The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
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Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld Ontdek de Fascinerende Wereld van UFO's en UAP's: Jouw Bron voor Onthullende Informatie!
Ben jij ook gefascineerd door het onbekende? Wil je meer weten over UFO's en UAP's, niet alleen in België, maar over de hele wereld? Dan ben je op de juiste plek!
België: Het Kloppend Hart van UFO-onderzoek
In België is BUFON (Belgisch UFO-Netwerk) dé autoriteit op het gebied van UFO-onderzoek. Voor betrouwbare en objectieve informatie over deze intrigerende fenomenen, bezoek je zeker onze Facebook-pagina en deze blog. Maar dat is nog niet alles! Ontdek ook het Belgisch UFO-meldpunt en Caelestia, twee organisaties die diepgaand onderzoek verrichten, al zijn ze soms kritisch of sceptisch.
Nederland: Een Schat aan Informatie
Voor onze Nederlandse buren is er de schitterende website www.ufowijzer.nl, beheerd door Paul Harmans. Deze site biedt een schat aan informatie en artikelen die je niet wilt missen!
Internationaal: MUFON - De Wereldwijde Autoriteit
Neem ook een kijkje bij MUFON (Mutual UFO Network Inc.), een gerenommeerde Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in de VS en wereldwijd. MUFON is toegewijd aan de wetenschappelijke en analytische studie van het UFO-fenomeen, en hun maandelijkse tijdschrift, The MUFON UFO-Journal, is een must-read voor elke UFO-enthousiasteling. Bezoek hun website op www.mufon.com voor meer informatie.
Samenwerking en Toekomstvisie
Sinds 1 februari 2020 is Pieter niet alleen ex-president van BUFON, maar ook de voormalige nationale directeur van MUFON in Vlaanderen en Nederland. Dit creëert een sterke samenwerking met de Franse MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP, wat ons in staat stelt om nog meer waardevolle inzichten te delen.
Let op: Nepprofielen en Nieuwe Groeperingen
Pas op voor een nieuwe groepering die zich ook BUFON noemt, maar geen enkele connectie heeft met onze gevestigde organisatie. Hoewel zij de naam geregistreerd hebben, kunnen ze het rijke verleden en de expertise van onze groep niet evenaren. We wensen hen veel succes, maar we blijven de autoriteit in UFO-onderzoek!
Blijf Op De Hoogte!
Wil jij de laatste nieuwtjes over UFO's, ruimtevaart, archeologie, en meer? Volg ons dan en duik samen met ons in de fascinerende wereld van het onbekende! Sluit je aan bij de gemeenschap van nieuwsgierige geesten die net als jij verlangen naar antwoorden en avonturen in de sterren!
Heb je vragen of wil je meer weten? Aarzel dan niet om contact met ons op te nemen! Samen ontrafelen we het mysterie van de lucht en daarbuiten.
08-03-2026
Navy FOIA Bombshell as Secret UFO Program AATIP Resurfaces in Classified 2022 Pentagon Briefing With Mystery Guests
Navy FOIA Bombshell as Secret UFO Program AATIP Resurfaces in Classified 2022 Pentagon Briefing With Mystery Guests
Newly released Navy records reveal a classified briefing on the Pentagon's secret UFO program
The emails organising the meeting involved redacted participants and an outside source, raising fresh questions about who was involved and why a supposedly closed programme was still being discussed at the highest levels of government.
PHOTO Pixabay
For years the Pentagon insisted its secret UFO study programme quietly ended in 2012. But newly released Navy recordsobtained through the Freedom of Information Act have reignited the mystery.
The documents reveal that a classified briefing about the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, or AATIP, took place in March 2022 at a secure military facility in Washington.
The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) was a classified initiative within the U.S. Department of Defense focused on studying unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). Established in 2007, AATIP was spearheaded by the former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who advocated for its creation based on concerns that these unexplained sightings could pose national security risks. The program was funded through a budget allocation linked to the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and operated largely outside public view.
How a Secret UFO Programme First Began
AATIP first emerged publicly in 2017 when reports revealed that the United States Department of Defense had quietly funded a programme to study unidentified aerial phenomena, commonly called UFOs. The initiative began in 2007 unde
The effort was strongly supported by former Nevada senator Harry Reid, who believed unusual aerial encounters reported by military personnel deserved serious investigation. The programme focused on incidents involving aircraft and objects performing manoeuvres that appeared to defy known technology.
Many of these encounters involved Navy pilots who reported observing mysterious craft moving at extreme speeds or changing direction in ways conventional aircraft could not achieve. The best known example is the famous 'Tic Tac' incident involving the USS Nimitz carrier strike group in 2004.
The programme was reportedly run by counterintelligence officer Luis Elizondo, who later resigned from the Pentagon in 2017 and became a public figure in the push for greater transparency on UFO investigations.
Although the Department of Defense later acknowledged AATIP existed, officials maintained the programme had a limited scope and was closed years earlier.
What FOIA Emails Reveal About the 2022 Briefing
The newly released Navy records tell a more complicated story. Two separate FOIA requests submitted nearly a year apart both produced the same responsive document. It was a chain of emails arranging a 23 March 2022 briefing covering AATIP and another Pentagon office called the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronisation Group, known as AOIMSG.
The event was divided into three sessions. One was unclassified and scheduled to last about 50 to 55 minutes followed by a short question session. Two other presentations were classified at the TS SCI level, meaning Top Secret Sensitive Compartmented Information.
Those classified discussions took place inside a secure facility known as a SCIF located in Roosevelt Hall at the National War College on the Fort McNair campus in Washington.
Perhaps the most striking detail in the released records is that the original invitation email was labelled as coming from a non Department of Defense source. This suggests the briefing was arranged through communication between government officials and at least one outside individual or organisation.
However the identities of the participants remain hidden. All names and contact details were removed from the documents under FOIA privacy rules.
Redacted Names Hint at Possible Key Figures
Although the released documents conceal the names involved, the structure of the FOIA requests provides clues.
One request specifically searched for emails sent to or from Brennan P McKernan, who has previously been reported as a director connected to the Pentagon's UAP task force. Another request required the keyword 'Elizondo' and sought communications involving Luis Elizondo as a private citizen.
The fact that the email chain was considered responsive to both searches strongly suggests those names appear somewhere within the redacted header fields such as the sender or recipient lines.
This does not prove either individual attended the briefing. But it indicates that their names were at least mentioned in connection with the planning or communication surrounding the event.
All identifying information was removed under FOIA exemption rules protecting personal privacy.
Why the Briefing Raises New Questions About AATIP
The March 2022 presentation is notable because it took place years after AATIP was officially said to have ended.
The briefing itself was described as an 'AATIP AOIMSG Presentation,' suggesting that the earlier programme was being discussed alongside its successor office. AOIMSG was established in 2021 to coordinate the Pentagon's approach to unidentified airborne objects.
The presentation reportedly included discussion of congressional reports and multiple 'Tic Tac' incidents. That wording is significant because public attention has largely focused on a single encounter involving the USS Nimitz. The use of the plural term suggests that other similar events may have been examined during the classified briefing.
While the released emails do not confirm who attended or what information was presented behind closed doors, they show that AATIP remained part of official discussions within secure military settings.
Chickpea plants growing in a variety of the investigated lunar soil simulant mixtures. Some of the plants are exhibiting signs of stress, including yellowing to the leaves. Credit: Jessica Atkin.
Life's capacity to survive in simulated lunar and Martian soils has been explored in twopapers published in Scientific Reports. Treating simulated lunar soil with both symbiotic fungi and worm-produced compost can significantly improve the likelihood of reproduction for chickpea plants growing in the soil, indicates one study. A separate paper suggests that some microbes may be able to absorb enough water from the atmosphere to grow in simulated Martian soil at atmospheric humidity levels comparable to those on the planet.
