Fake News Is Not the Real Media Threat We’re Facing

What the conservative media machine does is much more dangerous.

By David A. Bell

Rush Limbaugh (top, L), Sean Hannity (top, R), Ann Coulter (bottom, L), and Bill O'Reilly (bottom, R). (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite; AP Photo / Rick Scuteri, File; AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite, file; Paul Morigi / AP)

From all the recent hand-wringing about “fake news,” you would think that the hand-wringers had never stood in a supermarket checkout line, surrounded by 72-point headlines about alien abductions and miracle cures. Fake news has been around as long as real news, as any historian of early modern Europe can tell you (Renaissance readers gobbled up stories about women giving birth to rabbits, and men from Africa with faces in their chests). Social media has certainly transformed how fake news circulates, speeding up its circulation and extending its reach and impact. The temptation to blame many of our current ills on it—and by extension, on Mark Zuckerberg—is understandable. But the hand-wringing has in fact distracted attention from a much more important problem involving the American media. That problem is not fake news but the continuing delegitimization of real news by American conservatives. This delegitimization has been taking place for a long time (as The Nation’s Eric Alterman has meticulously reported, and as even some conservative media figures have admitted), but during the past year it has taken a frightening new turn. If the mainstream American news media are to have any hope of avoiding potentially catastrophic results—both for themselves and for American democracy—they need to change how they report on American politics, and on the ideological apparatchiks they continue to describe, misleadingly, as “journalists.”

Anyone masochistic enough to tune into Rush Limbaugh regularly will soon recognize a strange pattern in his rants. Limbaugh has an extremely long list of enemies, all of whom he paints as mortal threats to the American republic. But there is one absolutely constant enemy, whom he mentions in every single broadcast, without fail. It is not Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama. It is not the “Democrat party.” It is not even the federal government. It is the mainstream news media, whom he accuses of extreme liberal bias and hatred of America. In every single show, contempt oozing out of his voice, he flagellates mainstream media such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, or the major broadcast networks. He collectively labels them “drive-bys,” comparing them to drive-by shooters. And his strategy has been followed by virtually the whole of the conservative media machine, from fellow radio hosts like Mark Levin and Michael Savage, to television personalities like Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly, to pundits like Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham. If some hapless liberal caller to a conservative radio show, or some hapless liberal guest on a Fox News program, dares to support an argument by invoking a story from The New York Times, he or she is likely to be met with contemptuous laughter. In this milieu, the Times has no more credibility than The National Enquirer at a scientific conference on extraterrestrial life. A conservative radio talk-show host, Charlie Sykes, who opposed Trump in the election, puts it this way: “We have spent 20 years demonizing the liberal mainstream media…. At a certain point you wake up and you realize you have destroyed the credibility of any credible outlet out there.”

It is important to recognize that if the conservative media machine has delegitimized real news for their audiences, it is not in the service, at least not primarily, of peddling so-called “fake news.” There is a real dividing line between figures like Limbaugh and Hannity on the one hand, and conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones, who describes the Sandy Hook massacre as a hoax, and claims that Barack Obama is literally a demon (yes, literally). Generally, the Limbaughs and Hannitys will not even come out and state forthrightly that Obama is a Muslim, although they hint at it, and their audiences almost certainly take this idea for granted. They do not accuse Hillary Clinton of abducting children to serve as sex slaves. Again, what is now being labeled “fake news” is not the real story.

Limbaugh, Hannity, and their ilk are not commentators. They are ideologues. 

What the conservative media machine does, in tandem with its delegitimization of real news, is much more dangerous. Its leaders take any story that, however glancingly or speculatively, throws doubt upon the patriotism, honesty, or competence of public figures they dislike, and immediately cast it as the greatest outrage in American history. They return to it as often as possible, greeting every new revelation, however tiny or questionable, as a smoking gun. Just for the Obama administration alone, the list of such scandals is almost endless: “Operation Fast and Furious”; the IRS auditing scandal; the supposed “ransom” paid to Iran as part of the nuclear deal; the loans made to the Solyndra solar panel company; alleged misdeed involving the Secret Service, the General Services Administration, and the EPA; Benghazi (Benghazi!); and of course Hillary Clinton’s e-mail. Anyone relying on The New York Times for news over the past eight years would have seen little of genuine importance in most of these stories, and little to challenge the conclusion that Barack Obama has presided, by historical standards, over a virtually entirely scandal-free administration. Anyone relying on Rush Limbaugh or Fox News would have seen in them a pattern of corruption and malevolence unmatched in American history, and one which the untrustworthy mainstream media deliberately covered up. This is not “fake news.” It is a blatantly ideological distortion of real news. But, as Charlie Sykes has noted, because of the delegitimization of real news sources, the machine’s audiences simply do not, for the most part, believe it when any mainstream media outlet seeks to correct the distortions.

The machine has been operating in this way for many years, as Alterman and others have detailed. But since the election, the delegitimization of real news has taken a new, dangerous twist. It has now become clear that faithful followers of Limbaugh, or Fox News, will not only immediately discount any mainstream-media story that reflects badly on politicians or policies they like, no matter how well sourced and substantiate; they will consider the story itself yet another reason to support those politicians and policies, and will quite possibly believe the opposite, simply as a matter of principle. Polling data suggests that even during the election, the revelations about Trump’s failure to pay federal income taxes, and then the Access Hollywood tape, failed to significantly affect his support within the Republican base. The stories were unquestionably true, but that was less important than the fact that they were reported in the mainstream media (broken, in fact, by The New York Times and The Washington Post, respectively). By definition the stories demonstrated the power and extent of the dark liberal conspiracy against America, making Trump’s victory even more important for the Republican base.

Even more striking are the reactions to the new revelations about Russian interference in the election. Limbaugh, with his usual keen instinct for turning his opponents’ tactics against them, has played off the recent mainstream media obsession and labeled the story “fake news.” Of course, from Limbaugh’s perspective, any story broken by The New York Timesshould be considered fake news until proven otherwise. Most other conservative media stars have reacted in the same way, and as a result, a distressingly large number, not just of Republican voters but of the Republican office-holders in thrall to them, have been entirely incapable of taking seriously even the possibility that a foreign power deliberately interfered—perhaps decisively—with an American election. Indeed, one poll has shown that since the election, Vladimir Putin has actually gained popularity among Republicans. The liberal hand-wringing about “fake news” has helped the conservative media machine, in this regard, because it has provided yet another useful, and widely used catch phrase with which to discredit the mainstream media.

The implications of this shift for the incoming Trump administration are frightening. Even entirely blatant corruption, and blatant violations of the Constitution are likely to be dismissed as “fake news” by the conservative media machine. Reports in the mainstream media will be denounced as part of a nefarious plot by liberals to destroy the administration (and, by extension, America), and could well intensify Trump’s support. Criticism by Democrats, and attempts to hold Trump accountable, will be treated as grievous attacks on American democracy, justifying extraordinary—and perhaps extra-constitutional—responses.

Unfortunately, up to now the mainstream media has shown absolutely atrocious instincts in responding to this phenomenon. Above all, they have simply failed to acknowledge and report adequately on the role that the conservative media machine now plays in American politics, and the way it has delegitimized real news. Consider the fact that in the month before the election, The New York Times mentioned Rush Limbaugh in eleven stories. Eight of these were opinion columns of one sort or another, and one was a magazine story on Hillary Clinton. Just two were news stories, neither of which focused on Limbaugh himself. But Limbaugh has about 13 million listeners. While his influence has waned somewhat over the past few years, conservative politicians still quail in fear of his disapproval. He has more influence on American politics than nearly all American elected officials. He played a non-negligible role in the presidential election—in large part because of his ability to convince his listeners to distrust any revelations about Donald Trump that appeared in The New York Times. Did he not deserve more coverage than the Times gave him?

