project; this is the atomic weapon on steroids."
He praised the documentary on social media, saying: "The Age of Disclosure is the most revelatory, credible, and historic documentary ever made about UAP, non-human intelligent life, the Government’s involvement, and the bi-partisan disclosure effort."
If that's true then this is pretty much what all those UFO hunters and true believers have been waiting for, someone saying they have been a first-hand witness to the evidence of non-human intelligent life.
Among the other contributors to the documentary are various high ranking US politicians including the director of national intelligence during Barack Obama's time in office.
Meanwhile, senior CIA official Jim Semivan claimed that 'UAPs are here, they are real and they are not human'.
Former Department of Defense official Christopher Mellon called it the 'biggest discovery in human history' while his fellow former DoD member Luis Elizondo said there was 'information being locked away that can change the trajectory of [our] species'.
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Oxford Scientist Solves Mystery of Loch Ness Monster – Or Does He?
People have been debating the existence of the Loch Ness monster since the early part of the 20th century when sightings seemed to become more common. Known colloquially as ‘Nessie,’ this mysterious creature has allegedly been inhabiting the deep waters of a freshwater lake south of Inverness, Scotland for perhaps thousands of year, yet up to this time has somehow eluded detection by scientists.
There is a good reason for this, says Tim Coulson, a professor of Zoology from Oxford University who has taken a good long look at the Loch Ness monster legend. According to Coulson, it is a simple “biological impossibility” for the creature to exist, and so it doesn’t. Case closed.
While Coulson doesn’t think the people who claim to have seen Nessie are lying, he does think they are mistaken, that they have misidentified what they have observed. He is also dismissive of the photos and videos taken of the monster, which likewise have to be misidentifications (with the occasional hoax mixed in).
“In the case of the Loch Ness Monster they are either seeing bits of floating debris, or a bird such as a cormorant with a longish neck that sits low in the water. You might think that sounds unlikely, but I am always amazed at how bad people can be at judging size – particularly when they are hoping to see a particular animal,” he told the MailOnline, offering the expected response of the skeptic.
In Coulson’s case, though, he is not dismissing Nessie out of hand. He is doing so because he is convinced there is no scientific justification in believing in such a creature, based on what is known at this time.
Examining the Evidence … Which Allegedly Doesn’t Exist
As part of his argument, Coulson points out that no skeletal remains of a deceased specimen have ever been found, and no one has ever caught a living one in a fishing net. This lack of evidence persists despite the fact that people have been organizing excursions seeking proof of Nessie’s existence for decades, often on boats equipped with sonar and underwater cameras designed to spot movement below.
Something solid and convincing should have been found by now, some sort of tangible evidence showing that a flesh-and-blood creature of impressive size and dimension is living in Loch Ness, Coulson insists. The only rational reason to explain this, he says, is that the creature doesn’t exist at all.
In a new article he wrote for The European (a publication he’s a science correspondent for), Coulson lays out his argument for the non-existence of Nessie, while also taking aim at Bigfoot and the Yeti, two other well-known cryptids (seemingly impossible creatures that are still said to exist).
“I would dearly love for Bigfoot, Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster and other cryptids to exist, but the scientific evidence says otherwise,” he wrote. “The likelihood of such beasts living undetected in forests, mountains and lakes, in great numbers, for thousands of years without leaving a single skeleton, fossil, bone fragment or skin sample is hard enough to swallow.”
He also asserts that from an evolutionary standpoint, there is no realistic scenario that would explain how such creatures could exist, if their home areas were so restricted and their population numbers so low that they could have somehow escaped verifiable detection for centuries.
“When we also consider the biological and evolutionary factors that determine these species’ purported existence and long-term survival, the likelihood reduces to the point where it becomes so tiny as to be confidently discounted as pure fantasy and fun figments of our imagination,” he concludes, shutting the door completely (in his mind) on the possibility that a cryptid like Nessie actually exists in the 21st century.
Did the Beast Summon the Beast?
The problem with Professor Coulson’s thesis is that it limits the range of possibilities that could explain purported sightings of an interactions with strange creatures If one were to Google the topic ‘paranormal Bigfoot,’ they would discover that many investigators think Bigfoot and other cyptids aren’t undiscovered animals at all, but beings from alternate dimensions or other levels of reality that can manifest as flesh-in-blood creatures at times but are actually something more. This is how creatures like Nessie can seem so real at times, but completely not real at others.