Lunar soil—known technically as lunar regolith—does not support healthy plant growth, as it contains high concentrations of certain metals such as aluminum and zinc, does not allow water to filter through easily, and lacks the microbiome found in Earth soils. Previous research has investigated several ways to improve the fertility of lunar soil, although plants grown in these treated soils typically display various signs of stress, including stunted growth and leaf yellowing.
Jessica Atkin and colleagues grew chickpea plants (Cicer arietinum) in samples of simulated lunar soil that they treated in two ways: by adding vermicompost—produced by red wiggler earthworms (Eisenia fetida) as they decompose biowaste—at different concentrations; and by inoculating half of the soil samples at each concentration with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). On Earth, AMF improve the nutrient circulation properties of soil, reduce the quantity of potentially toxic metals available for absorption by plants, and produce a protein that helps bind soil together to reduce erosion. The authors then measured the quantity and weight of chickpea seeds produced, along with the plants' heights and root mass.
The authors found that chickpeas could only flower and produce seeds in samples treated with both AMF and vermicompost. Compared with control plants grown in 100% commercial potting mix, the treated plants in simulated lunar soil produced a significantly lower number of seeds. However, the average seed weight was comparable between plants grown in 25% and 50% vermicompost and the control plants. AMF-treated plants also had a significantly greater dry shoot and root mass than untreated plants, indicating improved plant growth.
Experimental set-up of the MMS-2 incubation. (a) One side of a two compartment Petri dish was filled with 1 g of heat-treated MMS-2; the other side contained 10 mL of Milli-Q water or a saturated salt solution. (b) Plates were sealed with Parafilm and placed in a sterile bag before incubation at 30 °C in a forced convection oven at ambient pressure. For each condition and sampling day, three replicate plates were opened once and then discarded after DNA extraction. Credit: Scientific Reports (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-35595-2
The authors therefore suggest that soil regeneration strategies from Earth may be viable on the moon. However, they caution that all plants grown in some percentage of lunar soil simulant showed signs of stress compared to the control plants.
In a separate study, Jyothi Raghavendra and colleagues investigated growing conditions for microbes in simulated Martian soil. For 60 days, they measured the mass of DNA present in 500 milligrams of simulated soil, kept in a sterile environment at 34% atmospheric humidity—comparable humidity to conditions on Mars.
The authors found that the DNA mass increased up to day 30, indicating that microbes already present in the soil grew despite the inhospitable conditions. However, the measured DNA mass had decreased back to zero by day 60. Raghavendra and co-authors argue that their results could inform experiments to determine habitability conditions for microbes on Mars.
12 Of The Fastest Fighter Jets In The World, Ranked Fighter jets are some of the most popular types of aircraft with enthusiasts. They look cool, they go fast, and their dogfighting is super entertaining to watch. Fighter jets are also featured in video games such as the "Ace Combat" series, and several fighter jets were featured in "Top Gun". Not only are they quick, but they're also agile, pulling off all kinds of crazy moves midair. In addition, fighter jets are also some of the most expensive vehicles in any given military, often costing billions of dollars to design, develop, and ship.
Agility, technology, and weapon systems are often used to measure the strength of a fighter jet. However, speed is also crucial. There are a variety of fast aircraft out there, including the SR-71, which can eclipse Mach 3 speeds at incredibly high altitudes. Prototype planes such as the Lockheed YF-12 have reportedly gone as fast as Mach 3. However, not a lot of data exists on prototype aircraft. Modern fighter jets can't go that fast, but many can do Mach 2 without issue.
Unfortunately, jet speeds are not always exacting rates you can figure out. Not only can planes fly faster at higher altitudes, but Mach values change depending on how far up you are above sea level. Mach 1 is roughly 760 mph at sea level and drops to 659 mph at 60,000 feet. The less dense air at higher altitudes allows planes to move faster while colder air causes sound to move slower. Thus, it's not unusual for most aircraft to have multiple reported speeds.
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 Foxbat The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 Foxbat travels at a top speed of Mach 2.8, or roughly 2,150 mph at high altitude. That makes it the second fastest jet on Earth behind only the SR-71. The fighter jet has been deployed by multiple militaries since its first flight in 1964. MiGs are primarily used in Russia. These days, only two remain in service and both of them belong to the Syrian Air Force. In addition to fighting, the MiG-25 was also commonly used for recon work. Iraq used the fighter jet often during the Gulf War, specifically for reconnaissance.
It was designed primarily to fly as fast and as high as possible. Its speed is truly impressive, but don't overlook its 67,000-foot maximum altitude. That's what really gives it an advantage over other fighters. The downside is that the jet was quite difficult to maneuver, and it required tons of maintenance to remain effective. In fact, it required a engine replacement every 150 flight hours. It was eventually phased out for the MiG-31, which was slower overall, but featured more advanced technology and better maneuverability.
The MiG-25 Foxbat set several speed and altitude records in its early days. It also had a huge effect on aerospace technology moving forward. The U.S. created the F-15 to counter the MiG-25, but ultimately, the MiG-25's high maintenance costs and focus on speed over agility caused it to age poorly.
North American XB-70 Valkyrie The North American XB-70 Valkyrie is a unique bomber-style of fighter jet. Most stat sheets put this jet as having a top speed of around 2,050 mph, which, depending on the altitude, is about Mach 3. It wasn't able to cruise at those speeds and spent most of its time in the sky at a slower, but still impressive Mach 2.5. It was experimental its entire lifetime, but there is enough speed data to know how fast it could go. The plane achieved these speeds by way of six jet engines and being made of lighter, more heat-resistant materials.
In addition to its high speed, the aircraft could also go as high as 70,000 feet, which is much higher than most fighter jets. It was developed in the 1950s and 1960s, and it was meant as a replacement to the iconic B-52 bomber. It never officially went into production, but the U.S. Air Force got its hands on two of them to test the aerodynamics of large supersonic aircraft.
This is where things get really interesting. The bomber's design was eventually switched to recon work where it was rebranded as the RS-70. A few more design tweaks and a former President Lyndon B. Johnson naming flub later, and the RS-70 would finally go into production as the legendary SR-71. Of course, the SR-71 can go faster than the XB-70, but it also isn't a fighter jet.
Mikoyan MiG-31 The Mikoyan MiG-31 Foxhound is the fighter jet that officially replaced the MiG-25 Foxbat. It has a top speed of roughly 1,900 mph. It can do faster bursts for short periods of time, but it risks permanent damage when doing so. The replacement had some notable improvements over the outgoing MiG-25. It was easier to fly at lower altitudes, had improved agility, could fly longer ranges, and its engines didn't need replaced as frequently. The MiG-31 was also made of stronger, lighter materials along with better overall technology. The only downside was that it couldn't go as fast as its predecessor.
The MiG-31 is still used today in several countries. Russia sent it out to Finland, Syria, Kazakhstan, and other places. There are also multiple variants, such as the MiG-31F, MiG-31B, and MiG-31M. These hosted different types of technology, improvements from the original, and other weapons to perform multiple types of missions. There is even an experimental version, dubbed the MiG-31LL, that Russia uses for aircraft testing.
Unlike its predecessor, this one is still widely used. Russia intends to fly them until at least 2030. These days, the Russian Air Force predominately uses the MiG-31BM variant, which is the most recent production model with several improvements over the original. The Russians are in the process of modernizing their fighter jets so that they can deploy as long as possible.
Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-152 The Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-152 is part of the Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-150 family of fighter jets initially designed for the Soviet Air Defense Forces. Among the family, which includes over half a dozen major variants and even more subvariants, the Ye-152 is the fastest one with a top speed of roughly 1,880 mph at an altitude of 50,525 feet. That's fast enough to put in the upper echelon of quick fighter jets. The jet was powered by a Tumansky R-15B-300 turbojet engine. That is of note because it was the same engine as the MiG-25 Foxbat, except the MiG-25 had two of them. The Ye-152 only had one.
The Ye-152-1 in particular set multiple FAI-recognized speed and altitude world records. That puts it leagues above most other fighter jets. Unfortunately, due to a variety of factors, the Ye-150 series of fighter jets never reached production. Reports state that electronic issues, engine reliability problems, and developmental delays ultimately led to the project being abandoned in the early 1960s. Those same engine reliability problems plagued the MiG-25 Foxbat as well.
Only four Ye-150 family models were ever produced. Today, only the Ye-152M remains. It lives in the Central Air Force Museum in Monino, Russia. Its legacy carries on in other ways. The R-15 series of turbojet engines would eventually get some much needed upgrades. A variant of the engine was put into a Ye-266M, which is an experimental variant of the MiG-25. That lone jet currently holds the world altitude record for ground-launched aircraft at 123,523 ft.
McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is one of the best fighter jets in the U.S. Air Force arsenal. It blends an excellent mix of maneuverability and speed, and some variants can reach speeds of up to 1,875 mph. In general, the base models aren't as fast, but can still do about 1,650 mph. The jet was produced in the 1970s in response to Russia's MiG-25 and MiG-31. Variants were produced throughout the jet's run, including some newer ones for the Persian Gulf War in the early 1990s. The fighter jet is still in service today in a few countries, including the U.S., Japan, and Israel.
The jet has a number of variants, including the F-15E Strike Eagle. Most of them are capable of the same 1,650 mph that the standard version has. In addition, the F-15 has some cool technology. The aforementioned F-15E, for example, can accelerate from idle to maximum power in just four seconds. It also houses a heads-up display that displays a video picture at night that makes everything look like it does during the day. The F-15 series in general was the first U.S. aircraft to have thrust that exceeded the jet's weight, allowing it to accelerate while 100% vertical.
It doesn't have the pop culture relevance of other fighter jets like the F/A-18 Super Hornet from "Independence Day" or the F-14 Tomcats from "Top Gun: Maverick", but it's every bit as awesome as its movie star brethren. Some variants of the F-15 are heading toward retirement, but they are expected to remain in use by the U.S. Air Force for at least a while longer.
Convair F-106 Delta Dart The Convair F-106 Delta Dart is the beginning of a series of fighter jets that have very similar speeds. This one has a top speed of roughly 1,587 mph. It uses the same engine as the F-105 Thunderchief, and the two can go roughly the same speed depending on the altitude. The F-105 was a bomber whereas the F-106 was an interceptor. The aircraft went into production in 1956 and became fully operational for the U.S. Air Force in 1959, just in time for the Vietnam War. It would eventually retire from service in the late 1980s after more powerful fighter jets took its place.
Convair's F-106, a single engine jet fighter, was quite quick for its day. The F-106A variant of the aircraft broke world speed records back in 1959. It was beaten in 1971 by the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom, which housed a dual-engine design. The single engine record would stand for one more year before it was beat by the Ye-152. Enthusiasts dispute that the Ye-152 eclipsed the record, but even if it did, the F-106 was still one quick fighter jet.
There are still some F-106s around today. Most of them are in museums. There is at least one fun story about the F-106. In 1970, a pilot was flying one in Montana. The pilot lost control and ejected from the jet. For some reason, this caused the jet to cease its spinning and the unpiloted F-106 landed itself in a snow-covered field. After minor repairs, that F-106 re-entered service where it would spend another 16 years before retiring to a museum.
Grumman F-14 Tomcat The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is another iconic jet used by the United States armed forces — this time with the U.S. Navy. Its top speed is roughly 1,554 mph. It's perhaps best known as one of the fighter jets used in the original "Top Gun" movie. The jet was excellent even outside of cinema. It could guide six missiles against six different targets while keeping track of 18 additional enemy aircraft up to 195 miles away. In fact, it was such a technological marvel in the 1970s that Russia tried to fish one out of the ocean to figure out how it worked.
The dual-engine jet is certified as a Mach 2 class fighter and joins several others in the 1,500-mph club. While its speed didn't set it apart from others all that much, the fact that it could do so many things did. It was developed as the successor to the popular F-4 Phantom II. Some of its features included variable wings that adjusted based on speed and altitude along with a rotary cannon for up close dogfighting.
Grumman's F-14 got even more advanced over the years. For example, it was fitted with laser-guided bombs during NATO's 1995 intervention in Bosnia. The jet was eventually retired in the early 2000s with the U.S. destroying most of its stock to keep its design secret. The remaining stock are predominately in museums these days. It was replaced by the F/A-18 Super Hornet, which saw its own cinema action in "Top Gun: Maverick".
Sukhoi Su-27 The Sukhoi Su-27 is a legendary fighter jet often compared to the F-15 Eagle. The Su-27 has a top speed of about 1,550 mph, which translates to Mach 2.35 at altitude. The reason for the comparison is that the Soviet Union specifically designed this fighter jet in response to the F-15. It's not quite as quick but matches the F-15 in other areas. It can fly as high as 59,000 ft and it can fly for more than 1,800 miles before needing to refuel. Those are impressive numbers.
The Su-27 officially entered service in 1982 and were immediately implemented in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, and a few others. India joined the Su-27 party in 2002. China also ordered some in 2004 while Mexico added some in 2006. The Su-27 has seen combat as recently as 2023 after Russian forces invaded the Ukraine in 2022.
Powering the Su-27 are two AL-31F turbofan engines. Modern versions have some tweaked engines for performance boosts as well. It's only natural that a jet fighter in production as long as the Su-27 gets some mechanical modifications over the course of its life. It's likely that these will remain in service for decades if it adheres to the notion that military aircraft tend to last about 50 years. However, the Su-35 and Su-57, the successors to the Su-27 with similar top speeds, are already out, so the Su-27's days may be numbered.
Shenyang J-15 The Shenyang J-15 Flying Shark is an interesting piece of military technology. The base speed of the J-15 is Mach 2.4, or about 1,550 mph depending on altitude. It's one of the newest fighter jets on the list as it was introduced to the world in 2013. It's used exclusively by the People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force in China. As such, it's a little difficult to nail down the full spec sheet of this fighter jet. It's a cousin of the Shenyang J-11 that was released in 1998. However, the J-15 is not technically based on the J-11 despite their similar names.
Instead, the J-11 and J-15 are China's versions of the Sukhoi Su-27 and Su-33, respectively. Thus, it makes sense that these fighter jets are about as fast and well equipped as their Sukhoi counterparts. Early models even used the same AL-31 powerplant as their Su counterparts before switching to the Chinese-made WS-10 in 2022. There are some differences outside of the engine, but at a distance, you'd be forgiven for mistaking one for the other.
The only question mark is how fast the WS-10 engines are. The Chinese have reported the rated speed was Mach 2.4 back in 2017. That's before the WS-10 engines came into service, so there isn't a lot of documentation about how fast the newer engine is with the J-15. Given the dates, the rated speed is most likely with the older AL-31 engine, so newer J-15s may be even faster. There are roughly 50 in operation right now and the jet is still in production today.