Unfortunately, the mainstream media still tends to treat figures like Limbaugh, Hannity, and Coulter as “conservative commentators,” as if they were nothing more than slightly rabid versions of William Safire, or right-wing counterparts to Nicholas Kristof and Maureen Dowd. The term suggests a tidy equivalence between left and right, in which each side has its own flock of columnists, radio hosts, and television personalities. But Limbaugh and company are not “commentators,” who might have an ideological slant, but who can also be expected to think through each issue they tackle on its own terms, with due attention to verifiable facts. They are ideologues, who concoct their broadcasts and columns with the sole goal of advancing the fortunes of their own ideological camp in what they openly describe as an apocalyptic conflict to save America. They make no pretense of thoughtfully weighing the pros and cons of the issues they discuss, and never—ever—acknowledge that the other side could have a point.

It is long past time that the mainstream media acknowledge that whatever equivalency once existed in American political life between liberals and conservatives has long since disappeared. The point is not so much that the conservative movement has turned extreme, although of course it has. The point is that the conservative media machine, and a majority of Republican officeholders, up to and including the president-elect, now form part of a coherent, united ideological apparatus that has fought with enormous success to capture the principal levers of power in this country, and that attempts systematically to discredit and demonize anyone who opposes it. It has become an illiberal (in every sense of the word) political party of a sort the United States has never before known, one that bears striking similarities to fascist and communist parties that operated within democratic societies in the 20th century. And the members of it who work in broadcast studios and so-called newsrooms are not journalists. They are the party’s media arm, full stop. They should be treated as such.

Under Trump, even blatant corruption and violations of the Constitution are likely to be dismissed as “fake news” by the conservative media machine. 

The mainstream media today is unfortunately in a very weak position vis-à-vis this party. Nothing that appears in the Times or on CNN can now make much of an impact on the people who live within the party’s steel-walled ideological bubble—including a very large proportion of Trump voters. As noted, new revelations, however damning and sensational, are more likely to intensify their support for Trump than to weaken it. But reporting on this party as a party, as an ideological apparatus, can still have an effect. Figures like Limbaugh and Hannity benefit enormously from the perception among their listeners that they are just commentators. In a grotesque, and enormously effective, act of projection, they denounce liberals for being what they themselves actually are: a ruthless ideological movement that cares nothing for verifiable facts. This self-representation is not challenged nearly enough by the mainstream media, which continue to portray these figures as journalists and commentators, rather than as ideological apparatchiks—indeed, as members of a conservative Nomenklatura. At the very least, the mainstream media should be identifying them as such, and fighting back far more vigorously against the conservative media machine’s delegitimization of real news. It should be reporting on Limbaugh and Hannity, Savage and Levin, Ingraham and Coulter, as often as it reports on the Republican “Freedom Caucus,” and it should respond systematically to their delegitimization of real news. When so-called conservative “commentators” attack The New York Times, the gray lady should not act as if responding to them is beneath her dignity. This tactic has not worked, to say the least. The Times should be covering the charges as part of the ideological battle now being waged in America, and it should be responding to them. So should The Washington Post, and CNN, and the rest of the mainstream media. If they don’t, then in the end, they could be signing their own death warrants.

{ https://www.thenation.com/ }

Mystery as sightings of 'triangle UFOs' hit 21 this month

SIGHTINGS of triangle UFOs across the world have deepened a long-running mystery with 21 seen just this month.

By Douglas Patient

MUFON

There has even been two more reported in the last two days, according to The Mutual UFO Network.

On Wednesday in Chebba, Tennessee, a witness said they saw a UFO in the sky.

This comes as bizarre footage of a spaceship appearing through a wormhole emerged online.

MUFON

They said in a report to the network: "We were standing in the street me, my dad and my neighbour when it appeared in the sky.

"It was flying pretty fast in a straight line.

"Only me and my neighbour saw it.

"It felt crazy, I was the only one who felt like I was dragged into it.

"It looked like in the pictures I am going to send."

The network said there have been around a hundred reports about triangle UFOs this year.

They are all said to be huge, with bright lights and travelling at low altitude.

In another report posted yesterday to The Mutual UFO Network, a witness described seeing a low-flying triangle at Elk Grove, California, last week.

“I started freaking out, because of what I saw and how close it was to my house and family”

Witness

The report said: "I looked up and saw a triangular shape moving at a high rate of speed.

"It was highlighted by thin dim lines of the triangle with lights on the corners of the triangle with halos around them.

"The triangle went in a straight line and I lost sight of it behind my plum tree, I tried to follow it but it disappeared. I wasn't scared, I stayed out there for another ten minutes or so so I could see if I could see anything else. I didn't see anything else.

“When I went back inside I started freaking out, because of what I saw and how close it was to my house and family."

• Bizarre clip of ‘UFO arriving to Earth through WORMHOLE’ goes viral
• Chilling alien screeching is coming from deep – and scientists just worked out why
• Shock claim: Roswell UFO mystery 'will be solved in MONTHS’

{ http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news }

Bizarre triangle UFO mystery continues after yet MORE sightings of 'alien ships'

HUGE triangle UFOs are perplexing people across the globe with yet more sightings reported to paranormal investigators.

Alien Russia. KGB.VIDEO.

According to information from Russia knows about extraterrestrial civilizations over several decades, so for many it is not surprising that such rumors are circulating for many years. Russia’s first contact with the gray aliens allegedly occurred in 1942. At that time, were planned series of diplomatic visits to discuss issues of mutual interest – by alleged Russian documents and agreements that have been created

According to the document, 072 / E at meeting the 1961 incident occurred that involved three entities for breach of contract officers army base, when they discovered that their arrival was filmed hidden devices without their consent. Based on the agreement were 23/04 confidential meetings and filming or taking pictures was not allowed.

According to the Truth KGB allegedly special unit designed to collect and monitor all kinds of information regarding the mysterious and unexplained phenomena that report back inside, and inside the Soviet Union.

https://www.facebook.com/UFOkruhyvobilyainezahady/

{ http://www.nibirugroup.org/ }

Are aliens trying to contact Earth? Six new mysterious blasts of radio energy are detected from deep space

• Six bursts of radio waves have been detected 3 billion light years away
• The detection follows 11 previously recorded outbursts from the same location 
• The origin of the radio energy remains unknown, but researchers believe it may be from a young neutron star  

By Shivali Best For Mailonline

It may be three billion light-years away from Earth, but this distant constellation could be trying to contact us.

Six bursts of radio waves have been detected from the constellation Auriga, each lasting just a few milliseconds.

While the source of the waves remains unknown, some suggest they mysterious bursts of energy could be a sign of alien life trying to contact us.

Scroll down for video 

Six bursts of radio waves have been detected from the constellation Auriga, each lasting just a few milliseconds

(stock image)  

The waves were detected by researchers from McGill University in Montreal, using the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, and at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.

In their paper, published in The Astrophysical Journal, the researchers, led by Paul Scholz, wrote: 'We have detected six additional radio bursts from this source: five with the Green Bank Telescope at 2 GHz, and one at 1.4 GHz with the Arecibo Observatory, for a total of 17 bursts from this source.' 

The detection follows 11 previously recorded outbursts from the same location, called FRB 121102. 

This is the only known repeater of fast radio bursts (FRBs) - radio emissions that appear temporarily and randomly.

Despite there being a number of FRBs from the site, the origin of the bursts is an ongoing puzzle to researchers.

But the researchers say that the repeated outbursts imply that whatever is causing the radio bursts is not a one-time event, such as an explosion or collision.

Instead, they say that flares from a young neutron star – the dense core left behind where a star explodes – are a promising candidate. 

The researchers added: 'Whether FRB 121102 is a unique object in the currently known sample of FRBs, or all FRBs are capable of repeating, its characterisation is extremely important to understanding fast extragalactic radio transients.' 

The waves were detected by researchers from McGill University in Montreal, using the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia (pictured), and at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico

Previously when waves have been detected, astronomers have also asked Seti (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) to take a closer look at whether they could be a message from ET. 

But it is unclear if the McGill researchers will ask Seti to help this time.

If there are any intelligent alien life forms out there, Stephen Hawking thinks we're playing a dangerous game by trying to contact them.

The physicist believes if aliens discovered Earth, they are likely to want to conquer and colonise our planet.

'If aliens visit us, the outcome could be much like when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans,' he said in an interview.

In the 2016 film, Arrival, a linguist is hired by the military to assist in translating alien communications. But if there are any intelligent alien life forms out there, Stephen Hawking thinks we're playing a dangerous game by trying to contact them

But co-founder and former director of the Seti Institute, Jill Tarter, doesn't think this will be the case.

