NASA detects bizarre boost in interstellar visitor's speed as it moves toward Earth

• MORE: Scientists reveal all the strange behaviors of interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS

By CHRIS MELORE, US ASSISTANT SCIENCE EDITOR

The interstellar object racing through our solar system has been caught unexpectedly picking up speed as it moves away from the sun and closer toward Earth. 

NASA has confirmed a small extra 'kick' moving the mysterious visitor dubbed 3I/ATLAS off its predicted path, which can't be explained by the sun's gravity.

The sun contains almost all of the solar system’s mass, meaning its weight pulls all the planets together in a predictable motion scientists can measure, but these new movements by 3I/ATLAS appear to defy our laws of gravity.

The object, which many scientists claim is a comet, set a record as the fastest space rock entering the solar system ever detected by humans at more than 130,000mph.

After reaching its closest point to the sun on October 29, known as perihelion, its speed has now soared to approximately 152,000mph.

While NASA believes the sun's gravity is mainly responsible for the speed boost, scientists are having a harder time figuring out what has caused 3I/ATLAS to noticeably shift away from our home star.

If it were an ordinary comet, the heat of the sun would be causing the icy cold space rock to melt and shoot out jets of gas trapped inside, potentially pushing the comet in a different direction.

However, Harvard physicist Avi Loeb has revealed that astronomers are still awaiting evidence that 3I/ATLAS has released anywhere close to enough gas to prove the object is really a comet.

3I/ATLAS (pictured) has exhibited unique features, including an anti-tail, extreme color changes, and an extremely unusual course through our solar system

The interstellar visitor has unexpectedly changed course as it picked up speed during its perihelion with the sun in late October

3I/ATLAS is now just six weeks from reaching its closest point to Earth, and Loeb added that not detecting a cloud of gas coming from the object would be a clear sign that this latest speed boost was powered by an extraterrestrial rocket engine.

NASA's latest readings found the mystery push got significantly weaker in the days after 3I/ATLAS reached its perihelion with the sun, but it was still noticeable and unrelated to the star's gravitational pull.

For a natural space rock to pull off this strange maneuver, scientists examining the NASA data have estimated that 3I/ATLAS would have had to suddenly lose at least 13 percent of its total mass as it approached the sun.

That's the only way enough of the comet would have been transformed into a gas that blasted the object away like a thruster on a spacecraft.

If this happened while 3I/ATLAS was hiding in the sun's blind spot from our viewpoint on Earth, a huge cloud of dust and gas from that event would have formed around the rock.

In December, the James Webb Space Telescope will look for this giant cloud around 3I/ATLAS.

However, Loeb has noted that 3I/ATLAS showed little evidence of shedding enough of its mass as it got closer to the sun last month. 

'If 3I/ATLAS is not enshrouded in a much more massive gas cloud after perihelion than it had in the months preceding perihelion, then its recent non-gravitational acceleration must have resulted from a different cause than cometary evaporation,' Loeb said on Wednesday.

The supposed comet, 3I/ATLAS, mysteriously turned blue as it approached the sun on October 29, unlike normal comets which turn red

Loeb added that there are now 10 strange anomalies that science can't completely explain when it comes to the interstellar visitor's trip through the solar system.

The latest oddities that point to the object possibly being an extraterrestrial craft of some kind took place as 3I/ATLAS neared our sun.

Unlike a typical comet, which would have changed color to red, 3I/ATLAS quickly began to shine brighter than normal space rocks and also turned blue.

That's when its course suddenly shifted beyond gravity's control, which NASA has just confirmed for the first time on Tuesday.

It's also incredibly massive, weighing approximately 33billion tons, which Loeb said doesn't make sense because there isn't enough rocky material in interstellar space to have created such a structure naturally.

READ MORE

• Mysterious interstellar visitor spotted above Mars appears as 'massive cylindrical craft'

While fellow scientists have concluded that the massive object formed in a distant solar system on the other side of the Milky Way galaxy, its strange chemical makeup is still raising serious questions about its origins.

Unlike comets that formed in our solar system, which are mainly composed of ice and water, scans have shown that 3I/ATLAS is an odd mixture of nickel and carbon dioxide.

Loeb has theorized that 3I/ATLAS could be a nuclear-powered 'mothership,' which would explain how it could get unusually bright if it were generating its own light.

Also, its nickel shell, which originally turned the object green, could be a sign of an alien intelligence using the valuable metal as a protective coating against the extreme heat of approaching our sun, just like humans do with manmade space probes.

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{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

05-11-2025 om 22:47 geschreven door peter  

Image: NASA

The Dreams of Interstellar Travel and the Team Paving the Way

Christopher Plain 

The Debrief: One of the main programs at Limitless Space is your ‘I-squared grants,’ which provide money for mainstream scientists and engineers interested in advanced power propulsion to pursue their research. Was LSI already working on the grants when you joined, or did you bring that concept with you?

Sonny White: That was something I immediately championed as soon as I came in the door. LSI’s mission is to inspire and educate the next generation to travel beyond our solar system and support the research and development of enabling technologies. We wanted to be a “doing” organization, and as we were talking about earlier in the discussion, it really comes down to power propulsion.

I felt we needed a focused grant initiative, where we can put out a solicitation for the community to write some proposals and where they can be as bold as they want to be. I think it feeds the community in a way that allows them to get attention at their own universities and maybe improve the chances that they’ll get resources from other entities.

TD: Is that already happening?

SW: It is. One of our grant winners, a Professor University of Pomona picked up a grant. He also just sent me a note the other day that his graduate student just got approved by the University for three years. It’s cool to see how that gets connected back to this.

TD: How many applicants were there for these first grants, and how did LSI choose the nine winners?

SW: There were a lot. And the thing that was amazing to me is that there were a lot of very good proposals. They did a good job of making it hard for us to pick. And if we had more resources, there were more we would have liked to have funded.

TD: In the 1990s, NASA had the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics project, which in many ways seems like a predecessor to this effort. Was that project an influence?

SW: I think they did some great work. They tried to champion stuff that is in the same categories that we try and champion.

TD: Is there a technological advantage to this program taking place almost 30 years later?

SW: There is. It’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, the stuff we can do that we couldn’t do five years ago because of technological capability!’ For example, we do work internally where we’re working with the DARPA science office. We do an enormous amount of simulation work with our models, and we have to have 1000 CPUs to make the run; otherwise, it would take forever. Even five years ago, we couldn’t have done that. We’re also seeing work in nanofabrication that wasn’t available even ten years ago.

TD: You mentioned that you’re doing some in-house stuff at Eagleworks that isn’t part of the grants. Would you be willing to give me a little more detail on that, or is it top secret?

SW: Certainly nothing’s classified, but we tend to be very cautious about how much we say. We’re currently funded by DARPA, through the science office, so this is meant to be categorized as basic research/applied research.

We’re doing some work exploring something we call our dynamic vacuum model. And there are some potential implications of this dynamic vacuum model when you apply it to the idea of a Casimir effect. There’s potential for some power implications, some propulsion implications, and maybe some communication sensor implications for fabricating some customized Casimir cavities using our dynamic vacuum model to predict the quantum vacuum that responds to this customized topology and structure that we build in these nanoscale customized Casimir cavities.

So, that’s the work that we’re doing currently, internally with DARPA. We’re working with things like the Casimir Force, trying to measure very, very small fields in these cavities. There’s a paper coming out on that soon.

TD: Will you share that research with us?

SW: At the time, yes.

TD: Did the money for the nine grants awarded last year come from DARPA as well?

SW: The I-squared grants are philanthropic money. They don’t come from DARPA. That’s all philanthropic dollars, primarily from our benefactor, Kam Ghaffarian. Our DARPA grant is to support our internal work.

TD: Is there anything from your original Warp Drive work among those things that you’re actually working on? Or did it kind of hit a wall with theory in 2011, and that’s kind of just been where it’s been since then?

NASA file photo of Harold "Sonny" White

(Image: NASA)

TD: Because Limitless Space is a nonprofit, and because you have a financial benefactor, is there any long-term goal to try and capitalize on some of the work that’s being done? Or is it really a pure science venture?

Warp Fields 101

SW: Let me restate the mission of LSI and then give you the pinnacle objective. Our mission is to inspire and educate the next generation to travel beyond our solar system and support the research and development of enabling technologies. And our pinnacle objective, our “North Star,” is to enable Interstellar flight. Everything we do traces to that critical path.

TD: You have previously mentioned the Perimeter Institute as an influence for your approach at LSI. Could you explain that?

SW: The Perimeter Institute is a nonprofit, and they are solely focused on theoretical physics. There are no commercial products, and it’s just trying to push the boundaries of knowledge. It was set up in a very beautiful facility in Canada, a 120,000 square foot facility on a lake, and they have professors who come and visit and have lectures.

At LSI, our focus is advancing power propulsion as it applies to this goal of interstellar travel. Their focus is just trying to push the boundaries of theoretical physics, just to help humanity develop a deeper understanding of nature at its core. And so, in some ways, they were a good analog for us to kind of look at, as we were trying to figure out how do we set up the gears in this system, how do we want to do things, and what do we want to be as we continue to move forward?

TD: Where do you see the Limitless Space Institute in 10 years?

SW: Hopefully, we’ll be doing some of the things that we’re already doing and we’ll just be doing them a little bit more. Ideally, we’d love to have a facility, whether it’s located on a university campus somewhere or some other location, have a facility with laboratories, classrooms, and is partnered with universities all over the planet, even more so than what we are now. We have about 17 formal partnerships already.

TD: What is the single most important thing about your work at LSI that you want to make sure gets across to The Debrief’s readers?

SW: It comes down to this. This is all about capability, and our objective is to enable human exploration to the outer reaches of the solar system and the stars.

As a capability, chemical propulsion enables us to do all kinds of things. We can send stuff to the surface of Mars, we can send stuff to the surface of the moon, and we can send people to the surface of the moon. We might be able to send people to the surface of Mars. But we can’t even send robotic probes all over the solar system. We cannot send humans to Saturn in 200 days with chemical propulsion. But as a capability, if you just think about known engineering, known physics, nuclear-electric propulsion as a capability enables us to send humans to every destination in the solar system.

And the beauty is, if you build that capability, you won’t have to convince anyone to do that; they’re just going to do it. There’s always this perennial debate about ‘humans or robots.’ Well, to me, that’s a beautiful philosophical discussion, but I prefer to think about the practical side. As a capability, advanced power propulsion is going to enable us to do all kinds of stuff. We’ll send humans, and we’ll send robots. Because as a capability, we can do that. So we will!

• A special thanks to Dr. White for giving The Debrief this exclusive interview. In the coming weeks, look for exclusive interviews with a number of the I-squared grant winners, including projects on Pulsed Fusion Propulsion, Directed Energy Propulsion, and Traversable Wormholes. Plus, keep following The Debrief to learn more about Dr. White’s recent Warp Drive breakthrough.
• Follow and connect with author Christopher Plain on Twitter: @plain_fiction

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

05-11-2025 om 18:38 geschreven door peter  

Is this how the world will end? Earth will be SWALLOWED by the sun in five billion years, scientists warn

• READ MORE: 3I/ATLAS is seen for the first time since disappearing behind sun

By WILIAM HUNTER, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

Scientists have revealed a grim prospect for humanity's future, as they warn Earth will eventually be consumed by the sun.

In roughly five billion years, our star will burn the last of its hydrogen fuel and begin expanding into a monstrous red giant.

When this happens, astronomers from the University College London and the University of Warwick predict that Earth will be swallowed by the sun or torn to pieces.

Even if Earth survives our star's transformation, the researchers warn that life on our planet will not.

Our demise will likely be caused by powerful gravitational effects known as 'tidal forces', according to the team. 

Lead author, Dr Edward Bryant says: 'Just like the Moon pulls on Earth's oceans to create tides, the planet pulls on the star.

'As the star evolves and expands, this interaction becomes stronger. 

'These interactions slow the planet down and cause its orbit to shrink, making it spiral inwards until it either breaks apart or falls into the star.' 

Scientists have given a terrifying glimpse into the future as they warn that Earth will eventually be swallowed by the sun (artist's impression) 

This terrifying discovery, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, was made by looking at nearly half a million stars that had just entered this 'post–main sequence' stage of their lives.

Main–sequence stars, like our sun, are stable because the inward force of gravity is balanced by the outward push from nuclear fusion reactions in their core.

But when stars run out of hydrogen to burn, this balance is disturbed, and the star begins to collapse in on itself.

This collapse makes the core hot enough to fuse helium atoms into carbon, releasing a surge of energy that kickstarts nuclear fusion in the outer layers, which then expand and cool.

During this process, a red giant can become anywhere from 100 to 1,000 times larger.

Using a computer programme, the researchers searched for the tiny dips in brightness caused by an orbiting planet passing in front of post–main sequence

Out of 15,000 possible signals, Dr Bryant and his co–author were able to identify 130 giant planets orbiting close to their stars, 33 of which were previously undiscovered. 

They found that stars that had already expanded and cooled into red giants were much less likely to host large, close–orbiting planets. 

In about five billion years, scientists say that the sun will burn the last of its hydrogen fuel. When this happens, it will expand to about 200 times its current size to become a red giant and destroy Earth (artist's impression)

Overall, 0.28 per cent of stars surveyed were home to a giant planet, with the youngest stars in the sequence having planets more frequently.

However, for planets that had already grown enough to be classed as red giants, just 0.11 per cent were home to planets.

'This is strong evidence that as stars evolve off their main sequence they can quickly cause planets to spiral into them and be destroyed,' says Dr Bryant. 

'We expected to see this effect, but we were still surprised by just how efficient these stars seem to be at engulfing their close planets.'

Worryingly, the researchers believe that the same thing will eventually happen to Earth.

Scientists currently predict that the Sun will become a red giant in about five billion years, and this study suggests the prospects for Earth are not good.

Co–author Dr Vincent Van Eylen, of University College London, says: 'When this happens, will the solar system planets survive? We are finding that in some cases planets do not.'

Earth is likely to be safer than the giant planets in the study, which orbit very close to their stars.

The researchers studied thousands of stars that had transitioned into red giants and found that these were less likely to host large planets, suggesting that the stars had destroyed them already (artist's impression)

However, the researchers only looked at the first one to two million years of the 'post–main sequence' phase.

That means these stars have a long way still to evolve and could be even more destructive in the years to come.

Research suggests that the sun will grow so much that it swallows the two inner planets, Mercury and Venus, but might not reach the Earth.

In either case, scientists predict that humanity is not likely to survive the sun's evolution. 

Dr Bryant told Daily Mail: 'Life on the surface would not survive. 

'The expansion of the Sun would drastically increase the level of radiation received at the surface of the Earth, dramatically increase the surface temperature and render the planet uninhabitable.'

Scientists predict that the intense heat from the expanding sun will strip Earth of its atmosphere and boil away the oceans. 

So, even if Earth is not torn apart by gravity, there probably won't be any humans left to celebrate.  

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO EARTH WHEN THE SUN DIES?

Five billion years from now, it's said the Sun will have grown into a red giant star, more than a hundred times larger than its current size. 

Eventually, it will eject gas and dust to create an 'envelope' accounting for as much as half its mass.

The core will become a tiny white dwarf star. This will shine for thousands of years, illuminating the envelope to create a ring-shaped planetary nebula.

Five billion years from now, it's said the Sun will have grown into a red giant star, more than a hundred times larger than its current size

While this metamorphosis will change the solar system, scientists are unsure what will happen to the third rock from the Sun.

We already know that our Sun will be bigger and brighter, so that it will probably destroy any form of life on our planet.

But whether the Earth's rocky core will survive is uncertain. 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

05-11-2025 om 16:51 geschreven door peter  

Forget Fuel: This Propellantless Innovation Could Make Interstellar Travel Possible!

The future of space travel is propellantless, where spacecraft might soar to distant stars without burning a single drop of fuel.

Written by Kouceila Rekik

© Image credit: Shutterstock

Space exploration has always been constrained by one fundamental issue: the need for fuel. Traditional rockets require vast amounts of propellant, which limits their range and the scope of their missions. But now, scientists are exploring the idea of propellantless travel, which could completely change the way we think about reaching distant planets and even other star systems. A new review posted to the arXiv preprint server sheds light on various propulsion concepts that harness natural forces, offering a glimpse into a future where fuel may no longer be necessary for deep space missions.

Unlocking the Potential of Propellantless Travel

The idea of propellantless space travel has been around for decades, but only in recent years has it gained serious attention. A new study available on ArXiv delves deeply into this concept, offering a comprehensive review of several propulsion methods that could revolutionize space exploration. These techniques rely on external energy sources like solar radiation, planetary gravity, and even the solar wind, opening doors to missions that would be impossible with traditional rocket technology. According to the study, these methods could dramatically change our approach to long-duration space travel.

One of the key methods discussed in the study is the use of solar sails. Solar sails harness the pressure exerted by sunlight to push spacecraft through space. These sails, made of ultra-light reflective material, capture the momentum of photons from the Sun. The advantage? They require no fuel, making them a viable option for missions that extend beyond the capabilities of current propulsion systems. Solar sails could theoretically carry spacecraft to distant parts of the solar system, and even to other stars, with continuous, low-thrust acceleration. As highlighted by Universe Today, this approach could pave the way for exploring distant planets and even interstellar travel, without the need for propellant.

However, solar sails do come with challenges. The further a spacecraft gets from the Sun, the weaker the solar radiation becomes, diminishing the sail’s effectiveness. Moreover, the thin, fragile material used in solar sails needs to withstand harsh conditions in space, which poses significant engineering hurdles. Despite these challenges, the potential of solar sails as a propellantless propulsion system remains a promising avenue for the future of space exploration.

Gravity Assist: The Power of Planetary Motion

One of the oldest propellantless techniques, gravity assist, has been used successfully by missions like Voyager. By flying close to a planet and timing the approach carefully, spacecraft can gain speed by stealing a small amount of the planet’s orbital momentum. This method has been pivotal in exploring the outer solar system, as it allows spacecraft to change trajectory and gain velocity without burning fuel.

Gravity assists are highly effective, but they are dependent on planetary positions and careful mission planning. The limitation here is that the spacecraft must pass near specific planets, which makes missions highly dependent on the timing of planetary alignments. These kinds of opportunities are rare, and the trajectory of such missions can be inflexible. Despite these limitations, gravity assists have proven to be an invaluable tool for space exploration, allowing missions to traverse vast distances and visit multiple planets with minimal fuel consumption.

Magnetic and Electric Sails: Harnessing the Solar Wind

While solar sails offer steady thrust using sunlight, magnetic and electric sails take a different approach by utilizing the solar wind—charged particles constantly emitted by the Sun. Magnetic sails generate thrust by interacting with this stream of charged particles using large superconducting coils, while electric sails rely on long tethers charged with electricity to repel solar wind protons. Both methods offer several advantages, including the ability to accelerate spacecraft over long periods of time without the need for propellant.

However, these technologies are still in their infancy, with significant challenges to overcome. For instance, magnetic sails would require enormous superconducting loops, potentially up to 50 kilometers in radius, maintained at cryogenic temperatures. Such structures are far beyond our current engineering capabilities. Likewise, electric sails require large, thin wires that are both lightweight and strong, and they need significant electrical power to maintain the necessary charge.

Both magnetic and electric sails offer higher potential for acceleration compared to solar sails, and they don’t suffer from the same degradation over time. Yet, the required technologies are still in development, and creating and deploying such large structures in space presents a monumental challenge. Nonetheless, the study suggests that with continued research and innovation, these methods could one day provide a viable alternative to traditional rocket propulsion.

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{ https://dailygalaxy.com/ }

05-11-2025 om 16:22 geschreven door peter  

​A photo claiming to be a NASA leak of the interstellar object 3I/Atlas has gone viral on social media. Around the same time, a beautiful sky photo from Japan also caught everyone’s attention. Both pictures have become popular online, sparking curiosity and conversation among space fans and regular viewers alike.

The alleged NASA leak

A photo purported to be of 3I/Atlas hit the internet early this week, with many users claiming it originated from NASA’s internal systems and showed a close-up of the mysterious space object in question.

3I/Atlas appears, in the picture, to be a glowing structure with a bluish-green light around it. Some online users described the shape of it as unusual and suggested it could be something artificial.

However, NASA has not confirmed that this image is real, and the agency has not made any official statement about any leak. Scientists have also warned people against believing unverified posts shared on the internet.

Experts say the image could have easily been a digitally edited photo or even real telescope data with added filters to make it look more dramatic.

What we know about 3I/Atlas

3I/Atlas is an interstellar object, which means it came from outside our solar system. It is the third known object of its kind after ‘Oumuamua (2017) and 2I/Borisov (2019).

It is being watched closely by astronomers as this reaches our solar system. According to scientists, based on its movements, 3I/Atlas would pass by once and will not return.

There is no evidence that it is artificial or is connected with any extra-terrestrial life. The most common belief concerning the composition of comets among scientists is that they are composed of rock, ice, and dust.

Japan’s viral sky photo

While the NASA leak was trending, another photo went viral for a very different reason. A Japanese photographer captured a stunning view of the night sky.

The photo showed the Milky Way and what looked like faint Aurora lights glowing above a mountain. The image was taken on a clear night, and people online called it one of the most peaceful and beautiful space photos of the year.

Many users shared the picture, saying it reminded them of how amazing the sky can look without any filters or editing.

How social media responded

Both images — the NASA “leak” and the Japanese sky photo — quickly spread online. Hashtags like #3IAtlas, #NASAleak, and #JapanSkyPhoto started trending on X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit.

Some people believed the NASA photo was real and hinted at secret discoveries. Others said it was probably fake but still interesting.

Scientists later explained that no official NASA data was leaked, and that many space images shared online are often altered or misunderstood.

What it shows about space curiosity

The two pictures have nothing to do with each other, but they both went viral on social media. They illustrate that space fascinates people to this day, and anything unusual catches the public's eye.

NASA hasn't given any new update about 3I/Atlas yet, but scientists are still studying it from different observatories in the world.

• US officials monitor Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS amid government shutdown
• 3I/Atlas makes history with the highest orbital eccentricity ever recorded: Here’s what it means for science
• What is the Loeb Scale, and how is 3I/ATLAS rated on it by the Harvard physicist?
• Harvard professor Avi Loeb breaks silence on Elon Musk's remarks about interstellar object 3I/ATLAS

{ https://www.primetimer.com/ }

05-11-2025 om 15:58 geschreven door peter  

Megastructures on Mars

Images of vast ‘canals’ rippling across the red planet inspired fears of alien ‘engineers’ and changed science forever

The clearest ever picture of the planet Mars composed of over 100 Viking Orbiter mission photos from the 1970s missions.

Courtesy NASA

On 16 December 2017, The New York Times began publishing a series of investigative reports confirming what conspiracy theorists had long believed. There was a ‘secret programme’ hidden within the US Department of Defense that had investigated unidentified flying objects. From offices on the fifth floor of the Pentagon, the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) had uncovered remarkable evidence of what it called unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), including videos of craft resembling Tic Tac mints that moved with seemingly impossible speed and agility.

Military officers soon claimed that secret programmes like the AATIP had reverse-engineered extraterrestrial technology and even recovered the bodies of aliens aboard downed spacecraft. By the early 2020s, hundreds of videos and images had come to light, some of which have still not been explained. Journalists learned that, at the very least, high-ranking military officers had been covertly discussing UFOs for decades – if only as a cover for secret weapons programmes.

It sounds like the plot of a science-fiction film. But it happened. And it’s still happening. In 2025, further video evidence was presented to Congress, showing another Tic Tac-shaped craft flying over the ocean near Yemen being targeted by a Hellfire missile fired from a drone. Incredibly, the missile appears to have bounced off the craft, which continued on its path, hurtling above the water.

But what’s odd about all this isn’t just the evidence. It’s our collective response. More than half of Americans, not to mention millions or even billions of people around the world, believe that UFOs probably confirm the existence of intelligent alien life. Yet, most of us probably don’t think much about secret Pentagon programmes or impossible craft. Isn’t that strange? At this point in a Hollywood movie, riots would be tearing through cities. Governments would be teetering on the brink of collapse. It’s why the Men in Black erase the memories of anyone who even glimpses an alien. Popular culture (and common sense) make it seem obvious that the apparent discovery of aliens, let alone a conspiracy to hide their existence, should lead to mass panic.

So, why the collective shrug? And what will happen if and when humanity really does, indisputably, encounter an extraterrestrial civilisation?

For answers, we can look to one of the strangest stories in the history of science: the 19th-century ‘discovery’ of canal-building aliens on Mars. This story isn’t widely known today and, when it is told at all, it’s usually framed as a curious delusion, shared by a small group of maverick astronomers – at least one of whom had an undiagnosed eye condition. But the event had an enormous impact on scientists and the public. It involved hundreds, perhaps thousands of astronomers, and captured the attention of millions of people.

The apparent discovery of aliens on Mars a century ago reveals that the consequences of an encounter with alien life may be less traumatic but also more far-reaching than science-fiction authors have imagined.

Indeed, in a sense, ‘aliens’ have already altered our world.

It was the summer of 1877, and Earth had an intimate date with Mars. Though these planets regularly pass each other, this time they were set to come closer than they had in decades.

Because Earth is nearer to the Sun than Mars is, it takes less time to complete a full orbit. That means that our world passes the red planet every two years – an event that humans have been witnessing for millennia. First, a dim red point of light gradually brightens until it outshines everything in the night sky, save the Moon. Then the point of light seems to move backwards as Earth wheels past, before fading again. During the peak of the event, the Sun, Earth and Mars form a straight line, with Earth in the middle and the red planet opposite us. That is why this moment is known as an ‘opposition’.

However, not all oppositions are equal. The one set to occur in 1877 would happen when Mars was also in the part of its elliptical orbit that brings it nearer to the Sun. Such ‘perihelic’ oppositions (from peri, meaning near, and helios, meaning Sun) happen just once every 15-17 years and bring Mars nearer to Earth. And in some of these oppositions, the tug of distant Jupiter’s gravity means that Mars is drawn even closer to our planet. That’s what happened in 1877, when Mars passed just 56 million kilometres from Earth (it’s more than 350 million kilometres away as I write this sentence). By the measure of cosmic distances, in 1877 the two planets were almost touching.

New telescope designs allowed observers to see genuine features on the Martian surface

Changes in astronomy and in the instruments used by astronomers ensured that this opposition would truly be like no other in history. The invention of the telescope in the early 17th century had already revealed that Mars was a world, not just a point of light. Indeed, in an age of colonial expansion, Mars seemed like a new world that could be explored and charted by Europeans, remotely of course, as though it were just another imperial frontier.

By the end of the 18th century, new telescope designs allowed observers to see genuine features on the Martian surface. Astronomers had previously focused on making precise calculations of celestial movements, but now the environments of other worlds seemed worthy of serious study. What was on the surface of our neighbouring planet?

Observers soon determined that there were bright regions at the poles of Mars and dark patches at lower latitudes. What’s more, the shape and colour of these regions seemed to fluctuate dramatically over time.

Polar exploration on Earth suggested that the bright regions of Mars were ice caps undergoing seasonal melting and refreezing. The dark regions were more mysterious. These areas appeared to transform so much that early 19th-century scientists believed they had to be either cloud formations, oceans spilling their banks, or vegetation undergoing seasonal changes. Mars seemed to be a living world, much like our own.

Night after night, he huddled over his gleaming refractor, high up on a rooftop above Milan, sketching Mars

This widely held view made the opposition of 1877 a major event for scientists. Telescopes were now so powerful that it seemed like a second Earth could be unveiled for the first time during the passing of Mars.

Months before the opposition, as the red planet began to brighten in the night sky, the Italian astronomer and hydraulic engineer Giovanni Schiaparelli got to work. Night after night, he huddled over the eyepiece of his gleaming refractor, high up on a rooftop above Milan, sketching Mars. As the planet wheeled closer and closer, he recorded each new detail that shimmered into view. When the opposition passed, Schiaparelli gathered his sketches and drew a complete map of Mars in the Mercator projection – the same projection commonly used in maps of Earth’s continents.

It was like no other depiction. Astronomers had previously glimpsed linear features on the planet, but Schiaparelli’s Mars was covered with them. They were, he wrote, canali that linked Martian oceans. Schiaparelli seems to have preferred that canali would be translated as ‘channels’. However, it was more often rendered as ‘canals’ when his observations were reported in English.

Some astronomers doubted that the channels, or canals, actually existed. But Schiaparelli was a leader in his field, with renowned eyesight, and it couldn’t be denied that his map of Mars was more detailed than any drawn before. Indeed, it included so many previously uncharted features that Schiaparelli introduced a new naming scheme, drawing from classical mythology, to make sense of them all. With a decidedly alien surface named after gods and goddesses, Mars became a more mysterious and intriguing world than anyone had imagined.

In a different time, Schiaparelli’s ‘canals’ might have been a short-lived curiosity. Instead, they became a popular sensation – thanks to the shifting nature of mass media, during an age of imperial expansion and technological disruption.

Around the time of the 1877 opposition, major newspapers, such as The New York Herald, were beginning to secure exclusive access to telegraph lines that permitted instantaneous communication between far-flung cities. These newspapers did not just report what had happened along the exotic frontiers of the era’s empires. They also helped to create the news. In the process, they influenced how scientific discoveries reached ordinary people and shaped what counted as a ‘discovery’ among scientists.

These dynamics were primarily responsible for the ‘Mars Boom’ of 1892, during another perihelic opposition.

A key figure behind the boom was William Pickering, an ambitious young astronomer at Harvard College Observatory in Boston. Pickering accepted that Schiaparelli’s canals were real. He also believed that Mars was a world like Earth. The canals, he thought, were nothing more than strips of vegetation. But to know for certain, Pickering would need to take a closer look.

The canals seemed to copy themselves, or ‘germinate’, as Mars approached Earth

In 1891, he was sent to Peru by the observatory’s director (his brother, Edward) with orders to set up a modest mountaintop facility that would gather precise data about the colour and brightness of southern hemisphere stars.

Pickering did nothing of the sort.

It had been almost 15 years since the opposition of 1877, and Earth was once again bearing down on Mars. The tilt of Earth’s axis meant that when Mars reached opposition, it would be far easier to see in the southern hemisphere than in the north. With that in mind, Pickering spent lavishly to establish an observatory that would give him the best views of Mars that any astronomer had ever had. And he agreed to report what he saw to The New York Herald using a telegraph controlled by the newspaper. It was a chance for Pickering to make his name – and for the Herald to transform a planetary opposition into a sensational news event.

In 1892, as Earth approached Mars, Pickering started to send curt descriptions of his observations to the Herald. The historian of science Joshua Nall showed in News from Mars (2019) that the newspaper reworded these descriptions into a vivid narrative that played on the expectations of readers in a colonial era. The Herald presented Pickering as an explorer who had journeyed to Earth’s ends in search of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to discover a new world.

Pickering’s reworded descriptions included dramatic accounts of environments on Mars that embarrassed more experienced astronomers who had downplayed the scientific value of the coming opposition. One of those experts was Edward Holden, the director of the greatest observatory in the northern hemisphere: the Lick Observatory in California. Holden’s views now seemed not only foolish, but an indictment of his observatory.

In the face of popular ridicule, Holden announced to the Associated Press that he had also put the opposition to good use. Peering through the Lick telescope, he had confirmed a remarkable property of the planet’s canals, earlier suggested by Schiaparelli: they seemed to copy themselves, or ‘germinate’, as Mars approached Earth.

Holden privately doubted that the canals were real. But in the process of defending his reputation, he had introduced millions of people to the idea that the canals existed – and that they behaved like nothing else in nature. An explosion of popular interest in the canals followed, reflected by a wave of newspaper reports in the United States and Europe.

The Lick Observatory, built between 1876 and 1887, was named after the land baron James Lick, one of California’s richest men. As he neared the end of his life, Lick considered how to preserve his legacy. He toyed with building a colossal pyramid, but ultimately decided to finance the construction of a telescope big enough to detect aliens on the Moon. That discovery, he thought, would let his name ring through the ages.

In the 1890s, history began to repeat itself. Another wealthy man – Percival Lowell, heir to a fortune gained in the textile trade – saw his chance to achieve immortality. Lowell seems to have decided that if Schiaparelli had been the Columbus of Mars, discovering a new world, then he would follow in the footsteps of the Conquistadors by realising that world’s true potential. He would discover what the canals really were.

Lowell ordered a gigantic telescope from Alvan Clark & Sons, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of fine optics. But that wasn’t enough – he also needed an ideal location to install the device. In Peru, Pickering had worked out a method for measuring the suitability of the atmosphere for astronomy. Under Lowell’s direction, Pickering’s former assistant, Andrew Ellicott Douglass, used the method to identify a perfect site to build an observatory for the new telescope: Flagstaff, Arizona, where thin, dry air would permit unrivalled observations of Mars.

What was this strange, fluctuating latticework that seemed to cover the planet?

As Earth approached Mars in 1894, Lowell, Douglass and other members of their team began to observe the canals. With painstaking diligence, they would eventually map more than 400, of which more than 50 canals seemed to show signs of ‘germination’, or doubling. What’s more, the team charted some 200 oases – circular features at the intersection of canals – including one that seemed to connect no fewer than 17 canals. Nor were these features stable. They were faint when Earth approached Mars, but darkened as Earth left Mars behind.

What was this strange, fluctuating latticework that seemed to cover the planet? To Lowell, the age of Mars provided the first clue. Most scientists believed that the planets had formed one after another, from rings of gas and dust released by the Sun. That meant that Mars was older than Earth.

A second clue came from naturalists who had discovered fossilised sea creatures on dry land, far from the ocean. Earth, it seemed, was drying as it aged. When Douglass spotted a canal crisscrossing one of the dark regions of Mars, he believed he had uncovered proof that those regions weren’t oceans, as Schiaparelli and other astronomers had assumed. Because Mars was older than Earth, it was naturally drier.

A third clue came from the changes that swept across Mars. The canals seemed to darken, first around the pole and then towards the equator, as spring arrived in each Martian hemisphere. At the same time, what appeared to be an ‘ice cap’ in the northern hemisphere seemed to melt, creating a dark region around its perimeter.

A fourth clue consisted of environmental changes happening on Earth. Between 1877 and 1894 – from the time when Schiaparelli first mapped the canals to when Lowell arrived in Flagstaff – a series of extreme El Niño events brought catastrophic droughts and famine to much of the world. By then, irrigation systems and especially ship canals had emerged as quintessential infrastructure projects of an industrialising world. In the US alone, workers had built some 6,800 kilometres of navigable canals by 1860, a figure almost exactly equivalent to the diameter of Mars.

People believed they could actually see the canals using small telescopes

Lowell put the clues together. An alien civilisation, he speculated, had long ago emerged on Mars. When the planet dried out, that civilisation was imperilled. It responded by using its advanced technology to build a world-straddling network of canals. The canals funnelled water from its last reservoirs – the poles – to vast food-growing regions around the equator. When the ice caps melted in the spring, the water would flow south, and vegetation would sprout around the canals, appearing to darken them in a wave that swept from each pole to the equator. Around the north pole, a sea of meltwater formed first, creating the dark region that emerged every spring.

It was an elegant explanation, and it made Lowell an overnight celebrity. His books were bestsellers, his lectures sold out, and his ideas routinely made the front page of major newspapers. What’s more, people believed that they could actually see the canals using small telescopes, which had recently become a common possession for well-to-do families. Newspapers even printed instructions for canal-watching.

Not everyone believed Lowell’s explanation. Some astronomers always doubted that the canals were real – a view that gained credibility in the early 20th century, when powerful telescopes seemed to resolve apparently linear features on Mars into discontinuous spots and streaks. Then, in the 1960s, the robotic exploration of the planet finally proved beyond doubt that the canals were illusions, and that the environmental changes Lowell took for proof of flowing water had been caused by enormous dust storms that exposed or obscured dark rock and sand. In a sense, Mars is an even less Earth-like world than Lowell had imagined.

At the end of the 19th century, however, millions seem to have believed that a species much older and more advanced than humanity had found a way to survive on a dying planet that, every two years, passed precariously close to Earth.

In 1895, a front-page article in The Cook County Herald, an Illinois newspaper, announced that ‘very strange and mysterious things are going on on Mars.’ Douglass had just spotted what seemed like flashes along the Martian ‘terminator’, the dividing line between night and day on the planet. When he and other astronomers announced such sightings, their descriptions routinely made it into the newspapers – and prompted letters from anxious readers who believed that the Martians were messaging Earth.

Lowell uncharacteristically pointed out that the flashes were probably natural in origin, caused by sunlight glinting off ice, for example. Yet light seemed like a natural way to send a signal between worlds. Public figures of all stripes, from inventors to poets, now proposed ambitious schemes to message the Martians using light and colour.

Some called for the construction of enormous mirrors that could focus sunlight – or better yet, electric light – into beams bright enough for the Martians to see. Others suggested that immense geometric shapes could be carved into forests using fire, or that enormous strips of black fabric could be hooked to motors in the Saharan desert and rearranged to send a message. Everyone agreed that any message had to relay information universal to all intelligent life. If sent to clever Martian observers, flashes of light would communicate something about the structure of the solar system, or the basics of geometry. Once the Martians understood how humans used light flashes to communicate universal information, they would be able to respond in kind. Eventually, a shared, interplanetary language could be developed. This became the underlying principle that still informs how we think about communicating with aliens.

At the turn of the 20th century, breakthroughs in wireless communication, using radio waves, suggested light and colour weren’t the only ways to send and receive messages from Mars. Sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs one night in July 1899, the inventor Nikola Tesla suddenly heard a repeating radio signal that he believed might have come from another world. He was awestruck, thinking that he had witnessed ‘the revelation of a great truth’. For the rest of his life, he obsessed over how he could use his inventions to return the message. In all probability, he had actually heard a signal from Jupiter, caused by interactions between the planet’s magnetic field and the volcanoes of its moon, Io. Though the signal he received was not a real message from an alien transmitter, radio waves would become central to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence in the 20th century.

When another opposition with Mars was set to occur in 1924, most astronomers no longer accepted that idea of Martian canals. Still, many people continued to believe that the planet could harbour an alien civilisation. From 21-24 August, during the opposition, radio operators across Europe and the Americas observed a ‘National Radio Silence’ for five minutes at the top of every hour to listen for possible signals from Mars. At 7:12 am, operators at Point Grey Wireless Station in Vancouver even reported hearing a repeating pattern that briefly seemed like the message from Mars that everyone had been hoping for. The news made headlines, but the signal was soon traced to a terrestrial source.

Mars was silent. Nevertheless, it seemed as though the ‘Martians’ had communicated a grand truth. They had revealed, according to Lowell, that the ‘true history of man has consisted not in his squabbles with his kind’ but rather our species’ growing dominance over all other life. The canals suggested that the fate of all intelligent life was to remake its home world in order to delay extinction as the climate of that world dried out.

This was a forerunner to what we might now call the Anthropocene concept: the idea that humanity has remade Earth, and that this remaking is central to the history of our time. As Lowell put it, the discovery of megastructures on Mars helped to explain and justify why, even in the 19th century, ‘man has begun to leave his mark on this his globe in deforestation, in canalisation, in communication.’ Those Martian feats of planetary engineering hinted at humankind’s longer future: ‘[T]he time is coming when the earth will bear his imprint, and his alone. What he chooses, will survive; what he pleases, will lapse, and the landscape itself will become the carved object of his handiwork.’

An intelligent species did not need to go meekly into the night when facing a planetary threat

Yet the canals of Mars also hinted that the lifespan of intelligent species had a natural conclusion. Indeed, the apparent discovery of the Martians provided one of the first indications that humanity faced existential risks, meaning risks to its continued existence, and that these risks could come from changes to Earth’s climate. Mars was drying out, and the process would continue until the Martians could no longer siphon water from the poles. After that point, it seemed that every Martian would inevitably die.

Still, the beings on Mars had also shown that an intelligent species did not need to go meekly into the night when it faced a planetary threat. For some, that lesson sparked a very different kind of existential dread.

The Martians had created ‘a shadow and a fear’, the president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada told an audience in 1897. It seemed logical, he said, that they would look enviously at the watery Earth. Indeed, if space travel was possible, then there was no reason for the Martians to accept their fate on a drying world. They might instead take over Earth – at humanity’s expense.

The English science-fiction author H G Wells played on these fears to reimagine the lights reported on Mars as flares created by the launch of projectiles headed for Earth, heralding the invasion of our planet by ‘intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic’. His novel The War of the Worlds (1898) popularised the alien-invasion genre in science fiction but it was, above all, a critique of British colonialism. The story resonated with particular force in the anxious years before the First World War. For more than two decades after it was published, newspapers speculated about a Martian invasion whenever the planet reached opposition. Radio broadcasts of The War of the Worlds would later spark widespread panic about the possibility of a real invasion – and concerns over the compatibility of mass media with democracy. To Wells and other authors, the Martian threat exposed the folly of imperial aggression.

The Martians also seemed to reveal which social structures allowed a civilisation to reach old age. For some scholars and writers, the canals vindicated social Darwinists who used the concept of natural selection or ‘survival of the fittest’ to justify both colonialism and capitalism. Lowell believed that the stronger Martians had survived to reengineer their planet, while the weak had perished. Schiaparelli, by contrast, thought the canals were a triumph of collective socialism, a whole-of-society response to a planetary catastrophe.

In the decades after the great perihelic opposition of 1877 – through years marked by the emergence of the labour movement, the rise of communist insurgencies, the global spread of unregulated capitalism, and the eruption of imperial wars – the canal-builders on Mars seemed to have urgent lessons to impart. But what those lessons were, exactly, remained in the eye of the beholder. Some hoped that establishing contact with our Martian neighbours might change humankind. When that happened, ‘we may tell the Martians all about our great war,’ reflected an article in Popular Science in 1919; ‘perhaps we will learn from an older and wiser planet how we ought to run the Earth.’

Around the same time that alien engineers on Mars were being imagined, naturalists and explorers from imperial cities, like London or Paris, were enthralling their readers with tales of exotic lands and peoples on Earth. The Martians therefore also had a romantic, almost orientalist appeal. Novelists would later pioneer world-building science fiction by imagining adventures on a canal-covered planet with alien cultures and ecosystems.

The quest to map the canals of Mars directly expanded the frontiers of science

Few were more successful than Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose Barsoom series, beginning with A Princess of Mars (first serialised in 1912), inspired a generation of young readers. Some of those readers would play pivotal roles in the coming age of space travel. A map of the canal-covered Mars imagined by Burroughs, for example, adorned the office door of the planetary scientist Carl Sagan, a leading figure in the Viking missions that undertook the first tests for microbial life on Mars.

Indeed, the quest to map the canals of Mars directly expanded the frontiers of science. It helped establish the importance of a thin and steady atmosphere for astronomy, leading in a roundabout way to the construction of today’s mountaintop observatories. Douglass, who had compared the climate of different sites in Arizona for Lowell’s observatory, eventually decided to study the changing climate of Earth using the growth rings in trees. He would play a central role in the development of palaeoclimatology, the science of past climate change.

By revealing that climatic changes have undermined the foundations of historical societies, and by showing the deep connection between greenhouse gases and global temperature, palaeoclimatology has confirmed the essential truth of the canal theory: climate change can accompany the maturation of a technologically advanced civilisation, and can also threaten the destruction of that civilisation.

In short, the ‘discovery’ of the Martians had profound consequences – many of which continue to shape culture and science. After all, what are Star Wars’ Tatooine and Frank Herbert’s Dune if not variants of Lowell’s Mars?

The history of the canals on Mars upends two enduring assumptions. For decades, these assumptions have appeared in everything from classified government reports to Hollywood blockbusters.

The first assumption is related to how the discovery of an extraterrestrial civilisation would be made and shared. It’s easy to assume that such a discovery would happen when scientists find definitive proof, either by observing a distant planet or receiving a signal from such a planet. Major news outlets would then report the news. But science doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and news is not a transparent reflection of reality. The Martian canal sensation – one of the first examples of scientists ‘discovering’ alien life beyond our planet – was a consequence of everything from environmental changes on Earth and Mars to the transformation of mass media in an age of global imperialism.

It’s no surprise that alien news today does not involve the careful evaluation of scientific evidence

The second assumption is that the discovery of an alien civilisation would destabilise society. The canal-builders of Mars did provoke widespread unease and even spasms of local panic, especially during radio broadcasts of The War of the Worlds. But, for the most part, public order received no serious challenge. The aliens on Mars were big news, but not as big as stories about political intrigue, economic trends or the descent to war – stories that had more tangible impacts on people’s lives.

So, maybe we shouldn’t be startled at our collective shrug when new reports of UAPs surface. Nor should it surprise us that alien news today does not involve the careful evaluation of scientific evidence. Instead, it is a reflection of cultural and technological changes, such as the spread of conspiracy theories on social media, for example, or the commercialisation of drones that resemble UAPs.

The Martian canals controversy has one more lesson to offer. When the canals were eventually exposed for the illusions that they were, the reputation of planetary astronomy briefly collapsed. Today, Lowell is often remembered as a misguided maverick, rather than a serious figure in the history of science. Yet few theories have stimulated as much thought, or been as enduring and productive for culture and science, as the canals of Mars.

Astrobiology, the science that explores how life begins, survives and evolves in the Universe, is today a burgeoning discipline. Two organisations – the SETI Institute and Breakthrough Listen – now lead unprecedented efforts to contact, or at least detect, an extraterrestrial civilisation. Even if their work uncovers nothing, the history of the canals on Mars reveals that there are few enterprises more worth pursuing.

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04-11-2025 om 21:56 geschreven door peter  

Een wetenschappelijke analyse van UFO-activiteit nabij nucleaire sites en de implicaties voor ons begrip van onverklaarde fenomenen

Inleiding

De recente publicatie van een door pers beoordeelde studie die een statistisch verband aantoont tussen mysterieuze luchtverschijnselen en nucleaire testen uit de Koude Oorlog, markeert een belangrijke doorbraak in het onderzoek naar onverklaarde anomalieën (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, UAP). Voorheen werden dergelijke waarnemingen vaak gereduceerd tot pseudowetenschap of onderbuikgevoelens, maar de huidige studie, uitgevoerd door Dr. Beatriz Villarroel en Dr. Stephen Bruehl, brengt een nieuw wetenschappelijk bewijsmateriaal naar voren dat de betrokkenheid van deze fenomenen bij nucleaire activiteiten suggereert.

Dit proefschrift beoogt de inhoud van de studie systematisch te analyseren, de methodologie en bevindingen te bespreken, en de bredere implicaties voor de wetenschap en de samenleving te verkennen. Daartoe wordt eerst de historische context geschetst, gevolgd door een gedetailleerde bespreking van de gebruikte onderzoeksopzet, resultaten, interpretaties en de beperkingen van de studie. Vervolgens worden de mogelijke verklaringen en de toekomstige gebieden van onderzoek verkend.

1. Historische context: UFO-waarnemingen en nucleaire sites

Gedurende de jaren 1940 en 1950 werden talloze rapporten gedaan van onverklaarde luchtverschijnselen, vooral rondom militaire en nucleaire gebieden. Militairen, wetenschappers en burgers rapporteerden vaak het zien van glanzende, metalige objecten die volgens getuigen intrigeerden door hun gedrag en uiterlijk. Voorbeelden zijn onder meer de incidenten bij Malmstrom Air Force Base in 1967 en de uitgebreide waarnemingen tijdens de Koude Oorlog, waarin men vermoedde dat deze objecten mogelijk inlichtingen verzamelden of technologische observaties uitvoerden. Je kan deze vroegere waarnemingen het beste vergelijken met de actuele golf aan onbekende drones boven West-Europese militaite basissen, waaronder Kleine Brogel in België met Amerikaanse nuckeaire raketten..

In de vroegere periode voerden de supermachten de eerste nucleaire tests uit, met meer dan 124 bovengrondse explosies wereldwijd tussen 1949 en 1957. Het is opvallend dat veel waarnemingen gelijktijdig gebeurden met het testen van nucleaire wapens, wat vragen oproept over een mogelijk verband tussen deze fenomenen en de menselijke atoomactiviteiten. Tot op heden blijven dergelijke verbindingen in grote lijnen anekdotisch en onderbelicht, ondanks bewijs uit getuigenissen en historische documenten.

2. De studie en haar methodologie

2.1 Toelichting op de data

De studie van Villarroel en Bruehl maakt gebruik van twee hoofdbronnen: (1) fotografische gegevens uit de Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS) uit de jaren 1949-1957 en (2) de database UFOCAT, een gesystematiseerde verzameling van UAP-waarnemingen die deels gebaseerd is op Amerikaanse militaire en civiele rapportages.

In totaal werden meer dan 100.000 'transients' geanalyseerd  — heldere, sterren- of puntvormige lichtverschijnselen die kortstondig op de foto's verschenen en snel weer verdwenen. Deze transients werden automatisch geïdentificeerd via algoritmes voor beeldherkenning, met een subset die handmatig werd geverifieerd om de betrouwbaarheid te vergroten.

De Palomar-observatorium in Californië, waar de luchtenonderzoekfoto's werden gemaakt tussen 1949 en 1957.

(Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)./CC BY-SA 4.0)

2.2 Analyse technieken

De onderzoekers gebruikten geavanceerde statistische analyses, zoals correlatiemodellen en temporele patroonherkenning, om het verband te onderzoeken tussen het voorkomen van transients en nucleaire testen. Vooral werd gekeken naar de periodes rondom de tests: de dag vóór, de dag van en de dag na de explosies. De statistische significantie werd beoordeeld met behulp van p-waarden, waarmee de kans werd bepaald dat deze verbanden bij toeval zouden voorkomen.

Daarnaast werd gekeken naar het aantal UAP-rapporten op de dagen met nucleaire testen, wat resulteerde in een analyse van de correlatie tussen getuigenissen en de waargenomen transients.

De VS experimenteerde met kernenergie sinds de eerste atoombomaanvallen van het beroemde Manhattanproject tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog (afgebeeld)

3. Resultaten: statistische verbanden en observatiepatronen

3.1 Toename van transients rond nucleaire tests

De belangrijkste bevinding is dat op dagen dat nucleaire testen plaatsvonden, het aantal waargenomen transients met 8,5% toenam vergeleken met dagen zonder tests. Meer nog, het meest significante verband werd gevonden voor de dag na een test: op die dag werden 68% meer transients geregistreerd dan op andere dagen. Deze timing is cruciaal omdat het niet aansluit bij de verwachting dat eventuele effecten onmiddellijk ná de explosie optreden (zoals stof en rook), maar eerder met een vertraging.

3.2 De aard en kenmerken van de transients

De waargenomen verschijnselen vertoonden een opvallende consistentie: ze verschenen als discrete puntgerelateerde bronnen, vaak metallic glanzend, spiegelend en mogelijk roterend. Dit wijst op een mogelijk artificieel, technologische oorsprong, en het feit dat ze niet als bewegende stippen of strepen over de foto’s maakten, suggereert dat ze relatief stilhielden tijdens de opnames.

Foto's uit de jaren 1940 en 1950 onthulden duizenden heldere vlekken, transiënten genoemd, die verschenen in de baan om de aarde tijdens de vroege kernproeven van de wereld.

3.3 Correlatie met getuigenrapporten

Naast de directe astronomische data, werd een significante correlatie gevonden met getuigenrapportages van UAP’s. Voor elke extra UAP-rapportage op een dag steeg het aantal transients met 8,5%. gezamenlijke waarnemingen rondom nucleaire tests en getuigenlijke informatie versterken de hypothese dat deze fenomenen mogelijk een relatie hebben met menselijk uitgevoerde nucleaire activiteiten.

In een visuele demonstratie van surveillancebias worden punten volledig willekeurig geplaatst (witte stippen, boven). Punten worden het meest waarschijnlijk gedetecteerd (rode stippen, midden) als ze zich in de buurt van een gebied met verhoogde controle bevinden (geel). De gedetecteerde resultaten (rode stippen, onder) lijken geclusterd rond hotspots. Volgens een inlichtingenanalyse uit 2021 kan het onevenredig grote aantal UFO-meldingen rond militaire locaties te wijten zijn aan "verzamelingsbias als gevolg van gerichte aandacht".

4. Interpretatie van de bevindingen

4.1 Alternatieve verklaringen en afwegingen

Hoewel de statistische resultaten indrukwekkend zijn, moeten ze worden geëvalueerd binnen een breder wetenschappelijk kader. Mogelijke provocaties zijn onder meer:

• Atmosferische artefacten: stofdeeltjes, vlammen of chemische dampen die reflecteren op de fotografische plates en mogelijk lijken op transients.
• Contaminatie en defecten: fotografie-emulsie of defecten kunnen ten onrechte worden geïnterpreteerd als heldere puntverschijnselen.
• Nucleairgerelateerde fysische fenomenen: ionisaties, elektromagnetische interferentie of radiatie die de film beïnvloeden.

De onderzoekers hebben systematisch deze opties uitgesloten door de aard van de waarnemingen en aanvullende analyses, onder meer door controle van mogelijke contaminaties en het gebruik van geautomatiseerde identificatiemethoden.

4.2 Implicaties voor de aard van de fenomenen

De consistentie en timing van de waarnemingen wijzen op een niet-natuurlijke oorsprong. Het verschijnen van metallic, spiegelende objecten in periode met nucleaire testen past bij het bestaan van artificiële technologieën, mogelijk van niet-menselijke herkomst, die mogelijk de aard van het bewijs op een fundamenteel niveau verandert.

De afwezigheid van dergelijke transients na 1956 suggereert dat het fenomeen zich wellicht aanpaste of reageerde op menselijke activiteiten, zoals het intensiveren of de overgang naar ondergrondse testen. Dit kan duiden op een bewuste observatie- of meetstrategie van een buitenmenselijke intelligente aanwezigheid.

Een nucleair gerichte oppervlakteschot wordt afgevuurd op het Eniwetok-atol in de Marshalleilanden in 1956.

(VS-regering/CC BY NC 2.0)

5. Wetenschappelijke en maatschappelijke betekenis

5.1 Doorbraak in het UAP-onderzoek

De publicatie in het prestigieuze tijdschrift Scientific Reports betekent dat de studie niet langer wordt afgedaan als pseudowetenschap. Een belangrijke waarde ligt in de methodische toetsing en openbare reproduciteit van de bevindingen, wat de weg wijst voor verdere wetenschappelijke exploratie.

5.2 Verstoringen, theoriën en scepticisme

Niettemin blijft er scepsis bestaan over de interpretatie van de data. Kritieken kunnen zich richten op:

• Geautomatiseerde herkenning en fout-positieven.
• Onvolledige of niet-representatieve gegevens (enkele observatietekens, single locatie).
• Externe factoren die niet werden meegenomen, zoals weerpatronen of technische anomalieën in de fotografie.

5.3 Implicaties voor het begrip van buitenaardse activiteiten

De studie opent de deur naar nieuwe hypotheses over buitenaardse observatie en mogelijk technologische aanwezigheid in de buurt van nucleaire sites. Dit kan leiden tot nieuwe wetenschappelijke zoekrichtingen, waaronder:

• Digitalisatie en analyse van historische atmosferische en astronomische archieven.
• Multidisciplinair onderzoek naar technologische en fysische kenmerken van anomalieën.
• Beleid en veiligheidsmaatregelen omtrent onverklaarde waarnemingen bij nucleaire faciliteiten.

Transienten werden waarschijnlijker waargenomen de dag nadat een nucleaire test was uitgevoerd, waardoor de mogelijkheid dat de plekken het gevolg van de explosie waren, werd uitgesloten.

6. Beperkingen en toekomstig onderzoek

Hoewel de studie significante doorbraken markeert, blijven er beperkingen:

• De herkomst van de transients blijft onduidelijk, en bewijs voor bewust artificialiteit is inferentieel.
• Data zijn historisch en beperkt tot Britse en Amerikaanse observatoria; observaties wereldwijd kunnen andere patronen onthullen.
• Geautomatiseerde detectiemethoden, hoewel krachtig, kunnen nog steeds fouten bevatten; een combinatie van AI en menselijke beoordeling wordt aanbevolen.

Vooruitkijkend moet toekomstig onderzoek onder meer bestaan uit:

• Analyses van digitale en nucleaire archieven van vergelijkbare fenomenen.
• Opzetten van gerichte waarnemingsprogramma’s, inclusief moderne radarsystemen, telescopen en sensoren.
• Interdisciplinaire samenwerking tussen fysici, astronomen, ufologen en veiligheidsinstanties.

7. Conclusie

De bevindingen van Villarroel en Bruehl vormen een fundamentele stap in het empirisch onderbouwen van de hypothese dat bepaalde mysterieuze luchtverschijnselen gerelateerd kunnen zijn aan nucleaire activiteiten uit de Koude Oorlog. De statistische correlaties en de karakteristieken van de waarnemingen wijst op de aanwezigheid van artificiële objecten die mogelijk in of nabij nucleaire sites opereren.

Hoewel verdere verantwoorde en gedetailleerde studies vereist blijven, opent deze doorbraak de weg naar een serieuzere wetenschappelijke benadering van het fenomeen. Het benadrukt tevens het belang van transparantie en samenwerking tussen verschillende disciplines en instellingen, om zo de diepe vragen over buitenaardse intelligentie, technologische observaties, en de veiligheid van nucleaire installaties wetenschappelijk te onderzoeken.

In samenvatting toont deze studie aan dat het onverklaarde niet langer louter een kwestie van folklore of pseudowetenschap is, maar dat het fenomeen mogelijk een integrale rol speelt in onze toekomstig mogelijk begrip van universele intelligente aanwezigheid en de risico’s voor onze beschaving.

Onderzoekers richtten zich op de kernproeven uitgevoerd door de VS, het VK en de Sovjet-Unie tijdens de vroege dagen van de Koude Oorlog (Stockfoto)

Bronnen

• Villarroel, B., & Bruehl, S. (2023). "UFO activity near nuclear sites gains peer-reviewed validation." Scientific Reports.
• UFOCAT Database, Center for UFO Studies.
• Historische gegevens van de Palomar Sky Survey.
• Documenten van de Amerikaanse en Britse nucleaire testen (1949-1957).
• Getuigenissen en incidentrapporten uit de jaren 1950-1960.

Eindwoord

Het wetenschappelijk onderzoek zoals gepresenteerd in deze studie vormt de basis voor een nieuwe fase in het bestuderen van onbegrepen luchtverschijnselen. Door de combinatie van astronomisch bewijs, statistische analyse en getuigenverslagen, wordt de hypothese versterkt dat er bij onze nucleaire geschiedenis misschien meer betrokken is dan wij tot nu toe konden bevatten. De weg ligt open voor een diepere exploratie, die mogelijk het begrip van onze plek in het universum fundamenteel kan veranderen.

{PETER2011}

04-11-2025 om 21:14 geschreven door peter  

Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS is seen for the first time since it disappeared behind the sun – and it's even BRIGHTER than when it went in

• READ MORE: Interstellar visitor proves Einstein's theory

By WILIAM HUNTER, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS has been spotted for the first time since it disappeared behind the sun.

Using the Lowell Observatory's powerful Discovery Telescope, astronomer Dr Qicheng Zhang managed to snap the mysterious object as it sped back into Earth's line of sight.

The optical observations show that 3I/ATLAS is now even brighter than when it went in.

Scientists have been carefully watching 3I/ATLAS since it was first detected by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope on July 1.

In early October, the comet vanished from Earth's view as it approached its closest point to the sun, known as perihelion.

As it approached a distance of 130 million miles (210 million kilometres), the sun started to evaporate the outer layers of ice into a cloud of glowing gas.

According to Dr Zhang, the comet is now bright enough for even amateur telescopes to pick up.

'Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is now rising early enough in morning twilight to be seen even with small telescopes under imperfect conditions,' he explained in his blog.  

Scientists have spotted the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS for the first time since it disappeared behind the sun in early October 

3I/ATLAS is the third time that scientists have managed to detect an object travelling from another solar system. It is moving on an unusually flat and straight path at speeds over 130,000 miles per hour (210,000 km/h)

3I/ATLAS is travelling through our solar system on an unusually flat and straight path at speeds over 130,000 miles per hour (210,000 km/h).

Although it will not stay in the solar system for long, its trajectory has been bent around the sun's gravitational pull.

Professor Mark Burchell, an astronomer from the University of Kent, told Daily Mail: 'A swing round the sun is perfectly normal behaviour for a comet.

'The term swing is a slight exaggeration; it is attracted by the sun's great mass, and its orbit gets deflected a bit, but it is not a tight sling shot effect, more a slow change of course.'

Having passed perihelion on Halloween, October 31, 3I/ATLAS is now just starting to be visible to Earth-based telescopes.

Dr Zhang was able to spot the comet with both the Discovery Telescope and his personal commercial telescope.

He told Live Science: 'All you need is a clear sky and a very low eastern horizon.

'It won't look very impressive, it's just a smudge, but it will be an increasingly visible smudge over the next few days.'

Having passed its closest point to the sun, 3I/ATLAS is now so bright that it can be seen with standard amateur telescopes in the northern hemisphere 

Over the coming weeks, the comet will be visible higher in the sky, which will allow larger observatories to start capturing images.

Although 3I/ATLAS wasn't visible from Earth as it passed around the sun, it has not been totally hidden.

Scientists have been using space telescopes such as those orbiting Mars or NASA's Psyche mission to watch the comet as it passed behind the sun.

These observations have revealed that 3I/ATLAS has undergone a major transformation while it was hiding out of view.

Dr Zhang found that the interstellar object underwent a rapid brightening ahead of reaching perihelion and also took on a distinctively blue hue.

Their study found that the comet was brightening at twice the normal rate, which suggests some big changes were taking place on the surface.

Dr Matthew Genge, an expert on comets and meteors from Imperial College London, told Daily Mail: 'Comets usually produce more gas as they approach the sun and become brighter. Their surface heats up, and more and more ice is turned to gas. It's like turning the kettle on.'

The fact that this comet turned blue also hints that gases, rather than just dust, are responsible for a large part of the brightening.

As it approached the sun, the heat caused outer layers of ice and dust to evaporate. This has produced the glowing cloud which surrounds 3I/ATLAS 

As the comet moves away from the sun and into Earth's view, astronomers will be able to watch these ongoing transformations to learn more about our interstellar visitor.

Dr Genge says: 'As it moves away from the sun, its gas tail will point directly away from the Sun, ahead of the comet, since it is swept by the solar wind. In contrast, its tail of dust will trail behind the comet.'

By studying the gases it leaves behind, scientists hope to learn more about the solar system 3I/ATLAS came from and how it differs from comets from our own neighbourhood.

For instance, scientists have already found that the comet's surface has been transformed by billions of years of exposure to harsh gamma radiation while travelling through space.

This has given 3I/ATLAS a thick, irradiated crust that has been responsible for the unusual amounts of CO2 released by the comet.

Professor Marina Galand, a planetary scientist from Imperial College London, told Daily Mail: 'After perihelion, a deeper layer below the surface will have been revealed.

'It will be interesting to see how the composition of the gas changes as the comet gets further away from the Sun, compared with when it approached it.'

However, despite rampant speculation, one thing scientists are absolutely sure about is that 3I/ATLAS is definitely a comet.

As it leaves the sun, scientists will be able to study how the comet has changed over time. If it got hot enough, pristine layers of ice from another solar system might be revealed. This would offer valuable clues about how stars form

Dr Mark Norris, an astronomer at the University of Lancashire, told Daily Mail: 'In terms of why we think it is a comet, it is because it looks and acts exactly like a comet.

'It is just happening faster because this comet is moving so much faster than solar system comets, which remain gravitationally bound to the Sun.'

There are still a lot of questions to answer about this object, but that is mainly because it is only the third interstellar object humanity has ever discovered.

Dr Genge adds: 'Aliens would be literally barmy to hollow out a comet for a spacecraft.'

Read More

EXCLUSIVE

•  Scientists reveal all the strange behaviors of interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS 

The enormous mass would make changing direction nearly impossible, and the layers of ice would add major complications.

Although the ice would offer protection from radiation, CO2 needs temperatures lower than -56°C (-68.8°F) to stay frozen.

'Flip on a heater, oven, or engine, and the heat would make lots of gas,' says Dr Genge.

'If you wanted to go unnoticed, then painting your ship black seems a sensible solution for anyone clever enough to be able to travel between stars.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

04-11-2025 om 16:42 geschreven door peter  

The biggest supermoon of the YEAR will light up the skies this week – as our lunar satellite appears 8% larger and 16% brighter than usual

• READ MORE:  The key pieces of evidence that prove the moon landing was real

By XANTHA LEATHAM, EXECUTIVE SCIENCE EDITOR

If you're a fan of skygazing, make sure you block off Wednesday evening in your diary.

The biggest supermoon of the year is set to light up the skies, appearing eight per cent larger and 16 per cent brighter than usual.

The phenomenon occurs because the moon's orbit is not perfectly circular around Earth, meaning at times it is slightly closer or slightly further away.

At its closest, it is called a lunar perigee – and when it occurs close to a full moon, it can be a spectacular sight.

'As long as there aren't too many clouds, the full moon will be an unmistakable white orb in the sky,' Royal Museums Greenwich (RMG) said.

'This is a good opportunity to use a small telescope or a pair of binoculars to see the moon's detailed surface, or even try taking a few interesting moon photos.

'However, you can see the moon perfectly well with just your eyes.'

Looking for the lunar satellite just after sunset or just before sunrise will be an impressive sight, as it will appear enormous compared to the surrounding landscape.

A supermoon rising above London in October last year. These occur when the moon's orbit is closer to Earth

Last year's beaver supermoon rising above the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building in New York City

Pictured: A passenger plane flying in front of a supermoon rising above the San Francisco Bay in California in 2024

On Wednesday, the moon will be just under 221,818 miles (357,000km) from Earth, compared to an average distance of 238,855 miles (384,400km).

This will make it the nearest full moon of the year and therefore the largest supermoon – coinciding with Bonfire Night.

The first full moon of November is informally called a Beaver moon, as part of a tradition dating back centuries.

It is thought the term may have been used in a range of cultures from certain Native American tribes to early European settlers, and depicts the time of year that beavers become particularly active as they build dams and stock up on food.

Along with looking spectacular, supermoons also have an effect on the Earth's tides.

'The tides are caused by the gravitational forces of the sun and the moon on the Earth's oceans,' the RMG said.

'When the Moon is closer to the Earth during a supermoon, the gravitational pull is slightly stronger, and so the tides are bigger.

'However this effect is almost negligible, with only a couple of inches difference between a normal full moon and supermoon tide.'

On Wednesday, the moon will be just under 357,000km (221,818 miles) from Earth, compared to an average distance of 384,400km (238,855 miles). Pictured: A beaver supermoon setting over Jerusalem last year

This photo taken on November 16, 2024 shows the full moon over the sky in the Longsha Park of Qiqihar, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province

Beaver full moon gets its name from Native American and colonial traditions, as beavers are most active this time of year, fortifying their lodges and building dams in anticipation of the cold months ahead

Read More

• Earth has a second MOON: NASA confirms new cosmic companion will be with us until 2083 

While this isn't the final supermoon of the year – there will be one again on December 4 – it's thought the moon won't appear this large and bright again until November 24, 2026.

It should be easy enough to take a decent photo of the moon using your phone, but it's best to place it on a steady surface to prevent blurring.

Those with a single lens reflex (SLR) camera can take good images if they use a 250mm telephoto lens.

To get the best detail, you need a telephoto lens of at least 500 to 600mm and ideally a long focal length telescope.

Experts recommend using shutter speeds of 1/30th of a second, with a low ISO setting to reduce noise.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

04-11-2025 om 16:25 geschreven door peter  

Interstellar visitor proves Einstein's theory before making an unexplained shift in its path

• MORE: Interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS pulls away from sun in shocking move that baffles scientists

By CHRIS MELORE, US ASSISTANT SCIENCE EDITOR

The interstellar object that continues to baffle scientists has just confirmed one of Albert Einstein's theories, more than a century after it was proposed.

Scans of 3I/ATLAS as it reached its closest point to the sun have found that our home star's gravity bent the light coming from the mysterious object, just as Einstein predicted in 1915 in his theory of general relativity.

This effect, known as gravitational lensing, was caused by a slight shift in the object's apparent position in the sky, which scientists had predicted last month would be approximately 0.27 arcseconds —a remarkably small displacement that can only be observed with powerful telescopes.

However, 3I/ATLAS showed even more of a shift than scientists could have imagined, straying four arcseconds from its expected path past the sun.

One arcsecond is equal to 1/3600 of a degree, or like viewing a dime from 2.5 miles away.

While the mystery object, which many scientists have dismissed as a comet, may have proven Einstein's theory about gravity bending light, its new unexplained location in the sky adds to the possibility that 3I/ATLAS is no ordinary space rock.

Harvard physicist Avi Loeb revealed that the supposed comet would have needed to release a huge amount of its mass in the form of a powerful gas jet to push 3I/ATLAS to its current location in our solar system.

If it's really a comet, this would have left behind a massive cloud of gas and dust, but if it didn't, then the claims of 3I/ATLAS being an artificial spacecraft will be one step closer to being proven true.

Scientists have proven Albert Einstein's theory of gravitational lensing after spotting movement by 3I/ATLAS (Pictured) near the sun

The interstellar object has given scientists no less than nine different clue that it may not be a natural comet

Loeb explained that for scientists to be right about 3I/ATLAS being a comet, the sun would have needed to melt away roughly 15 percent of the object's mass.

That's about five billion tons worth of gas pouring out of 3I/ATLAS as it reached perihelion, its closest point to the sun, on October 29.

The cloud of dust this outpouring would have created would be visible by telescopes as the object nears its closest point to Earth on December 19.

However, if there is no giant dust cloud for astronomers to see, Loeb called it the tenth clue that 3I/ATLAS was constructed by extraterrestrials and sent to this solar system for an unknown purpose.

The latest hint that there was something unusual about the interstellar visitor came as the object reached its perihelion with the sun and suddenly pulled away and changed color.

'Observations of 3I/ATLAS close to perihelion by the solar observatories STEREO, SOHO and GOES-19, revealed unprecedented brightening and a color bluer than the sun,' Loeb wrote in a paper released Sunday.

This discovery was incredibly strange because comets turn red as their cold surfaces absorb blue light and bounce back mostly red light, just like a cold piece of metal glows red when you start heating it.

Meanwhile, this 'non-gravitational acceleration' 3I/ATLAS experienced could not be explained by gravity, so something else appeared to be speeding it up and nudging it off its expected path, which could be a sign the object has its own engine.

3I/ATLAS (Pictured) made its closest approach to the sun on October 29, as seen by NASA spacecraft

The supposed comet has become the first interstellar object added to the list of threats tracked by the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN)

Read More

•  Mysterious interstellar object may be the source of unexplained signal beamed at Earth 48 years ago 

Loeb also broke down the odds of the other strange clues surrounding the interstellar visitor, including its almost perfectly flat course, which takes it within close range of three different planets in our solar system.

The professor explained that the chance of a natural object traveling along the same plane in space as the Earth and its neighboring planets was only 0.2 percent.

Meanwhile, there was only a 1-in-20,000 chance of a natural comet making close fly-bys over Mars, Venus, and Jupiter, pointing to the possibility that this path has been guided by an unknown intelligence.

Scans of 3I/ATLAS have also revealed far more nickel and much less iron than astronomers have found in all other comets before this one.

The object's nickel coating is similar to how humans use the metal as a protective layer against the extreme heat of rocket engines on Earth spacecraft.

3I/ATLAS was also seen projecting an unusual 'anti-tail' which pointed at the sun instead of trailing behind the object like a normal comet.

As scientists wait to see if the alleged comet really lost a giant portion of its mass last week, Loeb noted that 3I/ATLAS was unexplainably larger and moving faster than previous interstellar objects detected by humans.

At 33 billion tons, it's a million times larger than the mysterious Oumuamua, which passed through the solar system in 2017, and about a thousand times bigger than the comet Borisov, which passed Earth two years later.

The odds of a natural space rock from a distant solar system being that large and moving at its current speed of 151,800mph were estimated at 1-in-1,000.

Loeb also noted that 3I/ATLAS only appears to contain four percent water, unlike normal comets, which mostly consist of water ice.

It's also reflecting light in a strange way that made it get much brighter as it neared the sun, and did so approximately 7.5 times faster than normal comets.

Finally, the suspected comet has also come from the same direction as the famous 'Wow! Signal' of 1977, a still unexplained radio signal which scientists have theorized could be an alien transmission.

RELATED

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

04-11-2025 om 15:50 geschreven door peter  

©Image license via Canva

Astronomers detected strange radio signals from a distant comet—and they’re not sure what’s causing them.
Astronomers studying a recently observed comet have detected unexpected radio emissions that don’t match typical cosmic patterns. The signals, recorded using specialized radio telescopes, appear to pulse in ways scientists can’t yet explain. Early data suggest the comet’s icy surface or magnetic interactions with solar radiation may be responsible, but researchers say more study is needed. The discovery has sparked excitement across the astronomy community, offering a rare glimpse into the hidden physics of comet activity.

©Image license via Canva

1. Astronomers Detect Strange Radio Signals From a Comet
A team of scientists recently detected unusual radio emissions coming from a comet passing through the inner solar system. Using radio telescopes, researchers picked up signals that varied in strength and rhythm—an uncommon phenomenon for these icy celestial bodies.

While comets have been known to emit some radio waves through interactions with solar radiation, this particular pattern was unexpected. The finding has drawn interest from planetary scientists seeking to better understand what drives a comet’s electromagnetic behavior.

©Image license via Canva

2. The Comet Appears to Emit Rhythmic Radio Pulses
The newly detected signals show a repeating pattern, similar to faint pulses. These rhythmic variations suggest that the emissions are tied to the comet’s rotation or its interaction with charged particles from the solar wind.

Astronomers believe the signals may arise as ionized gases escape from the comet’s surface, creating temporary magnetic disturbances. The pattern could reveal new insights into how comets evolve as they approach the Sun and release gas and dust.

©Image license via Wikimedia Commons

3. Scientists Used Sensitive Radio Telescopes to Capture the Signals
Researchers recorded the signals using ground-based radio observatories capable of detecting extremely weak emissions. By isolating specific frequencies, they confirmed the source of the radio waves was the comet itself, not background interference from other cosmic sources.

These precise measurements allow scientists to map the energy output of comets and compare them to previous missions, such as ESA’s Rosetta probe, which recorded similar emissions from Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in 2014.

©Image license via Canva

4. Comets Can Produce Natural Radio Emissions
Although unusual, radio signals from comets are not entirely unheard of. As solar radiation interacts with a comet’s gas and dust, it can generate electromagnetic waves that radiate across space. These signals often reveal the composition and temperature of the comet’s atmosphere.

The latest detection fits within this broader scientific context, but its intensity and structure stand out as unique. Researchers are now analyzing whether this comet’s activity differs from previously studied examples.

©Image license via Canva

5. The Signals Likely Come From Charged Particles
One leading theory is that the emissions result from charged dust and gas interacting with magnetic fields in the solar wind. As these particles collide and scatter, they produce fluctuations detectable as radio waves.

Understanding this process helps scientists study how comets behave when they enter the Sun’s energetic environment. It may also offer clues about how magnetic and plasma interactions shape other small bodies in the solar system.

©Image license via Canva

6. No Evidence Suggests the Signals Are Artificial
Despite the term “radio signals” sometimes sparking speculation about extraterrestrial sources, astronomers emphasize that the emissions are entirely natural. The frequency and strength of the waves match physical processes already observed in comets and other solar system objects.

The discovery underscores how many natural cosmic phenomena can mimic structured signals. For scientists, these observations are valuable tools for studying how simple physics—not intelligence—produces complex patterns in space.

©Image license via Wikimedia Commons/ESTCube/Mario F. Palos

7. Solar Wind May Play a Central Role
The comet’s journey through streams of charged solar particles may be amplifying the observed radio waves. As the solar wind interacts with the comet’s tail, it can generate magnetic turbulence that radiates across multiple wavelengths.

Researchers are now modeling how these interactions change as the comet gets closer to or farther from the Sun. This data could help predict when and where such radio emissions might occur again.

©Image license via Wikimedia Commons/International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T. Slovinský

8. The Discovery Builds on Earlier Comet Research
The European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission previously detected “singing” radio emissions from a comet in 2014, caused by plasma oscillations around its nucleus. The new finding appears to be part of the same family of phenomena but with distinctive frequency variations.

By comparing data from both events, scientists hope to refine models of how comets release and ionize gases. The new signals could represent a different stage of activity or a previously unseen composition of material.

©Image license via Canva

9. The Signals Could Reveal Clues About the Early Solar System
Because comets are relics from the solar system’s formation 4.6 billion years ago, studying their electromagnetic activity helps scientists understand ancient materials and magnetic conditions. Each emission pattern reveals how solar radiation interacts with primordial ice and dust.

This information can help reconstruct the chemical and physical environment that existed when planets, asteroids, and comets were first forming—turning a curious signal into a valuable window into the past.

©Image license via Canva

10. Scientists Plan Follow-Up Observations to Confirm the Findings
The research team is now coordinating follow-up studies using additional observatories to verify the discovery and gather higher-resolution data. Continuous monitoring will help determine whether the emissions are consistent or change over time.

If confirmed, this would be one of the most detailed radio observations of a comet in decades. Scientists say the event highlights how even familiar solar system objects can surprise us—and how much remains to learn about their hidden activity.

RELATED VIDEOS

{ Planet Sage }

04-11-2025 om 15:07 geschreven door peter  

The Mysterious Interstellar Object Has Unexpectedly Started Brightening, Scientists Say

Getty / Futurism

Since it was first spotted in early July, scientists have been fascinated by 3I/ATLAS — the third object in history to have been spotted cruising through our solar system from interstellar space.

The visitor, which is generally suspected to be a comet, has been racing through our star system at a blistering velocity, reaching its closest point to the Sun on October 29.

During that close approach, scientists were surprised to note that 3I/ATLAS brightened much faster than they anticipated. Comets commonly form a tail of gas and dust as they approach the Sun, as its radiation causes solid ice to sublimate into gas, causing material to be stripped from their surface that then reflects more light.

However, astronomers were caught off guard by how quickly 3I/ATLAS’ luminosity grew in observations by two solar observatories, NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), and the European Space Agency’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s GOES-19 weather satellite.

Relying on these observatories is a stopgap measure, since Earth-based observatories won’t be able to track the object until it reemerges from behind the Sun in early December.

“The reason for 3I’s rapid brightening, which far exceeds the brightening rate of most Oort cloud comets at similar [radial distance], remains unclear,” Naval Research Laboratory astrophysicist Karl Battams and Lowell Observatory postdoctoral fellow Qicheng Zhang wrote in a yet-to-be-peer-reviewed paper about the “rapid brightening.”

However, they provided several theories as to why 3I/ATLAS may have lit up much faster than expected. For one, it could be the object’s immense speed. It’s been traveling at a speed of roughly 137,000 mph, significantly faster than either of the two previously discovered interstellar objects.

Or it could have something to do with the object’s composition itself.

“Oddities in nucleus properties like composition, shape, or structure — which might have been acquired from its host system or over its long interstellar journey — may likewise contribute [to the rapid brightening],” Zhan and Battams wrote.

The astronomers also found that 3I/ATLAS is “distinctly bluer than the Sun,” which is “consistent with gas emission contributing a substantial fraction of the visible brightness near perihelion.”

Yet many questions remain, and we’ll have to await future observations to shed more light on the matter.

“Without an established physical explanation, the outlook for 3I’s postperihelion behavior remains uncertain, and a plateau in brightness — or even a brief continuation of its preperihelion brightening — appears as plausible as rapid fading past perihelion,” the researchers added.

For now, astronomers will have to remain patient as 3I/ATLAS continues to be hidden from Earth’s view behind the Sun.

“Following its 2025 October 29 perihelion, 3I makes a return to twilight and subsequently dark, night skies over 2025 November–December,” the paper reads, which could allow us to once again “characterize the comet in far greater detail than possible with the data we have presented.”

More on 3I/ATLAS: 

• Nine Reasons This Scientist Is Suspicious the Object Screaming Past the Sun Is a City-Sized Alien Spacecraft

 { https://futurism.com/ }

03-11-2025 om 17:39 geschreven door peter  

Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb has long argued that interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, which has puzzled astronomers since its discovery in early July, could be an enormous, alien spacecraft, measuring up to 3.1 miles across.

While there’s been a wide consensus within the scientific community that we’re looking at a comet largely made up of carbon dioxide ice, Loeb maintains that there’s something incredibly unusual about the object.

On his blog, Loeb outlines nine “anomalies” that he says support his eyebrow-raising hypothesis that we could be looking at an “alien mothership” that could be releasing “mini-drones” as it passes behind the Sun — despite admitting that “3I/ATLAS is most likely a comet of natural origin.”

1. Its Trajectory Is Closely Aligned With the Solar System’s Planets

Loeb points out that the mysterious visitor’s trajectory falls within just five degrees of the Earth’s path around the Sun, or the ecliptic plane. He argues there’s only a 0.2 percent likelihood of this happening.

2. It Visited Several Planets

In addition to its near alignment with the ecliptic plane, 3I/ATLAS’ arrival times perfectly coincide with the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, a “remarkable fine-tuning of the object’s path,” per Loeb.

Earlier this month, the object passed by Mars close enough for two of the European Space Agency’s spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet to snap photos of it. It’s expected to come within just 33.3 million miles from Jupiter in March 2026, which could allow NASA’s Juno spacecraft to intercept its path, Loeb argues.

Related video: Interstellar Object ‘Oumuamua Is a Comet After All! (Space.com)

3. It Grew an Anti-Tail

Astronomers have also observed 3I/ATLAS growing a second tail, which points in the direction of the Sun. Many other comets have been observed to have developed an “anti-tail,” an optical illusion resulting from our relative positioning as it passes between the Earth and Sun.

However, Loeb argues that 3I/ATLAS’s second tail is an outlier.

“This anomalous anti-tail, not a result of geometric perspective, had never been reported before for solar system comets,” Loeb wrote in a blog post.