Chengdu J-20 The Chengdu J-20 is the newest jet fighter on this list courtesy of China. It has a rated speed of Mach 2, which is roughly 1,320 mph depending on altitude. However, Popular Mechanics lists the J-20 as achieving a top speed of Mach 2.55, which is roughly 1,650 mph at altitude. That makes the J-20 the fastest fighter jet that China has right now, but it also doesn't seem like it can sustain flight at that speed for very long. The jet was built with the Chinese-made WS-10 engine, but later variants are getting the newly made WS-15 engines in 2023. The new engines would make its top speed similar to the F-22 Raptor's 1,550 mph. That means there are three potential rated speeds for this jet.
For most fighter jets, almost the complete history is available, including variants, experimental versions, and prototypes. The Chengdu J-20 is right at the beginning of what will likely be a decades-long trek through the Chinese military industrial complex, so there are a lot of things that can still happen with it. There are already a few variants, including the J-20B which is the variant equipped with the new engines. There will be more, so it may end up being even faster by the time it retires.
For now, the Chengdu J-20 is in production and service right now. China seems to have north of 200 of them in service right now, and they make up a decent percentage of China's jet fighters.
Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor was pressed into service in 2005 when it went into full production. It's rated top speed is somewhere around 1,550 mph, which is more or less the norm for Mach 2-class fighter jets. In addition to its excellent speed, the F-22 Raptor also boasts some serious hardware and technology, including the ability to cruise at Mach 1.5 without using afterburners. In addition, it can carry over 2,000 pounds of munitions and detect enemies well over 200 miles away. There isn't much this fighter can't do when compared to its peers.
While the F-22 is still in U.S. Air Force service today, there is a push to retire some of them early. They are expensive to maintain, and some of the older ones in the fleet would require costly preparation to make them combat ready again. Congress has blocked it so far, but it seems the Air Force is trying each year to get the job done. The broken-down F-22s only make up about 20% of the total number in the fleet, so the U.S. will still have F-22s flying around after some of them are retired.
Other than the older models being retired, the F-22 has caused other problems in military circles. They are quite expensive at $125 million per jet, and the Air Force already has a weighty budget. Additionally, the U.S. is already working on the next generation of fighter jets for its arsenal.
Dassault Mirage 2000 The Dassault Mirage 2000 is last on the list, but it is by no means a slow fighter jet. It boasts a maximum speed of Mach 2.2 at high altitude, which translates to roughly 1,450 mph. It began life in 1978 with some variants distributed as recently as 1991. This one is still in use in many countries around the world, including Abu Dhabi, Egypt, France, Greece, India, and Taiwan. The most recent variants came out in the mid-2010s, so this is very much a modern jet fighter.
As such, it has a lot of modern amenities. It can attach up to nine weapons and includes two internally mounted machine guns. There is also digital weapons and navigations systems, something older fighters don't have. The original version was built for the French Air Force, which uses the upgraded models today. It's so popular that there are over 500 of them in operation, which is quite a large number for military aircraft. There are also single- and double-seater versions of the jet along with a variant specifically designed to carry nuclear weapons.
It's hard to say how long the Dassault Mirage 2000 will be in service, but it'll likely be a while. They're still being actively manufactured and air forces on multiple continents use them for a variety of purposes. This one never broke any speed or altitude records like others on this list, but it's still pretty quick overall.
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A new study shows that stars with low magnetic activity are likely to support exoplanetary systems, making the hunt for these celestial objects less random.
An illustration of the TRAPPIST-1 exoplanets. Astronomers have proposed a new method that could swiftly uncover hundreds of new alien worlds.
(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Scientists have found a potential shortcut for identifying stars that host planets. The technique, based on specific signals in starlight, could make it easier to search for exoplanets, according to a new study.
The team has already used their new method to turn up half a dozen previously undiscovered planets — but because most of the alien worlds are very close to their stars, they are unlikely to be habitable, the study authors say.
Many of the 6,000-plus known exoplanets are located extremely close to their host stars. This proximity often doesn't turn out well for such close-in worlds, whose surfaces get whipped up by the stars' intense radiation and form comet-like tails of debris. This includes exoplanets like K2-22b, which was analyzed by the James Webb Space Telescope in 2025. The debris typically remains, for millions of years, as a cloud circling the planet's host star.
But this clutter could help astronomers pinpoint stars that host undiscovered exoplanets orbiting close to their stars. That's because the debris, which is mainly a mixture of different gases, absorbs some of its parent star's light at specific visible frequencies.
"That absorption could make the star appear artificially [magnetically] less active," Matthew Standing, a research fellow at the European Space Agency's European Space Astronomy Centre in Madrid and the new study's lead author, told Live Science via email. In other words, magnetically inactive stars are potentially good targets in the search for crumbling, close-in exoplanets.
If this hypothesis is confirmed, it could make planet-searching ventures less random.
Exoplanets close to their parent stars, like Kepler-1520b in this illustration, crumble, creating clouds of debris. These clouds surround the host stars and absorb specific wavelengths of their light, making these wavelengths missing in the spectra we see from Earth. By looking for stars that have these signatures in their spectra, scientists have hit upon a method to efficiently identify exoplanets. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Signals from the stars
To test the idea, Standing and an international team of collaborators first identified a set of 24 stars with apparently low magnetic activity as part of the Dispersed Matter Planet Project (DMPP), including a handful of stars that the DMPP had analyzed in 2020. The researchers then collected visible-light spectra — the light curves that correspond to wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation that humans can see — from these stars, using telescopes at the European Space Observatory in Chile.
They observed each star at least 10 times for up to two weeks. If a star hosted one or more planets, its gravitational "tugs" on its star would cause it to wobble, which would be visible in the spectra. (This method of identifying exoplanets is called the radial-velocity technique.)
Next, the team used a computational algorithm to determine if such changes in the light curves could correspond to as many as four planets for each star system. The analysis also allowed the researchers to determine how sensitive the survey was and how common close-in planets are around stars with low magnetic activity levels.
The results, published Feb. 28 in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, showed that 14 stars hosted a total of 24 exoplanets, including a total of seven newly discovered worlds in five of these systems.
The team also calculated that the occurrence of exoplanets around the stars they selected was between eight and 10 times higher than in other radial-velocity surveys. This occurrence rate supports the hypothesis that stars that seem magnetically inactive are likely hosts of close-in, highly irradiated exoplanets.
Additionally, the researchers found that the survey was very comprehensive, identifying nearly 95% of exoplanets that were more than 10 times as massive as Earth and orbited their host stars in five days or less.
The team also extrapolated their results to our cosmic neighborhood, curating a list of roughly 16,000 stars lying within 1,600 light-years from the solar system. (For reference, a light-year is the distance light travels in a year — approximately 5.88 trillion miles, or 9.46 trillion kilometers.) From this list, the researchers found 241 stars with similar signatures of low magnetic activity. Given the proportion of exoplanets in the study, they estimate that these stars may host around 300 planets, just waiting to be discovered.
Standing is cautiously enthusiastic about the technique's potential. "If confirmed with larger samples, this method could help make exoplanet searches more efficient," he said.
The team plans to do just that, expanding the size of their sample and continuing to monitor radial-velocity data for signs of planets, he added.
Humans have practiced head shaping for tens of thousands of years, and anthropologists are beginning to uncover clues as to why.
For millennia, people have shaped the skull during infancy. Archaeologists are starting to unpack why.
(Image credit: Nabeel Nezzar)
When the Spanish first reached the Andes, they found something surprising: Many of the locals had long, pointy heads. They discovered that the Collagua, an indigenous group in Peru that was conquered by the Inca, had a practice of shaping the head starting in infancy, before the skull bones fused and soft spots disappeared.