She argues any aliens who have managed to travel across the universe will be sophisticated enough to be friendly and peaceful.

'The idea of a civilisation which has managed to survive far longer than we have...and the fact that that technology remains an aggressive one, to me, doesn't make sense,' she said.

{ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

3 EX-NASA SCIENTISTS CLAIM THE GIANT FACE & PYRAMID FOUND ON MARS IN 1976 ARE ACTUALLY REAL

In 1976, the United States sent a pair of space probes, known as Viking 1 and Viking 2, to Mars. Viking 1 was launched on August 20th, 1975, and Viking 2 was launched in September of the same year. Both probes photographed the surface of Mars from orbit, and one studied the planet from the surface. The first one touched down on the surface of Mars on July 20th, 1976 and the second a couple of months later. The main objectives of the mission were to obtain high-resolution images of Mars, to look for any evidence of life, and to learn more about the structure and composition of the atmosphere.

As Viking 1 spacecraft was circling the planet, it spotted the shadowy likeness of a human face. An enormous head nearly two miles from end to end seemed to be staring back at the cameras from a region of the Red Planet called Cydonia. A pyramid structure was also seen. This will be the main topic of this article.

As a quick side note here, for years we’ve been made to believe that Mars is a dry and arid planet, completely devoid of life, but that’s just not the case. Mars actually used to be an Earth-like planet, with giant oceans and extensive greenery. The soil is moist and wet, and there is a very high likelihood that some type of life exists within the interior of Mars today. You can watch that full press conference HERE.

The question to ask here is, did NASA know this information from the Viking data in 1976? According to multiple insiders who have worked for the agency, NASA is not always honest, and we are only being told this now because they believe we are ready to process and accept these facts. For example, Bob Dean, a retired United States Army Command Sergeant Major who also served at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) of NATO as an intelligence analyst, gave a lecture on footage and photos that had been erased and kept hidden for decades:

Ladies and gentlemen, my government, NASA, which many of us in the United States say stands for Never A Straight Answer, proceeded to erase 40 rolls of film of the Apollo Program — the flight to the Moon, the flight around the Moon, the landings on the Moon, the walking guys here and there. They erased, for Christ’s sake, 40 rolls of film of those events. Now we’re talking about several thousand individual frames that were taken that the so-called authorities determined that you did not have a right to see. Oh, they were ‘disruptive,’ ‘socially unacceptable,’ ‘politically unacceptable.’ I’ve become furious. I’m a retired Command Sergeant Major. I was never famous for having a lot of patience.

You can watch the full lecture HERE.

KONDIGT UITBLIJVEN WONDER UITBARSTING SUPERVULKAAN AAN ? ( VIDEO )

{ http://niburu.co/ }

{ http://www.niburu.nl/categorie/ufo/ }

Two UFO Over Mexico City Seen Close Up, Dec 18, 2016, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: Dec 18, 2016
Location of sighting: Mexico City, Mexico

These two UFOs are keeping perfect distances from one another. There are no strings or ropes, not advertising, so we know they are not balloons. The are metallic or at the least...reflective. The shapes are not that of balloons, but seem to be slowly changing. It was probably one UFO, but had slit up to explore apart. Notice how the UFOs have a very white, cloud like appearance? Perfect camouflage to hide in the sky. How long before the US military has craft that hover and make clouds to hide in?

Mexico has always been a UFO hotspot, so much so that even the ancient Aztecs and Mayans said the gods often moved through the sky and exited and entered through the volcanos. In other words, they saw the UFOs and mistook them for gods. Something advanced technology could easily do when near a civilisation no technologic advancements yet. 

Nice video reported by UFOVNI of Youtube. 
Scott C. Waring

{  http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ } 

UFO Seen Rising Out Of Ocean At China Beach, Dec 2016, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: December 10, 2016
Location of sighting: China

I watched this video, but in small screen and couldn't make out the detail. At first it looked like a whale, but when I made it large screen I could see that this was a solid object long and cigar-like. The object is emitting its own cloud, and is seen above the water, not touching it, but making a cloud to hide within so it can rise into the sky unseen. Very cool an very rare appearance, but similar sightings have been seen by the US Navy. 
Scott C. Waring

{ http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

UFO Fleet Over Poltava Region, Ukraine On Dec 13, 2016, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: Dec 13, 2016
Location of sighting: Poltava, Ukraine

Here is a fleet of UFOs that are gathering in this area and putting on  show for the locals. UFOs like this often gather in groups when they are traveling a long distance with an important person on board. Excellent catch of an alien convoy heading to deep space.
Scott C. Waring

Video states: 
On Tuesday, December 13th in the sky near the village Rozsoshentsy, in the Poltava region, unknown objects emitting light were seen. Locals had to shoot them on the camera. 

The viewer can see how the first one appears in the sky, followed by another and another bright point. 

They randomly change their positions, with the bright light in the sky, almost out of sight.

{  http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

“What is that?!” Unidentified, unexplained large object damages man’s van on Milwaukee’s north side 

BY BRET LEMOINE,

MILWAUKEE -- Unidentified Falling Object -- it's a UFO that has one local man scratching his head. His van damaged by a large object, but so far, no one can say exactly what that object is.

The damage is extensive, the owner of the van thinks the object fell from the sky. It's a mystery that plays out like an episode of "The X-Files."

"I was like, what is that?! What happened?! I kept looking around and I couldn't see where it came from. It had to have come from the sky," said Michael Robinson.

Michael Robinson

You could classify this case as an "X-Mas File" just days before the holiday and Marshall Robinson is getting a special delivery. Maybe it fell from Santa's sleigh, or maybe it came from space.

"It's like a cone shape, but on the top it's heavy and inside it's hollow," said Robinson.

Robinson says Tuesday he got a call from his neighbor.

"She heard a loud 'thump,' she was looking out the window," said Robinson.

He saw his van with a huge gash.

"There was no footprints around or nothing," Robinson said.

The rear window shattered and an odd object was found next to it.

"It looked like a barbecue grill in the snow," Robinson said.

Robinson has been racking his brain all week trying to figure out what caused so much damage.

"It's a round-something, looks like it might be the cover to an engine or something," said Robinson.

Robinson called Milwaukee police.

"They was baffled," Robinson said. "They couldn't figure out where it came from."

Robinson says police noted it smelled like diesel fuel, and took the heavy object as evidence. No one could have thrown this, based on the damage, Robinson is convinced the object dropped from above.

"That's a lot of force to put a dent in the top of the van like this," said Robinson.

For now, the chunk of metal is unidentified, unexplained and now most certainly unforgettable.

"I thank God I wasn't standing there when it happened," said Robinson.

FOX6 News reached out to the FAA for comment in the event the object is some sort of airplane debris. A spokesman says they haven't been contacted by investigators.

Milwaukee police say, like a true episode of "The X-Files," their investigation is ongoing. They haven't been able to determine what the object is either.

PHOTO GALLERY

PHOTO GALLERY

{ http://fox6now.com/ }

New book 'Void' explores the mysterious physics of empty space

by Julia Paskin

{ http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/ }

Scientists believe they have solved the ‘extraterrestrial’ mystery

By Adina Camarasu 

Scientists have proposed a different solution for the enigmatic cosmic field called ‘mega alien structure’.

In October 2015, scientists have discovered a bizarre pattern around a star called KIC8462852. When a planet orbits around a star, its brightness decreases by about 1%, but in this case was observed a decrease of up to 22%.

Scientists have speculated that an extremely large object is orbiting around the star.

Also, another hypothesis was a comets’ storm passing nearby and another one questioning the existence of interstellar space objects blocking the light.

Another suggestion came from Jason Wright, an astronomer at Penn State University, who said that what blocks the light are some solar panels built by aliens: ‘The aliens should always be the last option that comes to your mind, but this looked like something you’d expect to be constructed by aliens’.

However, no explanation has satisfied the scientific community because of the mismatch with the data collected. Thus ‘mega alien’ has remained a mystery… until now.

A researchers’ team from the University of Illinois stated that the question was addressed incorrectly and changing the question will give us a satisfactory answer to the riddle.

The researchers studied the relationship between the small decreases in the intensity of light and the large ones.

