Daytime UFO sighting over Washington, DC YESTERDAY

This daytime UFO video was filmed on 11th December 2020 over Washington DC.

Witness report: 

I was sitting in tree stand facing southeast deer hunting. At 5:38 pm cst a light was noticed approx 70 degrees overhead traveling east. I struggled for about 20 seconds to get rifle rested, gloves off, and cell phone out of my pocket. Light immediately changed direction of travel to southeast and I started recording video. Light continued moving southeast for approx 36 seconds before going out.

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The multiple volcanoes in the Islands of the Four Mountains (shown), part of the chain that make up the Aleutian Islands in southwestern Alaska, appear to be connected by one large caldera created when a supervolcano erupted, a new study suggests.

NASA

Samples of asteroid Ryugu arrive in Japan after successful Hayabusa2 capsule landing

An aerial shot of the Hayabusa2 return capsule and parachute after its landing on a bush in the Woomera Prohibited Area, Australia.

(Image: © JAXA)

The Hayabusa2 spacecraft left Ryugu in November 2019 after snagging samples from the asteroid's surface and interior. The main spaceship parted ways with the return capsule just two days before the delivery was complete and retreated to begin work on its extended mission, which will feature encounters with two more asteroids, in 2026 and 2031.

Meanwhile, scientists in Australia waited for the distinctive fireball the capsule would create on its way in through the atmosphere. "The weather was crystal clear," Yuichi Tsuda, project manager for Hayabusa2, said during the news conference of the weather at the capsule's arrival. The fireball streaked through the Southern Cross and near Alpha Centauri, according to officials during the news conference.

But the stunning re-entry fireball images that observers were able to capture nearly didn't exist. A storm passed through the area the day before, and scientists worried that the weather would make the retrieval process more difficult. "One day before there was heavy rain; we were very lucky," Satoru Nakazawa, recovery manager for the mission, said during the news conference.

Although the weather cleared, there was still a tense moment during the recovery, he said. The sun hadn't yet risen when the capsule landed, which made its beacon signal less clear to waiting receivers. "I was very, very, very nervous and uneasy," Nakazawa said. "We had to spend a very jittering frustrating time until the sun rose."

Once the sun rose, the scientists could see the capsule for themselves, perfectly within the planned landing area and crashed next to a bush on Woomera's red soil. JAXA personnel carefully untangled the parachute, bush and capsule, Nakazawa explained, cautious in case any explosive parachute triggers remained loaded.

After the initial inspection, about two dozen staff jumped into action, ferrying the spacefaring capsule into a box for safekeeping, then to a helicopter that carried it to the team's headquarters. There, scientists attempted to draw a gas sample from the capsule, which may still contain gases from Ryugu itself.

But the clock was ticking: The Hayabusa2 team wanted the sample in Japan within 100 hours of its return to Earth in order to keep the space rock pristine. So the capsule's next destination was an airplane for a nine-hour flight from Australia to Japan on Monday.

"There the sample will start to tell its stories and reveal to us some wonderful science," Megan Clark, head of the Australian Space Agency, said during the news conference. "2020 has been a difficult year all around the world, but Hayabusa2 and the safe return of the capsule reminds us to renew our faith in the world and our trust and appreciation and awe in the science of our universe."

Even before setting eyes on the sample themselves, scientists with the mission are thrilled about the successful collection procedure and the scientific discoveries that will result.

"Hayabusa2 is home. It has finished six years of voyage and we landed in the Woomera and we could collect the treasure box," Tsuda said. (The mission launched in December 2014.) "Hayabusa2 is still in perfect shape and the capsule is also perfect … We're really looking forward to seeing that capsule."

Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her on Twitter @meghanbartels.

Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

{ https://www.space.com/ }

NASA's spacecraft spots China's Chang'e 5 lander on the moon

Prabhakaran

A captured the images to create this composite on December 14, 2018. He wrote of the 2018 Geminid shower, “I witnessed 200+ meteors, most of them very faint.”

If you had to pick one morning for watching the 2020 Geminid meteor shower, it’d probably be Monday morning, December 14. But Saturday and Sunday mornings might be good as well. At their peak, on a dark, moonless night, the Geminids have been known to produce 120 meteors per hour – or more – in the wee hours after midnight. Any and all meteors are fun to see! Plus, the moon is at and near the new phase for this year’s shower, giving us a dark, moonless sky for this year’s Geminid shower. Not sure where to watch? Try EarthSky’s Best Places to Stargaze page.

Not sure how to watch? Here are 10 tips.

1. Watch late night to dawn. 

Geminid meteor numbers tend to intensify as evening deepens into late night, with the greatest number of Geminids likely falling an hour or two after midnight, when the meteor shower’s radiant point appears highest in the sky as seen from around the globe. That time holds true no matter your time zone.

2. Get away from city lights. 

For optimum viewing, find a dark place to observe in the country.

3. Give yourself a wide-open view of the sky. 

A farmer’s field? A stretch of country road? A campsite with a clear view in one or more directions? An open sky will increase your chances of seeing some meteors.

4. Watch for an hour or more. 

The 2020 Geminid meteor shower will be better if you let your eyes adapt to the dark. That can take as long as 20 minutes. Plus the meteors tend to come in spurts, followed by lulls. Be patient! You’ll see some.

5. Don’t worry about the radiant point. 

You don’t need to look in a single direction – or locate the Geminid’s radiant point – to have fun watching the shower. The meteors will appear all over the sky. The radiant point is interesting, though. If you track Geminid meteors backwards on the sky’s dome, you’ll find them streaming from this point, within the constellation Gemini the Twins. Hence this shower’s name.

• Read more: Find the Geminids’ radiant point

6. Watch for the moon and Venus. 

In December 2020, there’s no moonlight to ruin the show. New moon is December 14. But – in the weekend mornings, just prior to the Geminids’ peak morning (also December 14), you can catch the waning crescent moon moon and Venus in the east before sunup. They would be a grand way to end a meteor shower!

• The lunar show the moon phase for every day in 2021. Order yours before they’re gone! Makes a great gift.

As the predawn darkness begins to give way to morning twilight, watch for the waning crescent moon and the dazzling planet Venus rise into your eastern sky. What a wonderful way to cap a night of meteor watching!

7. Think about the Geminids’ parent object. 

Most meteors in annual showers originate in comets. But the parent of the Geminid meteor shower is a mysterious body named 3200 Phaethon. This solar system object is termed an Apollo (near-Earth) asteroid, and it might be a dormant comet. How does that help you watch the shower? It doesn’t. But it’s fun to contemplate on a dark night under the stars.

• Read more: Mysterious rock-comet 3200 Phaethon.

8. Bring along a buddy. 

Both of you watch different parts of the sky. If one of you sees one, shout out “meteor!” Again, don’t worry about which direction to look. Just let your eyes rove casually in all parts of the sky.

9. Special equipment? Not necessary. 

You only need a dark sky, a reclining lawn chair and the warmth of a sleeping bag. A hot drink and a snack can also be good.

10. Enjoy nature. 

As a wise man once said, meteor watching is a lot like fishing. You go outside. You hope you catch some!

• Bottom line: We anticipate 2020 will be a great year for watching the Geminid meteor shower! Here are 10 tips.

{ https://earthsky.org/ }

Oldest mammal hair ever discovered is found preserved in amber dating back 110MILLION years - as experts say its owner probably got stuck to a tree while snoozing

• Scientists uncovered dinosaur feather at site in Teruel, Aragon, eastern Spain

• Three strands of mammal hair and dinosaur feathers found at Santa María mine   

• Both pieces 'exceptionally preserved' and date back to Early Cretaceous period

By NICOLE CONNER FOR MAILONLINE

The oldest piece of mammalian hair ever discovered has been found preserved in amber that could be 110 million years old.

Scientists also found a dinosaur feather at the same site in Teruel, Aragon, eastern Spain, and say the remains date from between 105 and 110 million years ago. 

The two pieces of resin containing three strands of mammal hair and dinosaur feathers were uncovered the Santa María mine near Teruel's capital Ariño. 

Although mammal hair has been found imprinted in 160 million year old fossils, the previous oldest piece actually preserved dates from 100 million years ago. 

The two pieces of resin containing three strands of mammal hair and dinosaur feathers (pictured) were uncovered the Santa María mine in Teruel, Aragon, eastern Spain 

Both pieces date back to the Early Cretaceous period and have been 'exceptionally preserved' through a process dubbed 'pull off vestiture'. 

This suggests the animals came into contact with the resin while resting or sleeping in a tree over 100 million years ago.

The feathers and hair would have then been 'torn off' when the animals woke up and tried to move as the amber had dried.

Microscopic scale patterns on the three hairs, their parallel predisposition and similar proportions, allowed the researchers to identify them as belonging to a mammal. 

While Spain is a known hot spot for Cretaceous fossils, the researchers were not expecting to find animal remains preserved in amber. 

Co-author doctoral student Sergio Álvarez-Parra from the University of Barcelona said: 'The determination of both findings is very complex, but it is likely for the feather remains to correspond to the extinct birds Enantiornithes, like other feathers in amber.

'Regarding the lock of hair, we should consider that the surface scale pattern is similar to the current mammalian hair.

'Ariño was already known for its vertebrate fossils, such as the dinosaurs Proa valdearinnoensis and Europelta carbonensis, but no-one thought we could find remains from vertebrates included in amber.'

While Spain is a known hot spot for Cretaceous fossils, the researchers were not expecting to find animal remains preserved in amber

(pictured)

The dinosaur feathers were discovered in a piece of amber shaped like a stalactite in Saint Just near the municipality of Utrillas a few years ago.

Both pieces were formed between 105 and 110 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period.

Senior author Professor Xavier Delclòs, also at the University of Barcelona said: 'The feature of the process described in this research is that a somewhat long time must pass between the animal's contact with the resin and the pulling off of the vestiture.

'Thus, the findings of this study and the new process shed light on the complexity of ecosystems during the Cretaceous.'

The Cretaceous period began 145 million years ago and ended 66 million years ago with the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Both pieces of amber are in the Palaeontological Museum of Aragon, Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel - Dinópolis.

The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports. 

RELATED IMAGES AND VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

The quarry in which the amber was found

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The oldest mammal hair that’s ever been found preserved in amber dates back to the Early Cretaceous period between 105 and 110 million years ago. The three strands of mammal hair and dinosaur feathers were discovered at Santa Maria mine which is located in Teruel (near Ariño), Aragon, eastern Spain.

The reason why the hair and feathers were “exceptionally preserved” in the amber was because of a “pull off vestiture” which means that the animals would have rested against the sticky resin while sleeping or resting against a tree and once it hardened up, it would have pulled the hair/feathers off of the animal.

Professor Xavier Delclòs from the University of Barcelona, an author of the study, stated, “The feature of the process described in this research is that a somewhat long time must pass between the animal’s contact with the resin and the pulling off of the vestiture.”

The animals would have rested against the sticky resin in order for their fur or feathers to be pulled off.

While mammal hair had previously been found imprinted in fossils dating back 160 million years, the oldest one that was preserved dated back around 100 million years ago (prior to this new discovery).

After experts analyzed the pieces, they were able to confirm that the hair belonged to a mammal and the feathers most likely came from an extinct bird. Sergio Álvarez-Parra, a doctoral student at the University of Barcelona and another author of the study, explained this further, “The determination of both findings is very complex, but it is likely for the feather remains to correspond to the extinct birds Enantiornithes, like other feathers in amber.”

He went on to say, “Regarding the lock of hair, we should consider that the surface scale pattern is similar to the current mammalian hair.” “Ariño was already known for its vertebrate fossils, such as the dinosaurs Proa valdearinnoensis and Europelta carbonensis, but no-one thought we could find remains from vertebrates included in amber.”

Another example of resin dripping from a tree.

Professor Delclòs added that “the findings of this study and the new process shed light on the complexity of ecosystems during the Cretaceous.”

Spain is known for their many fossils that date back to the Cretaceous period, but the fact that they found hair and feathers so well preserved in amber was a definite surprise. The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports where it can be read in full.

Pictures of the mammal hair and feathers that were preserved in amber can be seen here.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

Huge bright UFO filmed over Isesaki, Japan

This huge bright UFO was caught on tape in the sky over Isesaki city in Gunma Prefecture, Japan on 16th November 2020.