The Spanish jumped to the worst conclusions.
"They said it was this horrible thing and brains bled out of ears," Christina Torres, a bioarchaeologist at the University of California, Riverside, told Live Science. "But that doesn't seem to be the case."
A pre-Inca skull from Paracas that dates to around 1000 B.C. When the Spanish encountered people in the Andes, they found head shaping was common.
Credit: DEA / G. DAGLI ORTI via Getty Images
Prehispanic Indigenous groups were not the only ones to practice head shaping. For centuries, archaeologists have found skulls on every continent except Antarctica that show evidence of "cranial vault modification" — heads shaped to be either flatter or more conical than they would be if left alone.
Given that babies cannot bind their own heads, experts think head shaping was done by caregivers. Now, archaeologists are beginning to uncover clues about why people performed this practice for millennia, particularly in places like the Andes, where the practice has been documented the best.
Through systematic analysis, what experts are uncovering is a profusion of practices and explanations, some of which are baffling or contradictory. In some places, a shaped head may be a marker of group status, while in other places, head shapes differ even among close family members. And in other places, the feature used to identify it — the unusual head shape — may not even have been the intent of the practice, researchers are finding.
"Something as ostensibly shocking as cranial modification may have been almost a routine practice for some children in some time periods," Matthew Velasco, a bioarchaeologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who studies head shaping in the Peruvian Andes, told Live Science.
What's more, it likely originated very deep in human history — and emerged in many times and places, Velasco said. "I think we have to start from the assumption that the meaning varies across time and space."
How are heads shaped?
Bone remodels easily when children are young, so a simple strip of wrapped cloth can control how the head grows, much like how a bonsai tree can be shaped and pruned, Torres said. For example, nowadays, babies with plagiocephaly — a flat spot caused by sleeping in one position — are often prescribed helmet therapy to change their head shape.
This was a slow and gradual process done with fabric and pillows.
Christina Torres, bioarchaeologist at the University of California, Riverside
Experts have identified more than two dozen apparatuses that were used to create different head shapes, but "the most typical method would be just wrapping the baby's head circumferentially and making a longer, more conical shape," Torres explained, as this technique requires the least equipment and the least training.
Based on historical records from groups that practiced it, head wrapping began by around 6 months of age in most cultures and ended within a year or two, Tyler O'Brien, a forensic anthropologist at the University of Northern Iowa, wrote in "Boards and Cords" (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024), a book about the worldwide history of cranial modification. The shaping was likely done by a mother or midwife.
There's not a lot of information, though, on whether this practice was painful, but it does not appear to have had any major consequences for brain development, Torres said.
Early, biased accounts suggested head shaping could make eyes bug out. However, this baby with a shaped skull likely has bulging eyes because of anemia, one expert suggested.
Credit: Collectie Wereldmuseum (v/h Tropenmuseum), part of the National Museum of World Cultures, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
"There's one instance where [bioarchaeologists] think a child died because of cranial modification, where the head was compressed too much," she said. "That is anomalous, as far as I can tell. This was a slow and gradual process done with fabric and pillows."
So, although Spanish explorers in the Andes said they were shocked by "brains coming out" and explorers in Borneo and Vanuatu said kids' eyes "bulged from their sockets," these subjective accounts are probably greatly exaggerated, O'Brien wrote. In reality, the child likely adapted quickly to any discomfort, and the brain would have conformed to the shape of the skull, resulting in no ill effects on cognition or intelligence.
If not done properly, however, head shaping that involved overly restrictive or infrequently changed bindings could cause infection. "I think the worst thing you could have is a [skin] ulcer that gets infected and then eats through the bone, which does happen," Christine Lee, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Mississippi, told Live Science. Scalp infections and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) issues also may have occurred, Torres said.
Archaeological evidence for head shaping
To identify a shaped head, archaeologists sometimes used visual inspection as well as human skull measurements, known as craniometry. Craniometry has been around since the 19th century, when American naturalist and eugenicist Samuel Morton used cranial traits to create racial hierarchies that have since been debunked.
Although there is no standardized, agreed-upon method to determine if a head has been shaped, archaeologists often use a 3D, mathematical analysis of cranial measurements to see whether the ratio of certain measurements, such as the width, length and height of the skull, are outside the range of what is expected as part of natural variation and are thus likely to have been intentionally shaped.
That analysis suggests that head shaping is widespread in the archaeological record. Cranial modification has been found in skulls from Europe, the Near East, Africa, Asia and Oceania, and it is most strongly associated with the Americas. But that doesn't necessarily mean it was more common there; rather, evidence of shaped heads may have been better preserved in the Andes, where the cool, dry conditions did not degrade mummified remains as quickly, Velasco said.
In fact, the oldest archaeological evidence of head shaping comes from Australia. Two artificially flattened skulls were discovered in the southern state of Victoria at the site of Kow Swamp, which is at least 13,000 years old.
And ancient skulls reveal the practice boomed in the Neolithic period, appearing in Europe around 12,500 years ago, in China around 11,000 years ago, and in what is now Iran around 10,000 years ago, according to O'Brien.
Three examples of types of head shaping apparatuses used by pre-Hispanic people in the Andes.
(Illustration based on: M.J. Allison et al., 1981. La práctica de la deformación craneana entre los pueblos andinos precolombinos. Chungara: Revista de Antropología Chilena 81(7): 250.) | Credit: Quinn Reynolds
Early accounts
Some of the earliest explanations for head shaping, which come largely from Spanish explorers in the Americas, are some of the most suspect. That's because few explorers bothered to ask practitioners why they engaged in head shaping. Instead, these wild stories were often based on rumor or hearsay.
For instance, Christopher Columbus first reported head shaping among the Indigenous people of Hispaniola, the island that encompasses the Dominican Republic and Haiti, in 1492. He illogically guessed that the islanders had flat heads because their mothers pressed them tightly between two wooden planks, causing the skull bones to thicken like helmets and protect them from Spanish blows, according to Pilar Zabala Aguirre, an anthropologist at the Autonomous University of Yucatán in Mexico, who has compiled more than 100 Spanish historical records on the practice.
Other explorers invented different possible explanations: ethnic grouping; high military rank; attributes such as courage, bravery or obedience; the ability to carry heavier loads strapped around the forehead; health improvements; and beauty ideals, Zabala found.
These explanations are even more suspect because they were often tied to racism or beliefs in the superiority of Western culture or even used to explicitly make that argument.
For instance, English physician John Bulwer cataloged various types of body modification in his 1650 book "Anthropometamorphosis," condemning them as disfiguring and an affront to God, according to O'Brien.
It wasn't until the early 20th century that anthropologists moved away from "studying abnormal head shape in the living 'other' and describing it as hideous, frightful, and disgusting," O'Brien wrote, and toward a less-biased understanding of cranial variation.
Changing understanding of the practice
Using those robust, less biased methods, archaeologists are gradually unwrapping some of the mystery surrounding the practice, mostly in the Americas. And what they're finding is not an overarching trend, but a range of reasons and practices.
For instance, the Collagua in Peru ostensibly "told the Spanish that they shaped the heads of their children like the mountain from which they come," Velasco said.
Among the Indigenous Caddo people of Oklahoma, meanwhile, different kinds of shaping reflected membership in different clans, Lee said.
Yet head shaping differed not only within cultures but even within families. Velasco's ongoing research, which involves analyzing the DNA of extended families buried together in the Andes, has revealed that the heads of biologically linked people were often shaped in different ways — so one family member might have an elongated head, while another might have an unmodified, rounded head.
In fact, in some cultures or families, the shapes of the heads may have been the unintended result, rather than the goal, of a practice that was more important to them, such as binding.