They applied a series of mathematical models that revealed some patterns. Following the data obtained, the team hypothesized that it was all about the internal cycles of the star, called ‘phase transitions’. They are believed to be associated with solar flares and storms on the surface of the star.

{ http://stocknewsusa.com/ }

Six more fast radio bursts have been discovered coming from the same mystery cosmic source

Repeating FRBs came from same location far beyond the Milky Way where 10 had previously been detected.

• By Hannah Osborne

FRBs are mystery radio bursts from deep space that last for just a few millisecondsiStock

Six additional repeating fast radio bursts have been discovered coming the same unknown source in space. The FRBs came from the same region beyond the Milky Way where 10 bursts had previously been detected – and their discovery should give a greater insight into what caused them.

FRBs are radio signals from deep space that last just a few milliseconds. The first FRB was detected in 2001 and since then over a dozen have been found in telescope data. However, these all appeared to be one-off events, with no two bursts coming from the same location. This means follow-up observations were not possible, keeping their source a mystery.

More from IBTimes UK

•  Can astronomy explain the biblical Star of Bethlehem? Of course it can
•  Wormholes, a little rip and a big bounce: Mind-boggling theories about the universe from 2016
•  A world of ice and iron stolen by the Sun? What we learnt about Planet 9 in 2016

Current theories as to their cause involve a cataclysmic event like a neutron star collapsing into a black hole or a supernova. Another option is they are coming from a young, highly magnetised, extragalactic neutron star.

In March, scientists announced the discovery of the first repeating FRBs. Ten bursts were recorded coming from the same direction as FRB 121102 – a spot in space far beyond the Milky Way.

Their findings, published in the journal Nature, showed the bursts had the same dispersion measurements as the original FRB, indicating the source must have survived whatever event produced the FRB in the first place. As a result, the bursts cannot be being produced by a one-off event.

Bursts were discovered with the Green Bank telescope Jarek Tuszynski / Wikimedia Commons

Now a team led by Paul Scholz of McGill University has found six more FRBs coming from the same region of space as FRB 121102. The study, published in The Astrophysical Journal, said: "We report on radio and X-ray observations of the only known repeating Fast Radio Burst (FRB) source, FRB 121102. We have detected six additional radio bursts from this source: five with the Green Bank Telescope at 2 GHz, and one at 1.4 GHz with the Arecibo Observatory, for a total of 17 bursts from this source."

Read more:

FRBs: Location of mystery space signal discovered along with universe's missing matter

Fast Radio Bursts: Source of mystery radio pulses from outer space detected - it's not aliens

Mystery radio signals from space recorded live from 5.5 billion light years away

FRBs observed with the Arecibo were found to be significantly longer than the intrinsic widths of those found with the Parkes telescope.

The team said their discovery shows that – at least for this source – FRBs cannot be coming from a cataclysmic event. What is causing them, however, remains unknown.

"Whether FRB 121102 is a unique object in the currently known sample of FRBs, or all FRBs are capable of repeating, its characterisation is extremely important to understanding fast extragalactic radio transients," they said.

{ http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ }

Two UFO Over Mexico City Seen Close Up, Dec 18, 2016, Video, UFO Sighting News.

 

Date of sighting: Dec 18, 2016
Location of sighting: Mexico City, Mexico

These two UFOs are keeping perfect distances from one another. There are no strings or ropes, not advertising, so we know they are not balloons. The are metallic or at the least...reflective. The shapes are not that of balloons, but seem to be slowly changing. It was probably one UFO, but had slit up to explore apart. Notice how the UFOs have a very white, cloud like appearance? Perfect camouflage to hide in the sky. How long before the US military has craft that hover and make clouds to hide in?

Mexico has always been a UFO hotspot, so much so that even the ancient Aztecs and Mayans said the gods often moved through the sky and exited and entered through the volcanos. In other words, they saw the UFOs and mistook them for gods. Something advanced technology could easily do when near a civilisation no technologic advancements yet. 

Nice video reported by UFOVNI of Youtube. 
Scott C. Waring

{ http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

Florida: A Photographer Caught UFOs Over The Sea

Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) has received images from an unnamed photographer showing a glowing yellow with two bright dots. The unusual flying thing was spotted over the sea at West Palm Beach, Florida.

According to the report, the witness did not see the object when he snapped the pictures but was stunned after noticing it later.

The man said that he spotted two objects in one of the pictures and only one object in another photo. According to the witness’ statement, the photos were taken one morning and could not believe when he realized he captured UFOs in his pictures.

According to some UFO conspiracy theorists, aliens sometimes hide using clouds or invisibility cloak.  They said that the mysterious object in the picture was cloaked vessel lowering itself into the ocean. However, they pointed out that the strange object made a mistake by entering the sea during sunset.

They explained that UFO’s cloak becomes visible between 30 seconds and 15 minutes during sunset because the light of the sun bends around the cloaked UFO.

The photograph was snapped in May, but only recently reported to MUFON.

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

Between 20 and 30 Star-Like Objects Follow Four Triangle UFOs

Four triangle UFOs appeared in Pennsylvania and followed by several star-like objects on November 4. The witness from Fairless Hills, Bucks County said the mysterious objects traveled without a sound over 20 feet from neighboring homes. Interestingly, the triangle-shaped unidentified flying objects were followed by 20 to 30 star-like objects.

The witness was with his child walking up a slightly inclined street. His youngest child stopped to catch a Pokemon and had lagged behind. The witness turned around after noticing that his child was no longer with him. To his surprise, he saw two large black, triangular UFOs behind his child.

He described the two craft as bigger than the houses as they flew slowly 20 feet above the one-story houses across the street and around 20 feet away. He said the second craft was behind the first craft flying at the same height.

The two black craft had a solid red light in the center with three bright white lights at the three corners.  They headed east and silently shifted direction toward southeast before they disappeared behind trees.

Moments later, the witness saw two more triangular craft flying in the same direction from the same location as the first two craft.  He described the second sighting as like a déjà vu as if they spotted the event again, but in a slightly different angle because they were farther from the two UFOs the second time around.

When the reporting witness and his child turned east, they spotted a patch of sky with between twenty and thirty balls of light that looked like stars but moving. The lights had red to bluish-white to orange to bright white colors. They then went high up to the east of the witness’ direction.

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

UFO sighting caught on tape over Chile 20-Dec-2016

Here’s one new footage of an unidentified flying objects hovering in the sky above Chile. This was seen and recorded on 20th December 2016.

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

NORAD documents reveal 75 UFO intercepts annually

NORAD Alternate Command Center prior to the Cheyenne Mountain Realignment.

UFO Disclosure Advocate Victor Viggiani

{  http://www.mufon.com/ }

Gevaarlijke supervulkaan onder Napels ontwaakt - HLN.be

Bron: AFP, The Independent

De Italiaanse stad Napels is bovenop de supervulkaan Campi Flegrei gebouwd. 

© Thinkstock.

Eén van de gevaarlijkste supervulkanen ter wereld toont tekenen van ontwaken. De druk in de Campi Flegrei, onder de Italiaanse stad Napels, zou volgens wetenschappers een kritiek punt naderen. Het zou de eerste keer in 500 jaar zijn dat de supervulkaan uitbarst. In het risicogebied wonen drie miljoen mensen.

Volgens onderzoekers nadert de supervulkaan een drempel die, wanneer hij overschreden wordt, ervoor zou zorgen dat opstijgend magma gassen en vloeistoffen laat vrijkomen. Die ongewone opstoot zou er dan voor zorgen dat omliggend gesteente met extreem hete stoom wordt geïnjecteerd, zo verklaart Giovanni Chiodini, hoofdauteur van de studie.

Drie miljoen mensen in gevaar
"Dat gesteente kan door verhitting zijn mechanische weerstand verliezen, wat tot kritieke omstandigheden kan leiden", stelt hij tegenover AFP. Dit kan voor een "extreem gevaarlijke" uitbarsting zorgen voor de drie miljoen mensen die in en rond Napels wonen.