RELATED VIDEOS selected and posted by peter2011

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

On January 7, 1970, two men by the names of Aarno Heinonen and Esko Viljo were out for a leisurely day of cross-country skiing at a quaint forest near Imjarvi Finland, training for an upcoming competition. The day had been calm and relaxing, and the two of them had chatted about their lives, and when dusk came, they stopped to admire the clear night sky and its stars. They watched the sun dipping beyond the horizon even as it grew very cold, and as they watched the darkening sky there was something rather bizarre that demanded their attention. It started as a strange buzzing sound that filled their ears and heads, and as they looked about trying to ascertain where it was coming from, they allegedly saw a bright light in the sky rapidly moving towards them, which seemed to be a metallic craft of some sort. This would mark the beginning of a rather bizarre ordeal, which has gone on to become one of the most famous and weirdest UFO cases Finland has ever seen.

As the mystery light approached, that alien buzzing sensation became more acute, until it was nearly deafening, and the object seemed to be rounded and disc-shaped, around 10 feet in diameter. It came in to hover over the ground, and they could see that is seemed to be surrounded by a strange reddish gray mist. It was all a very unusual sight, and Heinonen would say of it:

The huge disk began to descend as it was enveloped with the red gray fog, which became more thin and transparent. It began to hover at a height of 10 to 13 ft, so near I could have touched it with my ski stick. The craft was completely round. When it came down obliquely towards us we saw it had a dome on the upper side. Along the lower edge was a kind of raised part on which were three spheres or domes spaced equidistantly.

Just when things couldn’t have possibly been any weirder, an opening suddenly appeared in the bottom of the craft, from which extended a tube that burst forth an intense bright light, which created a delineated circle of black-tinged light on the snow. The bright was so bright as to be almost blinding, with the men squinting and trying to get their bearings. It was about then that Heinonen felt as if he had been yanked backwards by some invisible force, and he then saw some sort of being ahead. He would explain of this:

I don’t think we said anything to each other at all. We were completely amazed. We saw the light move a couple of times before stopping and intensely illuminating a patch of snow about a meter in diameter, with round it a dark edge, almost coal-black and 1 cm wide. I was standing completely still. Suddenly I felt as if somebody had seized my waist from behind and pulled me backwards. I think I took a step backwards, and in the same second I caught sight of the creature. It was standing in the middle of the light beam with a black box in its hands. Out of a round opening in the box there came a yellow light, pulsating. It was about 3 ft tall, with very thin arms and legs. Its face was like pale wax. The nose was a hook rather than a nose. The ears were very small and narrowed toward the head. The creature wore some kind of overall in a light green material and a conical helmet shining like metal. The creature stood in the middle of the bright light and was luminous like phosphorus, but its face was very pale. Its shoulders were very thin and slanting, with thin arms like a child’s. There were also white gauntlets going up to the elbows, and the fingers were bent like claws around the black box.

This mysterious being stood there in the light with its black box, which was illuminated by an eerie yellow glow, and the red mist was suddenly everywhere again, obscuring their view of it and becoming so thick that they could barely see each other anymore. Throughout the mist could be seen dancing purple sparks, and the whole scene was at the same time frightening, surreal, and beautiful. The entity then whipped the box upward to point it right at the startled men, and both mist and sparks flew in their direction, which caused them to feel nauseous and for their legs to go numb. Heinonen would say:

The pulsating light was very bright, almost blinding. It was very silent in the forest. Suddenly a red-grey mist came flowing down from the object and large sparks started to fly from the illuminated circle of snow. The sparks were like tapers, about 10 cm long, red, green and violet. They floated out in long curves, rather slowly; many of them hit me, but though I expected them to burn me, At first I did not feel anything. My right leg had been nearest the light. The whole leg was stiff and aching. My foot was as if anaesthetized.

The strange fog got thicker and thicker until suddenly both the humanoid and its bizarre craft just seemed to disappear. The two men managed to stumble out of there, feeling nauseous, numb, and vomiting the whole way. They would later be plagued by health problems afterwards, including what they describe as black urine like ‘black coffee,” facial swelling, headaches and vision and memory problems. A doctor who examined them, a Dr Pauli Kajanoja, would say:

l think the men have suffered a great shock. Viljo was very red in the face and seemed a little swollen. Both seemed absent-minded. They talked quickly and incoherently. I could not find anything clinically wrong with Heinonen. He did not feel well, but that could have been his stomach reacting to the shock. The symptoms he described are like those after being exposed to radioactivity. Unfortunately, I had no instrument to measure that. As to the black urine, it seems inexplicable. Possibly it could have been blood in it, but this cannot go on for several months. If blood samples had been taken, they might have revealed changes in his blood. Both men seemed sincere, and I don’t think they had made the thing up. I’m sure they were in a state of shock when they came to me; something must have frightened them.

It is all very harrowing and inexplicable, indeed, and since both men were known as being honest and reliable the case was treated as very promising by ufologists at the time. Yet, Heinonen would muddy the waters in later years, when he claimed that between 1970 and 1972 he had over two dozen further UFO experiences, sometimes involving a beautiful blonde alien who would appear and talk to him. This humanoid was described as possessing some sort of spherical object and claimed to be over 180 years old, and was sometimes accompanied by a dwarfish creature about 3 feet tall and wearing a grey suit with white stripes. He also claimed that he had received a green pen from her at some point, but would say that it had gone missing, and he also complained that every time he tried to take a picture of the creatures his camera would vanish into thin air or be knocked out of his hand by an unseen force. Convenient.

The case is so orbited by bizarreness that it is really rather hard to know what to make of it. Heinonen’s later oddball comments would certainly shed skepticism on what was originally taken to be a possibly genuine report, leaving us to wonder what is going on here. What happened out there in that frigid wilderness? Was this a real alien encounter or just delusional ranting? It remains unknown.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

When, shortly before 9:00 p.m. on the night of December 29, 1980, Vickie Landrum, her grandson, Colby, and Betty Cash exited the restaurant where they had just eaten a fine Texan dinner, they couldn’t imagine what was just around the corner. As they headed towards the town of Huffman, Texas, they were terrified by the sudden sight of an unknown object in the sky. Worse, it was descending on a flight-path guaranteed to ensure it landed on the road they were on.  As they got closer, they could see the aerial thing appeared to be in flames and shaped not unlike a diamond. It reached a perilously low level of around twenty-five feet, something which ensured a screeching of brakes and the car brought to a shuddering standstill. The interior temperature of the car suddenly reached intolerable levels. The three jumped out of the vehicle and could only stare in awe and fear. Then, out of the blue, around two dozen, double-rotor helicopters were on the scene, clearly intent on caroling the UFO. Or, perhaps they were escorting it. Cash was sure they were Boeing CH-47 Chinooks. They watched as both the UFO and the helicopters left the area and were finally lost from sight.

Within days, all three fell sick: nausea and vomiting were at the forefront. Betty Cash was the one affected most of all – which may be explainable by the fact that she was the one member of the group who got closest to the object. Her hair started to fall out, her skin was covered with pustules and blisters, and the nausea got worse. Despite attempts to force the US Government to come clean on what went down, there was nothing but denial after denial from the authorities. The case is a puzzling one, with some UFO researchers believing the three encountered a real UFO, while others suspect they were unfortunate enough to cross paths with a top secret, nuclear-powered, prototype aircraft that was in deep trouble and that had to be retrieved as quickly as possible.

Interestingly, this was the same time-frame that things were going down in Rendlesham Forest, England. An official U.S. Air Force document, dated January 13, 1981, states (in part): “Early in the morning of 27 Dec 80 (approximately 0300L) two USAF security police patrolmen saw unusual lights outside the back gate at RAF Woodbridge. Thinking an aircraft might have crashed or been forced down, they called for permission to go outside the gate to investigate. The on-duty flight chief responded and allowed three patrolmen to proceed on foot. The individuals reported seeing a strange glowing object in the forest. The object was described as being metallic in appearance and triangular in shape, approximately two to three meters across the base and approximately two meters high. It illuminated the entire forest with a white light. The object itself had a pulsing red light on top and a bank(s) of blue lights underneath. The object was hovering or on legs. As the patrolmen approached the object, it maneuvered through the trees and disappeared. At this time the animals on a nearby farm went into a frenzy. The object was briefly sighted approximately an hour later near the back gate.”

Also of interest is the following. As Captain John E. Boyle of the U.S. Air Force informed me in 1988: “In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the 67th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron stationed at RAF Woodbridge [provided] standby rescue coverage for the American space flights. Of course, they were never needed to provide emergency rescue actions, but at the time, the unit was trained and available to rescue astronauts with their HH-53 and HC-130 aircraft. In early 1988, the 67th ARRS was re-designated as part of the 39th Special Operations Wing, their primary mission changing from that of rescue to supporting U.S. Special Operations forces. Their secondary mission remains that of search and rescue and they would provide any assistance necessary in future space missions [italics mine].”

It should be noted that RAF Woodbridge stood right next to Rendlesham Forest. Could there have been a connection between the events in Texas and those in the U.K.? If nothing else, it’s an issue worth looking into – and particularly so with the 40th anniversary just a few weeks away.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

Back in May of this year Lisa Hagan Books published my book, The Rendlesham Forest UFO Conspiracy. It’s a book that suggests the strange events that took place in those English woods in December 1980 had nothing to do with aliens, but everything to do with secret, military experiments. Taking into consideration the fact that this December is the 40th anniversary of the famous event, I figured that at least a couple more new books on the subject would surface. I wasn’t wrong. In September, Rendlesham to Redemption: A Story of Transformation appeared. The author is Steven R. LaPlume. He was one of those involved in the controversial affair. I haven’t seen LaPlume’s book yet, but I will be reviewing it soon. There is, however, yet another new Rendlesham-themed book that I’m focusing on today. The title of the book is: Weaponisation of an Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon.

The author is John F. Burroughs. If you know your Rendlesham history, you will know that John – along with Jim Penniston and Charles Halt – was one of the key figures in the whole story. In other words, this is a book that – if you have an interest in the Rendlesham Forest saga – you will definitely want to read. In fact, I would say the book makes for absolutely essential reading. A month or so ago, me and John discussed the idea of me doing a review of his book to coincide with its publication. John thought it was a great idea. So did I. As a result, and in no time at all, John sent me a PDF of the manuscript. I read the whole book – absorbed, I have to say. John’s book is a definitive page-turner. Whatever your thoughts on the 1980 incidents are, you are most assuredly going to want to read this one. With all of that now said, let’s get onto the content of the book.

I must say that you may be surprised by some of the things that John has to say, and particularly so in relation to what did – or what didn’t – occur. But, we’ll get to all of that shortly. As the book begins, we are treated to a good, solid introduction to John’s life and his career in the U.S. military – and also how he came to be at the Royal Air Force Bentwaters base on the night(s) that his life was changed. John makes it very clear that he is not entirely certain of what happened to him. In his very own words, John says: “Penniston and I cannot be sure our memories are accurate. We can be certain that we think they are, but between the likely power of the real phenomenon to alter reality and the effects of sophisticated debriefing techniques, we can’t be sure that what we think happened, did.” There’s no doubt that is a brave statement for John to make. And particularly so, because much of what John has to say relates to secret, government experiments of the type I present in my own Rendlesham book. Indeed, John makes it clear that in the area there was “very exotic EW [electronic warfare] and radar technologies at play in East Anglia at the time.” John expands on all of this: “What did we encounter? Advanced technology developed in a special access program project intended to produce altered-perception of reality in the enemy?” Whatever the answer, John explains that what he personally encountered was not a “terrifying experience.” Rather,  he makes clear, it was an “inexplicable experience.”

Photo by Nick Redfern

John also notes the long history of secret experimentation that has taken place very close to Rendlesham Forest, such as the legendary “Shingle Street” affair, the development of secret radar-based experiments, the work of a certain British Telecom facility, and “classified weapons used for deception and perception management.” That’s to say, John is treading on undeniably controversial ground, to be sure. Even more controversial are the following words from John: “Young airmen were subjected to truth serums combined with hypnosis. Some were handed their statements pretyped and told ‘this is the story you will tell when asked.'”  The stories of Larry Warren and Adrian Bustinza become parts of the sensational story, too. Certain words and names – such as Cobra Mist, Marconi, Harold Puthoff, Kit Green, the Berwyn Mountains, Ball Lightning, Plasmas, Tesla, Lasers, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, Acoustic Mind-Control, and Project Condign – will soon become familiar to you as you dig further into the pages of John’s book. There’s way more, too. A man named Ron Haddow – who you can find more about at this link, and who worked for the U.K. Ministry of Defense for years – becomes one of the players, as does a certain Ralph Noyes. The latter being a man who knew a lot, but preferred to keep his mouth shut on certain, sensitive topics. Noyes, too, spent years working for the U.K.’s M.O.D. I could go on and on, such is the sheer body of fascinating material that, to some degree, places the whole affair in new light.

It’s perhaps apt for me to end the review with the following statement from John. He says that his primary goal, today, is, and I quote: “Helping my fellow veterans get the kind of support they need and deserve for their service to our country’s ideals if they can’t get it because, like me, they were a pawn in a highly classified game.”