"The shape itself might actually be collateral to the practice" in the Andes, Torres said.
In the same way that some people swaddle their children, the same way that there's religious circumcision, you bind the heads of your children because that is what we do to our children.
Christina Torres, bioarchaeologist at the University of California, Riverside
Instead, in some parts of the Americas, head shaping may have lingered simply as a tradition. For instance, in the Andes, the practice may be part of a rite of passage for either the infant or the mother, Torres said. If head shaping began around 6 months of age, that is a time when the baby's first teeth were coming in and weaning foods may have been introduced. There, head shaping may be similar to putting jewelry on a child or baptizing them to protect them, she said.
Among the pre-hispanic people of the Andes, "it's basically a child-rearing practice," Torres said. "In the same way that some people swaddle their children, the same way that there's religious circumcision, you bind the heads of your children because that is what we do to our children."
While the most common form of head shaping made the skull conical, other methods made the head flatter. In some areas of the Americas, people in the same family had different head shapes.
Credit: VW Pics via Getty Images
A natural conclusion
In fact, the idea of shaping a head into a conical form may have been presented by birth itself. The infant cranium naturally deforms when it passes through the birth canal, Velasco said.
"When my child was born, for example, he had a slightly conical head," he said. "Birthing presents this possibility to every parent, and it doesn't take much of a leap to feel the supple head of a child and to wrap it, to clothe it."
Thus, it's not surprising that many cultures might have stumbled upon head shaping, given that "anyone who has observed or assisted a human birth will recognize that the human head is malleable," Velasco added.
This recognition of the plasticity of a baby's head may have spurred a need to protect it. For example, among the Maya, modifying an infant's head was likened to putting a roof on a house and was thought to protect the child.
That protection may have then become more metaphorical than physical. In some places, it has "an almost talismanic aspect to it," Lee said, as if something bad might happen to the child if the shaping were not done. "That implies there must be almost a fear of not doing it."
Beauty and 'in-group' status
Outside the Americas, few historical records describe head shaping, but "it seems to have been independently invented in multiple places," Torres said.
Each of these places may have had different justifications for the practice. In prehistoric China and Japan, for instance, head shaping was likely a status marker tied to the elite. Lee thinks it's likely that in ancient Asia, head shaping — similar to foot binding in more recent times — represented an extreme way of achieving a beauty standard.
Similarly, during the fourth to seventh centuries in Europe, head shaping surged in popularity among the Huns, skeletons reveal. Without historical evidence from the Huns detailing the reason for this practice, experts have conjectured that it was a "fashion wave" in the Eurasian steppe that conferred higher social status.
The Mangbetu people of the Congo practiced "lipombo," which made the head long and conical, into the 1900s. The Belgian colonial government outlawed the practice.
Credit: Michel HUET via Getty Images
But head shaping often leaves subtle traces, meaning people who engaged in the practice may not have looked much different from those who didn't. That suggests the practice was not necessarily a striking visual marker of in-group status, which raises questions about whether that was its purpose.
"Hair hides a lot," Lee said. "There are people today with unusually shaped skulls, and it just doesn't show depending on their haircut." For example, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and political consultant Roger Stone both have (presumably naturally) pointier-than-average heads.
Modern cases of head shaping
Although cranial vault modification has been going on for tens of thousands of years, it persisted well into the 20th century in parts of Africa, Oceania and Europe.
The Arawe people in Papua New Guinea practiced head shaping as late as the 1930s, according to a study of several villages in 1955. The Arawe used bark-cloth bandages to create what they considered an aesthetically pleasing "long-headed" style.
Among the Mangbetu people of the Congo, the practice of "lipombo" involved tightly wrapping an infant's head with cloth bandages to encourage a long, conical shape thought to be beautiful and powerful. The Belgian colonial government outlawed the practice, which died out in the 1950s.
And in early 20th-century France, some parents chose to band their newborns' heads immediately after birth for up to four years in a practice called "bandeau," which practitioners thought protected babies from injury. The "Toulouse deformity," named after the region where it was practiced, has been captured in a series of historical photos, but bandeau declined in popularity and disappeared by World War I.
"This is not something that is simply a brute barbarian practice that people evolved out of," Velasco said. "It is fairly independent of social complexity."
Head shaping, or "bandeau," was practiced in Toulouse into the 20th century.
Credit: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The practice of shaping an infant's head to look like an "alien's" may seem foreign or bizarre to us in the 21st century. But the human body has long been a canvas for cultural, spiritual and personal expression.
The earliest known tattoos date back at least 5,000 years in Copper Age Europe, tooth filing and "grills" go back 2,000 years to the Maya, and neck elongation was practiced 1,000 years ago in Southeast Asia. Today, we tend to modify the soft tissues of our bodies through common practices like ear piercing and circumcision, but also more uncommon procedures like horn implants, eyeball tattooing and Brazilian butt lifts.
"Cranial modification is part of a practice that is universal: body modification and presentation," Velasco said. "We all invest our future in our children in different ways. That's how I think about cranial modification. It's like an investment in the future of a child. And when you put it in that way, it's hard not to relate to it."
Congress Cleared To Enter Secret UFO Craft Facilities
Congress Cleared To Enter Secret UFO Craft Facilities
Cristina Gomez
Congressman Eric Burlison of Missouri has confirmed he received White House and Pentagon approval to visit the classified facilities where whistleblowers allege recovered non-human craft are being stored and studied.
According to Burlison, the request covered locations where witnesses report reverse-engineering programs, stored vehicles, and biological material connected to those programs. He named Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Mitre, and EG&G as suspected contractors involved. The sites fall under the authority of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, with some reportedly housing embedded intelligence agencies alongside private contractors.
Burlison has noted a key structural limit on his access. As a member of the House Oversight Committee, he holds a top-level security clearance but is not on the intelligence or armed services committees, which means he cannot independently enter a SCIF — a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, where classified conversations take place — without permission from committee chairs he does not sit on. That limitation is precisely why the White House approval for direct facility visits carries significance beyond a routine congressional briefing.
The question of what those facilities contain is supported by credentialed testimony. Dr. James Lacatski, who managed the DIA’s AAWSAP program — the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program — published a book in 2023 that cleared the Department of Defense’s security review process, known as DOPSR, before release. In that book, Lacatski stated that the United States was in possession of a craft of unknown origin and had successfully accessed its interior. He later confirmed that he personally observed the craft, describing it as having a streamlined aerodynamic shape with no intakes, no exhaust, no wings, and no control surfaces. When asked whether he saw it fly, he said yes. Dr. Eric Davis, an astrophysicist who served as a scientific advisor to the same program, stated at a congressional briefing in May 2025 that recovered craft are not of this Earth, adding that the world’s major powers have all experienced crashes and recovered vehicles.
Burlison also referenced a detail shared with him in a secure setting — a friendly allied nation reportedly holds an object so large that a building had to be constructed around it, with workers inside unaware of what the structure conceals. He noted that if he is denied access to that specific location while being approved for all others, the denial itself will function as evidence. Steven Greer says it is in South Korea but Burlison has yet to comment on the location.
Before gaining any official access, Burlison had already made public a piece of footage that speaks to the urgency behind his requests. On October 30, 2024, a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone tracked an unidentified object off the coast of Yemen. A second drone fired a hellfire missile at the object. The missile made contact. The object kept flying. Burlison received the footage through an anonymous dead drop and released it publicly at a House Oversight Committee hearing on September 9, 2025, using the constitutional protection of the speech and debate clause to do so.