Sinds 2005 ondergaat Campi Flegrei zogenaamde 'verheffing', de ophoping van magma onder het oppervlak van de supervulkaan. Om die reden verhoogden de Italiaanse autoriteiten in 2012 het dreigingsniveau van groen naar geel, wat betekent dat de vulkaan continu in de gaten wordt gehouden. Vier jaar geleden waarschuwden wetenschappers dat elke uitbarsting voor miljoenen doden op en rond de vulkaan kan zorgen.

Lees ook

• Tsunamiwaarschuwing na krachtige aardbeving voor kust van Papoea-Nieuw-Guinea
• 30 meter hoge geiser haalt omwonenden Nieuw-Zeelands meer uit slaap

Mondiale catastrofe

"Die uitbarstingen kunnen wereldwijd catastrofale gevolgen hebben, te vergelijken met de inslag van een grote meteoriet", stelt Giuseppe De Natale, die het onderzoeksproject leidt.

De caldera of komvormige krater van de Campi Flegrei werd 39.000 jaar geleden gevormd, na de grootste vulkaanuitbarsting die Europa in 200.000 jaar heeft gekend. 

De nabijgelegen Vesuvius, die onder meer Pompei in 79 na Christus onder lave heeft bedolven, wordt ook als een actieve vulkaan beschouwd. 

Een supervulkaan is een vulkaan die in staat is bij een uitbarsting meer dan 1.000 kubieke kilometer materiaal uit te stoten. Dat is duizenden keren meer dan bij normale vulkaanuitbarstingen. De nieuwe studie werd gepubliceerd in het wetenschappelijke vakblad Nature Communication.

{ http://www.hln.be/ }

RAUÐSKINNA - THE MYSTERIOUS ICELANDIC BOOK OF BLACK MAGIC

Rauðskinna, (also known as the ‘Red Skin’ for its binding, or else wise as the Book of Power), is considered to be one of the most powerful black documents to have been produced. The book, which was written by an Icelandic bishop named Gottskalk Nikulausson, contains various dark rule and spells that claim to allow the practitioner to gain control of the devil himself.

 

 The book’s author Gottskalk Nikulausson lived in Iceland during the high medieval period. Contemporary records suggest that he was born into a devout family and eventually rose to become the Bishop of Holar. But while projecting an image of virtuous piety in public, his private persona was very different. Nikulausson was known to have two families, despite never having married, and was described as manipulative, spiteful and highly ambitious. 

 

Nikulausson was driven by a desire for power and social status. It was this that led him to dabble in the dark arts which would eventually come to consume every facet of his life. He worked tirelessly on his dark and dangerous tome, but it is not known whether he ever managed to put his work into practice. When he died in the winter of 1520, he was buried along with his precious red-skinned book.

 

 But the story does not end there. Two centuries later, another Icelandic man named Loftur arrived at the cathedral school in Holar. He had already mastered several black magic spells and was said to have used them against the local people. However, he hungered for more, and when he heard the legend of Nikulausson he decided to exhume his tomb to uncover his secrets. He asked another student for assistance in doing so, and when the other student refused, he was murdered.

 

 

According to legend, Loftur eventually fell victim to the magic and power he so desired. He was walking around the church and chanting spells to summon Gottskalk and get his book, the Rauðskinna. According to the folklore story retold by Shaun D. L. Brassfield-Thorpe: 

 

• ''Despite all this, Gottskalk still did not come from his grave - so Loftur started chanting as never before. He turned the words of the Psalms into praises for the Devil and made a sorry confession of all his good deeds. The three crowned dead bishops kept as far away as possible from Loftur and faced him with their hands raised - the other dead bishops looked at them and kept their gaze away from Loftur. At last a heavy sound was heard, and a dead man arose bearing a staff in his left hand and a red book under his right arm. He did not wear a crucifix on his chest, and he looked unkindly at the other dead bishops. He gazed at Loftur, who chanted all the more during this. Gottskalk moved a little closer to Loftur and said scornfully: "You chant well, my son, and better than I would have expected. But you will not get my Rauðskinna." Loftur then seemed to turn himself inside out and chanted in a way he had never done before. He changed The Blessing and The Lord's Prayer into praises for the Devil, and the church shook like a straw in the wind. The student, watching in the belfry, thought he saw Gottskalk move again closer to Loftur and he seemed to thrust a corner of the book towards the magician. He had been frightened all this time but now he shook with his terror. He thought he saw the bishop lift the book and Loftur stretch out his hand. So, he pulled the bell rope as hard as he could and everything that had appeared vanished into the floor with a whispering sound.'' 

 

Loftur became obsessed with discovering the dark secrets of The Book of Power. He marched around the church, chanting spells in an attempt to summon the dead bishop and get his hands on the book. When this didn’t work, he began to praise Satan and begged forgiveness for all of the good deeds he had done in his life. According to the folklorist Shaun D. L. Brassfield-Thorpe, a dead man then appeared before him bearing a staff in his left hand and carrying a red book under his right arm. He said; "You chant well, my son, and better than I would have expected. But you will not get my Rauðskinna." 

 

At these words, Loftur continued chanting Satanic verses but became more frantic. The church began to shake ‘like a straw in the wind.' A student hiding in the belfry, who claimed that he witnessed the scene, said that he saw Nikulausson moved closer to Loftur and seemed to thrust a book towards him. At this point, the student panicked and pulled the rope in the Belfry as hard as he could. At that point, everything that had appeared vanished into the floor with an eerie whispering sound. 

 

Details about what happened to Loftur are unknown, as is the fate of the terrifying red-skinned book.  

http://www.disclose.tv/

{ http://7tales.net/ }

ANOTHER TED TALK BANNED: NOW THE PHYSICIST SHARES EVERYTHING HE KNOWS ABOUT ESP

IS THE MOON REAL? NEW ANALYSIS SHOWS IT MIGHT BE A HOLOGRAM

{ http://7tales.net/ }

INVISIBLE ENTITIES LIVING IN EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE

VREEMDE LICHT / UFO NU BOVEN BERG IN SLOWAKIJE

Enkele weken geleden verscheen er opeens een bizar vreemd licht boven de Colima vulkaan in Mexico. 

Iets dat daar op lijkt is nu door iemand vastgelegd boven een berg in Slovakije. 

Er gebeuren zoveel vreemde dingen op de wereld en in het “gewone nieuws” vind je daar eigenlijk nooit iets van terug. 

Zoals die bizarre lichten boven de Mexicaanse vulkaan enkele weken geleden: 

De Colima vulkaan, waar de webcam wel iets heel bijzonders vast wist te leggen. 

Het zag er zo uit:

De volgende serie foto’s geeft ongeveer een beeld van wat er achtereenvolgens was te zien.

Wat het ook is, het is enorm, want de krater zelf schijnt een doorsnee te hebben van zo’n 600 meter. 

Is dit een enorm ruimteschip dat zich middels een soort plasma-achtige structuur probeert te verbergen? En wat doet dit enorme schip dan bij de vulkaan? 

Heeft het iets te maken met het tanken van energie, zoals soms grote UFO’s dat lijken te doen in de buurt van de zon? 

Nu, iets vergelijkbaars boven een heuvel/berg in Slovakije. Het is dit keer geen vulkaan, maar wel een licht/UFO dat veel lijkt op die in Mexico. 

Het ziet er als volgt uit:

Het ziet er zeker niet uit als een solide object, maar meer als een soort plasma-achtig iets. Maar, het is ook iets dat je de laatste tijd steeds vaker tegenkomt. 

De opnames lijken wel echt te zijn, net zoals die met de webcam in Mexico. Iemand die hier een zinnige verklaring voor kan bedenken mag het zeggen. 

 

Bovenstaande opnames zijn gemaakt op 19 december 2016 in Slovakije, door dezelfde persoon die ook de UFO wist vast te leggen die enkele dagen daarvoor door en rond een grote chemtrail vloog: 

Enkele dagen geleden op 16 december 2016 wordt er boven Slovakije een grote chemtrail waargenomen. 

Even later verschijnt er een felwitte orb/UFO die volgens de getuige rondom en door de chemtrail vliegt.

Hebben de vreemde lichten/UFO’s in Mexico en Slovakije iets met elkaar te maken? Is er reden dat ze veelal voorkomen bij bergen en vulkanen? Wie of wat zitten erachter en besturen/controleren deze lichten/UFO’s? 

Allemaal vragen waarop we op dit moment het antwoord schuldig moeten blijven, maar wie weet komt er iemand met een oplossing voor dit raadsel.

{ http://niburu.co/ }

Cassini presenteert: één van de beste foto's van Pandora

Caroline Kraaijvanger

Eerder deze week kwam Cassini dichter bij de maan van Saturnus in de buurt dan ooit. Het resulteert in een prachtige close-upfoto.

De foto is bijzonder. Slechts zelden hebben we het maantje in zo’n hoge resolutie kunnen bewonderen.

Ruimtesonde Cassini maakte de foto van Pandora op 18 december. Toen scheerde de sonde voor de derde keer langs de buitenste randen van de hoofdringen van Saturnus. Daarbij passeerde de sonde ook Pandora. Op het moment dat Cassini dit fraaie kiekje maakte, was deze zo’n 40.500 kilometer van Pandora verwijderd. Nog niet eerder kwam de sonde zo dicht bij het maantje in de buurt.

Pandora doet qua vorm nog het meeste denken aan een aardappel. Met een gemiddelde straal van zo’n 40 kilometer is het een klein maantje. Pandora is te vinden nabij de F-ring en doet er zo’n 15,1 uur over om een rondje rond Saturnus te voltooien. Het maantje is een slordige 142.000 kilometer van de gasreus verwijderd.

Afbeelding: NASA.

Bronmateriaal:

"Pandora Up Close" - NASA

{ https://www.scientias.nl/ }

{ http://www.openminds.tv/ }

Baby 'Spiders' on Mars Expand Across Sand Dunes (Photos)

This image by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a network of cracks that may be growing into a larger feature dubbed a “spider.”

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

A NASA Mars probe may have snapped rare baby photos of the Red Planet's bizarre "spiders."

The images, captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), show small, erosion-carved cracks in Red Planet sand dunes. The features may be infant versions of the similar-looking but larger Martian channel-networks that have been dubbed spiders, a recent study suggested.

"We have seen for the first time these smaller features that survive and extend from year to year, and this is how the larger spiders get started," study lead author Ganna Portyankina, of the University of Colorado Boulder said in a statement. "These are in sand-dune areas, so we don't know whether they will keep getting bigger or will disappear under moving sand." [Latest Photos from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter]

A network of small, erosion-carved channels on Mars has grown and expanded over the span of three Martian years, as these photos by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

The spiders have been spotted only near the Martian south pole. During Mars' southern winter, carbon dioxide ice caps cover this area. When the ice thaws in the spring, deep troughs are carved into the terrain. The crevices vary in size, and multiple channels generally converge at a central point, creating surface features that resemble giant arachnids.

The new images, which MRO took with its High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, allow scientists to chart the year-to-year growth of the potential baby spiders for the first time ever, NASA officials said.

HiRISE images captured over the span of three Martian years (which is equal to about 5.7 Earth years) show a growing network of branching channels on sand dunes. While these channels appear to be relatively small, they may help scientists learn more about how the larger spider features form, NASA officials said.

In fact, based on the rate at which the smaller channels have grown over the last three Martian years, researchers estimate it would take more than 1,000 Martian years to sculpt a typical spider feature, said the study, which was published Sept. 22 in the journal Icarus.

These five images from the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show different Martian features of progressively greater size and complexity, all thought to result from thawing of seasonal carbon dioxide ice that covers large areas near Mars' south pole during winter.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Similar grooves have previously been spotted on sand dunes near Mars' north pole; however, those features lasted no longer than a year, as surrounding sand filled them in. The newly reported channels, on the other hand, have grown year to year and formed a branching pattern that closely resembles full-scale spider terrain, NASA officials said.

"There are dunes where we see these dendritic [or branching] troughs in the south, but in this area, there is less sand than around the north pole," Portyankina said in the statement. "I think the sand is what jump-starts the process of carving a channel in the ground."

Sandy terrain is soft enough to be carved by the thawing carbon dioxide, but in order for the channels to persist and expand from year to year, the underlying ground must be relatively hard. Otherwise, loose sand refills the carved terrain and the channels cannot grow into the full-scale spiders observed near Mars' south pole, NASA officials said.

"The combination of very high-resolution imaging and the mission's longevity is enabling us to investigate active processes on Mars that produce detectable changes on time spans of seasons or years," MRO deputy project scientist Leslie Tamppari, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in the NASA statement. "We keep getting surprises about how dynamic Mars is."

Follow Samantha Mathewson @Sam_Ashley13. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

EDITOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS

• Mars Myths & Misconceptions: Quiz
• 7 Biggest Mysteries of Mars
• Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter: Mapping Mars in High Definition

{ http://www.space.com/ }

Mystery of 'Alien Megastructure' Star Testing Astronomers' Creativity

This artist's illustration shows comet fragments crossing the face of a star, one possible explanation for the strange dimming exhibited by "Boyajian's star."

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

SAN FRANCISCO — Astronomers may have to think a little harder to solve the mystery of Boyajian's star.

In September 2015, Yale University's Tabetha Boyajian and her colleagues reported that the star KIC 8462852 has dimmed dramatically multiple times over the past seven years, once by an astounding 22 percent. 

NASA's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope spotted these dimming events. But the brightness dips of "Boyajian's star," as it has come to be known, were far too significant to be caused by an orbiting planet, so astronomers began thinking of alternative explanations. [13 Ways to Hunt Intelligent Alien Life]

Researchers have come up with many possible causes for the dimming, including a swarm of broken-apart comet fragments, variability in the activity of the star itself, a cloud of some sort in the interstellar medium between Kepler and Boyajian's star, and, most famously, an orbiting "megastructure" built by an alien civilization to collect stellar energy.

Researchers are testing these hypotheses to the extent possible. For example, the $100 million Breakthrough Listen initiative is using the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia to hunt for signals coming from Boyajian's star, which lies about 1,500 light-years from Earth.

The Green Bank observing run will wrap up next month, said team member Jason Wright, an astronomer at Pennsylvania State University. (Other research groups have used different instruments to search for signs of intelligent aliens around Boyajian's star, coming up empty to date.)

Wright has spent a fair bit of time over the past 15 months pondering what's happening with Boyajian's star; indeed, he's lead author of a recent study outlining the various possiblities. 

The mystery has only deepened since Boyajian and colleagues' September 2015 paper. Early last year, for example, astronomer Bradley Schaefer of Louisiana State University determined that, in addition to the periodic brightness dips, the star dimmed overall by about 20 percent between 1890 and 1989. This result was bolstered by another 2016 study, which found that Boyajian's star dimmed by about 3 percent between 2009 and 2013.

Wright has said that the interstellar-cloud explanation seems the most likely of the proffered hypotheses. But he's not betting on it. "That would have to be some crazy interstellar cloud," he told Space.com here last week at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

Researchers may have to dig deeper to figure out exactly what's causing the strange dimming of Boyajian's star, Wright said.

"I think it's very likely that we haven't heard the right answer yet — that I haven't heard the right answer yet, anyway," he said.

Stay tuned!

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

EDITOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS

• 'Alien Megastructure' Star Being Investigated By UC Berkeley | Video
• SETI: All About the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Infographic)
• Dyson Spheres: How Advanced Alien Civilizations Would Conquer the Galaxy (Infographic)

{ http://www.space.com/ }

Hubble Space Telescope Photographs NGC 248 — A Pair Of Glowing Hydrogen Nebulae In The Small Magellanic Cloud

A Hubble image showing a pair of nebulae — the NGC 248 — located 200,000 light-years away in the Small Magellanic Cloud. The data used in this image were taken with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys.  Photo: NASA, ESA, STScI, K. Sandstrom (University of California, San Diego), and the SMIDGE team

As part of a study called the Small Magellanic Cloud Investigation of Dust and Gas Evolution, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have captured an image of two glowing hydrogen nebulae in the Milky Way’s dwarf satellite galaxy. The image, captured using Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), show the two “festive” looking nebulae, located so close to each other that they are referred to by one collective name — NGC 248.

The glowing red appearance of NGC 248 is most likely the result of intense radiation of its central stars heating up hydrogen in their surroundings. Scientists believe that the Small Magellanic Cloud, located roughly 200,000 light-years from Earth, contains many such glowing hydrogen nebulae, and that studying these can help better understand the birth and evolution of stars in galaxies.