• Weaponisation of an Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon will be available on December 16 in Kindle version.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

White Disk Shoots Out Of Cloud Over Argolis, Greece Dec 12, 2020, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: Dec 12, 2020
Location of sighting: Argolis, Greece

 

The eyewitness was recording clouds over Greece when he was fortunate to catch a white UFO shooting out from one of the clouds. The UFO was very fast and took on the same appearance of the cloud, except its in disk form. The UFO shoots out so face, they eyewitness decided to put it into slow motion to help us see it more clearly. The object is obviously a disk, camouflaged with a cloud cloak and moving fast. This is 100% proof that UFOs are aware when we notice them and they assume they can escape without detection...but this alien failed. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan 

 

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

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

Triangle UFO Over Beverly Hills Citi Bank! Google Earth Map! UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: Dec 10, 2020

Location of sighting: Beverly Hills, California, USA

There is a triangle UFO seen over Citibank on Beverly Hills and its found easily on Google Earth map. The UFO is actually seen twice in two different locations. And this really makes me wonder...are aliens a part of the 1% of the 1%? I mean really some aliens are so proud of themselves and so bold with their superior mind, body and technology that they seem to have forgotten that they can get caught. I believe this is evidence of just that. Some aliens are actually living in Beverly Hills and flaunting their lifestyle, riches and superiority complex to the world in the most obvious location for the rich and famous. Beverly Hills, California. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan 

 

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

Five Glowing UFOs Lined Up Over Coast of Tampa Bay, Florida, Dec 6, 2020, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: Dec 6, 2020
Location of sighting: Tampa Bay, Florida, USA

 

The eyewitness was driving along a very long bridge and could not get out of his car safely so he continued driving while recording the UFOs as best he could. The raw footage he captured is five glowing lights in the distant sunset over the Gulf of Mexico. The lights are not reflections, because when a pole passes in between the UFOs and the guy recording...the UFOs disappear behind the pole...thus ruling out any possibility of this being a light reflection from inside the car. This is 100% proof that ancient aliens are still here living below the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan 

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

Witness:

On December 9, 2020, I first spotted it when we are halfway back from Long Beach entering Irvine, California over the 405 there was three I initially spotted and the total went up to nine. 

My daughter who is four years old, my boyfriend who is in the passenger seat and I all saw the crafts and watched them move very erratically and descend closer to us. 

My boyfriend became very afraid at this point as we could all see the lights in a circular pattern around the Circumference of the crafts and the one that descended very close to us in particular but they all seem to descend closer in unison heading inland and south. 

My boyfriend was recording this on his phone and we both saw a orb pass right through our eyeline as we are watching the crafts. 

They followed us all the way until we got home and then there was only one left and it too disappeared. It was very strange almost like they were trying to communicate with us. Mufon.

  

{ http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

Ancient Amazonians laid out their villages like a clock face to represent the Native American cosmos 700 years ago, study suggests

• Experts led from Exeter scanned the landscape of Acre State, Brazil with lidar

• This allowed them to reveal the villages through the covering of rainforest 

• They found 35 villages — each a circle of mounds — dating to 1300–1700 AD 

• Each village was linked by a network of major and minor straight-lying roads 

By IAN RANDALL FOR MAILONLINE

Ancient Amazonians laid out their settlements in circles 700 years ago, with radiating mounds and roads that may have represented the cosmos, a study finds.

Experts led from Exeter University used lidar-based sensing equipment mounted on helicopters to see below the rainforest canopy in south Acre State, Brazil.

They found 35 mounded villages were constructed in a distinctive and repeated pattern by the ancient Acreans between 1300 and 1700 AD.

Deforestation and archaeological digs in Acre State had previously revealed the presence of large earthworks and circular mound villages.

However, the full extent of the constructions, their layouts and their organisation across the region had been obscured by the dense forest until now.

The new findings indicate that these populations had highly-defined social and architectural models for how they organised their communities. 

With its round pattern, this may have been a reflection of how ancient Americans perceived space as circular, with stellar constellations moving around the Earth. 

Ancient Amazonians laid out their settlements in circles 700 years ago — with radiating buildings and roads as may have represented the cosmos — a study found. Pictured, a lidar image revealing the Donha Maria village beneath the forest covering

Experts led from Exeter used lidar-based sensing equipment mounted on helicopters, as pictured, to see below the canopy of the overlying rainforest in south Acre State, Brazil

Each settlement is connected across the wider landscape by straight, sunken roads with high banks that radiate out from the centre of the villages, as pictured

'Lidar has allowed us to detect these villages, and their features such as roads, which wasn’t possible before because most are not visible within the best satellite data available,' said paper author and archaeologist Jose Iriarte of the University of Exeter.

'The technology helps to show diverse and complex construction history of this part of the Amazon.

'Lidar provides a new opportunity to locate and document earthen sites in forested parts of Amazonia characterized by dense vegetation,' he added. 

'It can also document the smallest surficial earthen features in the recently opened pasture areas.'

The finds are further evidence of the long occupation of the Amazon rainforest by indigenous communities whose cultures repeatedly rose, fell and evolved long before Europeans made their impact on the Americas.

According to the team, the culture that produced the mounded villages emerged after the abandonment in 950 AD of the large geometrically patterned ceremonial earthworks that had previous characterised the region's architecture.

The villages that the researchers have uncovered were lain out in circles of 3–32 mounds — the diameters of which ranged from 131–502 feet (40–153 metres), and enclosed central plazas of around 0.3–4.4 acres (0.12–1.8 hectares) in size.

According to the researchers, the lidar scans 'revealed that some small groups of villages positioned along streams exhibit regular distances of 2.5–3 km [1.6–1.9 miles] and 5–6 km [3.1–3.7 miles] between sites.'

Deforestation and archaeological digs in Acre State has previously revealed the presence of large earthworks and circular mound villages, as pictured in the above lidar scans. However, the full extent of the constructions, their layouts and their organisation across the region had been obscured by the dense forest until now

'Lidar has allowed us to detect these villages, and their features such as roads, which wasn’t possible before because most are not visible within the best satellite data available,' said paper author and archaeologist Jose Iriarte of the University of Exeter. Pictured, one of the researchers' helicopters equipped to conduct with lidar scanning

Lidar provides a new opportunity to locate and document earthen sites in forested parts of Amazonia characterized by dense vegetation,' Professor Iriarte said. 'It can also document the smallest surficial earthen features in the recently opened pasture areas.' Pictured, the lidar scanning is passed over the Amazon rainforest by helicopter

Each village typically has a pair of deeper and wider principal roads leaving in a northwards direction and the same running southwards as well — along with minor roads that together form a network of linked settlements spread over many miles. Pictured, the roads, in orange

Each settlement is connected across the wider landscape by straight, sunken roads with high banks that radiate out from the centre of the villages.

Each village typically has a pair of deeper and wider principal roads leaving in a northwards direction and the same running southwards — along with minor roads that together form a network of linked settlements spread over many miles.

With their initial study complete, the researchers are expecting to unveil the traces of more villages hidden beneath the veil of the rainforest.

The full findings of the study were published in the Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology.

Experts led from Exeter used lidar-based sensing equipment mounted on helicopters to see below the canopy of the overlying rainforest in south Acre State, Brazil, pictured. The 35 mounded villages were constructed to the distinctive and repeated pattern by the ancient Acreans between around 1300–1700 AD

Read more:

• Geometry by Design: Contribution of Lidar to the Understanding of Settlement Patterns of the Mound Villages in SW Amazonia

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

A new study has suggested that around 700 years ago when Amazonians laid out their villages, they did so in a clock face pattern that represented the cosmos.

Experts (led by the University of Exeter) used LiDAR technology on helicopters to study the rainforest-covered landscape in Acre State, Brazil. They were able to discover 35 villages with circular mounds that were linked with radiating minor and major straight-lying roads. The villages date back to between 1300 and 1700 AD.

The villages were laid out in a clock face pattern.

The villages had anywhere between 3 and 32 mounds with diameters that ranged between 131 and 502 feet with enclosed plazas in the center that measured between 0.3 and 4.4 acres. Additionally, the scans “revealed that some small groups of villages positioned along streams exhibit regular distances of 2.5–3 km [1.6–1.9 miles] and 5–6 km [3.1–3.7 miles] between sites.”

Each village contained straight, sunken roads with high banks that protruded out from the center area. They also had wider and deeper main roads in addition to the smaller minor roads that linked the villages over an area of numerous miles.

That certainly proved how well organized the ancient Acreans were in laying out their villages. According to a new study, the fact that these ancient villages were laid out in a circular pattern may have been a reference to space and how the constellations moved around the planet. This provided experts with more information regarding the Indigenous communities that occupied the area.

The clock face pattern may have been in reference to the cosmos.

Jose Iriarte, who is an archaeologist with the University of Exeter and an author of the paper, described this further, “LiDAR has allowed us to detect these villages, and their features such as roads, which wasn’t possible before because most are not visible within the best satellite data available.” “The technology helps to show diverse and complex construction history of this part of the Amazon.” “LiDAR provides a new opportunity to locate and document earthen sites in forested parts of Amazonia characterized by dense vegetation.”

While this study is now finished, experts are now hoping to located more villages that are hidden within the rainforest. Their study was published in the Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology where it can be read in full.

LiDAR images of the villages provided by the University of Exeter can be seen here.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

The Book of Enoch's Anunnaki & Nephilim & Watchers are Connected to Neanderthal-human Hybrids Called Swiderians

The Book of Enoch’s Anunnaki  & Nephilim & Watchers are Connected to Neanderthal-human Hybrids Called Swiderians

Researcher and author Andrew Collins demonstrates how the Watchers and Nephilim of the book of Enoch, and the Anunnaki of Mesopotamian mythology, are the memory of Neanderthal-human hybrids called Swiderians who entered eastern Anatolia from the north at the time of the Younger Dryas mini ice age, ca. 10,900-9600 BC. Andrew reveals the much wider impact these Neanderthal-human hybrids had on the rise of civilization.

RELATED VIDEOS , selected and postef by peter2011

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

Top 5 Most Mysterious UFOs From the Internet

Top 5 Most Mysterious UFOs From the Internet

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

The Soviet UFO Incidents with Paul Stonehill

COAST TO COAST AM INSIDER Archived Show – Paul Stonehill presented accounts of sightings and related incidents from Russia and the former Soviet Union. The Soviet space probe, Phobos 2, may well have been knocked out by a UFO as it approached Mars in 1989, based on anomalous images it sent back, he reported.

He shared reports from the region dating back hundreds of years. For instance in 1065 AD, a strange object was said to hover in the skies above Kiev for seven days, and the quality of the sun changed. In 1111 AD, a fiery pillar was seen rising up from the ground and going into the sky.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

Stephen Colbert asks Obama about UFO's - his answer accidentally tells us the truth! Nov 30, 2020, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of video: Nov 30, 2020
Location of video: Stephaen Colbert show

 

When Stephen Colbert asked President Obama last week about the existence of UFOs....Obama said he couldn't say. But Colbert read him like a bad poker player and knew the truth. Had Obama heard UFOs were not real...he would have been able to freely say. However because they are real, and Obama found this out, and he cannot tell due to it being a Matter of National Security. So...he stayed silent. What this tells us is that aliens...and UFOs are 100% real and the US government wants you to not believe in them so that the US will remain a world power with all the alien technology and off world bases that aliens are giving the US in exchange for earth bases and experimentations on humans. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan 

 

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

Pink UFO Over Ocean Surface At Odessa, Russia On Dec 6, 2020, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: Dec 6, 2020
Location of sighting: Odessa, Russia

The eyewitness says  that he noticed this glowing object over the ocean and was sure it wasn't the moon, because the moon was in a different place but he didn't think it important to record it. This UFO is a pinkish-orange and its similar to dozens of UFO reports over the years that have come in. The UFO is extremely noticeable off the Florida coast most of all. But here its seen in Russia over the ocean. 

Now aliens and the US government depend on the public making up excuses for UFOs...as being something else. Thats understandable since Trump created a run on Fake News over the last few years...so much so that in America, the public is very untrusting of everything...even themselves. However I'm not in America...I'm in Taiwan and we are a very different culture. This is a UFO, its similar to many other past reports. Its huge, about the size of 2 747s and it moving into position to enter an underwater base on the ocean floor. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan

 

 

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

However, it gained too much speed to land successfully, and went out in explosive flames. The Starship milestone on Wednesday puts SpaceX closer to replacing its Falcon spacecrafts. 

About two minutes after launching, one of the Starship's three Raptor engines gave out. A minute later, a second engine cut off, but the prototype rocket continued its journey upward. 