Luis Elizondo, from AATIP — the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program — testified under oath before the House Oversight Committee in November 2024 that the U.S. is in possession of UAP technologies, as are some adversaries, and described a multi-decade secretive arms race funded by misallocated taxpayer dollars and hidden from elected representatives. The site visit now approved for Burlison represents what may be the first direct physical congressional oversight of the facilities these officials have described.
Disclosure Foundation. (2025, May 7). Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation (House Oversight and Government Reform) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVdux73iJEk
New York Post. (2025, September 10). Shocking radar footage shows Hellfire missile fired by US military BOUNCE OFF UFO over ocean [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRHez7OXCS8
The Cosmic Report looks at new UFO disclosures from Congressman Eric Burlison and revisits archival material from decades past. Plus we look into what Hilary Clinton said about declassification during her Epstein testimonial.
Speaking with Steven Diener on the UAP Unidentified Alien Podcast, Burlison said he now believes that “there’s something there” after seeing evidence of what he calls “intelligently controlled plasma orbs.”
Burlison also mentioned that these potential alien craft have flown close to American craft and “exhibit playful-type behavior to the point that it seems like they’re flaunting or demonstrating a power capability to us”
When Diener asks Burlison if he’s ever seen these UAP's showing off, Burlison replied, “I’ve seen videos of glowing type orbs demonstrating something that I would never have seen in any other context.”
When asked about the context of this mysterious footage, the Republican representative was understandably guarded, but he did add that “the way in which they move doesn’t seem to be under conventional propulsion.”
“They’re clearly not drones. It almost looks like a ball of plasma that is controlled,” he said.
Credible or incredible?
There is still some way to go in revealing exactly what the Pentagon kept guarded over the decades, but Trump’s executive order is still pending.
Burlison told Diener, “I don’t know what kind of technology can do that, or who is behind that, but…I can definitively say that there’s something there.”
There were contrasting views among the Reddit community. One of the threads acknowledged Burlison's transition from skeptic to believer, while the follow-up paid tribute to his Bill Murray-esque mannerisms.
When Diener asks Burlison if he’s ever seen these UAP's showing off, Burlison replied, “I’ve seen videos of glowing type orbs demonstrating something that I would never have seen in any other context.”
When asked about the context of this mysterious footage, the Republican representative was understandably guarded, but he did add that “the way in which they move doesn’t seem to be under conventional propulsion.”
“They’re clearly not drones. It almost looks like a ball of plasma that is controlled,” he said.
Credible or incredible?
There is still some way to go in revealing exactly what the Pentagon kept guarded over the decades, but Trump’s executive order is still pending.
Burlison told Diener, “I don’t know what kind of technology can do that, or who is behind that, but…I can definitively say that there’s something there.”
There were contrasting views among the Reddit community. One of the threads acknowledged Burlison's transition from skeptic to believer, while the follow-up paid tribute to his Bill Murray-esque mannerisms.
In July 1996, a baffling and intricate crop circle formation known as the Julia Set "materialized" near Stonehenge, reigniting debates about ancient mysteries and possible extraterrestrial communication
In the summer of 1996, the world was captivated by an extraordinary event near Stonehenge. The appearance of a complex crop circle, known as the Julia Set, opposite this ancient site, sparked widespread fascination. Named after a mathematical fractal shape, the Julia Set crop circle was characterized by its intricate design and sudden formation. Anecdotes, including reports from a local taxi driver, describe the crop circle as appearing almost instantaneously, fueling speculation about its origin. For many, these patterns in the fields are more than mere artistic expressions; they’re perceived as symbols conveying significant information.
Stonehenge and the Julia Set
The proximity of the Julia Set to Stonehenge has led to intriguing theories about a possible connection between the two. Given Stonehenge’s historical and archaeological significance, the appearance of such a complex formation nearby raises questions about potential interstellar messages. Theories speculate whether Stonehenge, a site shrouded in mystery, could be a portal to the stars as some proponents would suggest, and if the Julia Set-like crop circles, with mathematical precision, hold a key to reactivating “ancient portals.”
The creation of the Julia Set near Stonehenge has reignited discussions about the capabilities of ancient civilizations. Some theorize that our ancestors were attuned to Earth’s energies and mysterious forces, possessing knowledge now lost to modern humanity. This theory posits that ancient sites like Stonehenge could be remnants of sophisticated technologies, once part of a global network capable of generating significant energy, potentially used for extraterrestrial communication or travel.
The not-so-alien Crop Circles
As we consider the mysteries of Stonehenge and the intriguing crop circle phenomena, it’s important to acknowledge the complexity of human creativity and its role in these enigmas. A notable example of this is the story of Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, two friends who, in the late 1970s, embarked on an unusual artistic endeavor. Using simple tools like planks of wood and ropes, they crafted intricate crop circle designs in fields. Their intention was initially playful, but their creations soon captured global media attention and sparked a wave of imitators worldwide.
Their story, which remained a secret for years, eventually inspired “The Perfect Golden Circle,” a novel by British author Benjamin Myers. The book, set in 1989, follows two characters through the English summer nights as they create complex crop patterns, mirroring the real-life adventures of Bower and Chorley.
An aerial photograph of Crop Circles. Yayimages.
The truth about their crop circle artistry came to light when Bower and Chorley, then aged 67 and 62, confessed to journalist Graham Brough. To verify their claims, Brough examined an archive of over 200 crop circle designs stored at Bower’s residence. These aged designs matched the patterns they claimed to have made over the years, confirming their role in initiating what had become a global phenomenon.
This revelation by Bower and Chorley serves as a reminder of the human capacity for creativity and its power to inspire wonder and speculation. While the origins of Stonehenge remain shrouded in history, the crop circles near this ancient site, once thought to be of mysterious origins, have been partially demystified, illustrating the blend of human ingenuity and the enduring allure of the unknown.
Reimagining Megaliths: Stonehenge as a Cosmic Gateway
The enduring mystery of Stonehenge, coupled with the appearance of the Julia Set, has led some to reimagine these megaliths as more than historical relics. Could they be remnants of the most sophisticated technology ever to exist on Earth? Some have proposed the idea that these structures could have been communication or transportation hubs for alien visitors, but this is a radical reinterpretation. Theories suggest that the stones remaining today might have been left intentionally, awaiting a future where humanity could rediscover and reactivate this lost technology.
The intersection of the Julia Set crop circle and Stonehenge presents a fascinating convergence of past and future, ancient knowledge, and modern inquiry. As we delve deeper into these mysteries, the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the ancient builders of these sites presents itself as a fascinating journey. This ongoing exploration into these ancient structures and phenomena not only enriches our knowledge ofhistorybut also holds the potential to inspire future technological innovations. The study of such complex sites like Stonehenge continues to challenge and expand our understanding of human ingenuity and thecapabilities of ancient civilizations.
The Julia Set crop circle and Stonehenge stand as beacons of the unknown, challenging our understanding of history, science, and as some push, the potential for extraterrestrial life. As we strive to decode the messages left by our ancestors, these ancient sites and formations continue to inspire wonder, debate, and the pursuit of knowledge across the ages.
Stonehenge is arguably one of the most famous megalithic monuments in the world. It's also one of the most mysterious, with its prehistoric concentric rings garnering plenty of speculation as to why and how they were constructed.
It is indeed immensely picturesque. I can fancy sitting all a summer’s day watching its shadows shorten and lengthen again and drawing a delicious contrast between the world’s duration and the feeble span of individual experience. There is something in Stonehenge, almost reassuring. If you are disposed to feel that life is instead a superficial matter and that we soon get to the bottom of things, the immemorial gray pillars may serve to remind you of the enormous background of time.
Since 1977, visitors have been forbidden to touch or come close to the stones. There were cases of tourists damaging the monument. Since people are people and don’t really think at times, there have been occasions when tourists would chip the ancient stones to take home a souvenir from the site. The ruins are in a delicate condition, and touching the stones could be detrimental to preserving this ancient monument.
Did Aliens build Stonehenge?
Several theories have been proposed throughout the years, and some are truly bizarre. Legends say mighty wizards positioned the stones, and some believe aliens had something to do with Stonehenge. It probably wasn’t aliens, and neither did wizards have something to do with Stonehenge, but we still have absolutely no clue how–and why–the stones were transported from such great distances. Famous Swiss author Erich von Däniken believed that he cracked the code in 1968 when he published his book Chariots of the Gods. In his book, he claims that Aliens built Stonehenge. Many people still believe in Von Däniken’s theory, but most of it is dismissed as pseudoscience.
Survival of Biblical Flood
Many theories are roaming around regarding Stonehenge, but one is very interesting. Henry Browne wrote it in the first guidebook in 1823. Henry Browne claims that Stonehenge is one of the monuments that has survived the Biblical Flood. He believes that Stonehenge was finished with construction around the same time as Flood has occurred. There is no real evidence to support this claim, but it is an interesting subject for further discussion.
Stonehenge; a work of Merlin
There is a theory by Geoffrey of Monmouth, who made chronicles of King Arthur legends. He states that the great Wizard Merlin airlifted the stones from Country Kildare in Ireland and placed them on Salisbury Plain as a memorial to the Britons’ massacre. To a modern audience, Geoffrey’s story sounds crazy, but they had no way of explaining or understanding how the stones stood upright in the Middle Ages. In the past, magic was the only real explanation for the creation of Stonehenge.
Stonehenge and Druids.
Legend says that Druids built Stonehenge as a place of worship, and it does seem like whoever built it, and he had help from some magic. Religion was brought to the British Isles by Ancient Celtics priests, who came here 3000 years after Stonehenge was built. Although the Druids in ancient times did not see Stonehenge as a place of worship, modern Druids and neo-pagans considered the site sacred. The exact age of Stonehenge is a mystery, and its age is something we should ponder about.
Stonehenge as Astronomical Tool
Ancient people used Stonehenge for Astronomical purposes as the alignment of Stonehenge stones with astronomical events is extraordinary. Stonehenge faces the northeast, and each stone is diligently placed to track the sun’s movement. Great attention was given to the solstices and equinoxes, which would have been crucial times on the prehistoric calendar. These days would mark the growing and harvest seasons and would have meant life or death for the people. Astroarchaeologists even suspect that the winter solstice would have been more important to people, as it marked the coldest and darkest day, meaning warmth and the growing season were coming.
Stonehenge as Ancient Concert Venue
Archeologists, explorers, and tourists have speculated about the purpose of Stonehenge for centuries. Aside from the usual burial ground and religious temple theories, it is believed it may have had a musical connection. Tourists have reported sounds emanating from Stonehenge, so there might be some truth in it. Dr. Rupert Till believes if Stonehenge weren’t ruined now, the sounds would be amplified by stones. Stonehenge’s bluestones carry a distinctive echo, suggesting that people knew this and specifically sought out the stones.
Stonehenge Was Built In Phases
The old saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day” can also be applied to Stonehenge, as the British monument was built in various stages. From the Neolithic Period to Bronze Age, the construction of Stonehenge came in phases. Stonehenge’s circular enclosure (believed to contain bluestones in the past) is the oldest part, dug around 3000 BCE. The massive sarsen stones were brought to the site 500 years later and stood upright to form the trilithons, including the structure we know today. But there were still four more stages of construction after the central monument was complete.
Old As The Pyramids
People think of the Pyramids as the oldest prehistoric monument, but history has proved that Stonehenge is just as ancient as the Egyptian Pyramids. The Great Pyramid of Giza was built around 2500 BCE. The time needed to build one pyramid was around 20 years. Meanwhile, in old Britain, ancient tribes were busy building and erecting the stone circle at Stonehenge. The ancient circle surrounding the henge was built some 500 years earlier, and there are many indications that there was a previous structure at the site of the current henge.
More than a Henge
Stonehenge is just one part of a broader sacred landscape that contains many other stones and wooden structures and burials. Part of the site is the henge at Avebury, a much larger stone monument, though somewhat less impressive due to its lack of massive trilithons.
Archaeologists have also found evidence of widespread prehistoric hunting and a road that may have led to Stonehenge. From what scientists can tell, Salisbury Plain was considered a sacred area long before Stonehenge was constructed. It was known 10,500 years ago three large pine posts, which were totem poles of sorts, were erected at the site. (Rephrase this too) What was known 10,500 years ago?
The Archives of the Unexplained is a 16-room building packed with witness reports, photographs, audio recordings, radar data, and original documents that exist nowhere else. From military encounters to reported crashes, Svahn's archive is a window into the unknown that governments have never fully disclosed.
Rare Documents And Unseen UFO Encounters
Svahn's archive contains files from Japan, Russia, and numerous European countries, many detailing objects retrieved after crashes. Some reports describe radar-tracked crafts executing impossible right-angle turns, while others record near-collisions between helicopters and wingless objects.
Also, the archive preserves stories of the Swedish Ghost Rocket wave of the 1940s, where over 1,400 rocket- and cigar-shaped UFOs plunged into the sea. These events prompted the Swedish government to form specialised military units to investigate the phenomenon. Svahn himself has interviewed eyewitnesses and experiencers, including Betty Hill, famed for the 1961 Barney and Betty Hill abduction case. Outside the abduction, Hill reportedly witnessed a UFO crash near her home, recovering debris she buried in her backyard.
Physical Evidence That Defies Explanation
Among the most intriguing items in the archive are actual pieces of UFO debris. Svahn shows a piece of tungsten from Sweden, recovered after a 1957 encounter in which two carpenters saw a craft hover in front of their car, heating the metal so intensely they could not touch it. Laboratory analysis confirmed its unusual properties.
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Other artefacts include fragments from an asteroid that crashed in Arizona 50,000 years ago, nearly a kilometre wide and composed mostly of iron with traces of nickel. Such objects offer tangible proof that some UFO encounters involve physical craft and materials, not merely lights in the sky.
The archive is not limited to documents and debris. Eyewitness testimonies capture encounters that blur the line between reality and the bizarre. One woman in Mexico photographed what appeared to be a humanoid with equipment on its back, unseen at the time she took the photo.
Similar accounts in Sweden report beings in suits with protrusions, moving across scrap metal as though defying gravity. Svahn notes that a significant proportion of Swedish witnesses, particularly in hotspots such as Hesselden, Dalarna, and Gotland, report experiences involving lights, crafts, or entities. These accounts suggest that UFO phenomena are more complex than mere space visitors, intertwining with human consciousness and perception.
The Unseen Influence Of Human Consciousness
Svahn emphasises that UFO research is complicated by the interaction between observer and phenomenon. Studies in parapsychology suggest that consciousness itself may play a role in what people witness, making some events appear high in strangeness or even absurd. Historical reports, photographs, and interviews indicate that what humans perceive may be only a fragment of a larger, more intricate reality.
Svahn believes that UFOs may not be extraterrestrial alone but could involve phenomena that interact with our minds in unexpected ways. By preserving every detail, the Archives of the Unexplained provides a foundation for researchers seeking to understand these mysteries, combining the physical, anecdotal, and psychological in one unparalleled collection.
It's a place where governments' secrets, human curiosity, and the unknown converge, offering researchers and the public alike a rare glimpse into the mysteries that have captivated humanity for decades.
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 75 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