“Astronomers are using Hubble to probe the Milky Way satellite to understand how dust is different in galaxies that have a far lower supply of heavy elements needed to create dust,” NASA said in a statement accompanying the image. “The Small Magellanic Cloud has between a fifth and a tenth of the amount of heavy elements that the Milky Way does. Because it is so close, astronomers can study its dust in great detail, and learn about what dust was like earlier in the history of the universe.”

Related Stories

• Hubble Spies A Distant Galaxy Facing An Identity Crisis
• Astronomers Discover Dwarf Galaxies Rich In Dark Matter

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched aboard NASA’s space shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990. Since then, it has not only captured photos of an unimaginable number of truly spectacular nebulae and  galaxies, it has also peered back over 13 billion years to look at our cosmos in its infancy, giving us, as NASA aptly put in an earlier statement, “a front row seat to the awe inspiring universe we live in.”

Most recently, Hubble snapped an image of the IC 5201 — a barred spiral galaxy over 40 million light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Grus. The image, which reveals a bar of stars slicing through the center of IC 5201 — a feature visible in two-thirds of all spiral galaxies in the observable universe — was also captured using the ACS. 

Bizarre Antimatter Emits Same Light As Regular Matter

One of the big questions lingering about our universe is why there is so much more matter than antimatter.

Credit: GiroScience / Shutterstock.com

For the first time, physicists have shown that atoms of antimatter appear to give off the same kind of light that atoms of regular matter do when illuminated with lasers, a new study finds.

More precise measurements of this emitted light could unearth clues that might finally help solve the mystery of why there is so much less antimatter than normal matter in the universe, researchers say.

For every particle of normal matter, there is an antimatter counterpart with the same mass but the opposite electrical charge. The antiparticles of the electron and proton, for instance, are the positron and antiproton, respectively.

When a particle meets its antiparticle, they annihilate each other, giving off a burst of energy. A gram of antimatter annihilating a gram of matter would release about twice the energy as the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. (You don't have to worry about antimatter bombs popping up anytime soon; researchers are very far from creating anywhere near a gram of antimatter.)

It remains a mystery why there is so much more matter than antimatter in the universe. The Standard Model of particle physics — the best description yet of how the basic building blocks of the universe behave — suggests that the Big Bang should have created equal amounts of matter and antimatter. [The 9 Biggest Unsolved Mysteries in Physics]

Shining light on antimatter

Scientists would like to learn more about antimatter to see if it behaves differently from matter in a way that could help solve the puzzle of why the universe has so little antimatter.

One key set of experiments would involve shining lasers on antimatter atoms, which can absorb and emit light much like atoms of regular matter. If antihydrogen atoms emitted a different spectrum of light than hydrogen atoms, such spectral differences could yield insights on other ways matter and antimatter differ, the researchers said.

Now, for the first time, scientists have used lasers to carry out a spectral analysis of antihydrogen atoms.

"I like to call this the Holy Grail of antimatter physics,"said study co-author Jeffrey Hangst, a physicist at Aarhus University in Denmark. "I've been working for more than 20 years to make this possible, and this project has finally come together after many difficult steps."

The researchers experimented with antihydrogen, which is the simplest atom of antimatter, just as hydrogen is the simplest atom of regular matter. Antihydrogen atoms each consist of one antiproton and one positron.

Creating enough antimatter for researchers to examine has proven highly challenging. To create antihydrogen atoms, the researchers mixed clouds of about 90,000 antiprotons with clouds of about 1.6 million positrons (or antielectrons), yielding about 25,000 antihydrogen atoms per attempt using the ALPHA-2 apparatus, which is an antimatter generation and trapping system, at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland.

Chris Ørum and Steven Armstrong Jones work on the laser ALPHA experiment to find out the properties of light emitted by antihydrogen.

Credit: CERN

After the researchers create the antihydrogen atoms, "you have to hold on to them, and that's very difficult," Hangst told Live Science. Antihydrogen is electrically neutral, which means that it cannot be held in place using electric fields, "and you have to keep it away from matter, so it has to be kept in high vacuum," he said. In addition, antimatter is best kept at temperatures close to absolute zero (minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 273.15 degrees Celsius), so it is slow-moving and easier to hold on to than antihydrogen atoms.

The researchers trapped antihydrogen in very strong magnetic fields. "We can now hold about 15 antihydrogen atoms at a time," Hangst said. [Mystery Deepens: Matter and Antimatter Are Mirror Images]

Then, they shone a laser on the antihydrogen, which caused the atoms to give off light. The scientists then measured the spectrum of light that antihydrogen gave off with a precision of about a few parts in 10^10 — that is, a 1 with 10 zeroes behind it. In comparison, researchers can currently measure these properties of hydrogen to a precision of a few parts in 10^15. "We want to measure antihydrogen with the same precision as hydrogen, and we see no reason why we can't do that in the future," Hangst said.

Currently the spectrums of light from hydrogen and antihydrogen look alike.

However, measuring antihydrogen with greater precision might ultimately reveal differences between matter and antimatter that could solve the mystery of the missing antimatter and lead to revolutionary changes in the Standard Model. "This is really game-changing work," Hangst said.

The scientists detailed their findings online Dec. 19 in the journal Nature.

Original article on Live Science.

Editor's Recommendations

• Beyond Higgs: 5 Elusive Particles That May Lurk in the Universe
• 5 Reasons We May Live in a Multiverse
• Top 10 Greatest Explosions Ever

{ http://www.livescience.com/ }

UFO Sighting In Sebastian Excites Local Enthusiasts

A green object was seen in the sky over Sebastian. (Photo: Duffie Almeida Fattey)

SEBASTIAN, Florida – A UFO was captured by a Sebastian resident when she was taking pictures of the clouds on Wednesday near the Indian River.

At first glance, the object appears to be a lens flare. But upon further investigation, the Unidentified Flying Object shows up in other images without the flare (see picture below).

“I was just taking pictures of the clouds and sun and noticed it,” Duffie Almeida Fattey said in a statement. “Then, 15 minutes later I went out and took more pictures.”

The object appears to be bright green, and the size is unknown. There are a lot of theories on what it might be. It can’t be the moon since it was on the opposite side of the planet at the time these photos were taken.

The object in the photo can’t be a meteor because they usually leave a tail and carry streaks, and meteors only last a few seconds. This UFO was in the sky for several minutes.

There have been other sightings in Sebastian reported to the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), which is an American-based non-profit organization that investigates cases of alleged UFO sightings.

The first report of a UFO in the area was on January 4, 2015, when two red glowing objects suddenly changed direction, according to MUFON.

The second incident was reported on May 6, 2015, after several residents spotted a “metallic long inverted cross like shape” that made no noise.

MUFON received the third report of a UFO sighting in Sebastian on February 3, 2016, after witnesses saw a well-formed contrail that made a tight zig-zag flight pattern, into a loop. The UFO then appeared to go straight up with two black forms on each side.

There must be an explanation for this sighting. In the meantime, we’ll just accept it as a Christmas greeting.

{ https://www.sebastiandaily.com/ }

White Light UFO Over Mountain In Slovakia On Dec 19, 2016, Video, UFO Sighting News.

{ http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

UFO With Green Trail Over Homes Near Huntington Beach, California, Photos, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: 7-20-2013, but reported this week.
Location of sighting: Huntington Beach, California, USA
Source: MUFON #81084

Here is an interesting report that was just sent into MUFON today. A dark UFO disk was moving around above the eyewitnesses neighbourhood and the UFO was making a green trail behind it. Now this concerns me because it appears to be a UFO that is spraying something over the neighbourhood. This may be another alien experiment...something that will effect their health, probably mental health and either improve or worsen their lives. If this UFO was damaged which caused the smoke, it would have landed somewhere. 
Scott C. Waring

Eyewitness states:

It was my birthday at my house. I was taking out the kitchen trash. It was approximately 11am, July 20th 2013. I walked out of the exterior garage mandoor on the W side of my house. I immediately heard a low rumble mixed with a hissing like noise above me to the west. I looked up to see what I first thought was a passenger plane on fire. there are many airports nearby and it was not unusual to see planes in the airspace this object was in. within a second or two, I was startled because i had realized this was no plane. it was a dull silver domed object with orange lights around its middle. I thought I could see a small spire like portrusion out of the top of the object. it was a typical domed ufo looking craft.

In fact, that was one of my first conscious thoughts... Wow. My first real UFO sighting and it couldn't be a more typical looking UFO! It was obvious to me that this craft was in trouble. I saw no flame or intense burning/glowing but could see some sort of fluctuating vapor trail being left. The vapor trail didn't seem to be coming from any particular vent or place on the craft. The vapor seemed to almost enshroud the craft and then slip off and fall behind. The rate of the vapor coming off seemed to vary slightly. It would leave a trail and dissipate withing a few seconds. The color was both disconcerning and facinatingly beautiful.

My first thoughts were that it was highly poisonous or radioactive. the rumbling hiss seemed to increase in intensity coinciding with the billowing emerald green shimmery misty vapor or smoke this craft was leaving in its wake. I felt the object was approximately a mile from me when I first observed it. It was directly above me and to the West when I first caught sight of the object, travelling in a South or SW trajectory. It's speed was that of a landing passenger plane. And it's size seeemed to be about as wide as a school bus is long. Maybe 35-40 feet wide at it's center. It was a particularly clear and sunny, beautiful morning day. I could see the object in very clear detail. I saw no markings, windows or anything on the domed surfaces both on top and below. I saw no markings on the central saturn-ring of the object. I saw what looked like a dull orange light in the short (maybe 2-3foot) spire atop the craft. It could have been the extream rush of adrenahlin but I became so overwhelmed with emotion upon seeing this object that I rememeber feeling very faint, and close to throwing up my breakfast. Fighting off the swirling thoughts (fear, excitment, shock, awe, worry, dread, mania, etc...) I remembered my cell phone camera. I remember almost ripping the pocket of my jeans trying to get my phone out. I brought the phone / camera up to my face level and shot three photos. the first was my finger in the way of the lens. the second and thrid shot are attached with this report. I believe my phone at the time was a Samsung S2... I may have had my S5 by then but I'd have to look that up. I can if it matters. the elapsed time between when i first noticed the object and when I managed to start taking photos was probably 10-15 seconds.

The object travelled in a straight line heading S - SW. This would have been from my right to left. It seemed to me to be flying directly above Beach Blvd/Hwy 39, which was the major street near me. It was flying towards the ocean which was approx 3 miles away to the South. 

{ http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

GORDON COOPER & UFOs: AN ASTRONAUT SPEAKS OUT by Timothy Green Beckley

"One of the few individuals whose prominence is beyond question has, however, over the past few months, dared to open his mouth and challenge the status quo. Gordon Cooper was one of America's original astronauts. He helped pioneer this country's space exploration efforts when, aboard a tiny space capsule known as Mercury [Faith] 7, Cooper orbited the Earth for 34 hours, proving that man could live outside our atmosphere for prolonged periods. His patriotism, bravery and respectability go without saying... Cooper has recently made several public pronouncements concerning his strong belief in UFOs. While a guest on the Merv Griffin Show, Cooper shocked the viewing audiences by speaking for over five minutes on a topic that was only within the past few years often considered too bizarre for polite conversation. But there were some things that Cooper wouldn't even discuss on the air in front of the curious multitudes. Luckily Lee Spiegel is a personal friend of Gordon Cooper. They have conferred on several occasions, and while in the company of the man who is bound and determined to crack the 'Cosmic Watergate' which he is convinced exists within the higher echelon of government, the former space traveler is more than happy to talk about his UFO experiences - and they are many. In the early 1950s, Cooper was assigned to a jet fighter group in Germany. While stationed there, he remembers very vividly the week an entire formation of circular objects passed over the Air Base on almost a daily routine. 'We never could get close enough to pin them down, but they were round in shape and very metallic looking,' Cooper points out. UFOs were to continue to haunt him when the Air Force Colonel was transferred several years later to Edwards Air Force Base Flight Test Center in the California desert. What happened one afternoon while he was on duty at this military base is evidence enough that the government definitely does keep a lot of secrets when it comes to UFOs! The incident took place in the late 1950s, either 1957 or 1958 - as Cooper can best recall; and to this day, the photographic evidence of an actual UFO touching down upon the Earth is being kept under wraps. During this period, Cooper was a Project Manager at Edwards Air Force Base, just three or four years before entering America's space program. After lunch this particular day, Cooper had assigned a team of photographers to an area of the vast dry lake beds near Edwards. In a taped interview with UFOlogist Lee Spiegel, the former Astronaut disclosed that while the crew was out there, they spotted a strange-looking craft above the lake bed, and they began taking films of it. Cooper says the object was very definitely 'hovering above the ground. And then it slowly came down and sat on the lake bed for a few minutes.' All during this time the motion picture cameras were filming away. 'There were varied estimates by the cameramen on what the actual size of the object was,' Cooper confesses, 'but they all agreed that it was at least the size of a vehicle that would carry normal-sized people in it.' Col. Cooper was not fortunate enough to be outside at the time of this incredible encounter, but he did see the films as soon as they were rushed through the development process. 'It was a typical circular-shaped UFO,' he recollects. 'Not too many people saw it, because it took off at quite a sharp angle and just climbed straight on out of sight!' Cooper admits he didn't take any kind of poll to determine who had seen the craft, 'because there were always strange things flying around in the air over Edwards.' This is a statement Lee Spiegel was able to verify through his own research efforts, having obtained closely guarded tapes of conversations between military pilots circling the base and their commanding officers in the flight tower, tracking the presence of unknown objects. 'People just didn't ask a lot of questions about things they saw and couldn't understand,' notes Cooper, who adds that it was a lot simpler to look the other way, shrug one's shoulders, and chalk up what had been seen to 'just another experimental aircraft that must have been developed at another area of the air base.' But what about the photographic proof - the motion picture footage - that was taken? 'I think it was definitely a UFO,' Cooper states, as he makes no bones about it. 'However, where it (the object) came from and who was in it is hard to determine, because it didn't stay around long enough to discuss the matter - there wasn't even time to send out a welcoming committee!' After he reviewed the film at least a dozen times, the footage was quickly forwarded to Washington. Cooper no doubt expected to get a reply in a few weeks' time as to what his men had seen and photographed, but there was no word, and the movie *vanished* - never to surface again.... On coast-to-coast television, Cooper recently made a blockbuster statement that had the telephone lines tied up the next day, as viewers telephoned the stations which carried the syndicated Merv Griffin Show, anxious to find out if their ears had been playing tricks on them the night before. Toward the end of the talk-show host's interview with the former Astronaut, Merv broke into a secretive tone of voice right on the air, and aimed a hundred-thousand-dollar question at his guest: 'There is a story going around, Gordon, that a spaceship did land in middle America and there were occupants, and members of our government were able to keep one of the occupants alive for a period of time. They've seen the metal of the aircraft and they know what the people look like - is that a credible story?' For all intents and purposes Cooper should have laughed for assuredly such a speculative story belongs in the category of science fiction or space fantasy. But Gordon Cooper kept a straight face when he replied: 'I think it's fairly credible. I would like to see the time when all qualified people could really work together to properly investigate these stories and either refute or prove them.' The bombshell had been dropped. Cooper went on to say that from the various reports of UFO contacts and abductions he had been privy to, he was convinced that the occupants of this crashed UFO were 'probably not that different from what we are,' - that they are almost totally humanoid (i.e., have two arms, two legs, a torso and readily identifiable facial features) in appearance. Taken aback by what Cooper had said over the national airwaves, Lee Spiegel telephoned Cooper's office the following morning and managed to get past his private secretary, though others in the media were getting the cold shoulder. 'Cooper admitted to me that he could have revealed more on the air, but he decided not to play his entire hand because he felt certain that some 'official eyebrows were going to get raised'.'" source: "MJ-12 and the Riddle of Hangar 18" by Timothy Green Beckley; 1981; Inner Light Publications P.O. Box 753, New Brunswick, N.J. 08903; p.12 - 14.

{ http://l.facebook.com/l/www.ufocasebook.com/ }