The Starship lost its third engine around four-and-a-half minutes into the flight, and the rocket moved to a horizontal position and pointed back down towards Earth. 

As the Starship got closer to the ground, its engines fired up again and flipped it back into a vertical position and slowed it down. The prototype still landed at a faster than ideal speed, causing it to explode. 

According to thesun, its website, SpaceX wrote that the flight was "designed to test a number of objectives, from how the vehicle’s three Raptor engines perform to the overall aerodynamic entry capabilities of the vehicle (including its body flaps) to how the vehicle manages propellant transition."

  

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

V-shaped formation over Princeton, NC 9-Dec-2020

This triangle-shaped formation was seen and photographed over Princeton, North Carolina on 9th December 2020.

Witness report: 

My mom’s secretary took this picture last night in Princeton NC, I am not the original photographer. The picture is taken outside, she said she noticed them outside, that they were not moving, and that is what originally caught her eye. So she saw them with her naked eye first, she also noted there was no sound. We are close to Seymour-Johnson AFB.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

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

“Aliens exist and have alliances with Governments, but humanity is not ready,” Says former Israeli Official

In recent years we have witnessed great revelations from officials, pilots and even astronauts referring to the UFO phenomenon. Now, a former Israeli space security official has revealed not only that aliens exist, they would also have had contact with the US and Israel for many years (alliance), but that they would avoid appearing publicly so as not to unleash a mass hysteria because humanity is not ready for such a revelation.

According to retired Israeli general and current professor Haim Eshed , the answer to the question ‘ do aliens exist? “Is YES, but this has been kept secret because” humanity is not ready . ”

Speaking in an interview with Yediot Aharonot , Eshed, who served as head of Israel’s space security program for almost 30 years and has received the Israel Security Award three times, explained that both Israel and the US have been dealing with aliens for years.

And this in no way refers to immigrants, with Eshed clarifying the existence of a “Galactic Federation”, that is to say, aliens or non-human entities from outside the Earth.

An alliance between aliens and the US?

The 87-year-old former head of space security gave more descriptions of exactly what kind of deals have been made betweealiens and the US, apparently made because they want to investigate and understan nd “the structure of the universe.” This cooperation includes a secret underground base on Mars , where there are American and alien representatives.

If true, this would coincide with the creation of the Space Force by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, as the fifth branch of the armed forces of that country, although it is not clear how long this type has been happening. relationship, if any, between the US and its extraterrestrial allies.

But Eshed insists that Trump knows them and was “about” to reveal their existence. However, the Galactic Federation allegedly prevented him from doing so, saying they wanted to avoid mass hysteria as they felt humanity needed to “evolve and reach a stage where … we will understand what space and spacecraft are,” Yediot Aharonot reported.

Eshed said:

“US President Donald Trump was about to reveal the situation, but the aliens from the Galactic Federation say wait, people calm down first. They don’t want to start a mass hysteria. They first want to prepare us for greater understanding. They have been waiting for humanity to evolve and reach a stage where we generally understand what space and spaceships are. There is an agreement between the US government and the aliens. They signed a pact with the governments to do experiments here ”.

Outstanding career

Eshed served in the technology unit of the Intelligence Division of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), in research and development positions.

In 1969, he was posted by the IDF military intelligence to study for a doctorate in aeronautical engineering in the US He then returned home where he was appointed head of the Intelligence Corps Research and Development department.

In 1970 he retired from military service with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He was later hired as a professor at the Technion’s Space Research Institute.

In 1981, Eshed founded and became the first Director of the Challenge Program of the Israel Administration for Research, Weapons Development and Technological Infrastructure (MAPAT).

He has recently released a book entitled The Universe Beyond the Horizon – conversations with Professor Haim Eshed , in which he argues about the extraterrestrial presence on our planet.

He recently published the book “The Universe Beyond the Horizon – conversations with Professor Haim Eshed”. As for why he has chosen to disclose this information now, Eshed explained that the timing was simply due to how much the academic landscape has changed and how respected it is in the academic world.

The professor acknowledged that his claims are strange and can be heard as coming from the mentally insane.

Eshed said to Yediot Aharonot :

“If what I am saying today had occurred to me five years ago, I would have been hospitalized. Today the subject is treated differently. I have nothing to lose. I have received degrees and awards, I am respected in universities abroad, where the trend is also changing ”.

Eshed provided more information in his most recent book, The Universe Beyond the Horizon – conversations with Professor Haim Eshed , along with other details such as how aliens have prevented nuclear apocalypses and “facts about the Men in Black.”

While it’s unclear if there is any evidence that can back up Eshed’s claims, they came just before a recent announcement by SpaceIL, the group behind Israel’s failed attempt to land a spacecraft on the moon in 2019. The unsuccessful attempt by Israel’s exploration of the Moon, and the creation of the US Space Force, would not be by chance, according to Eshed.

However, sadly, we may never know the truth.

{ https://mysteriousthing.com/ }

Aliens in hiding until mankind is ready, says ex-Israeli space head

The truth may be out there — but nowhere near as out there as this tale.

Space aliens have reached an agreement with the US government to stay mum on the experiments they conduct on Earth — as well as their secret base on Mars — until mankind is ready to accept them, the former head of Israel’s space program claimed in a new interview.

“The aliens have asked not to announce that they are here [because] humanity is not ready yet,” Haim Eshed told Israeli paper Yedioth Aharonoth, according to the Jewish Press.

The Jewish Press — speculating that Eshed, 87, may have gone to insanity and beyond — goes on to unspool his tangled web, which claims the involvement of President Trump and interplanetary diplomacy.

“Trump was on the verge of revealing [aliens existence], but the aliens in the Galactic Federation are saying, ‘Wait, let people calm down first,'” Eshed, who helmed Israel’s space security program from 1981 to 2010, reportedly said. “They don’t want to start mass hysteria. They want to first make us sane and understanding.”

Until that day, aliens have secured an agreement to keep their moves under wraps, said Eshed, noting that the extraterrestrials come in peace.

“They have been waiting for humanity to evolve and reach a stage where we will generally understand what space and spaceships are,” said Eshed, according to the Jewish Press.

“There’s an agreement between the US government and the aliens. They signed a contract with us to do experiments here. They, too, are researching and trying to understand the whole fabric of the universe, and they want us as helpers.”

One of the hubs of the cooperation is a base on Mars — where, by the way, Eshed claims American astronauts have already set foot.

“There’s an underground base in the depths of Mars, where their representatives are, and also our American astronauts,” Eshed reportedly said.

Eshed acknowledged that it all sounds like science fiction, but claimed that some of his peers are coming around.

“If I had come up with what I’m saying today five years ago, I would have been hospitalized. Wherever I’ve gone with this in academia, they’ve said, ‘The man has lost his mind,'” he reportedly said. “Today they’re already talking differently. I have nothing to lose. I’ve received my degrees and awards, I am respected in universities abroad, where the trend is also changing.”

Former President Barack Obama recently refused in an interview with “Late Show” funnyman Stephen Colbert to confirm or deny the existence of extraterrestrial life based on top-secret US records — a move Colbert jokingly took as tacit confirmation.

{ https://nypost.com/ }

1967 Crestview Elementary School UFO Sighting Seen By Hundreds

I spent several minutes typing up this UFO story out several different ways on ATS's search engine, in an attempt to locate something, but nothing came up, which is very surprising. My apologies if this story was posted before, but I was unable to find anything.

The 1967 Crestview Elementary School UFO Sighting

Back in 1967, three UFOs were spotted coming through several clouds, on a mostly clear day in Florida. Hundreds of students and several teachers witnessed this event at the Crestview Elementary School, located in Miami Gardens, FL.

The larger, oval craft was said to be as large as "a cruise ship," with the other two darting around the larger craft. One of the students stated that the larger craft landed in a field that was near the school.

Afterwards, members of the Miami news press and several military personnel started to interview the witnesses. The story was published in the Miami Herald the following day and stated that the sighting was nothing more than helicopters performing "maneuvers from the nearby Homestead Air Force Base."

I was in the 6th grade at Crestview Elementary School, in Miami, (Post Office, Opa-Locka, Fla,) During recess in April 1967, I and hundreds of others students from Crestview and a few teachers, witnessed 3 oval shaped objects coming through a few clouds, on a mostly a clear day, directly over our heads. My teacher gathered our class into a line. We watched as the two smaller of the three oval objects, appeared to be dancing around the larger oval shaped object coming down towards us. The larger object, seemed to be the size of a cruise ship, but it's shape was oval and cigar shaped and shiny metal like. I saw the large object land in the field near our school. I didn't see where the other two objects went.

Before long, men in uniforms and news press started to interview kids. I listened to a boy who had the same accounting as me. The following day, the Miami Herald told the story and said that it was helicopters on maneuvers from the nearby Homestead Air Force Base. I knew otherwise, and understand now that they had to state that to avoid mass hysteria.

LINK

Another interesting tidbit of information, is that a month before the Crestview Elementary School sighting, "a series of strange events occurred in South Florida involving several unidentified flying objects, U.S. and Cuban military personnel, and hundreds of civilian witnesses." This was written about in a book entitled, "Unknown Down," which is available for purchase on Amazon.

On the night of March 31, 1967, a series of strange events occurred in South Florida involving several unidentified flying objects, U.S. and Cuban military personnel, and hundreds of civilian witnesses. Bill Schroeder, a young Army fire control operator at B Battery HAWK missile site in Key West, tracked several objects on radar traveling at impossible speeds. These “bogeys” evaded both U.S. and Cuban fighter jets scrambled to intercept them. Even more disturbing, the UFOs emitted an electromagnetic countermeasure that disabled B Battery’s electronic surveillance and caused the destruction of one of the Cuban MiG-21s. Told by his superiors the incident was part of a NORAD drill and not to discuss it with anyone, Bill Schroeder lived with this secret for years before finally coming forward with his story. Author Jack Roth shares Schroeder’s incredible account, along with other witness testimony and details that have been brought to light over the years as a result of Schroeder’s persistent research.

LINK

µHere's some more information on the March 1967 incident involving the Cuban MiG-21 fighters:

One day in March, 1967, the Spanish-speaking intercept operators of Detachment “A” located at Key West Naval Air Station in Florida heard Cuban air defense radar controllers report an unidentified “bogey” approaching Cuba from the northeast. The unidentified aircraft entered Cuban air space at a height of about 10,000 meters (about 33,000 feet) and sped off at nearly Mach 1 (nearly 660 mph). The Cuban airforce scrambled two MIG-21 jet fighters to intercept. The jets were guided to within five kilometers (three miles) of the UFO by Cuban ground control intercept radar personnel. The flight leader radioed that the object was a bright metallic spheroid disc with no visible markings or appendages. When a try at radio contact failed, Cuban air defense headquarters ordered the flight leader to arm his weapons and destroy the object.

The leader reported his radar was locked onto the bogey and his missiles were armed and ready to engage. Seconds later, the wingman screamed to the ground controller that his leader’s jet had exploded. When he gained his composure, the wing man radioed there was no smoke or flame, that his leader’s MIG-21 had disintegrated in mid air. Cuban radar then reported the UFO quickly accelerated and climbed above 30,000 meters (98,000 feet). At last report, it was heading south-southeast towards South America.

ufo-explorer.com...

Could these two UFO incidents be related to one another? Did they involve extraterrestrial craft? I certainly can't say for sure, but they're both interesting cases that coincidentally occurred in the same general area, with both sightings occurring within a month of each other.

Crestview Elementary School UFO Sighting Video Posted On March 13, 2018:

{ http://www.abovetopsecret.com/ }

SpaceX aborts Starship SN8 prototype test launch at last second

Earth spent 500 million years creating and eating dead continents

By Rafi Letzter 

The first half-billion years of Earth science were gnarly.

An artist's impression shows what the surface of Earth might have looked like during the Hadean (4.6 to 4.1 billion years ago).

(Image: © Tim Bertelink/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license)

When Earth was just a wee young thing, it birthed many new continents — then it swallowed them all up, leaving just a few traces behind, a new study shows.

These first continents had a knack for living fast and dying young, but in doing so, they paved the way for solid continents that eventually led to the emergence of plate tectonics, the new study suggests.

"Our results explain that continents remained weak and prone to destruction in their infancy, ~4.5 to ~4.0 billion years ago, and then progressively differentiated and became rigid over the next billion years to form the core of our modern continents," lead author Fabio Capitanio, a Monash University Earth scientist, said in a statement.

For hundreds of millions of years, the current continents have been more or less stable. They've moved due to plate tectonics, a theory governing the motion of Earth's crust, forming different shapes, such as the ancient supercontinent Pangea. The puzzle pieces of the crust that existed hundreds of millions of years ago mostly still exist today. But very little is known about the continents that existed early on in Earth's history.