“The ice fragments evaporate after some time but because of the enhanced mass loss in the Sun-facing side, more of the bigger fragments can reach a large distance,” Loeb told Futurism in an email earlier this month.

4. It Could Be Enormous

According to Loeb’s calculations, the “diameter of its solid-density nucleus must be larger than [3.1 miles],” a measurement he inferred from an estimated mass of more than “33 billion tons.”

That would make it “three to five orders of magnitude” more massive than either ‘Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov, the only two other interstellar objects to have ever been observed in our solar system.

“Given the limited reservoir of heavy elements, we should have discovered on the order of a hundred thousand interstellar objects on the 0.1-kilometer scale of 1I/’Oumuamua before finding 3I/ATLAS, yet we only detected two interstellar objects previously,” he argued in a September blog post.

5. It’s Nickel to Iron Ratios Are Off the Charts

Scientists have found that 3I/ATLAS shows an “extreme abundance ratio” of nickel and iron in its gas plume, making it a major outlier when compared to 2I/Borisov and other more familiar solar system comets.

“At the distances at which comets are observed, the temperature is far too low to vaporize silicate, sulfide, and metallic grains that contain nickel and iron atoms,” an international team of astronomers wrote in a yet-to-be-peer-reviewed paper. “Therefore, the presence of nickel and iron atoms in cometary coma is extremely puzzling.”

Loeb argues that the findings could indicate the presence of “industrially-produced nickel alloys.”

6. It’s Mostly Carbon Dioxide Ice

Researchers have concluded, by examining data from the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx), that 3I/ATLAS may be a mere four percent water by mass, bearing a much higher proportion of carbon dioxide gas than other comets.

While Loeb argues that this makes the object an outlier, scientists have argued the opposite.

“SPHEREx’s finding very large amounts of vaporized carbon dioxide gas around 3I/ATLAS told us it could be like a normal solar system comet,” Johns Hopkins University astronomer Carey Lisse told Space.com last month.

In a separate preprint paper, an international team of researchers suggested that it may contain “ices exposed to higher levels of radiation than Solar System comets,” or it could’ve “formed close to the CO2 ice line in its parent protoplanetary disk.”

7. It’s Extremely Negatively Polarized

The mysterious object has also shown “extreme negative polarization,” as detailed in a September paper, making it a major outlier.

“The combination of low inversion angle and extreme negative polarization is unprecedented among comets and asteroids, marking 3I/ATLAS the first object known with such polarimetric behavior and representing a previously unobserved population,” Loeb wrote in a blog post.

The findings suggest it has more in common with trans-Neptunian objects, minor planets, and other smaller objects orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune’s orbit, according to the authors of the September research paper.

8. It Could Be Behind the Famous “WOW! Signal”

Loeb has gone as far as to suggest that 3I/ATLAS may have emitted the “Wow! Signal,” a highly unusual narrowband radio signal that was first spotted by the Ohio State University’s Big Ear radio telescope in 1977. The signal led to widespread excitement about the possibility of having made contact with extraterrestrial life, and has remained a mystery for decades.

Loeb argues that “3I/ATLAS arrived from a direction coincident with the radio ‘Wow! Signal’ to within nine degrees, with a likelihood of 0.6 percent.”

9. It’s Much Bluer Than the Sun

This week, as 3I/ATLAS approaches its closest point to the Sun, or its perihelion, scientists observed a “rapid rise” in its brightness, appearing “distinctly bluer than the Sun,” Loeb wrote in a new blog post.

To the astronomer, it’s a “very surprising” finding. “Dust is expected to redden the scattered sunlight, and the surface of the object is expected to be an order of magnitude colder than the 5,800 degrees Kelvin at the photosphere of the Sun, resulting in it having a redder color than the Sun.”

“Does it employ a power source that is hotter than the Sun?” Loeb asked rhetorically.

If It Smells Like a Comet…

Whether these nine “anomalies” outlined by Loeb add up to make a convincing enough argument that 3I/ATLAS is “technological” in nature remains debatable.

NASA’s lead scientist for solar system small bodies, Tom Statler, told The Guardian last month that there’s plenty of evidence we’re not looking at evidence of an extraterrestrial rare — but an extremely rare visitor in the form of a comet from another star system.

“It looks like a comet,” he said. “It does comet things. It very, very strongly resembles, in just about every way, the comets that we know.”

“It’s a comet,” Statler concluded at the time.

Meanwhile, Loeb argued on his blog that “we have to collect as much data as possible to figure out the nature of this anomalous object” — especially considering its enormous suspected size.

“The implication of alien technology would be huge and therefore we must take this possibility seriously,” he added. “Our biggest rocket, [SpaceX’s] Starship, is a hundred times smaller than 3I/ATLAS, so in case 3I/ATLAS were technological — its senders would have mastered capabilities that go well beyond our technologies.”

More on 3I/ATLAS: 

• Mysterious Interstellar Visitor Reaches Perihelion Today

The post Nine Reasons This Scientist Is Suspicious the Object Screaming Past the Sun Is a City-Sized Alien Spacecraft appeared first on Futurism.

{ https://futurism.com/category/science-energy }

03-11-2025 om 17:28 geschreven door peter  

Is 3I/Atlas Alive? The Interstellar Comet That Defies Everything We Know

Andrew Collins

Abstract

The discovery of 3I/Atlas in July 2025 has sparked widespread scientific intrigue due to its atypical behavior and composition, which challenge existing paradigms of interstellar objects (ISOs). Unlike previous interstellar visitors such as 1I/`Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov, Atlas exhibits a host of anomalies that suggest the possibility of a non-natural origin or even a form of extraterrestrial technology. This paper synthesizes current observational data, analyzes the peculiarities of 3I/Atlas, examines hypotheses regarding its nature, and considers implications for our understanding of interstellar objects and potential extraterrestrial interventions.

The strange behaviour of 3I/Atlas since it was first recorded entering the inner Solar System by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in Río Hurtado, Chile, on July 1, 2025 sets it apart from the previous two interstellar objects spotted in our skies over the past decade. Its hyperbolic trajectory coinciding with the path of the planets, its scheduled rendezvous with three of them, its curious front-pointing anti-tail, its strange composition, and the unique polarization of light within its coma, all tell us we are dealing with an object not yet entirely understood by science.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captures interstellar comet 3I/Atlas with unprecedented detail.

Source: Space.com

While to some 3I/Atlas is simply a weird-acting exocomet of unusual composition, others, such as Dr Avi Loeb of Harvard University, propose that we should consider the possibility that it is an example of alien technology. Indeed, the various anomalies identified in connection with 3I/Atlas place it at four on Avi’s newly rolled-out Loeb Scale where zero is a natural comet and ten is an unquestionable alien spacecraft of potential danger to life on Earth (with 1I/’Oumuamua, the first interstellar visitor from 2017 being at four on the Loeb Scale, and 2I/Borisov, the second interstellar from 2019, being at zero on the scale). As of October 2025, Loeb estimates a 30-40% chance that 3I/Atlas may not be entirely natural, based on eight anomalies.

Introduction

Since the first confirmed detection of an interstellar object traversing our Solar System in 2017, designated 1I/Oumuamua, astronomers have been captivated by these fleeting visitors from beyond our stellar neighborhood. Notably, 2I/Borisov in 2019 reaffirmed the existence of interstellar comets or asteroids, but both objects conformed broadly to natural expectations: 1I/Oumuamua was elongated and lacked a coma, leading to debates about its nature, while 2I/Borisov was a classical comet with a volatile-rich composition.

The arrival of 3I/Atlas in July 2025, however, appears to upend this pattern. Detected initially by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in Río Hurtado, Chile, 3I/Atlas displayed behaviors and features that render its classification ambiguous. This article aims to evaluate whether 3I/Atlas is a typical interstellar comet or something more extraordinary—potentially an artifact of extraterrestrial engineering.

3I/ATLAS huge breakthrough: NASA detects Fingerprint of Water — Could it confirm life beyond Earth?

Observational Data and Anomalies

• Discovery and Trajectory

On July 1, 2025, ATLAS registered a fast-moving object with a hyperbolic trajectory, indicative of an interstellar origin. The trajectory of 3I/Atlas coincided with the plane of the Solar System, a trait that distinguishes it from previous interstellar visitors, which often exhibit hyperbolic inclinations. Its precise orbital parameters suggest that it will have close approaches with three planets—Mars, Earth, and Venus—over the next two years, offering unparalleled opportunities for observation.

Copyright Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/AP

• Physical Characteristics

1. Shape and Size

   Initial imaging suggests a highly elongated body, roughly 400 meters in length, with a width-to-length ratio exceeding 5:1. Unlike the more rounded nucleus of 2I/Borisov or the elongated shape of `Oumuamua, Atlas's morphology appears more filamentary.

2. Surface and Composition

   Spectroscopic analyses reveal an unusual mixture: a significant fraction of organic compounds, complex hydrocarbons, and refractory materials. This composition is atypical for classical comets, which are predominantly icy bodies, raising questions about its origin.

3. Coma and Tail

   The object exhibits a curious "front-pointing anti-tail," a tail oriented opposite to the Sun, yet the effect is asymmetric and highly variable. Moreover, the coma shows an unusual polarization of light, with measurements indicating a polarization degree of approximately 25%, substantially higher than typical comets, which usually exhibit polarization between 10-15%.

4. Activity Pattern

   Unlike the steady sublimation-driven activity observed in 2I/Borisov, 3I/Atlas demonstrates irregular outbursts, inconsistent with standard sublimation patterns, suggesting an alternative process—possibly structural breakdown or non-volatile activity.

This NASA/ESA image shows interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, captured by Hubble on 21 July 2025, from 277 million miles away. 

Credit: NASA/European Space Agency via AP

• The Anomalies

Eight primary anomalies have been identified, each contributing to the debate about 3I/Atlas's nature:

1. Hyperbolic trajectory aligned with planetary orbits
2. Presence of a front-pointing anti-tail with asymmetric morphology
3. Unusual polarization levels within the coma
4. Irregular activity patterns not matching sublimation models
5. Composition rich in complex organics with refractory materials
6. Morphology elongated beyond typical cometary nuclei
7. Repeated close approaches potentially affecting observational data
8. Lack of expected volatile-driven activity during perihelion

Hypotheses and Interpretations

The anomalies observed in 3I/Atlas have led to diverse hypotheses, ranging from natural origin theories to more speculative, technologically driven explanations.

• Natural Origin: A Peculiar Exocomet

Many astronomers posit that Atlas represents a highly unusual comet originating from another planetary system. Its atypical composition and dynamic behavior could result from its evolution under conditions different from those in our Solar System—such as exposure to intense stellar radiation or unique planetary formation processes.

However, the specific anomalies—like its polarization, anti-tail morphology, and irregular activity—are difficult to reconcile with purely natural bodies, prompting skepticism.

• Artificial or Technological Origin: A Potential Artifact

Some researchers, including Harvard Professor Dr. Avi Loeb, hypothesize that 3I/Atlas might be an artifact of extraterrestrial technology, whether a probe, a fragment of a spacecraft, or an interstellar artifact deliberately or accidently released from another civilization.

Loeb's Loeb Scale assigns a value from 0-10 to objects based on their likelihood of being artificial:

- Zero (0): Natural celestial body, like a normal comet or asteroid

- Ten (10): Unquestionable alien spacecraft

In October 2025, Loeb estimates a 30-40% probability that Atlas is not entirely natural, primarily based on its anomalies, which he interprets as potential signs of intentional design or non-biological origin.

Key arguments supporting this hypothesis include:

- The anti-tail morphology resembles engineered features designed to manipulate light or confusion to observers.

- Polarization anomalies could be indicative of artificial surfaces or materials.

- The irregular activity may correspond to intentional modulation of energy emissions or structural self-maintenance.

• Theoretical Support for Artificial Origin

The hypothesis of an interstellar probe or artifact is not unfounded within current scientific discourse. Historically, interpretations of 1I/`Oumuamua have included the possibility of artificial origin due to its acceleration unexplained by gravitational forces alone and its shape.

In the case of Atlas, its trajectory's alignment with planetary planes and the peculiar activity imply that it may have been designed or modified intentionally, perhaps as a "message in a bottle" or a reconnaissance device.

Consequences and Future Research

• Scientific Significance

Confirming an artificial origin for 3I/Atlas would have profound implications:

- Extraterrestrial Intelligence (ETI): Evidence of engineering artifacts would indicate an advanced alien civilization exists or once existed.

- Interstellar Material Culture: Understanding the characteristics of such artifacts would inform models of interstellar object creation and propagation.

- Detection Strategies: New methodologies could be developed for identifying and analyzing potential alien objects.

• Observational Campaigns and Data Collection

Upcoming planetary encounters will facilitate in-situ observations. High-resolution imaging using ground-based telescopes, and eventually space-based platforms, aim to resolve the body's size, shape, and surface features.

Spectroscopic measurements across multiple wavelengths will refine composition profiles, and polarization studies may help distinguish between natural and artificial materials.

• Challenges

- Distinguishing Natural vs. Artificial: The detectability of engineered features could be limited by current technology.

- Potential Hazards: If the object is alien and exhibits intentional activity, there's a theoretical risk of encountering technologies beyond current understanding.

- Time Constraints: Close approaches happen rapidly, requiring swift mobilization of observational resources.

Discussion

The case of 3I/Atlas exemplifies the tension between naturalistic explanations and the possibility of extraordinary origins. While many anomalies can be explained via exotic natural processes, the accumulation of irregular behaviors and properties has revived debates about extraterrestrial technology.

The scientific community remains cautious. The data from current observations are compelling but not conclusively indicative of alien origin. Nonetheless, Atlas has invigorated the search for signatures of extraterrestrial technology and heightened awareness that interstellar visitors may sometimes be more than natural objects.

Conclusion

As of October 2025, 3I/Atlas remains an enigma—an interstellar object that challenges our understanding of planetary formation, cometary physics, and possibly, the existence of extraterrestrial technology. Its unique behavior, anomalous features, and trajectory position it as a candidate for future studies into alien artifacts. The coming months and years, with intensified observational campaigns, will be critical in deciphering whether 3I/Atlas is an extraordinary natural phenomenon or a technological relic from another civilization sent across the stars, possibly alive, possibly watching.

References

1. Loeb, A. (2021). Extraterrestrial objects: extraterrestrial or natural? Astrophysical Journal Letters, 910(2), L5.

2. Hughes, D. W. (2020). Interstellar visitors: The case of 1I/‘Oumuamua. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 492(4), 842-850.

3. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (2022). The exploration of interstellar objects. NASA Technical Report.

4. Meech, K. J., et al. (2017). Additional observations of interstellar comet 2I/‘Oumuamua. Nature, 552(7685), 378–381.

5. Siraj, A., & Loeb, A. (2022). Number density of interstellar objects and their implications. Astrophysical Journal, 927(1), 5.

6. ESA Space Science Division. (2023). Future missions to interstellar objects. European Space Agency Report.

7. Morbidelli, A., & Nesvorný, D. (2020). Origins of interstellar objects. Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 58, 451-487.

8. Jewitt, D., & Luu, J. (2019). Analysis of the physical properties of interstellar minor planets. Science Advances, 5(8), eaaw9776.

9. Bialy, S., & Loeb, A. (2018). ‘Oumuamua as an artificial object? Astrophysical Journal Letters, 868(2), L1.

10. International Astronomical Union (IAU). (2023). Official nomenclature and classifications of interstellar objects. IAU Circulars and reports.

{ PETER2011 }

03-11-2025 om 16:11 geschreven door peter  

On the occasion of Halloween, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) published an image taken by the VST telescope. It shows an object resembling a bat.

In fact, the VST image shows a large cloud of cosmic gas and dust known as RCW 94/95. It is located about 10,000 light-years from Earth between the southern constellations Circinus and Norma. If we could see it with the naked eye, it would cover an area in the sky equivalent to four full moons.

This nebula is a stellar nursery, where new stars are forming. Newborn stars emit enough energy to excite the hydrogen atoms around them, causing them to glow intensely with a characteristic red color.

As for the dark filaments, which resemble the outline of a bat’s skeleton, they are cold, dense clusters of gas and dust grains. We can see them because they block the light from more distant background stars.

The image of the nebula was obtained using the VLT Survey Telescope. It is part of the Paranal Observatory, located in the Atacama Desert. The telescope is equipped with a 268-megapixel OmegaCAM camera, which gives it the ability to capture vast areas of the sky.

The image of the nebula was created by combining images obtained through filters that transmit different colors or wavelengths of light. Most of the bat’s shape, including the red glow, was captured in visible light. Additional infrared data, which revealed the densest parts of the nebula and added color to the image, was obtained using the VISTA telescope.

Earlier, we reported on how the James Webb Telescope photographed an amazing nebula resembling a red spider.

• According to ESO

• Posted in News, Science

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02-11-2025 om 21:09 geschreven door peter  

Could There Have Been a Civilization Before the Ice Age?

Evidence of complex human activity at the end of the Ice Age does exist.

Imagine standing on the shores of the modern-day Black Sea about 8,000 years ago. Instead of brackish waves, you would have seen a calm freshwater lake surrounded by fertile plains and forested hills. That landscape changed dramatically around 7,600 years ago. Marine geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman, after years of sediment analysis and sonar scans, proposed that a catastrophic flood had occurred when rising Mediterranean waters surged through the Bosporus Strait. This event rapidly transformed the Black Sea from a freshwater lake into a vast saltwater basin.

Sediment cores taken from the seabed reveal ancient shorelines more than 100 meters below present sea level, supporting the idea of a sudden inundation. While this event occurred after the last Ice Age, it remains one of the most dramatic post-glacial sea-level changes. It has led some researchers to wonder whether human settlements—perhaps even early civilizations—were lost beneath the rising waters.

Echoes Beneath the Waves

Over the past two decades, researchers have mapped submerged landscapes along the Black Sea’s former shoreline. Using sonar and underwater drones, they’ve documented features that appear to show organized shapes and linear patterns. While some formations resemble terraces or walls, these interpretations remain speculative. No peer-reviewed study has yet confirmed the presence of definitive pre-Holocene architecture beneath the Black Sea.

Still, the surrounding basin was once fertile and habitable. Archaeological evidence from the nearby Anatolian and Balkan regions shows Neolithic communities thriving in the millennia leading up to the flood. It’s plausible that similar groups occupied now-submerged lowlands. If so, their settlements may have been erased swiftly, with little trace left behind—except perhaps in the memories of their descendants.

Göbekli Tepe: A Clue from Stone

Evidence of complex human activity at the end of the Ice Age does exist—above sea level. Göbekli Tepe, located in southeastern Turkey (one of my absolute favorite sites), was constructed around 9600 BCE, shortly after the Younger Dryas cold snap. The site features towering limestone pillars, some up to 10 tons, carved with animals, symbols, and abstract motifs. Its builders used advanced quarrying and organizational skills, even though they had no pottery, no written language, and no domesticated crops.

The sophistication of Göbekli Tepe challenges the traditional view that complex societies only emerged after agriculture. While the people who built it were likely hunter-gatherers, they clearly had the social coordination and symbolic systems often associated with later civilizations. This raises the question: Could Göbekli Tepe represent a surviving cultural lineage—descendants of an earlier, now-lost society forced to adapt after environmental collapse? Or is Göbekli Tepe a civilization on its own? Lost to time? If you believe there is a possibility, read this article I wrote a while back.

Atlantis Reconsidered

References to lost civilizations are not limited to scientific theories. Plato’s tale of Atlantis, often regarded as a philosophical allegory, has inspired generations of researchers to search for real-world parallels. Around the globe, underwater features have stirred debate: the Yonaguni Monument off Japan, structures in the Gulf of Khambhat off India, and the Bimini Road near the Bahamas.

The Bimini Road, in particular, consists of large, flat stones arranged in a roughly linear path just offshore. While many geologists identify it as natural beachrock shaped by erosion and wave action, a few researchers argue the stones show signs of human modification. No definitive tools or artifacts have been found to confirm this, and mainstream science considers the formation natural. However, its ambiguity keeps it in the public eye and reflects a broader curiosity about what the oceans might be hiding.

Younger Dryas and the Cosmic Impact Theory

Some scientists argue that the abrupt climate shift around 12,900 years ago—the Younger Dryas—was caused by a cosmic impact. This theory, known as the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis, proposes that a comet or asteroid exploded in the atmosphere over North America or Greenland, triggering wildfires, global cooling, and widespread ecological disruption.

Supporting evidence includes peaks in platinum levels, nanodiamonds, and tiny glass-like spheres found in geological layers from that time. However, the scientific community remains divided. Critics point to the lack of a definitive crater, while proponents argue the explosion may have occurred in the air or on ice, leaving minimal physical trace.

If the hypothesis is correct, such an event could have devastated early societies, particularly those concentrated in vulnerable lowland regions. Any civilization that had emerged by then may have been scattered or reduced to small bands of survivors, their cultural memory passed on through story, symbol, and myth.

Hidden in Oral Tradition

Across the world, traditional stories tell of great floods, fire from the sky, and civilizations destroyed in cataclysm. The Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh recounts a massive deluge. In Hindu texts, Manu survives a divine flood. Native American, Aboriginal Australian, and African oral traditions include tales of fire, shaking earth, and rising seas.

Historians caution against taking myths at face value. Still, the shared elements in these narratives are striking. While independent invention is possible, some scholars suggest these stories may preserve collective memories of real events—filtered through generations and transformed by cultural lenses. If so, they could offer clues to a time when humanity faced disasters so profound that only myth could preserve their meaning.

The Pursuit of Proof

The biggest challenge in confirming a pre-Ice Age civilization is the passage of time itself. Sea levels rose more than 120 meters after the last glacial maximum, submerging vast coastal areas where early populations likely lived. Underwater environments accelerate decay: wood, bone, and textiles degrade rapidly; storms and currents bury or break structures.

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01-11-2025 om 23:14 geschreven door peter  

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01-11-2025 om 22:42 geschreven door peter  

(Image Credit: NASA/Intl. Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Shadow the Scientist)

3I/ATLAS is also helping confirm data that suggests such objects probably make appearances far more frequently in our Solar System than previously known. With its glowing gassy envelope—what astronomers call a coma—and other key traits that have manifested as the object has moved closer to the Sun, little doubt has been left about the interstellar visitor’s identity as a natural object.

However, there are still some experts who interpret its recent activity as being noteworthy indicators—if additional related phenomena were to be confirmed in future observations—which some might expect to associate with objects of technological origin. So what does the latest data reveal, and why does it still have some astronomers divided over whether 3I/ATLAS might show signs associated with intelligent life?

What the New Report Reveals

A recent report by researcher Davide Farnoccia with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory offers some of the latest data on the gravitational characteristics displayed by 3I/ATLAS during its journey through our Solar System.

Farnoccia specializes in the study of small objects and their orbits, which includes “nongravitational perturbations” some space objects display, as well as whether some near-Earth objects (NEOs) may pose an impact hazard to Earth.

According to Farnoccia’s report, 3I/ATLAS follows a hyperbolic orbit, displaying an eccentricity of e = 6.1373 (rounded). This figure is important, as it significantly exceeds the accepted value of 1 that astronomers recognize as being required to escape the Sun’s gravity. This means that the object’s trajectory confirms that 3I/ATLAS is not gravitationally bound to our Solar System, confirming astronomers’ suspicions that once it completes its recent planetary drive-by visit, the object will continue back into interstellar space.

NASA diagram showing the trajectory of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS

(Image Credit: NASA).

Perihelion Surprises

3I/ATLAS reached perihelion—its closest point to the Sun—on October 29, 2025, with the object reaching a point of approximately 1.356 astronomical units (AU) from our nearest star. This placed the comet just beyond Earth’s orbit, displaying a steep retrograde inclination of around 175 degrees, which reveals an incoming path that is almost completely the opposite direction of planetary motion.

Farnoccia’s report confirms that the object also displayed something that many astronomers were eager to see if 3I/ATLAS would reveal as it approached perihelion: signs of measurable non-gravitational accelerations.

Unlike the odd, elongated shape of 1I/‘Oumuamua, the first confirmed interstellar object discovered in 2017, and its dusty successor 2I/Borisov, the confirmation that 3I/ATLAS displays measurable non-gravitational accelerations (the data in Farnocchia’s report can be found here) offers a good indication of cometary behavior driven by outgassing, making the interstellar visitor a valuable new sample of icy material from another star system.

However, not all scientists interpret the object’s non-gravitational accelerations as being further evidence of the object’s identity as an interstellar comet. Some have even suggested that such behavior around the time of perihelion could be a prime indicator of something more complex.

Watching for Signs of ET Signatures 

Just before 3I/ATLAS reached perihelion, theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, in an appearance on NewsMax, said that if the object seemed to display an increase in energy as it neared the Sun, this could be interpreted as evidence that the object is something more than just a comet.

“If it picks up extra energy on its flyby, that would clinch it,” Kaku said. “That means there’s extraterrestrial intelligence involved.”

Kaku then offered a general explanation for what is known as the Oberth effect, a powered maneuver in which a spacecraft falls under the influence of an object’s gravity and then uses its source of propulsion to achieve further acceleration during its fall. The result is that the spacecraft achieves additional speed by using its passage within the gravitational well to gain kinetic energy, which is far more efficient than relying solely on its engines to provide thrust.

“The Oberth effect says that if you were to whip around the Sun, you would pick up extra energy in the process,” Kaku explained. “So we’re gonna watch for it. The energy in must equal the energy out, according to the ordinary theory. But if that’s not true—if there’s more energy going out than in—it means that there’s an energy boost coming from whipping around the Sun, and that requires intelligence.”

So, do the non-gravitational accelerations 3I/ATLAS has now been confirmed to have displayed around the time of perihelion point to signs of technology, as Kaku and others had been waiting to see?

However, there is another interpretation of the non-gravitational movement that Loeb offers, which remains in keeping with his more exotic speculations from recent weeks.

“Alternatively, the non-gravitational acceleration might be the technological signature of an internal engine,” Loeb wrote in a recent post on his Medium page. Loeb also argues that 3I/ATLAS’s unexpectedly blue color, which it began to display at perihelion, is unusual for a natural comet, as most would expect them to appear redder due to dust scattering and its cold surface temperature.

Based on this, Loeb suggests the anomaly could potentially stem from the presence of a hot engine or some source of artificial illumination. However, the Harvard astrophysicist also concedes that this odd coloration may simply be due to ionized carbon monoxide, a natural cometary process. In short, while the latest data is intriguing and invites continued scrutiny, the evidence still favors a natural cometary origin.

More Data on the Strangest Comet Ever Seen

New data continues to be collected about 3I/ATLAS, with the current number of observations detailed in Farnoccia’s report totaling 647 collected over a 167-day observation arc. This provides high confidence in the orbit determination of 3I/ATLAS, and ensures that the object poses no threat to Earth, with a minimum orbital intersection distance (MOID) of 0.363 AU.

With its confirmed interstellar origin and active cometary nature, it remains hard to argue against 3I/ATLAS’s identity as a natural space object, and one that offers a rare opportunity to study pristine foreign ices, dust, and organic compounds. Frustratingly, additional data that may have been obtained by NASA cameras like the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter remains inaccessible to the public as the recent U.S. government shutdown, already one of the longest in history, persists.

Fortunately, space agencies in several other nations, as well as the independent efforts of NASA researchers like Farnoccia, continue to collect new information on 3I/ATLAS that may potentially help to shed new light on the object and its unusual qualities, and more broadly, the chemical diversity of planetary systems beyond our own.

• Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.

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01-11-2025 om 20:57 geschreven door peter