And along these lines, there is a fascinating fact about Loch Ness that may be relevant, and that is its association with not one but two extremely notorious beasts: the Loch Ness monster, and the Great Beast himself, the legendary Aleister Crowley, a monster of an altogether different nature. This self-styled anti-Christ who declared himself ‘the wickedest man in the world’ lived at a manor known as Boleskine House on near the shore of Loch Ness from 1899 to 1913, and while there he performed endless numbers of rituals and ceremonies designed to summon demons, aliens, and other denizens of parallel dimensions to manifest in his presence.
While most would scoff at such notions, there were many people who visited Boleskine House who reported weird experiences and shocking encounters with mysterious beings or evil forces. Some with knowledge of what Crowley was up to have raised the possibility that the Loch Ness monster was one result of Crowley’s demented deeds, claiming that through his occult dabbling he may have brought an ancient legend to life.
Needless to say, a scientist like Coulson is likely to dismiss the possibility of a paranormal or exotic explanation for the existence of the Loch Ness monster as nonsensical (and he might be right to do so). But dismissing the possibility entirely because it doesn’t fit with the current scientific paradigm or with consensus ideas about reality, places limits on the imagination that may be artificial.
As long as people continue to report sightings of the Loch Ness monster, or of Bigfoot and Yeti, there will be reason to leave the door open at least a crack to the possibility that they may be real, in a way that would bend our concepts of what the word ‘real’ actually means.
Mouthing the words of his creator Sir Arthur Conan Dole, the great detective Sherlock Holmes was quoted as saying that “once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” Applying this principle in his own life, Doyle eventually concluded that fairies were real (based on eyewitness sightings and experiences), and he spent decades searching for proof of their existence. So it is perhaps not so irrational to continue to search for evidence of the reality of the Loch Ness monster as well, even if its existence seems highly improbable, or even bordering on the impossible, from a purely scientific standpoint.
Top image: AI image representing Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster.
This Man claims a drunk ex-military officer from Area 51 revealed UFOs run on Space-Harnessed Electricity, creating a “void” for travel, not like combustion engines. He also said two stars in Orion’s Belt house “good aliens” (gray types), while a nearby star is home to “bad aliens” (tall, brown-skinned).
The person recounts a conversation he had with a drunk, ex-military neighbor, who allegedly worked at Area 51. According to the man, the discussion took place during a neighborhood blackout, when the stars were more visible due to the lack of light pollution. The neighbor pointed to a formation in the sky, identifying it as Orion’s Belt, and claimed that two of its stars were home to “good aliens,” while a nearby star housed “bad aliens.”
According to the neighbor, the “good aliens” resemble the stereotypical “grays”—small beings with large heads and oversized eyes. The “bad aliens,” in contrast, are tall, brown-skinned, emit a foul odor, and are somehow connected to the nearby star.
The ex-military officer provided a cryptic explanation when the man pressed his neighbor on how UFOs travel from these stars to Earth. He claimed that UFOs don’t rely on traditional propulsion systems like combustion engines. Instead, their technology supposedly harnesses electricity from space itself, enabling them to create a “void” in space. This void allows the UFOs to essentially “fall” through it, making travel extremely fast without the need for thrust-based motion. However, the explanation was vague and difficult to follow.
The man notes that the neighbor seemed genuine and convinced, despite being heavily intoxicated. This level of drunkenness casts doubt on the credibility of the story. The man also reflects on his own UFO sighting in the Mojave Desert, where he witnessed an object moving much faster than a plane. While he remains skeptical, he entertains the possibility that there might be some truth to these claims.
Interestingly, a month ago, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna posted this picture of the Constellation of Orion without a caption, and this man refers to the same place. In 2023, after the historic U.S. Congressional UAP hearings, she claimed she had seen [photo] evidence of UFO technology not made by any government
The Belt of Orion, an iconic constellation, is known for its three bright stars: Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka. These celestial beacons, approximately 1344 light years away from Earth, have captivated the imaginations of astronomers and stargazers alike. Despite their luminous presence, the quest to find exoplanets orbiting these stars has been elusive. Current investigations have not confirmed any exoplanets, but intriguing signs suggest that there might be more to discover.
Alnitak stands out as the youngest of the trio at about 6.4 million years old. Observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope reveal a disk with intriguing structure and brightness variations, hinting at possible planetary formations or dust clumps.
Alnilam exhibits radial velocity variations that could indicate the gravitational influence of an orbiting planet. However, the evidence remains inconclusive, leaving room for further exploration.
Mintaka, sharing similar age and characteristics with Alnitak, also shows a Spitzer disk with intriguing variability. Its age is estimated to be between 6–7 million years, making it a relatively young star in the cosmic timeline.
Humanoid Beings from Orion????
On June 11, 2019, Colombia’s largest newspaper El Tiempo reported that strange tall creatures, whose height was more than 2 meters, had been regularly seen in Guasimal since 2012. The creatures always appear at night, they have a strange robotic voice and are dressed in black.
Guasimal is a small town near the west coast of Colombia. It is a quiet place, there are no prank-loving crowds of frivolous teenagers, but mostly ordinary poor people who raise cattle, work in sugar factories, make cheese, and plant fruit and vegetable crops.
Humanoids first appeared in December 2012 and have returned there every year since then. Each time, Guasimal became more and more popular among Colombian paranormal lovers. They come from all over the country to personally see the creatures. (Source °
Unfortunately, no one has managed to make a video or even a photo of the humanoids or their ship yet. There are only eyewitness accounts. Most often, all these stories are mistaken for ordinary urban horror stories. However, something happened in December 2018 that slightly changed the atmosphere around the alien visits to Guasimal.
Close contact was made between the aliens and local farmer Diego Mondragon. Until December 2018, aliens had also flown to his farm, but there were no close contacts then. At the same time, the aliens came very close to the farm buildings, and all the inhabitants of the farm got scared when they arrived. But Diego told them to calm down, saying that they were peaceful.
After that, Diego approached the five humanoids and they conveyed a message to him for all humanity. They said that people need to love each other, otherwise the human race will soon be destroyed.
They also said that they have lived in these places for 60 years and that they have a deep underground base near the village. They flew to Earth from the planet Orion.
On the same night, one of Diego’s neighbors called the police when he saw tall humanoids on the farm. And police officer Manuel Velandia Márquez responded to the call.
When he arrived, there were many people, and everyone was very nervous and shocked. He claimed to have seen dark silhouettes about two meters high. He said: “(They were) more human beings than we are. They will preserve something of humanity and prepare us for future events.” Velandia said his fellow police officers did not believe him, but he insisted that he had seen it all.
Diego first saw the humanoids when the dogs of his farm began barking loudly in the night and looked towards the chicken enclosure. At the same time, after seven years of observing aliens in Guasimal, he had never seen a UFO there. Other residents also saw only humanoids.
Ufologist Cristian Ramos from the Contact Ovni Colombia group became interested in this case in 2013, and according to him, he also saw those humanoids when he came there.
“In the distance, about 200 meters, there was a silhouette of about 2.30 meters, a thick build, black clothes, a black suit, boots. He wavered from left to right and never remained motionless. He watched us.”
Since then, police and journalists have interviewed many people in the Guasimal area, and many of them have told them stories of humanoids who could jump over the roof. Besides, they said that some people had also come into contact with them.
Orion’s Belt isn’t just beautiful to look at; it’s also inspired curiosity and stories in ancient cultures. The Egyptians, for example, aligned the Giza Pyramids with Orion’s Belt. This suggests they had advanced knowledge of the stars and possibly felt a spiritual connection to them. The way the pyramids were built, including the King’s and Queen’s Chambers, still sparked debates about their purpose and the Egyptians’ understanding of the universe.
The Dogon tribe has an impressive knowledge of astronomy. They connect Orion to twin gods called Nummo, who they say came from the stars to share knowledge and technology with humans. The Dogon also tells myths about Orion’s Belt, linking it to Amma, their supreme god and the creator of everything. To them, Orion’s Belt represents a special cosmic place where Amma’s order first appeared.
The Navajo people align their four sacred mountains in a way that some believe matches the pattern of Orion’s Belt. These mountains, such as San Francisco Peak, Blanca Peak, and Hesperus Mountain, are part of their spiritual beliefs.
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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..
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