• Related: The 10 Biggest Earthquakes in History

To learn more about that early history, the researchers used computers to model the interactions of rock and magma in the Earth's crust and below. The modeling showed that the earliest continents formed from parts of the upper mantle — the part of the planet just below the crust — which melted as it reached the surface and then spewed across the landscape in enormous volcanic eruptions. At that time, the planet held a vast reservoir of heat in its interior.

"The release of internal primordial heat, three to four times that of the present day, caused large melting in the shallow mantle, which was then extruded as magma (molten rock) onto the Earth's surface," Capitanio said.

But the continents of this period, known as the Hadean (4.6 to 4.0 billion years ago), were weak and prone to destruction.

Modern continents have a comparatively high tensile strength, meaning it's hard to rip them apart by stretching. But the crust of the Hadean was hotter and thinner, and sat on a squishier upper mantle. So vast rifts would form between these new continents, magma would leak through, and that magma would cover the infant continents, causing the baby continents to sink into the mantle. Meanwhile, new continents were forming from the magma on top of the ones being buried.

By the time the Archean (4.0 billion to 2.5 billion years ago) began, ending the Hadean, the crust that had first formed was almost entirely replaced by the seeds of the modern continents.

RELATED:

•  The 25 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth
• 24 Amazing Archaeological Discoveries
• In Photos: Aftermath of Iceland Volcano Floods 

In a sense, the researchers found, those lost Hadean continents made the later, more stable continents possible. The early continents' reabsorption into the shallowest parts of the mantle made that region of the mantle dryer and firmer, forming a foundation on which later continents could safely grow.

This scenario could explain how modern plate tectonics, which relies on a firmer foundation and more structurally sound continents, emerged. The model also shows that some pieces of those early continents would remain exposed on the surface, forming stable, thick "roots" in the crust. Those pieces still exist today, and are known as cratons. One of these, Laurentia, forms the core of North America and includes a region covering the Midwest and Great Plains, as well as much of central Canada and Greenland.

• Related: How North America grew As a continent

The emergence of continents at the close of the Hadean also contributed fertilizer that would later help seed life on Earth, the researchers wrote. Bits of them broke off and entered the atmosphere and oceans, providing necessary nutrients for the life forms that soon emerged.

The paper describing the study was published Dec. 2 in the journal Nature.

Originally published on Live Science.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://www.space.com/ }

It was the summer of 1975, and Air Force Sergeant Charles L. Moody was at the time stationed at Holloman air force base near Alamogordo, New Mexico. On August 13th, Moody took a drive out into the surrounding desert on his day off, planning to watch a meteor shower that he had been reading about and which was scheduled to hit that night. He drove out to a secluded area that he had never been to before, far away from the lights of the base and surrounded by the sounds of the desert night, where the sky was clear and black, the stars spread out like diamond dust upon a swath of black velvet and stopped his car to wait for the celestial show to start. Little did he know at the time that he was about to see far more than just meteors out there in that wasteland moonscape. And so we delve into a strange case with a very reliable witness, which has managed to evade all rational explanations.

Charles L. Moody

At around 1:15 AM, Moody’s attention was drawn from the sea of stars to rest on a rather strange sight above. Travelling across the sky was what appeared to be a metallic craft of some sort, disc-shaped, faintly illuminated, and measuring around 50 feet in diameter and 18 feet thick at the center. He was familiar with all types of aircraft but this was not something he recognized, and as he stared on in puzzlement the object began to rapidly descend to around 15 to 20 feet off of the ground, where it hovered silently for a moment before approaching the awestruck Moody. As it came closer, Moody could then make out that it wasn’t silent at all, but rather emanated a bizarre high-pitched buzzing whine or hum, that reverberated through his body and spread out to stoke a deep and irrational fear within him. As the mysterious craft approached, he recoiled away and scrambled into his car in a dazed panic, further fueled by the fact that he could see dark humanoid shapes moving around in the glow of a window on the craft’s side. Who were they and what did they want? Moody did not intend to stick around to find out.

As he fumbled with starting the car, Moody could sense that his limbs were becoming heavy and somewhat numb, which only further alarmed him, and then that high pitched buzzing abruptly stopped to bring total silence crashing down upon him. He frantically tried to start the car, but it would not turn over, as if something had rendered it in operational. As all of this was happening, the mystery craft had drawn so close that it was practically right in front of the vehicle, where it hovered ominously, but Moody now found that he could barely move. He felt his mind go numb as well, and just as he felt he might lose consciousness the craft was gone and there was nothing but the darkened desert sprawled out around him. It was as if it had just vanished into thin air, and he found his car started normally now. It was all very strange and surreal, and he might have almost been able to think that he had hallucinated it all. However, his ordeal was far from over, and in fact things were about to get even more bizarre.

Moody quickly realized that he had lost about an hour of time that he could not account for, and things got even odder when the next day his back hurt him for no reason he could understand. After this a rash began to break out all over his body, and it was apparent that this likely had something to do with that lost hour of missing time and his experience in the desert. He tried self-hypnosis and other means of trying to dig up any repressed memories he had, which caused things to float up to the surface of his mind in dream-like fragments.

Moody recalled that the UFO had not in fact vanished, but that two tall humanoid beings in skintight black suits had approached his car as he sat there helpless and immobile. The entities had oversized hairless heads, round eyes, small ears and noses, and very thin lips, human-like, yet not quite. As they pulled him out of his car, he felt a surge of panic, and was able to briefly wrest back control of his limbs, ferociously fighting back to punch one of the entities and slam another against the car before his paralysis returned and he was captured. His memory would then jump forward to him lying on some sort of slab, with another being standing next to him, this one shorter than the others and dressed in a white suit of some sort.

He sensed somehow that this was the leader, and it began to communicate with him telepathically, first asking if he was going to behave himself. Moody agreed to not fight anymore, and the creature then used a device to turn down the level of Moody’s paralysis, giving him some control of his body back. He found he was able to walk, after which the being then took him on a tour of the ship. Moody would claim that he was shown a strange machine powered by crystals that was called a “drive unit,” and was told that there was a much larger mothership out above Earth’s orbit, as well as the fact that Earth radar apparently interfered with their navigation equipment. After all of this, the alien explained that there would be no further contact with humans for 20 years and that they would be in touch, before rendering Moody unconscious simply by placing both hands at the sides of his head.

And that is pretty much it, and we are left with a lot of questions. Was any of this true? If so, then why did the aliens even bother? After all, it doesn’t seem like they really did anything other than show him around and tell him some stuff, so why go through all of the effort? It has become a case that has been discussed and debated to this day, despite all of its weirdness, and serves to tantalize the imagination.

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{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

Out in the cold grey seas of the Onega Bay, in the White Sea of Russia is a windswept archipelago of islands called the Solovetsky Islands. The bleak landscape here is sparsely populated, the people living a simple existence, but one island that has remained uninhabited is the one they call Bolshoi Zayatsky. It is little more than a speck of rock, measuring less than one square mile in total area and covered with moss and tangles of brush, and this forlorn, remote location long made it known as an almost impenetrable fortress and it was also used as a gulag labor camp at one time. Ion modern times from a distance it would be easy to ignore, just another barren rock in the churning sea, but this is a place of mystery, and among the boulders and brush are scattered ancient labyrinths that have managed to elude understanding.

Bolshoi Zayatsky

Dotted throughout a small area of Bolshoi Zayatsky are dozens of Neolithic stone labyrinths known locally as “vavilons,” meaning “Babylons,” constructed from local boulders and set into spiral patterns, with diameters ranging from between 6 and 25.4 meters across. The rows of stones and boulders that form these spirals are often formed of two separate intertwining spirals, like embracing serpents, and along the rows are sometimes thicker heaps of stones giving them an irregular feel. The labyrinths may vary in size and design, but one common feature is that they all have a single entrance that also serves as the exit for the mazes. Around the labyrinths are numerous arranged piles of rocks and boulders as well as a stone symbol with radial spokes, making it all the more enigmatic and dream-like. There is a surreal quality to seeing these mysterious structures sitting out on this rocky land, and one researcher of the labyrinths has described the experience of walking through them as almost magical, saying:

After entering a labyrinth and circle several times around the center, you leave it through the same entrance. Just after several turns it becomes unclear how much you have walked and how much more to walk. Subjectively, the time stops, but by watch the great labyrinth is passed in 15 minutes. It is difficult to be distracted; the path is narrow and you are required to look permanently underfoot. The path is twisting clockwise and counterclockwise. At last – the exit; and you are happy that the journey is over.

One of the labyrinths

There is very little known about the labyrinths of Bolshoi Zayatsky, and indeed even their precise age has been debated. The Solovetsky Islands are known to have been inhabited from at least from as far back as the 5000 B.C., possibly earlier, and although most researchers tend to estimate the labyrinths as being between 2,500 to 3,000 years old, they could be far more ancient. No one really knows. Their purpose is also steeped in mystery and lost to the mists of time, with many theories proposed. One is that they served as fishing traps, although most are too inland for this to be feasible. Another is that they had some sort of astrological function, such as mapping out the solstices or eclipses. There is also the idea that they had some ritualistic use, and one prominent idea is that they were used by the superstitious ancients as a means to trap evil spirits of some kind. One of the more interesting theories is that the labyrinths serve as some doorway, border, or transitional point between the land of the living and the underworld, somehow helping lost souls find their way to the other side.

The purpose and origins of the labyrinths remain clouded and lost to history, and we are left to wonder just why these ancient people came out to this tiny island to construct these stone oddities. What are they and what do they represent? No one knows, and we perhaps never will.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

Apollo Astronauts Saw Alien Craft On The Moon

Neil Armstrong & Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin

According to the NASA Astronaut Neil Armstrong the Aliens have a base on the Moon and told us in no uncertain terms to get off and stay off the Moon.

According to hitherto un-confirmed reports, both Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin saw UFOs shortly after that historic landing on the Moon in Apollo 11 on 21 July 1969. I remember hearing one of the astronauts refer to a “light” in or on a crater during the television transmission, followed by a request from mission control for further information. Nothing more was heard.

According to a former NASA employee Otto Binder, unnamed radio hams with their own VHF receiving facilities that bypassed NASA’s broadcasting outlets picked up the following exchange:

NASA: Whats there?
Mission Control calling Apollo 11…

Apollo11: These “Babies” are huge, Sir! Enormous! OH MY GOD! You wouldn’t believe it! I’m telling you there are other spacecraft out there, Lined up on the far side of the crater edge! They’re on the Moon watching us!

A certain professor, who wished to remain anonymous, was engaged in a discussion with Neil Armstrong during a NASA symposium.

Professor: What REALLY happened out there with Apollo 11?

Armstrong: It was incredible, of course we had always known there was a possibility, the fact is, we were warned off!(by the Aliens). There was never any question then of a space station or a moon city.

Professor: How do you mean “warned off”?

Armstrong: I can’t go into details, except to say that their ships were far superior to ours both in size and technology – Boy, were they big!…and menacing! No, there is no question of a space station.

Professor: But NASA had other missions after Apollo 11?

Armstrong: Naturally – NASA was committed at that time, and couldn’t risk panic on Earth. But it really was a quick scoop and back again.

According to a Dr. Vladimir Azhazha:

“Neil Armstrong relayed the message to Mission Control that two large, mysterious objects were watching them after having landed near the moon module. But this message was never heard by the public — because NASA censored it.”

According to a Dr. Aleksandr Kasantsev, Buzz Aldrin took color movie film of the UFOs from inside the module, and continued filming them after he and Armstrong went outside.

KENS NOTE: Personally I feel we did not go to the Moon in 1969. I think some of these photos and stories have been fabricated to add credibility that we did go to the Moon. See my web site HTTP://www.worldufophotosandnews.org and see the many photos disproving that we did go to Moon.

PHOTOS OF SOME STRANGE OBJECTS ON THE MOON NOT TAKEN BY THE ASTRONAUTS……

Tyler Glockner, who runs the SecureTeam YouTube channel, said the only other time he had seen evidence of a massive object of the moon was in this photo, taken during the Apollo 17 mission. The structure can be seen in the top right

Apollo 8 is famous for being the first time humans travelled to the moon - but the astronauts might not have been alone in outer space, if this image is to be believed

The shape is three-dimensional, and seems to be creating its own shadow, prompting speculation that it could be a UFO

KEN PFEIFER WORLD UFO PHOTOS AND NEWS

HTTP://WWW.WORLDUFOPHOTOS.ORG

HTTP://WWW.WORLDUFOPHOTOSANDNEWS.ORG

HTTP://WWW.NEWDISCOVERIES51.YOLASITE.COM

THANKS TO HTTP://WWW.UFOCASEBOOK.COM

GOOGLE………….KEN PFEIFER ALIEN CRAFT

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Source:

•  http://worldufophotosandnews.org/?p=28414

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

Robert Sepehr: Atlantis, Fallen Angels, and Archaic DNA

According to the Greek philosopher Plato, it was a city of immense wealth, being rich in natural minerals and lush vegetation. Atlanteans were said to have built fantastic temples, displayed beautiful architecture, and created magnificent statues to the gods.

Having once been a privileged and favored people, the Atlanteans became corrupt and degraded, according to Plato, by interbreeding with mortals and diluting their noble seed which allegedly descended from the gods. So what did Plato mean by mortal admixture, when he said that the Atlantean divine portion began to fade away and became too diluted, too often, by the mortal admixture?

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{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

LA Marzulli: UFO Reveal Incoming?

L. A. Marzulli is an author, lecturer and filmmaker. He has penned 12 books including The Nephilim Trilogy which made the CBA best sellers list. He received an honorary doctorate for the series from his mentor Dr. I. D. E. Thomas, who was the Provost at Pacific International University. He was also honored with the Gold Medallion award from Chuck Missler at the K-House conference in 2014.

His series On the Trail of the Nephilim I & II are full-color, over-sized books, which uncover startling evidence that there has been a massive cover-up of what he believes are the remains of the Nephilim, the giants mentioned in the Bible.

Marzulli teamed up with film producer Richard Shaw to create The Watchers series. There are now 11 installments in the series and Watchers 7: UFO Physical Evidence won UFO Best Film and the Peoples Choice Awards, at the UFO Congress in 2014. Marzulli and Shaw took their second trip to Peru in January of 2014, filming ancient artifacts and megalithic structures at various locations, and also filmed the unwrapping of a 2000-year-old mummy skull, at Sr. Juan Navarro’s Paracas History Museum, which was revealed in Watchers 8.

Marzulli has launched a new series, The Watchman Chronicles and his first independent film was released in March of 2017. The title of the series is “In Their Own Words: UFOs are Real!”

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{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

 Life Recorded On Mars! Moving Rock, 1 meter tall! Alien Animal Found, UFO Sighting News.

Hey everyone. I made a post about this 6 years ago, but I wanted to make an updated post so I made this video to go along with it. Did you notice the other two smaller black animals that moved...in photo number 4? I made the video and didn't notice it till I was finished. They might actually have a black exoskeleton and be crab like creatures. Here on earth, crabs exist in the sea, lakes, rivers, mountains, forests and jungles. They are very strong. 

 

Another possibility is growing rocks. Rocks that are living creatures, but not like we know them to be. I remember many years ago (4-6) William Rutledge...an astronaut now living in Rwanda spoke about his experience during his Apollo 20 mission. He said he saw yellow living rocks on the abandoned cigar shaped UFO in Deporte crater on the moon. He said they grew in size and a useful liquid chemical came out of them. NASA urls below. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan 

 

Photo .5: Sol 1830 left    

• http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/n/1830/2N288828136EFFB000P0625R0M1.JPG

Photo 1:  1830

• http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/n/1830/2N288828221EFFB000P0625L0M4.JPG

Photo 2:  1833

• http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/n/1833/2N289093752EFFB074P1985L0M1.HTML

Photo 3:  1836

• http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/n/1836/2N289363474EFFB0A1P1985R0M1.HTL

Photo 4:  1843

• http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/n/1843/2N289976994EFFB0EOP0675L0M1.HTML

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

Humans have made contact with aliens but their existence has been kept secret at the behest of a Galactic Federation of extraterrestrials. The aliens have asked not to publish that they are here, humanity is not ready yet. 

They have been waiting for humanity to evolve and reach a stage where we will generally understand what space and spaceships are. 

There’s an agreement between the US government and the aliens. They signed a contract with us to do experiments here. They, too, are researching and trying to understand the whole fabric of the universe, and they want us as helpers. 

Part of that unsettling pact, includes a secret underground base on Mars which is staffed by a team of ETs and Americans. 

Remarkably, President Trump was on the verge of revealing, but the aliens in the Galactic Federation, which presumably governs intelligent species in the galaxy, are saying: Wait, let people calm down first. They don’t want to start mass hysteria. They want to first make us sane and understanding. 

The claim was reportedly made by the former head of Israel's space security program Haim Eshed and published this past Friday by the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot. 

In the interview, the retired general who is now an esteemed professor told a reporter that the United States and Israel have been in contact with ETs for quite some time. 

As for why he’s chosen to reveal this information now, Eshed explained that the timing was simply due to how much the academic landscape has changed, and how respected he is in academia. 

“If I had come up with what I’m saying today five years ago, I would have been hospitalized,” he explained to Yediot. 

He added that “today, they’re already talking differently. I have nothing to lose. I’ve received my degrees and awards; I am respected in universities abroad, where the trend is also changing.”

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{ http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/  }

Hovering light formation over Portland, Oregon

These bright lights were making maneuvers in the sky above Portland in Oregon on 28th October 2020.

Witness report: 

Observed four hovering lights in southern sky, forming a straight line. Three of the lights then formed a triangle and hovered for a few minutes. This was seen on two consecutive nights in October, around the same time. No high speed or erratic movement was observed, and man made objects cannot be ruled out.

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

Professor Sir Roger, Nobel Prize winner, claims universes existed before the Big Bang and evidence can still be observed today. Many scientists believe a "Big Crunch" took place

By Lottie O'Neill - Overnight Editor

A universe existed before the Big Bang and it can still be seen today, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist has claimed.

Sir Roger Penrose, who won the honour for his work proving black holes exist, said he had found six "warm points" in the sky – named "Hawking Points".

The warm points, which are approximately eight times the diameter of the Moon, are named after Professor Stephen Hawking who theorised that black holes "leak" radiation and eventually evaporate away.

The time frame for black holes to evaporate completely is vast, potentially longer than the age of our current universe, which makes it impossible to detect the process.

However, Sir Roger, 89, believes that dead black holes from earlier universes – or aeons – can be seen now. If true, Prof Hawking's theories would be proved true.

Sir Roger has called the 'warm points' Hawkings Points in honour of the late Prof Stephen Hawking 

(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Sir Roger shared the prestigious Wolf Foundation Prize for Physics with Prof Hawking for their work on black holes in 1988, reports The Times.

Speaking from his home in Oxford yesterday, he told the paper: "I claim that there is observation of Hawking radiation. The Big Bang was not the beginning. There was something before and that something is what we will have in our future.

"In this crazy theory of mine, that remote future becomes the Big Bang of another aeon. So our Big Bang began with something which was the remote future of a previous aeon and there would have been similar black holes evaporating away – via Hawking evaporation – and they would produce these points in the sky, that I call Hawking Points. We are seeing them.

"These points are about eight times the diameter of the Moon and are slightly warmed up regions. There is pretty good evidence for at least six of these points."

READ MORE

• NASA tracking huge 820m asteroid nearly as big as world's tallest building Burj Khalifa

He has also recently published his theory of Hawking Points in the Royal Astronomical Society.

Sir Roger's idea is controversial, although many scientists do believe the universe expands before contracting back into a "Big Crunch" before a new Big Bang.

But black holes were also controversial themselves, English country parson, John Mitchell, first theorised them in 1783, and speculated if an object became extremely dense, it's gravitational pull would stop light from escaping.

However, Albert Einstein himself dismissed the theory as mathematical curiosity over reality.

READ MORE

• Truth-seekers spot 'UFO' being 'followed through sky' by mysterious orbs

Nine years after Einstein's death, Sir Roger proved that when objects became too dense, the inevitable consequence resulted in a gravitational collapse, where all known laws of nature stop.

His article is still seen as the most important contribution to the theory of relativity since Einstein.

Sir Roger first stumbled upon the idea when walking to a Tube station on his way to Birkbeck College 50 years ago when he was in his mid-30s.

He has finally been recognised for his work half a century later, by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

{ https://www.dailystar.co.uk/ }

Strangers in the night; UFOs, drones or government surveillance?

By Tom Lyden

An Eden Prairie man says he has seen dozens of UFOs at his home near Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie.

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (FOX 9) - A couple miles from Flying Cloud Airport, in a quiet neighborhood, an Eden Prairie man saw a light in the sky last May, the curiosity became an obsession.

“I noticed something I had never seen before, which is an object that appeared to be levitating at or near the airport," he said.

An Eden Prairie man has reported multiple UFO sightings

The man said the objects often flew along the same flight path as planes flying in or out of Flying Cloud Airport but always after 11 p.m. when it is closed.

Fearing ridicule, the man asked the FOX 9 Investigators not to reveal his identity. Since that first encounter, there have been dozens of repeat performances. Bright objects in the western sky, at around 500 feet, moving slowly and silently across the horizon at an estimated 15 mph.

The man said the objects often flew along the same flight path as planes flying in or out of Flying Cloud Airport, but always after 11 p.m. when it is closed.

He’s made more than 80 video recordings with his iPhone, sometimes seeing as many as six objects together.

When he asked airport officials about it, they told him nothing was showing up on radar.

He also called Eden Prairie Police and the FBI, never getting any definitive answers about what the flying objects might be.

When asked if he would speculate on what he was seeing, he responded, “I would just take a shot in the dark and say… it is a listening device or something, something like big brother is tracking people’s movements.”

{ https://www.fox9.com/ }

Artist’s concept of K2-141b, a hot lava world with a magma ocean, rock vapor atmosphere and supersonic winds.

Image via Julie Roussy/ McGill Graphic Design/ Getty Images/ McGill University.

In a new study announced on November 3, 2020, an international team of researchers described a planet unlike any in our solar system. The Earth-size exoplanet – named K2-141b – is a hot lava world on one side, but extremely cold on the other. It has a magma ocean, a rock vapor atmosphere, and supersonic winds. K2-141b is one of two planets in a star system about 202 light-years from our solar system in the direction of Aquarius the Water Bearer, a constellation seen from all part of the world on November evenings.

Planets that orbit close to their stars tend, of course, to be a lot hotter than those that are farther away, for example, Mercury and Venus in our solar system. But in some solar systems, there are planets that orbit their stars even closer than Mercury, the closest planet to our sun. Some of these extreme worlds are referred to as lava planets, where scientists think that at least part of their surfaces are covered by molten magma oceans.

• The 2021 lunar calendars are here! Order yours before they’re gone. Makes a great gift!

On November 3, scientists at McGill University, York University and the Indian Institute of Science Education announced that one such planet under study – called K2-141b – is even more exotic. It’s a world that is scorching hot on one side and freezing on the other, with a magma ocean about 62 miles (100 km) deep, “rain” composed of rock that evaporates and then precipitates in a regular cycle similar to the water cycle on Earth, and supersonic winds over 3,100 miles per hour (5,000 km/hr). Wild! The findings are based on data from from NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope.

York University’s Tue Giang Nguyen is lead author of the study, published November 3, 2020, in the peer-reviewed journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Nguyen said in a statement:

The study is the first to make predictions about weather conditions on K2-141b that can be detected from hundreds of light-years away with next-generation telescopes such as the James Webb Space Telescope.

K2-141b’s surface is thought to be largely covered by a magma ocean (artist’s concept).

Image via MediaInaf TV/ The Science Times.

Discovered in 2018, K2-141b is only about 1 1/2 times the radius of Earth, but is a very alien world. Its surface, atmosphere and ocean are all composed of rock, specifically sodium, silicon monoxide, and silicon dioxide.

It is different in other ways, too. The planet is tidally locked to its star, meaning that the same side is always facing the star, just like one side of the moon always faces Earth. About 2/3 of K2-141b is in perpetual daylight, something we never experience on our own world. The researchers determined this by analyzing illumination patterns of the planet in the telescopic data.

So how does this affect the planet’s climate? Being tidally locked this way means that there are drastic temperature differences between the day and night sides of K2-141b. On the side facing away from the star, it is bitterly cold, estimated to be below -330 degrees Fahrenheit (-200 degrees Celsius). But on the star-facing side, the temperature is estimated to be a scorching 5,700 degrees Fahrenheit (3,000 degrees Celsius). In our own solar system, we think of Venus’ scorching surface temperature as being hot enough to melt rocks. But on K2-141b, it is so hot that rocks can evaporate. The vaporized rock helps to create a thin atmosphere on the planet. As Nicolas Cowan at McGill University noted:

Our finding likely means that the atmosphere extends a little beyond the shore of the magma ocean, making it easier to spot with space telescopes.

55 Cancri e, almost twice the diameter of Earth, is another possible lava world, as seen in this artist’s concept.

Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech.

The rock vapor that is created on the day side of the planet also acts as precipitation. The cycle is basically similar to what happens on Earth, but with no water involved. The mineral vapor behaves like earthly precipitation; the supersonic winds carry it to the night side of the planet, where it “rains” down to the surface. The currents in the magma ocean, with the precipitated minerals, flow back to the hot day side of the planet, where the rock minerals evaporate again.

It’s a regular cycle, but not as stable as on Earth. Since the flow of the magma ocean back to the hot side is slow, the scientists say that the mineral composition will gradually change over time, affecting both the surface and atmosphere of K2-141b. Cowan said:

All rocky planets­, including Earth, started off as molten worlds but then rapidly cooled and solidified. Lava planets give us a rare glimpse at this stage of planetary evolution.

The researchers now want to further test their calculations about K2-141b. They will now use data from the Spitzer Space Telescope to determine more specific temperatures for the day side and night side of the planet. Later, they plan to use the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), due to launch in 2021, to analyze the atmosphere.

Lava worlds like K2-141b are unknown in our solar system. Even Mercury isn’t close enough to the sun to have magma oceans on its surface. On Earth and Jupiter’s moon Io (and maybe Venus), the lava flows from volcanoes can give an idea of what it’s like, but it’s still not the same as having much of, or most of, a planet’s entire surface literally melted to create magma oceans.

Tue Giang Nguyen at York University, lead author of the new study.

Image via York University.

Earth and other rocky planets in our solar system actually used to be kinds of lava worlds when they were first starting to form several billion years ago, and were still extremely hot, molten and uninhabitable. But then they gradually cooled and became the solid, rocky worlds we see today. In the case of Earth, there is still residual heat inside, in the core, but the surface cooled enough to have a thicker atmosphere and water. Smaller planets like Mercury cooled down also, but have little or no internal heat left over, and very thin or nonexistent atmospheres. Molten worlds like K2-141b could therefore provide valuable clues as to how young, newborn rocky planets form and evolve before they cool enough to become rocky worlds.

• Bottom line: Lava planet K2-141b is an extreme world with a magma ocean, a rock vapor atmosphere and supersonic winds.
• Source: Modelling the atmosphere of lava planet K2-141b: implications for low- and high-resolution spectroscopy
• Via McGill University

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{ https://earthsky.org/ }

‘WTF?’: newly discovered ghostly circles in the sky can’t be explained by current theories, and astronomers are excited

In September 2019, my colleague Anna Kapinska gave a presentation showing interesting objects she’d found while browsing our new radio astronomical data. She had started noticing very weird shapes she couldn’t fit easily to any known type of object.

Among them, labelled by Anna as WTF?, was a picture of a ghostly circle of radio emission, hanging out in space like a cosmic smoke-ring. None of us had ever seen anything like it before, and we had no idea what it was. A few days later, our colleague Emil Lenc found a second one, even more spooky than Anna’s.

Anna and Emil had been examining the new images from our pilot observations for the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) project, made with CSIRO’s revolutionary new Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope.

EMU plans to boldly probe parts of the Universe where no telescope has gone before. It can do so because ASKAP can survey large swathes of the sky very quickly, probing to a depth previously only reached in tiny areas of sky, and being especially sensitive to faint, diffuse objects like these.

I predicted a couple of years ago this exploration of the unknown would probably make unexpected discoveries, which I called WTFs. But none of us expected to discover something so unexpected, so quickly. Because of the enormous data volumes, I expected the discoveries would be made using machine learning. But these discoveries were made with good old-fashioned eyeballing.

• Read more: Expect the unexpected from the big-data boom in radio astronomy

Hunting ORCs

Our team searched the rest of the data by eye, and we found a few more of the mysterious round blobs. We dubbed them ORCs, which stands for “odd radio circles”. But the big question, of course, is: “what are they?”

At first we suspected an imaging artefact, perhaps generated by a software error. But we soon confirmed they are real, using other radio telescopes. We still have no idea how big or far away they are. They could be objects in our galaxy, perhaps a few light-years across, or they could be far away in the Universe and maybe millions of light years across.

When we look in images taken with optical telescopes at the position of ORCs, we see nothing. The rings of radio emission are probably caused by clouds of electrons, but why don’t we see anything in visible wavelengths of light? We don’t know, but finding a puzzle like this is the dream of every astronomer.

• Read more: The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder finally hits the big-data highway

We know what they’re not

We have ruled out several possibilities for what ORCs might be.

Could they be supernova remnants, the clouds of debris left behind when a star in our galaxy explodes? No. They are far from most of the stars in the Milky Way and there are too many of them.

Could they be the rings of radio emission sometimes seen in galaxies undergoing intense bursts of star formation? Again, no. We don’t see any underlying galaxy that would be hosting the star formation.

Could they be the giant lobes of radio emission we see in radio galaxies, caused by jets of electrons squirting out from the environs of a supermassive black hole? Not likely, because the ORCs are very distinctly circular, unlike the tangled clouds we see in radio galaxies.

Could they be Einstein rings, in which radio waves from a distant galaxy are being bent into a circle by the gravitational field of a cluster of galaxies? Still no. ORCs are too symmetrical, and we don’t see a cluster at their centre.

A genuine mystery

In our paper about ORCs, which is forthcoming in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, we run through all the possibilities and conclude these enigmatic blobs don’t look like anything we already know about.

So we need to explore things that might exist but haven’t yet been observed, such as a vast shockwave from some explosion in a distant galaxy. Such explosions may have something to do with fast radio bursts, or the neutron star and black hole collisions that generate gravitational waves.

• Read more: How we closed in on the location of a fast radio burst in a galaxy far, far away

Or perhaps they are something else entirely. Two Russian scientists have even suggested ORCs might be the “throats” of wormholes in spacetime.

From the handful we’ve found so far, we estimate there are about 1,000 ORCs in the sky. My colleague Bärbel Koribalski notes the search is now on, with telescopes around the world, to find more ORCs and understand their cause.

It’s a tricky job, because ORCS are very faint and difficult to find. Our team is brainstorming all these ideas and more, hoping for the eureka moment when one of us, or perhaps someone else, suddenly has the flash of inspiration that solves the puzzle.

It’s an exciting time for us. Most astronomical research is aimed at refining our knowledge of the Universe, or testing theories. Very rarely do we get the challenge of stumbling across a new type of object which nobody has seen before, and trying to figure out what it is.

Is it a completely new phenomenon, or something we already know about but viewed in a weird way? And if it really is completely new, how does that change our understanding of the Universe? Watch this space!

{ https://theconversation.com/uk }

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe just brought an asteroid piece to Earth

The samples are in 'perfect shape' and they could shed new light on the birth of the solar system.

On the 75th anniversary of perhaps the most famous Bermuda Triangle disappearance, an Australian researcher debunks the myths and explains his own theory on why five US Navy torpedo bombers and a rescue plane disappeared in the triangle without a trace. Case closed or will we still be debating the Bermuda Triangle on the 100th anniversary?

“We should ask ourselves: if we don’t know what caused something, or if something appears entirely mysterious, should we look for the answer in the paranormal.”

Oh, boy. If you want to start a controversy, there’s a good place to start. Shane Satterley of Griffiths University in Queensland opened with that statement in his interview with 9 News about the 75th anniversary of the December 5, 1945, disappearance of five TBM Avenger torpedo bombers collectively known as ‘Flight 19’ which took off from a Naval Air Station in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on a three-hour exercise (hum ‘Gilligan’s Island’ theme here) following an ironically triangular flight plan. The mission was led by Lieutenant Charles C. Taylor, an experienced pilot and WWII veteran.

“Both my compasses are out and I’m trying to find Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I’m over land, but it’s broken. I’m sure I’m in the Keys, but I don’t know how far down.”

Based on previous reports, the planes were not over land but still far out to sea. Non-mission pilots who picked up Taylor’s and other pilots’ broadcasts said later that he sounded confused and anxious. A PBM Mariner flying boat from a Ft. Lauderdale air station was sent to find them but vanished off of radar 20 minutes later and neither the plane nor the 13 crew members were ever found. Search parties of over 300 boats combed the Atlantic east of Florida but found no remains of Flight 19 either. The official government explanation said the disappearance was “cause unknown” and it became known as the Lost Patrol.

“However, when we take the time to learn more about these events and not jump to conclusions, they start to look much more ordinary.”

In the interview and an earlier article in The Conversation, Satterley lays out the critical thinking process that led him to an ordinary cause for the disappearances. On the disappearance of the search plane, Satterley points out that these were nicknamed “flying gas tanks” for their tendency to go down in flames, and that is what a passing merchant ship witnessed, along with the resulting oil slick. On the other hand, TBM Avengers were known to sink about 45 seconds after a water landing – which resulted in an ocean bottom landing that made finding them nearly impossible.

Then there was the coverup.

“Beyond the reported drinking, other rumors have surfaced about Taylor’s behavior that day. One story holds that he was anxious to get home from the mission to go on a hot date, possibly with Jinx Falkenberg, a well-known actress of the day. Another rumor was that he had recently broken up with a girlfriend. He received a letter that same day with some kind of disturbing news.”

Besides the possibility that Taylor made a mistake and may have panicked, there were rumors of his drinking problems and women problems. All of this upset Katherine Taylor, his mother. Upset that her son was being blamed by both the Navy and the media (some things never change), she petitioned the Navy, which capitulated a year after its initial report and changed the reason for the disappearance to “for causes unknown.” In a minor defense, Satterley points out that the other planes had inexperienced trainee crews who were little help in flying by instruments in that day’s bad weather.

“But if 1000 aircraft fly through the Bermuda Triangle and we can explain what happened to 990 of them, should we say the other 10 were supernatural cases? I don’t think we should. All we can say is we don’t know what happened for sure – and we should try to learn more.”

Is the Bermuda Triangle supernatural or natural to logical thinkers like Shane Satterley but not to those with super imaginations? Can the same be said of other paranormal phenomena?

For now, on the 75th anniversary of the disappearance of Flight 19 in the Bermuda Triangle, Shane Satterley has opened a triangular can of worms.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

Just when you thought the basketball-with-protrusions coronavirus would be the symbol of 2020, a new candidate come streaking in from parts unknown (maybe) to make a late bid for 2020 meme supremacy. We’re talking, of course, about the monolith. They started in Utah, spread to Romania and California, disappeared both mysteriously and nefariously, and ended up being claimed by an artist who has them for sale. That should have been the end of the mania … right? Ha! You forgot that this is 2020 – killing the monoliths has become as difficult and controversial as killing the coronavirus. Before that artist could start filling orders, a new supplier undercut him, a monolith appeared in the sky over Idaho, more appeared on the ground in the Netherlands, Pittsburg and on the Isle of Wight — and then came the ultimate (so far) … a golden monolith was found in Columbia! Can this be topped? Somewhere, a monolith said, “Hold my beer and watch this!”

“We went down the steps and to the right about 100 yards in front us we saw this big reflection of the sun. I knew about all the monolith stories recently, so I recognised it straight away.”

You can’t miss the monolith on the Isle of Wight’s Compton Beach, according to dogwalker Tom Dunford, who found it on December 6. It differs from earlier monoliths because it has a pointy top – from the planet of the Coneheads perhaps? This one is also extremely reflective rather than a brush metallic surface – so the aliens can collect our fingerprints? Of course, it may not be aliens – just another copycat. However, don’t tell that to the hikers in Friesland near the Kiekenberg nature reserve in the Netherlands. On the same day, they found a mini-monolith next to a frozen pond with no telltale human footprints in the frost around it. Levitating aliens?

Baby golden monoliths?

“All of a sudden this rectangle showed up. It was only in the sky for a couple of seconds. It wasn’t there, then it was, and as quickly as it appeared, it was gone again. That quick!”

Speaking of levitation, Jeff Jacobs, was driving in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on December 4 when he saw a dark monolith-shaped object in the sky. Luckily, he was quick with the smartphone and snapped a picture before it disappeared. The aliens leaving in their monolith spaceship to leave more homing beacons? No one seems to have an explanation for the monolith-in-the-sky, but one on the ground in front of Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop in Pittsburgh has a logical explanation – the owner ordered it built out of plywood and sheet metal to attract customers. Finally – an honest non-alien obelisk owner.

“I will hand craft and ship to you a 10 foot tall extruded triangle 3 feet on each side, made of 7 gauge 304 stainless steel, and includes 7 foot attachable ground mounting rods with 1/2 inch toggles, these can be used by the installer to mount the sculpture in firm soil, solid rock, concrete or suspended in concrete. Properly installed it will be very sturdy, small arms bullet proof, and extremely difficult to remove.”

If you’re not handy with tools and you don’t have $45,000 to buy one from The Most Famous Artist, you can get a bullet-proof monolith on Etsy for only $10,000. That’s not much more than a 12-foot live Christmas tree these days … and it’s bulletproof! However, even that can’t compete with the greatest monolith so far.

“This Saturday, social networks in Colombia began to fill with photos and videos of what would be the strange appearance of a golden monolith in the municipality of Chía, located a few kilometers from Bogotá. It is unknown who located it there, and the only thing that is known is that it would have been found by workers in the morning.”

The tweets accompanying the Mystery Planet’s article on Colombia’s golden monolith hint that they think it’s a marketing ploy – and that seems to be as good of a guess at any right now. One thing is for certain – it’s not over, especially when there’s money to be made. And it’s a great distraction from the rest of 2020.

A fallen monolith?

Sorry, coronavirus meme – your day (and that of your real inspiration) is almost over. There’s a new kid in town and his name is Mono.

Wait, they may want to rethink that before putting it on the meme.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

Mankind has made contact with an alien 'Galactic Federation' but it has been kept secret because 'humanity isn't ready', former head of Israel's space security program claims

• Haim Eshed said aliens are real and secretly in contact with America and Israel

• He claimed the 'Galactic Federation' runs an underground Mars base with the US

• The 87-year-old said aliens will not come into the open until humanity 'evolves' 

By TIM STICKINGS FOR MAILONLINE

Israeli space official Haim Eshed, pictured on the cover of a new book called The Universe Beyond the Horizon, claims that the US and Israel have had contact with aliens   

An Israeli space official has claimed that aliens are real and secretly in contact with America and Israel - but are keeping their existence quiet because humanity 'isn't ready'. 

Haim Eshed - who was head of Israel's space security programme for nearly 30 years and is a retired general - described a so-called 'Galactic Federation' which supposedly runs an underground Mars base in a secret pact with Washington.

But the aliens had to intervene to stop Donald Trump when he appeared 'on the verge' of blurting out their secrets, he told Israeli paper Yediot Aharonot. 

And the 87-year-old Eshed says the aliens will not come into the open until humanity can 'evolve and reach a stage where we will... understand what space and spaceships are'. 

Eshed did not say how long the aliens have been hiding in the shadows, but said some of the supposed contact had taken place during Trump's presidency. 

Speaking of an 'agreement' between the US government and the alien visitors, Eshed said the extraterrestrials wanted to work with American agents to study 'the fabric of the universe'. 

'The aliens have asked not to announce that they are here [because] humanity is not ready yet,' Eshed told the Hebrew-language newspaper Yedioth Aharonoth, according to Jewish Press.

'Trump was on the verge of revealing [alien existence], but the aliens in the Galactic Federation are saying, 'Wait, let people calm down first'. 

'They don't want to start mass hysteria. They want to first make us sane and understanding.'

Until that point, he said, aliens have secured an agreement to keep their movements secret.

'They have been waiting for humanity to evolve and reach a stage where we will generally understand what space and spaceships are,' said Eshed.

'There's an agreement between the US government and the aliens. They signed a contract with us to do experiments here. They, too, are researching and trying to understand the whole fabric of the universe, and they want us as helpers.'

'There's an underground base in the depths of Mars, where their representatives are, and also our American astronauts,' Eshed is reported to have said.

The former space official claimed he had come forward now in the unlikely hope that his revelations would be accepted as true. 

'If I had come up with what I'm saying today five years ago, I would have been hospitalised,' he told the Israeli paper. 'Every place that I went to in academia with this, they said: The guy has lost his mind.  

'I have nothing to lose. I've received my degrees and awards; I am respected in universities abroad, where the trend is also changing.' 

In April 2020 the Pentagon released footage from three sightings of unidentified objects. One of the videos was captured off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, in 2015 (pictured)

The professor has even put his thoughts into a book in which he describes how aliens have prevented nuclear disasters on Earth, according to the Jerusalem Post.

The book is called The Universe Beyond the Horizon: Conversations with Professor Haim Eshed.   

As head of the Israeli defence ministry's space directorate, Eshed helped launch spy satellites which he said would help provide high-quality surveillance of Iran. 

When he retired in 2011, he was even described in Israeli media as 'the father of Israel's satellite programme'.  

But after leaving his role at the defence ministry, he is said to have 'turned to what really interested him - aliens'. 

In the new book he discusses UFOs and 'various theories about their nature, purpose and origin, which in his opinion is probably not from Earth,' according to a blurb. 

Eshed is described a researcher who 'believes that the human race is not alone in the universe, and that it must fit into the harmony of the great plan'.  

Israel's space agency hinted at a future moon mission on Monday by publishing a short clip entitled 'Back to the Moon' with the caption 'Ready to get excited again?'. 

The country's first attempt at a lunar landing ended in failure when a privately-funded robotic craft crashed on its final descent last April. 

Only the US, China and the former Soviet Union have succeeded in carrying out a controlled landing on the moon. 

NASA has an official target of returning humans to the moon by 2024, but the development of a next-generation rocket has been held up by the pandemic. 

The US and China also have Mars in their sights, but the dream of landing humans on the red planet is still some way off - despite Eshed's claims of an underground base. 

Beijing's unmanned Tianwen-1 rover is due to arrive in the red planet's orbit in February 2021 after taking off in July. 

NASA has its own Mars rover on the way, Perseverance, and is working on systems that could support human life on the 34million-mile trip to Mars.  

Trump, whether secretly in league with aliens or not, unveiled America's new Space Force last year, the first new military service in the US for more than 70 years.  

The Pentagon said in August this year that it was setting up a new task force under the US Navy to investigate UFO sightings.  

In April, US defence chiefs released three videos taken by Navy pilots showing mid-air encounters with unexplained objects.

The grainy black and white footage had previously been leaked and the Navy had acknowledged they were genuine videos. 

One of the videos was shot in November 2004 and the other two in January 2015. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mystery of the mirrored monoliths: They've sprung up in remote beauty spots across the world, from the Utah desert to the Isle of Wight. But are they bizarre works of art... or something out of this world? 

By Mark Palmer for the Daily Mail

Soaring over the barren, featureless desert of Utah's aptly named Red Rock Country, the helicopter crew could not believe its eyes.

A tedious routine flight counting bighorn sheep in one of America's emptiest regions had suddenly taken a dramatic turn, one that would immediately capture the world's imagination — and fuel wild conspiracy theories.

In this rugged, canyon-carved, sun-baked corner, an otherworldly, 10ft 'monolith' was glinting in the harsh desert light. Three-sided, metallic and as immovable as the menhirs of Stonehenge, it seemed somehow both to have been there for ever and to be a kind of message or sign — but it gave no clue as to its origins.

Feeling reflective: This 10ft metal monolith appeared in a red-rock desert in the U.S. state of Utah last month

Helicopter pilot Bret Hutchings described how a biologist on the flight with him spotted the object. 'He was like, 'Whoa, whoa, turn around, turn around!' said Hutchings. ''There's this thing back there — we've got to go look at it!' I have to admit, that's been about the strangest thing I've come across out there in all the years of flying.'

A bewildered spokesman for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources euphemistically said the monolith — which are usually a single stone or rock — was an 'anomaly' after it appeared on November 18, adding: 'It's a tough place to get to by vehicle and on foot.'

So who — or what — could possibly have planted it? The internet was instantly aflame with theories. It was a prop left over from films including Indiana Jones, Star Trek and Mission: Impossible, all of which were made in the area. It was, others insisted, a satellite beacon, a 'resonance deflector' — or maybe just 'an eyesore'.

But perhaps the most common suggestion was that the monolith was placed there by an alien species of vastly superior intelligence.

After all, it resembled nothing so much as the huge black object that mysteriously appears in the desert in the epic opening scene of Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Within days, similar objects began popping up all over the world and a near identical monolith appeared on a hillside in Romania (pictured)

Gold in them thar hills: Another strange object appeared in Chia municipality, Colombia, as the metal structures started popping up all around the world

Fixed into the dusty ground by a higher intelligence, the object appears to teach the 'apes' in that film how to use tools — in turn sparking the arrival of humans.

Then, just as strangely as it arrived, the Utah monolith vanished, nine days after it had first baffled the globe. And from there, the mystery only deepened further.

Within days, similar objects began popping up all over the world. A near identical monolith appeared on a hillside in Romania. Internet users were quick to point out that the metallic, triangular object had appeared close to an ancient archaeological landmark, the Petrodava Fortress, built by the ancient Dacian people about 2,000 years ago.

Could this be significant, many wondered. Were aliens trying to send a message? Or were pranksters merely copying the Utah phenomenon that fascinated the planet? Then the monoliths began proliferating with extraordinary profusion. One 'landed' at the top of a mountain trail in California. It too vanished.

Another turned up in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennyslvania, outside a sweet shop. Perhaps the extra-terrestrials were fond of Hershey's chocolate, some quipped.

At the end of last week, an especially beautiful monolith appeared in the Joshua Tree National Park of southern California. Others appeared in Colombia and the Netherlands.

At the end of last week, an especially beautiful monolith appeared in the Joshua Tree National Park of southern California

New on the block: Another monolith appeared on a hilltop near the city of Atascadero in California last week, days after others had mysteriously appeared then vanished

Finally — closest to home — in the early hours of Sunday morning, a gleaming, three-sided monolith 'landed' out of nowhere at genteel Compton Bay, on the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight.

Dog walkers were awed by the sight of the 8 ft object standing rigidly straight, reflecting the winter light that sparkled on the sea. Resident Alexia Fishwick said she was 'dumbstruck' when she spotted it during a beach walk, saying the monolith was 'really quite magical'. 

Once again, it was in a hard-to-reach place, fixed into the sand below a sheer cliff, accessible only by a narrow footpath. Former Radio 1 DJ Rob da Bank, who lives on the island, says: 'I'm not sure if it's aliens, a Coldplay PR stunt or a local mirror dealer drumming up trade, but it got us all down the beach anyway.'

Tory MP Bob Seely was more measured, saying: 'It's fascinating that this sculpture has popped up.'

Sculpture? Surely not, many insist. It must be far, far more than that.

A spokesman for Isle of Wight Council claimed the beach at Compton Bay is owned and managed by the Crown Estate — although the National Trust disputes this, insisting it owns the site.

The Trust says the monolith had appeared without permission — how infuriating that the aliens failed to follow proper planning rules — and insists: 'We need to monitor over the next few days to ensure the beach remains safe and does not become overcrowded.' The organisation also conducted a full study of the object, concluding that it 'seems secure on a wooden plinth and is made from mirrored sections of plastic or Perspex material'.

The monoliths began proliferating with extraordinary profusion, with one appearing in a nature reserve near Oudehorne in the Netherlands

Stunned: Local Peter James was mystified when a monolith appeared out of nowhere at genteel Compton Bay, on the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight

Over in America, suspicion has fallen upon an anonymous collective called The Most Famous Artist, based in Sante Fe, New Mexico. They quickly took credit for the monoliths in Utah and California and, while they were about it, showed some entrepreneurial flair by posting an image of the Utah creation — with a £34,000 price tag attached.

Whatever the truth of the monoliths' origins, it's clear there hasn't been anything like them since crop circles began appearing in 1976. Over the next two decades these phenomena were all the rage. Or, as the Smithsonian Institution said, they were a 'lens through which the initiated could witness the activity of Earth energies and ancient spirits, the anguish of Mother Earth in the face of impending ecological doom and evidence of secret weapons'.

The mystique of crop circles was finally shattered when two Brits — Doug Bower and his co-conspirator Dave Chorley — were outed as the creators of the first 'flying saucer nest' in a Wiltshire wheat field using ropes and boards. There are signs, that the current monolith mania will be more short-lived.

Another turned up in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennyslvania, outside a sweet shop. Perhaps the extra-terrestrials were fond of Hershey's chocolate, some quipped

An anonymous collective called The Most Famous Artist took credit for the monoliths in Utah and California, but founder Matty Mo (pictured) said the craze is now out of control

Many seem to disappear almost as fast as they arrive. One at the top of the Californian hiking trail came a cropper when a group of Trump supporters chanting 'Christ is King' and 'America First' came across it on a hike, took a dim view and demolished it, though it soon reappeared.

But as with those perplexing circles, the beauty of the monoliths seems to be that you can believe whatever you want about their origins. Go all galactic, if you wish, and convince yourself that they have appeared as an urgent — if rather opaque — message from aliens. Or take the view that people with too much time on their hands are planting a few bits of shiny metal and revelling in the subsequent speculation.

As Matty Mo, founder of The Most Famous Artist collective, said when he heard about the Isle of Wight's version: 'The monolith is out of my control at this point. Godspeed to all the aliens working hard around the globe to propagate the myth.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }