ScreenThe frost on Olympus Mons, is shaded in blue.

CREDIT: Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlishot

According to the team’s analysis, the layer of water frost appears each morning until the rising sun heats up the planet’s surface and causes it to evaporate back into the atmosphere. The process normally only takes a few hours, as the frost only appears as a very thin layer, likely only one-hundredth of a millimeter thick, before disappearing. For comparison, this is about the thickness of a human hair.

Still, the researchers say that the actual covering of frost is incredibly vast. In fact, the team calculates that as much as 150,000 tons of water are evaporated and then redeposited on the Martian surface every single day. “That’s roughly the equivalent of 60 Olympic-sized swimming pools,” they explain.

Discovery Atop Martian VOlcanoes is the Culmination of Six Year Long Project

In the team’s published study, which appears in the journal Nature Geoscience, Valantis notes how he first began searching for evidence of frost atop Martian volcanoes back in 2018 when he was still a Ph.D. student at the University of Bern. That effort involved combing through thousands of high-resolution photos of Mars captured by the Color and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) instrument onboard the European Space Agency’s Trace Gas Orbiter.

When an image revealed a spectral signature consistent with water frost, Valantis says he placed it into a larger series of images sorted by time, location, and season. As more images joined the series, Valantis found that they began to reveal a daily cycle, where this ultra-thin layer of water frost was deposited overnight and then evaporated back into the atmosphere by the rising sun each morning.

“What we’re seeing may be a remnant of an ancient climate cycle on modern Mars,” Valantis posited, “where you had precipitation and maybe even snowfall on these volcanoes in the past.”

To ensure that what they were seeing was real since it was so unexpected, Valantis and his colleagues verified the images using separate observations made by the High-Resolution Stereo Camera onboard the ESA’s Mars Express orbiter and the Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery spectrometer onboard the Trace Gas Orbiter. All told, the researchers say over 30,000 images were selected and verified during the six-year project.

In the study’s conclusion, the team says they believe the water frost, which sits inside the caldera of several Martian volcanoes within the Tharsis range, is created and deposited due to microclimates that form within these massive structures. These microclimates exist due to the enormous height of the Tharis volcanoes. According to the researchers, the mountainous volcanoes of Tharsis range between one and two times the size of Mount Everest on Earth. The largest, Olympus Mons, is as wide as France.

Astrobiology and the Search for Marian Life

Since his transition from Bern University to Brown University, Valantis says he is going to continue exploring “Martian mysteries.” This includes transitioning to a full-time astrobiology role, where he will apply his analysis skills to help characterize the ancient environments around Martian vents, where microbial life may have once thrived.

According to the press release announcing the discovery, the researchers believe that modeling how the frosts are forming atop these Martian volcanoes “could allow scientists to reveal more of Mars’ remaining secrets, including understanding where water exists and how it moves, as well as understanding the planet’s complex atmospheric dynamics, which is essential for future exploration and the search for possible signs of life.”

If everything goes well, Valantis said he hopes his work, including his discovery of water frost atop Martian volcanoes, can help lead to the detection and collection of high-value Martian soil samples that are brought back to Earth for study. In fact, he says that searching for life that evolved outside of Earth has always captured his imagination, so he is not going to miss out on the opportunity to help science try to make another major discovery.

“This notion of a second genesis, of life beyond Earth, has always fascinated me,” Valantinas said.

• Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.

Inside Monster Martian Volcanoes

The newly discovered volcano has monstered-sized company in the form of three other gigantic Martian volcanoes

Background image: NASA Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) digital elevation model. Geologic interpretation & annotations by Pascal Lee and Sourabh Shubham 2024

The volcano, temporarily named the Noctis, spans 280 miles wide and was discovered alongside a buried ice glacier to the east of Mars.

NASA/USGS

“This area of Mars is known to have a wide variety of hydrated minerals spanning a long stretch of Martian history,” said Sourabh Shubham, a graduate student at the University of Maryland’s Department of Geology.

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

Journalist Reveals Bob Lazar’s Astonishing Claim: Extraterrestrials See Humans as ‘Containers of Souls’

The origin of humanity is perhaps the most significant mystery that the world needs to unravel. In mainstream science, the theory of evolution is proposed to provide an explanation for human biological history. However, not many people subscribe to this theory, and there may be much more to the story that we are not yet aware of.

In episode number 2028 of the Joe Rogan podcast, the two current popular figures in UFOlogy, Jeremy Corbell & George Knapp discussed the possibility that humans were genetically engineered by a non-human intelligence for nefarious purposes, and some individuals within the government are aware of this. Knapp also mentions that he knows someone high-ranking who told him that human conflict, specifically war, is sometimes intentionally designed by a malevolent non-human intelligence through manipulation.

During the podcast, George Knapp discussed Bob Lazar and mentioned that Lazar was told while working on “the program” that humans were viewed by extraterrestrials as “containers of souls.” This may sound bizarre and fictional to many people; however, Lazar can be seen saying the exact same thing in his 1989 interviews. (Source)

“These beings conveyed information about the capability of affecting the human brain to anesthetize the human body. This is done without any physical contact from a remote source. For this anesthesia to be accomplished, the brain has to be in a relaxed state, similar to that required for hypnosis. If the brain is subject to any external stimulation, like stimulant drugs or loud music, this manipulation of the nervous system is ineffective.

These beings said that man was the product of externally corrected evolution. They said that man, as a species, had been genetically altered 65 times. They referred to humans as containers. Yet, I don’t know what we’re containers of. As I’m sure you now know, it was impossible for me to corroborate the information in the second section. And obviously, if this information is true, the ramifications are far-reaching and you don’t have to be a nuclear physicist to figure that out.”

In the podcast, Corbell discusses John Lear, who told him that “Aliens see us like a wine and our bodies are containers and our souls are beings matured as like a commodity.” Moreover, according to another bizarre theory that has been covered by researchers like Linda M. Howe, David Icke, etc., these non-human intelligence or extraterrestrials feed on human souls.

“It’s my conclusion over many years that reincarnation is a trap. It’s not that it doesn’t exist although I don’t think it’s quite the same as it’s explained it’s a bit more subtle maybe but I do think it’s a trap, said David Icke.” Whereas Linda said, “The recycling of souls reincarnation is the Machinery of this universe.” (Watch this episode of the Why Files for more context)

Robert Allan Monroe (1915-1995) was a radio broadcasting executive from Indiana known for his research into altered consciousness and founding The Monroe Institute. His 1971 book, “Journeys Out of the Body,” popularized the term “out-of-body experience.”

In 1958, Monroe suffered a series of bizarre events, prompting him to seek medical advice, but doctors found him to be healthy. He decided to dedicate his life to studying altered states of consciousness, eventually developing Hemispheric Synchronization (Hemi-Sync), a technology using binaural beats to harmonize brain hemispheres.

The US government took an interest in Monroe’s work and invited him to join a classified project called the Gateway Process, aimed at using his techniques for remote viewing. According to declassified files, this program aimed to alter consciousness, allowing participants to access intuitive knowledge and other dimensions. (CIA file)

During these experiments, participants sat in darkness wearing headphones and reported encountering interdimensional entities. According to Robert, subjects would often encounter interdimensional entities. Most frequently, reptilian humanoids were witnessed. Viewers referred to the uncanny creatures as ‘the alligators’ due to their crocodilian features. Curiously, Monroe was already quite familiar with the unsettling breed. During countless expeditions, he observed identical saurian creatures. For over 35 years, he gathered insight about these startling beings.

  Experiments opened portals to other dimensions where reptilian humanoids reside.

 Robert A. Monroe Photo. Image Credit: The Monroe Institute

Here is what he uncovered: For millennia, humanity has been controlled and enslaved by nefarious vertebrates known as Reptilians, who operate within the 4th dimension, invisible to most but those who can perceive beyond our limited spectrum of visible light. These parasitic entities thrive on our spiritual lifeforce, referred to as “loosh” by Monroe, and rely on negative and low vibrational energy for their survival. Viewing Earth as a vast farm, they harvest human emotions such as fear, hatred, anxiety, anger, and depression. With intelligence equal to or surpassing that of humans, this elusive lizard-like race considers itself superior and the rulers of mankind.

Read also:

• Journalist Said 2023 Alaska Object Was ‘Anomalous’; It Looked Like A Giant Tic-Tac
• Former CIA & Retd. Army Colonel Say Grusch’s Claims Are True: NHIs Are Behind Some UFOs
• U.S. Congressman Says UFOs May Be Machines of a Hidden ‘Ancient Earth Civilization’

• Ex-CIA Pilot Said US Buried Huge UFO That Was Too Big To Move, Corroborating Coulthart Claim

Robert Monroe pursued transcendental endeavors until he passed away in 1995. His beliefs never changed, and he frequently warned of the sinister spiritual vampires. Gateway’s revolutionary experiments continued throughout the 1980s.

There is a case of a British woman named Samantha McDonald who claimed that she had been repeatedly abducted by reptilians since her first contact in the 1990s, but on every abduction, her memory was wiped by her abductors. In 2014, she was invited to a British talk show named “This Morning,” where she revealed there were two alien species, the Greys and Reptilians, who worked together. (Source)

She said that when she woke up, there were needle marks, scratches, and bruises on her body. “I’ve asked them what they want with me and they said they have come to take me and my family. What they were after was my energy and soul essence. I don’t know why they keep coming back to me. I think it is to do with my energies as I’m into healing and meditation.”

Dr. Ellis Silver, an author of the book “Humans are not from Earth: A Scientific Evaluation of the Evidence,” has a strong belief that life on Earth was sparked by aliens thousands of years ago. He said, “Mankind is supposedly the most highly developed species on the planet, yet is surprisingly unsuited and ill-equipped for Earth’s environment: harmed by sunlight, a strong dislike for naturally occurring foods, ridiculously high rates of chronic disease, and more.” (Source)

Ellis strongly believes that Earth is some kind of galactic jail made by aliens to teach humans a behavior lesson. Similarly, in 2019, members of METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence), a San Francisco-based research organization, convened in Paris and suggested that we could all be living in a Galactic Zoo run by aliens.

Florence Raulin Cerceau, who is the METI director as well as an astrobiologist explained: “This puzzle of why we haven’t detected extraterrestrial life has been discussed often,” adding, “But in this workshop’s unique focus, many of the talks tackled a controversial explanation first suggested in the 1970s, called the ‘zoo hypothesis.’” METI president Douglas Vakoch weighed in by saying, “Perhaps extraterrestrials are watching humans on Earth, much like we watch animals in a zoo.” (Source)

MIT researcher John Ball presented the zoo hypothesis in his 1973 paper. He wrote, “Extraterrestrial intelligent life may be almost ubiquitous,” adding, “The apparent failure of such life to interact with us may be understood in terms of the hypothesis that they have set us aside as part of a wilderness area or zoo.” He later wrote in another research paper: “ETI may be discreetly and inconspicuously watching us but not dabbling.”

Additionally, former U.S. Army Counterintelligence Special Agent, UFO advocate, and media personality Luis Elizondo explained his reasoning behind claiming that UFO mysteries have made him “somber.” His speculative ideas are straight out of middle 20th-century science fiction, particularly the so-called “zoo hypothesis” that appeared in a number of stories at that time, imagining that Earth was essentially a zoo run by space aliens.

“What if it turns out that there’s another species that is even higher on that ladder than we are? Do we need the social institutions that we have today, do we need government and religious organizations that we have today, if it turns out that there is something else or someone else that is technologically more advanced and, perhaps from an evolutionary perspective, more advanced? Have we been wasting our time all this time? Or are we doing exactly as we are supposed to be doing?

[What] if it turns out that mankind is in fact just another animal in the zoo? If we saw ourselves as the zookeeper before, maybe we’re just another exhibit inside the zoo? What would that mean to us?

So, when I say ‘somber’ or ‘sobering’, I mean there’s going to come a point in this conversation when we’re going to have to do a lot of reconciling with ourselves, whatever that means, from whatever philosophical background you have. This is going to impact every single one of us. And I think that’s important. Do we find ourselves in a situation where history may have to be rewritten? So that’s what I meant.”

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

In recent years, astronomers have identified several enigmatic objects emitting repeating radio signals. In 2020, GLEAM-X J162759.5-523504.3, located near the galactic center, was observed emitting unusually bright flashes for just three months before falling silent.

Another object, discovered last year, GPM J1839-10, behaves like a slow pulsar, emitting five-minute radio bursts every 22 minutes. 

However, the newly-discovered radio signal acts a bit differently.

The signal was first detected during routine observations by the ASKAP radio telescope, located in Australia’s Wajarri Yamaji Country. The telescope, known for its wide field of view, was monitoring a gamma-ray burst when it stumbled upon ASKAP J1935+2148. The signal stood out due to its unique properties, including its long period and distinct emission states. 

Dr. Manisha Caleb, an astrophysicist at the University of Sydney and the lead author of the study, said in a press release that she thinks this could be a new type of neutron star.

“It is highly unusual to discover a neutron star candidate emitting radio pulsations in this way,” she said in a press release. “The fact that the signal is repeating at such a leisurely pace is extraordinary.”

Following the initial detection, the team conducted further observations for several months using both ASKAP and the more sensitive MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa. 

Equipped with a special type of radio receiver, the ASKAP telescope was set up in a grid pattern to scan the sky at a frequency of 887.5 MHz. The signals it picked up were divided into smaller chunks to get a clearer picture, and the data was processed every 10 seconds to catch the bright pulses from ASKAP J1935+2148. Meanwhile, the MeerKAT telescope, which operates at a higher frequency range (0.86-1.71 GHz), provided more detailed and sensitive observations. 

“What is intriguing is how this object displays three distinct emission states, each with properties entirely dissimilar from the others,” Caleb explained. “The MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa played a crucial role in distinguishing between these states. If the signals didn’t arise from the same point in the sky, we would not have believed it to be the same object producing these different signals.”

According to the study, the astronomers observed bright linear pulses that lasted anywhere between 10 and 50 seconds, followed by weaker pulses that followed a circular pattern that only lasted 370 milliseconds, followed by a lull where no pulses were detectable. This would all then repeat. 

This new mysterious radio signal challenges the current astrophysical models of neutron stars and white dwarfs. Neutron stars, known for their rapid rotation, typically complete rotations in seconds or fractions of a second. The 53.8-minute period of ASKAP J1935+2148 places it in the “pulsar death valley,” where detectable radio signals are not expected. In other words, if this is a neutron star, it shouldn’t be giving off anything.

One hypothesis is that ASKAP J1935+2148 could be an ultra-long period magnetar, a type of highly magnetized neutron star. However, the slow rotation and continued radio emission are unusual for such objects. Another possibility is a highly magnetized white dwarf, but no known white dwarfs have been observed to emit radio waves in this manner, making this explanation less likely.

Caleb and her team currently believe that this radio signal is probably from a slow-spinning neutron star or a binary system with a neutron star or another white dwarf. They admit that this is only a hypothesis since something like this has never been observed before, and further research needs to be done.

“It might even prompt us to reconsider our decades-old understanding of neutron stars or white dwarfs,” Caleb concluded. “How they emit radio waves and what their populations are like in our Milky Way galaxy.”

• MJ Banias covers space, security, and technology with The Debrief. You can email him at mj@thedebrief.org or follow him on Twitter @mjbanias.

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

Unveiling SETI’s Quest: How Scientists Search for Extraterrestrial Life

The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has fascinated humanity for decades. While science fiction often portrays alien contact in dramatic and immediate terms, the real-world efforts to discover extraterrestrial life are far more systematic and grounded in rigorous science. In a detailed conversation with journalist Ross Coulthart, Bill Diamond, the President and CEO of the SETI Institute, shed light on the current state of the search for intelligent life beyond Earth and the innovative technologies driving the quest.

The Origins of SETI and Its Evolving Mission

SETI, founded 40 years ago, was initially focused on detecting radio signals that could suggest the presence of extraterrestrial intelligence. Diamond explained that the institute’s efforts were originally supported by NASA but now rely heavily on private funding. The core mission remains the same: to search for signals or phenomena that could indicate the existence of advanced civilizations elsewhere in the universe. Over time, however, SETI’s scope has expanded beyond just radio waves.

According to Diamond, SETI has evolved to search for various “technosignatures”—evidence of technology used by extraterrestrial civilizations. This includes not only radio transmissions but also optical signals such as laser pulses, which might be used for communication or propulsion. SETI also considers the possibility of detecting megastructures like Dyson spheres, which could suggest the presence of highly advanced technologies harnessing massive amounts of energy.

SETI’s Use of Radio and Optical Telescopes

SETI employs both radio and optical telescopes in its search. Radio telescopes listen for potential extraterrestrial signals across a wide range of frequencies, while optical telescopes search for laser communications that could indicate advanced extraterrestrial technologies. Diamond described how SETI integrates these methods in its efforts to capture engineered signals that nature alone would not produce.

One of the significant challenges facing SETI is the vastness of space and the relatively short period that humanity has been a “technological civilization.” Earth has only been emitting detectable electromagnetic signals for about a century—since the invention of radio. Diamond pointed out that while Earth’s radio signals might be detectable within 10 to 20 light-years, this range is extremely limited compared to the scale of the galaxy. Thus, SETI’s search is constrained not only by the technological limitations of our telescopes but also by the immense distances over which signals would have to travel.

Quantum Teleportation and Interstellar Communication

A particularly fascinating part of Coulthart and Diamond’s conversation touched on the potential for interstellar quantum communication. Quantum teleportation—where the quantum state of a particle is transmitted instantaneously to another, regardless of the distance between them—has long been a topic of scientific intrigue. Coulthart asked whether such a phenomenon could be used by extraterrestrial civilizations to communicate across the vast distances of space.

Diamond acknowledged that while quantum entanglement is a real and measurable phenomenon, scientists are still unsure how—or if—it could be used to transmit information in the way we understand communication. While there are mathematical models suggesting the possibility of quantum communication across interstellar distances, the technology is currently beyond our grasp. However, Diamond did not rule out the possibility that more advanced civilizations might have discovered ways to harness quantum mechanics for communication.

The Role of AI and New Technologies in SETI’s Future

As SETI continues to innovate, artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a growing role in its search. Diamond highlighted how AI can help process vast amounts of data collected by SETI’s telescopes, which gather terabytes of information every second. Rather than focusing on specific, narrow-band signals, AI can analyze the entire electromagnetic spectrum, identifying any anomalies or unexpected signals that human researchers might miss. This new approach could significantly increase the likelihood of detecting extraterrestrial signals.

SETI is also exploring the possibility of placing radio telescopes on the far side of the Moon. A lunar-based telescope would avoid the interference from Earth’s noisy radio environment, making it an ideal location for detecting faint extraterrestrial signals. The project is still in the discussion phase, but Diamond expressed optimism about its potential.

The Debate Around Active SETI

Coulthart raised the philosophical debate surrounding “Active SETI,” also known as Messaging to Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI). Unlike traditional SETI, which passively listens for signals, METI involves actively sending messages into space in the hope of making contact with intelligent civilizations. While some scientists, including the late Stephen Hawking, have cautioned against this approach—arguing that it could attract the attention of hostile extraterrestrial civilizations—others believe it is a logical step in the search for life.

Diamond explained that while SETI does not currently engage in METI, the institute encourages open dialogue about the risks and benefits. He personally does not subscribe to the so-called “Dark Forest” theory, which posits that advanced civilizations may be inherently predatory and dangerous. Instead, Diamond speculates that any civilization advanced enough to communicate across the stars is likely to have solved many of the existential challenges that face humanity today, such as climate change and resource depletion. Such a civilization, he believes, would be more likely to be cooperative and peaceful than aggressive.

VIDEO:

• Head of SETI reveals to Ross Coulthart how they search for life in space | Reality Check

• https://youtu.be/0eZotIpsrsE

Bill Diamond’s conversation with Ross Coulthart provided a comprehensive and insightful look at the current state of SETI’s efforts to discover extraterrestrial intelligence. While the search is fraught with challenges—both technological and philosophical—Diamond remains optimistic. With advancements in AI, quantum communication, and new observatories on the horizon, SETI is poised to push the boundaries of human knowledge and potentially make one of the most profound discoveries in history: proof that we are not alone in the universe.

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

Einstein, teleportatie en het raadselachtige 'Philadelphia Experiment'

©NL BeeldGetty Images

Einstein, teleportatie en het raadselachtige 'Philadelphia Experiment'
Geloof je in buitenaards leven? Denk je dat tijdreizen een mogelijkheid is? Als jouw antwoorden op beide vragen 'nee' is, lees dan verder over deze vermeende gebeurtenis in de Verenigde Staten tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Het is huiveringwekkend!

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Vragen zonder antwoorden
Het universum verbergt veel mysteries. Een daarvan is of er intelligent leven aanwezig. Het volgende verhaal suggereert dat dit inderdaad het geval is en onthult daarnaast dingen die nog angstaanjagender zijn.

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Context
Het is 1943 en de Verenigde Staten zijn volop verwikkeld in de Tweede Wereldoorlog.

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Experiment
Volgens het boek 'The Expanding Case for the UFO' van Morris K. Jessup (een aan de University of Michigan opgeleide astronoom) heeft de Amerikaanse marine een experiment uitgevoerd dat bekend zou worden als het 'Philadelphia Experiment'.

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Teleportatie
Het verhaal gaat dat het de Amerikanen gelukt is om een marineschip, de USS Eldridge, te laten verdwijnen.

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Hoe gebeurde het?
Verondersteld wordt dat het schip, gemeerd in de stad Philadelphia, in een flits licht, met haar bemanning en al, aan boord spoorloos verdween.

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Waar ging het naartoe?
Er wordt gezegd dat de USS Eldridge werd geteleporteerd naar een marinebasis in Norfolk, in de staat Virginia.

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Getuigen
Vermeend getuige van het incident was marinier Carl Allen. Hij beweerde eveneens te hebben gezien dat enkele bemanningsleden dood waren, versmolten met de scheepsromp.

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Alle informatie verwijderen
De overlevenden van het experiment zouden naar een psychische inrichting zijn gestuurd.

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Gehersenspoeld
Ze zeggen dat de bemanningsleden zijn gehersenspoeld zodat ze het incident zouden vergeten

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EInstein's onderzoek
Volgens het History Channel, ontwikkelde Albert Einstein een project van voor het Amerikaanse leger dat het fenomeen zou kunnen verklaren.

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Einstein's onderzoek
Volgens zijn unificatietheorie ('theorie van alles'), zou een elektromagnetisch apparaat hiervoor verantwoordelijk kunnen zijn. De VS wilde oceaan kunnen oversteken zonder dat het door de vijandelijke schepen waargenomen zou worden.

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Onzichtbaar
Volgens het History Channel, zou Einstein een experiment hebben ontwikkeld waarbij een sterk elektromagnetisch veld werd geïnstalleerd op het schip dat het 'onzichtbaar' zou maken voor radars en mijnen. Maar beweerd wordt dat het experiment een heel ander effect had.

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Brieven
Carl Allen wilde zijn ervaringen niet voor zich houden en schreef naar de astronoom Morris K. Jessup.

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Nieuwe onderzoeken
Morris K. Jessup was gefascineerd door de verhalen en begon zijn eigen onderzoeken waarin hij wat verrassende dingen te weten kwam.

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Mysterieuze dood
Maar voordat hij deze vermeende vondsten kon doen, werd hij dood gevonden in zijn auto.

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Doodsoorzaak
De officiële doodsoorzaak was zelfmoord maar sommigen beweren dat hij is vermoord. Zou dit waar kunnen zijn?

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Revelation
Maar in 1969 probeerde Carl Allen een einde te maken aan de speculaties door publiekelijk te verkondigen dat het allemaal bedrog was.

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Onthulling
Deze onthulling werd gedaan in de burelen van de Aerial Phenomena Research Organization van Arizona.

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Film
De film 'The Philadelphia Experiment' is gebaseerd op het verhaal en werd uitgebracht in 1984. Jaren later zou de film opnieuw voor controverse zorgen.

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Getuigenis
Alfred Bielek kwam met nieuwe getuigenverklaringen en claimde dat de film hem zijn ervaringen tijdens het experiment opnieuw deed beleven. Volgens hem werden ze niet alleen naar een andere plek geteleporteerd, maar hebben ze ook door de tijd gereisd.

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Buitenaards leven
Door de ophoping van zoveel energie zou er volgens Bielek een doorgangsportaal in de ruimte zijn ontstaan door welke UFO's naar onze planeet zouden kunnen komen.

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Bewijs?
Alfred Bielek ging zelfs verder en zei dat de Amerikaanse marine hier niet alleen weet van had, maar dat het eveneens een buitenaards wezen gevangen had weten te nemen.

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Verre van voorbij
Zij die niet in deze samenzweringstheorie geloven wijzen op objectieve feiten die het weerspreken. Voor hen die er wel in geloven, zijn de antwoorden op het marineschip zelf te vinden.

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Verslagen
Volgens de verslagen is er geen buitengewone activiteit waargenomen en er is ook geen document dat kan bevestigen dat het schip in Norfolk is aangemeerd.

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Onzichtbaarheid
Er zijn gevorderde wetenschappelijke onderzoeken gedaan naar onzichtbaarheid die geen directe relatie hebben tot de theorie van Einstein.

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Vliegtuigen
Volgens wetenschappers kunnen vliegtuigen onzichtbaar gemaakt worden voor radars, maar niet voor licht.

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Wat denk jij?
Geloof je erin of denk je dat het gewoon bedrog was?

 { https://www.msn.com/nl-be/ }

 By Chris Eberhart Fox News

US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm (Photo: AP)

It's a drone; it's a UFO; it's really who you ask: What's buzzing around U.S. nuclear sites?

Going back from the 1940s and ‘50s to the present day, whistleblowers have reported UFO sightings around nuclear sites, but Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Jennifer Granholm said they’re "drones." 

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., hit Granholm with rapid-fire questions, including if the DOE was reverse engineering crashed alien technology, and if it worked with a counter-terrorism task force. 

Granholm's answers were, "I have no knowledge of that," and "Yes," respectively, which an expert told Fox News Digital is a "big deal" admission.

• UFO SIGHTING ‘HOTSPOTS’ SHOW CLUSTERS AROUND NUCLEAR ACTIVITY AND WAR ZONES

A Fox News Digital-created UFO hotspot map based off information by the Department of Defense. 

(Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital based on AARO's Data)

The fiery exchange between Luna and Granholm was about five minutes of a 2.5-hour Congressional Oversight Committee hearing on May 23. 

Luna's last question, "Does the DOE work with JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command)?" raised eyebrows and created buzz on social media.

• RUSSIAN UFO ENGAGEMENTS, SECRET ‘TIC TAC’ REPORT AND 3 KEY FIGURES SLIP UNDER RADAR AT CONGRESSIONAL HEARING

Granholm danced around the question at first, but Luna repeated the inquiry and demanded a yes or no answer. 

Granholm finally responded, "Yes, we do." 

Investigative journalist and leading UFO expert Jeremy Corbell said, "This was a bold move by Congress." 

WATCH FULL EXCHANGE BETWEEN LUNA AND GRANHOLM

JSOC is a military task force that plans and executes special operations missions under the command of U.S. Special Operations Command.

Corbell said a whistleblower had pointed out that JSOC had worked with the DOE to recover crashed alien spacecraft and reverse-engineer their technology.

• This technology could turn us into charcoal

“JSOC is likely heavily involved in the aircraft recovery program under the purview of the CIA, so it’s a big deal for the Department of Energy to acknowledge that it’s working with JSOC,” Corbell told Fox News Digital. “Secretary Granholm has been loath to acknowledge that.”

JSOC has denied these allegations and implications in previous statements. Fox News Digital reached out to JSOC for comment but did not receive a response.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna questioned Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm about reverse engineering alien technology. 

(Fox News Digital/John Michael Raasch)

In an email to Fox News Digital, Luna said that while “some people, like Secretary Granholm, want to ridicule these things,” “more than 50 percent of Americans believe UAPs may exist.”

“That means the federal government should be taking this seriously,” the Florida Republican said. “I have confronted Energy Secretary Granholm directly with multiple reports and statements from the Department of Defense, and she continues to deny the facts.”

“And that’s why I think the American people have lost faith in government transparency.”

• UFOs aren’t just in the air, they’re in the water too, posing a threat to maritime safety, says former naval officer

Luna’s exchange with Granholm wasn’t the end of her interactions with the DOE.

She submitted nine questions to the DOE, obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital. The questions include:

“DOE has received the QFR and will respond directly to the committee and members of Congress,” a DOE spokesperson said in an email.

Footage of a UFO flying near the USS Omaha off the coast of San Diego in July 2019 and disappearing into the ocean without a splash or crash debris. 

(Jeremy Corbell/Weaponized Podcast)

Former Navy pilot Ryan Graves, former Navy commander David Fravor, and former U.S. intelligence officer David Grush testified before a House subcommittee specializing in UFOs. 

(House of Representatives Subcommittee on National Security, Borders, and Foreign Affairs)

Luna’s Question

1. How are Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) designated by DOE?
2. What characteristics must an object have to be considered a UAP?
3. How many UAP intrusions have been reported to the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)?
4. F1 events deploy private companies that can disable drones and track the pilots. Is that technology available to DOE? Follow-up: If so, how many drones were able to track the pilots? And how many were able to be disabled?
5. Follow-up: If so, how many drones were you able to track to their operators? And how many were you able to disable?
6. This year alone, how many UAP intrusions have been reported internally at all critical infrastructure locations under DOE’s oversight (e.g., nuclear weapons, refining, and deployment sites such as Pantex and the Savannah River Site)?
7. There have been multiple reports of frequent drone intrusions over DOE nuclear facilities, including the incident that occurred at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) on April 1, 2021. Can you tell us more about DOE’s current security measures to prevent unauthorized drone activity? Also, given the frequency of these incidents, what steps are being taken to strengthen these measures?
8. A recent AARO report emphasized that better data collection is essential to understanding the UAP phenomenon. What technologies and methodologies is DOE employing to collect and analyze data related to UAP sightings, especially near critical infrastructure?
9. Given the potential security and safety risks posed by UAPs near nuclear facilities, what protocols are in place to ensure the safety of DOE personnel and the public? Have there been any documented cases of personnel being adversely affected as a result of an encounter with a UAP?
10. In the spirit of transparency, how is the Department of Energy handling public disclosure of UAP incidents? Are there plans to declassify and release more detailed reports on UAP sightings over Department of Energy facilities to keep the public informed and reassured?

• Crime scene reconstruction experts say they see at least two aliens “trying to scare off troublesome humans.”

Watch Rep. Tim Burchett interview: “There’s a cover-up”

WATCH INTERVIEW WITH REP. TIM BURCHETT: "THERE'S A COVER-UP"

Video

Department of Energy: Sightings are ‘drones’, not UFOs

Before Luna’s exchange with Granholm, Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee questioned the Energy secretary about “suspicious sightings” of UFOs near nuclear facilities.

The question seemed to catch Granholm off guard.

• Pentagon UFO report says aliens don’t exist: ‘If America doesn’t come clean, other countries will’

She responded that the Department of Defense had concluded that there was no evidence of UFOs or aliens.

“But there is the possibility of malicious drones out there,” Granholm said, emphasizing that safety and defensive measures are in place.

As both senators pointed out, UFO sightings near nuclear facilities predate drones.

This was one of several examples of unexplained UAPs listed in NASA’s Sept. 14 report. 

(NASA)

In 2018, a mysterious jellyfish-like object was spotted flying over a military base in Iraq. 

(Jeremy Corbell/Weaponized Podcast)

Recently declassified documents about a UFO program called Kona Blue detail a government plan to collect and reverse engineer crashed alien technology.

“Several highly sensitive and unconventional aerospace discoveries have been identified and significant progress has been made,” former U.S. Senator Harry Reid said in a June 2009 letter.

An excerpt from a 2009 letter from former U.S. Senator Harry Reid discussing the need to keep the government’s crashed

alien technology recovery program and reverse engineering efforts secret. (Department of Defense)

• Alien video shows ‘beings’ using ‘cloaking’ device: ‘submit this for peer review’

“Given the current rate of success, continued research into these subjects is likely to lead to technological advances requiring special protection in the near future…”

“Given the potential applications of these technologies in future systems, including space flight, weapons, communications and propulsion, standard management and protection procedures cannot adequately ensure that all aspects of the project will be adequately protected.”

READ THE FULL DECLASSIFIED KONA BLUE REPORT

AARO, The Pentagon’s specialist unit investigating UAP said “multiple” whistleblowers mentioned Kona Blue during its investigation into the alleged aircraft recovery program.

In its report, AARO stated: History and origins Kona Blue said it was “proposed” to Homeland Security leadership but “never approved or formally enacted.”

According to AARO, the project has never received any materials or funding, and the Department of Homeland Security disapproved the project in 2011 “citing concerns about the adequacy of the program’s legitimacy” and ordered it immediately halted.

According to AARO, its complete origins and history can be found at: It is here.

{ https://www.foxnews.com/ }

NASA has an explanation for the “strange noise” emitted by Boeing Co.’s Starliner spacecraft docked at the International Space Station. 

The noise was heard by astronaut Butch Wilmore, who radioed mission control about the sound Saturday, as first reported by Ars Technica. “There’s a strange noise coming through the speaker [on Starliner],” he said. “I don’t know what’s making it … I don’t know if there’s something that’s maybe connected between here and there making that happen,” he added.

NASA said the noise — which is no longer being emitted — was the result of an audio configuration between the Boeing capsule and the International Space Station. Boeing referred MarketWatch to NASA for comment.

Related:

•  NASA astronauts to return to earth with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Boeing Starliner to come back empty

• https://youtu.be/FOd1ceFuzpQ

• https://youtu.be/Hnz-jsbUkLc?list=TLPQMDQwOTIwMjS2chNflp3Ogw

“A pulsing sound from a speaker in Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft heard by NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore aboard the International Space Station has stopped. The feedback from the speaker was the result of an audio configuration between the space station and Starliner,” NASA’s Commercial Crew program wrote Monday on X, formerly Twitter. “The space station audio system is complex, allowing multiple spacecraft and modules to be interconnected, and it is common to experience noise and feedback.”

“The crew is asked to contact mission control when they hear sounds originating in the comm system,” the Commercial Crew program added. “The speaker feedback Wilmore reported has no technical impact to the crew, Starliner, or station operations, including Starliner’s uncrewed undocking from the station no earlier than Friday, Sept. 6.”

Starliner will return to Earth uncrewed with Wilmore and his fellow crewmember Suni Williams returning in a SpaceX capsule after the Boeing capsule was beset with problems. The Boeing spacecraft is scheduled to autonomously undock from the space station at approximately 6:04 p.m. Eastern time on Sept. 6 to begin the journey home, weather conditions permitting, NASA said, in an Aug. 30 statement. NASA and Boeing are targeting approximately 12:03 a.m. on Sept. 7 for the landing and conclusion of the flight test at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.

Also read: 

• Boeing Starliner saga: Do NASA astronauts get overtime pay in space?

NASA and Boeing have wrestled with helium leaks and thruster issues on Starliner, which launched on June 5 and arrived at the ISS the following day. The capsule was initially expected to be docked at the orbiting space lab for at least eight days before bringing the two astronauts home. They have now been there for more than 80 days.

The test, which has faced a number of delays in recent years, is the first crewed mission of the Starliner capsule. The spacecraft’s launch in June also marked the first time NASA has had three crewed vehicles in orbit.

SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission is scheduled to depart for the ISS no earlier than Sept. 24.

Related: 

• Boeing has recorded $1.5 billion of Starliner forward losses, says Jefferies

Boeing shares were down 8% at 11:09 a.m. Eastern time Monday, amid a Wells Fargo downgrade, outpacing the S&P 500 index’s decline of 1.4%.

{ https://www.msn.com/en-us/ }

Alien Visitation Claims Are Widespread Societal Problem, Researcher Says

Around a fifth of U.K. citizens believe Earth has been visited by extraterrestrials, and an estimated 7% believe that they have seen a UFO. The figures are even higher in the U.S. — and rising. The number of people who believe UFO sightings offer likely proof of alien life increased from 20% in 1996 to 34% in 2022. Some 24% of Americans say they’ve seen a UFO. In his new paper in the Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, Dr. Tony Milligan of King’s College London argues that the belief in alien visitors is no longer a quirk, but a widespread societal problem.

The idea that aliens may have visited our planet is becoming increasingly popular.

Image credit: Fernando Ribas.

The belief is now rising to the extent that politicians, at least in the U.S., feel they have to respond.

The disclosure of information about claimed UAPs (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) from the Pentagon has got a lot of bi-partisan attention in the country.

Much of it plays upon familiar anti-elite tropes that both parties have been ready to use, such as the idea that the military and a secretive cabal of private commercial interests are keeping the deep truth about alien visitation hidden.

That truth is believed to involve sightings, abductions and reverse-engineered alien technology.

Belief in a cover-up is even higher than belief in alien visitation. In 2019, a Gallop poll found that a staggering 68% of Americans believed that the US government knows more about UFOs than it is telling.

This political trend has been decades in the making. Jimmy Carter promised document disclosure during his presidential campaign in 1976, several years after his own reported UFO sighting. Like so many other sightings, the simplest explanation is that he saw Venus.

Hillary Clinton also suggested she wanted to ‘open Pentagon files as much as I can’ during her presidential campaign against Donald Trump.

Trump suggested he’d need to ‘think about’ whether it was possible to declassify the so-called Roswell documentation.

Former president Bill Clinton claimed to have sent his chief of staff, John Podesta, down to Area 51, a highly classified US Air Force facility, just in case any of the rumors about alien technology at the site were true. It is worth nothing that Podesta is a long-time enthusiast for all things to do with UFOs.

The most prominent current advocate of document disclosure is the Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer.

His stripped back 2023 UAP disclosure bill for revealing some UAP records was co-sponsored by three Republican senators.

Pentagon disclosure finally began during the early stages of Joe Biden’s term of office, but so far there has been nothing to see. Nothing looks like an encounter. Nothing looks close.

Still, the background noise does not go away.

This artist’s impression shows the first interstellar asteroid — 1I/2017 U1 (’Oumuamua).

Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Problems for Society

All this is ultimately encouraging conspiracy theories, which could undermine trust in democratic institutions.

There have been humorous calls to storm Area 51.

And after the storming of the Capitol in 2021, this now looks like an increasingly dangerous possibility.

Too much background noise about UFOs and UAPs can also get in the way of legitimate science communication about the possibility of finding microbial extraterrestrial life.

Astrobiology, the science dealing with such matters, has a far less effective publicity machine than UFOlogy.

History, a YouTube channel part owned by Disney, regularly delivers shows about ‘ancient aliens.’ The show is now in its 20th season and the channel has 13.8 million subscribers.

The NASA astrobiology channel has a hard won 20,000 subscribers. Actual science finds itself badly outnumbered by entertainment repackaged as factual.

Alien visitation narratives have also repeatedly tried to hijack and overwrite the history and mythology of indigenous people.

The first steps in this direction go back to Alexander Kazantsev’s science fiction tale Explosion: The Story of a Hypothesis (1946). It presents the 1908 Tunguska meteorite impact event as a Nagasaki-like explosion of an alien spacecraft engine.

In Kazantsev’s tale, a single giant black female survivor has been left stranded, equipped with special healing powers. This led to her adoption as a shaman by the indigenous Evenki people.

NASA and the space science community do support efforts such as the Native Skywatchers initiative set up by the indigenous Ojibwe and Lakota communities to ensure the survival of storytelling about the stars. There is a real and extensive network of indigenous scholarship about these matters.

But UFOlogists promise a far higher profile for indigenous history in return for the mashing together of genuine indigenous stories about life arriving from the skies with fictional tales about UFOs, repackaged as suppressed history.

The modern alien visitation narrative has not, after all, emerged out of indigenous communities. Quite the opposite.

It emerged in part as a way for conspiracy-minded thinkers in a Europe torn apart by racism to ‘explain’ how complex urban civilizations in places like South America could have existed prior to European settlement.

Squeezed through a new age filter of 1960s counterculture, the narrative was flipped to value indigenous people as having once possessed advanced technology.

Once upon a time, according to this view, every indigenous civilization was Wakanda, a fictional country appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

If all of this stayed in its own box, as entertaining fiction, then matters would be fine. But it doesn’t, and they aren’t. Visitation narratives tend to overwrite indigenous storytelling about sky and ground.

This is a problem for everyone, not just indigenous peoples struggling to continue authentic traditions. It threatens our grasp of the past. When it comes to insight into our remote ancestors, the remnants of prehistoric storytelling are few and precious, such as within indigenous storytelling about the stars.

Take the tales of the Pleiades, which date back in standard forms to at least 50,000 years ago.

This may be why these tales in particular are heavily targeted by alien visitation enthusiasts, some of whom even claim to be Pleiadeans.

No surprises, Pleiadeans do not look like the Lakota or Ojibwe, but are strikingly blond, blue-eyed and Nordic.

It is increasingly clear that belief in alien visitation is no longer just a fun speculation, but something that has real and damaging consequences.

• Tony Milligan. 2024. Equivocal encounters: alien visitation claims as a societal problem. In Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union: IAUS (387). Cambridge University Press
• Author: Tony Milligan, a research fellow at King’s College London.
• This article was originally published on The Conversation.

{ https://www.sci.news/ }

Een ster ontdekt, die uit de Melkweg zou kunnen “ontsnappen”: hij raast door de ruimte met ruim 1,6 miljoen kilometer per uur

door Janine

W. M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko

Gewoonlijk draaien sterren rond het centrum van een sterrenstelsel, bijvoorbeeld de Melkweg: dit is het geval voor de zon en de meer dan 200 miljard sterren in ons sterrenstelsel... op één na. Sommige wetenschappers hebben een object gezien dat zo groot en zwaar is als een ster en dat zich met meer dan 1,6 miljoen kilometer per uur voortbeweegt, een snelheid die zo hoog is dat het aan de zwaartekracht van de Melkweg ontsnapt... vroeg of laat. Laten we eens kijken hoe dit mogelijk is!

Er is een ster ontdekt die op de vlucht is uit de Melkweg

We bevinden ons in het project Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, dat tot taak heeft nieuwe planeten en bruine dwergen in de omgeving van ons zonnestelsel te ontdekken, ook met de hulp van amateurs. Door de beelden te bestuderen die zijn gemaakt door de Wide Field Infrared Explorer of WISE-missie en latere missies, hebben sommige amateurwetenschappers een nooit eerder gezien object gezien, een hemellichaam dat veel te snel door de ruimte beweegt, alsof het ontsnapt uit de Melkweg. Dit zijn de woorden van een van de ontdekkers, die samen met anderen een studie publiceerde in Astrophysical Journal Letters:

Ik kan het niveau van opwinding niet beschrijven. Toen ik voor het eerst zag hoe snel het bewoog, was ik ervan overtuigd dat het al was gemeld.

Het hemellichaam, CWISE J124909.08+362116.0 genaamd maar kortweg CWISE J1249 genoemd, heeft zo'n lage massa dat het moeilijk te classificeren is. Volgens onderzoekers zou het desondanks een kleine ster of een bruine dwerg kunnen zijn. Maar waarom beweegt hij zo snel?

Waarom zo'n hoge snelheid?

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Alleen al binnen het project Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 zijn er al meer dan 4000 bruine dwergen geïdentificeerd, hemellichamen die het midden houden tussen een gasvormige planeet zoals Jupiter en een ster zoals de zon. Geen van hen beweegt echter met zo'n hoge snelheid dat ze zouden kunnen ontsnappen aan de zwaartekracht van de Melkweg. Bovendien heeft CWISE J1249 een andere samenstelling dan de andere bruine dwergen en sterren in ons melkwegstelsel, omdat hij minder ijzer en andere metalen bevat: hij zou deel kunnen uitmaken van de eerste generatie sterren in de Melkweg. 

Over zijn snelheid hebben wetenschappers twee hypotheses bedacht. Aan de ene kant kan de bruine dwerg deel hebben uitgemaakt van een binair systeem met een witte dwerg, die op een gegeven moment explodeerde als supernova en zo de ontsnapping van CWISE J1249 in gang zette. Aan de andere kant zou de snelheid veroorzaakt kunnen zijn door een ontmoeting met een binair systeem gevormd door twee zwarte gaten, waarvan de interacties de bruine dwerg de ruimte in zouden hebben geslingerd. En uit de Melkweg.

Het belang van Backyard Worlds: Planet 9

De ontdekking van CWISE J1249 en zijn ontsnapping aan de zwaartekracht van de Melkweg is slechts het laatste succes van Backyard Worlds: Planet 9. Het project bevordert de samenwerking tussen duizenden astronomen wereldwijd en heeft het mogelijk gemaakt om enorme hoeveelheden astronomische gegevens te analyseren. Het project bevordert de samenwerking tussen duizenden liefhebbers van de astronomie over de hele wereld en heeft het mogelijk gemaakt om enorme hoeveelheden astronomische gegevens te analyseren, vergelijkbaar met het project Black Hole Finder voor het zoeken naar zwarte gaten. Terwijl Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 ook uitgaat van het idee van het bestaan van een negende planeet in het zonnestelsel voorbij Neptunus, is het een initiatief dat heeft geleid tot de ontdekking van vele bruine dwergen en andere hemellichamen in ons melkwegstelsel.

In dit opzicht is het project een perfect voorbeeld van hoe wetenschap en passie voor de astronomie tot buitengewone resultaten kunnen leiden. Waaronder de ontdekking van een ster die ontsnapt uit de Melkweg, het eerste voorbeeld van een hemellichaam met zo'n hoge snelheid dat het ontsnapt aan de galactische zwaartekracht, maar niet aan onze ogen.

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl/ }

©Shutterstock

De geheimen rond de Bermudadriehoek
De wateren rond Bermuda, dat Brits grondgebied is, hebben van meer dan 1.000 mensen het leven geëist. Veel schepen en vliegtuigen zijn op onverklaarbare wijze verdwenen in het gebied dat ligt tussen Bermuda en Miami. Door veel piloten zijn verhalen verteld over kompassen die niet meer werkten.

Mysterieuze verdwijningen en bizarre verhalen hebben geleid tot talloze complottheorieën en er heerst een akelig gevoel omtrent de Bermudadriehoek. Bekijk deze galerij om enkele van de meest intrigerende onverklaarde mysteries rond het eiland en zijn wateren te ontdekken.

©Getty Images

George Somers
In 1609 ging de Engelse zeeheld George Somers op reis naar de nieuwe Engelse kolonie Jamestown in de Amerikaanse staat Virginia.

©Shutterstock

George Somers
Hij vertrok vanuit Plymouth in Engeland met een vloot van zeven schepen. Zijn vlaggenschip, de Sea Venture, bracht kolonisten, voedsel en goederen met zich mee.

©Getty Images

George Somers
De vloot kwam in een zware storm terecht en de schepen werden van elkaar gescheiden. Na een aantal dagen begon de Sea Venture vol met water te lopen en in een poging van wanhoop voer de uitgeputte kapitein het schip naar de riffen van wat Bermuda bleek te zijn.

©Getty Images

George Somers
Gelukkig hebben alle 150 passagiers die aan boord waren het overleefd. Ze verbleven tien maanden op het eiland en stichtten de eerste nederzetting van Bermuda.

©Shutterstock

Georgetown
De nederzetting kreeg de naam Georgetown, vernoemd naar de admiraal George Somers.

©Getty Images

Bermuda
Volgens het toerismebureau Bermuda Attractions liggen er meer dan 300 scheepswrakken op de zeebodem rond het eiland. Waarom er zoveel schepen zijn gezonken in de wateren rond Bermuda blijft een raadsel.

©Getty Images

Flight 19
In 1945 vloog een groep bommenwerpers van de Amerikaanse marine boven Bermuda voor een routinematige trainingsmissie.

©Getty Images

Flight 19
In een groep van vijf vliegtuigen waren er in totaal veertien man aan boord, waaronder de ervaren luitenant Charles C. Taylor. Ze verdwenen allemaal spoorloos. Naar verluidt zei een van de piloten via de radio: "beide kompassen werken niet meer en ik probeer Fort Lauderdale in Florida te vinden."

©Getty Images

Flight 19
Een opsporingsteam doorzocht in vijf dagen ruim 300.000 vierkante kilometer grondgebied. Helaas zijn er nooit overblijfselen van Flight 19 gevonden. Een boot met een zoekteam van dertien mensen verdween ook toen het op zoek was naar de vliegtuigen.

©Getty Images

Christoffel Columbus
Toen Christopher Columbus zich tijdens zijn eerste reis door het Caribisch gebied baande, voer hij door de Bermudadriehoek.

©Shutterstock

Christoffel Columbus
Naar verluidt schreef hij in een van zijn memoires dat hij een vuurvlam in de zee zag slaan en dat er een paar dagen later in de verte een vreemd licht verscheen.

©Shutterstock

Christoffel Columbus
Columbus zei ook dat de wijzers van zijn kompas flink begonnen te draaien in het gebied.

©Getty Images

Mary Celeste
Het Amerikaanse handelsschip Mary Celeste vertrok op 5 november 1872 uit New York.

©Getty Images

Mary Celeste
Kapitein Benjamin Spooner Briggs, zijn vrouw, zijn dochtertje en acht extra bemanningsleden waren aan boord van het schip.

©Shutterstock

Mary Celeste
Volgens Bermuda Attractions werd het schip drijvend in de Atlantische Oceaan aangetroffen terwijl er niemand aan boord was. Er bestaan complottheorieën rondom het mysterie van de Mary Celeste die gaan van ontvoeringen tot buitenaardse wezens, natuurrampen en zelfs paranormale activiteiten.

©Getty Images

USS Scorpion
De USS Scorpion was een kernonderzeeër van de Amerikaanse marine. Hij vertrok op 15 februari 1968 uit Norfolk, gelegen in de Amerikaanse staat Virginia, voor een operatie van drie maanden en had een 99-koppige bemanning

©Getty Images

USS Scorpion
Volgens History Net, een Amerikaanse uitgever van tijdschriften die artikelen publiceren over onderwerpen uit de geschiedenis, werd er een zoekteam ingezet toen de onderzeeër niet terugkeerde naar zijn thuishaven. De 76,5 meter lange onderzeeër verdween spoorloos.

©Getty Images

USS Scorpion
Het wrak van de onderzeeër werd in de Atlantische Oceaan voor de kust van de Azoren gevonden, maar complotdenkers hebben het mysterie van de USS Scorpion in verband gebracht met de Bermudadriehoek.

©Public Domain

Carroll A. Deering
De achterlating van het schip Carroll A. Deering is een van de meest beschreven mysteries van de 20e eeuw.

©Getty Images

Carroll A. Deering
In 1921 voer het schip door de Bermudadriehoek voordat het verlaten werd aangetroffen.

©Getty Images

Carroll A. Deering
Volgens Bermuda Attractions was er een lichtschip in staat om via de radio met de Carroll A. Deering te communiceren. De kapitein van het lichtschip hoorde een bemanningslid zeggen dat ze hun ankers waren kwijtgeraakt en dat dit aan het hoofdkwartier doorgegeven moest worden, maar de Carroll A. Deering stopte niet en voer langs het lichtschip.

©Shutterstock

Complot
Er bestaan verschillende complottheorieën rond mysteries van schepen die in omringende wateren van het eiland verdwijnen.

©Getty Images

USS Cyclops
In 1918 raakte de USS Cyclops, dat meer dan 300 mensen aan boord had, zoek in de Bermudadriehoek.

©Getty Images

US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker
In 1963 kwamen naar verluidt twee KC-135-vliegtuigen van de Amerikaanse luchtmacht met elkaar in botsing en stortten ze neer in de Atlantische Oceaan. Ze werden echter gevonden op twee verschillende locaties die ruim 260 kilometer uit elkaar lagen.

©Getty Images

De Ellen Austin
De Ellen Austin was een schip dat regelmatig tussen Londen en New York door de Bermudadriehoek voer. Tijdens een van haar reizen in 1881 kwam de Ellen Austin een ander schip tegen waarop niemand aan boord was.

©Getty Images

De Ellen Austin
In een poging het verlaten schip te redden stuurde de kapitein van de Ellen Austin enkele van zijn bemanningsleden. Twee dagen lang zeilden de schepen zij aan zij totdat ze door een storm van elkaar werden gescheiden. Het verlaten schip en de nieuwe bemanning zijn nooit gevonden.

©Shutterstock

Niet opgelost en onverklaard
Ondanks dat er ruim duizend mensen om het leven zijn gekomen, blijven de wateren rond Bermuda een van de drukst bevaren plekken ter wereld. Zou dit de illusie kunnen wekken dat er hier meer incidenten plaatsvinden of is er echt iets mysterieus aan de hand?

{ https://www.msn.com/nl-be/ }

Most people consider Saturn's awe-inspiring system of rings that encircle the gas giant to be the most fascinating and iconic celestial feature in our solar system.

Back in the 17th century, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei first spied Saturn through his ancient telescope. He compared the planet's appearance to having "ears" due to the limitations of his device.

The diligent work of scientists like Galileo Galilei has laid the foundation for our modern-day ability to explore the incredible wonders of our universe.

Over the years, advances in technology and innovative techniques have empowered astronomers, such as Dr. Lucy Jones from the esteemed Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), to delve deeper into the enigmas surrounding celestial bodies.

Through cutting-edge research and observations, they have unraveled the intricate mysteries of Saturn's rings, revealing their composition and the dynamic processes that shape them.

Cosmic vanishing act

A fast-approaching and significant cosmic event will soon dramatically alter our view of this magnificent planet. Come March 2025, Saturn's majestic rings will become virtually invisible to earth-based observers.

This phenomenon occurs due to the unique tilt of Saturn's axis, which will position the rings edge-on to our line of sight.

Related video: 

• Saturn and the moon to join side by side on Aug. 20 (Dailymotion)

As a result, this is a rare opportunity for citizens and astronomers alike to witness this celestial transformation, while also reminding us of the ever-changing nature of our universe.

Thankfully, this isn't a permanent change. It's a fleeting cosmic event that recurs every 29.5 years, which is how long it takes Saturn to orbit the Sun. After March 2025, Saturn's axial tilt will bring the rings back into view, then vanish again in November 2025.

So, the rings are not really disappearing but rather playing a celestial game of hide and seek. At their reappearance, we can also enjoy an accentuated view of Saturn's moons.

Saturn's ring structure

So, what are Saturn's rings really made of? Mostly, they consist of ice particles, rocky debris, and cosmic dust, creating a stunning spectacle visible from Earth with a telescope.

Picture a bustling city with buildings of all sizes. Similarly, the ring particles vary from tiny grains, about the size of sand, to huge chunks as big as houses or even school buses. This mix gives the rings their intriguing look.

Saturn's rings aren't just one solid structure. They're made up of several distinct sections, including the A, B, and C rings, along with the fainter D, E, F, and G rings that are harder to see.

These sections are separated by gaps, like the well-known Cassini Division between the A and B rings, which is around 4,800 kilometers wide. The shapes and setups of these rings are mainly shaped by gravitational interactions with Saturn's many moons.

Some of these moons, dubbed "shepherd moons," hang out near the edges of the rings and help keep things in shape by pulling on the ring particles with their gravity.

As for how Saturn's rings came to be, that's still a hot topic among astronomers. There are plenty of theories, from being the leftovers of a destroyed moon or comet that got torn apart by Saturn's strong gravity to materials left over from when Saturn formed over 4 billion years ago.

Each theory has its own fascinating ideas, and ongoing research keeps revealing new insights about these amazing structures that orbit the planet.

Importance of the Cassini-Huygens Mission

The Cassini-Huygens mission was an amazing collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency (ASI).

This ambitious journey to uncover the cool mysteries of Saturn and its stunning rings started when the spacecraft arrived at Saturn in 2004, kicking off a thorough 13-year exploration that wrapped up in 2017.

Throughout its journey, the Cassini-Huygens mission brought us a treasure trove of information about Saturn and its complex system. One of the coolest finds was discovering gaps in the rings, especially the Cassini Division, which is the noticeable space between the A and B rings.

This division is shaped by the gravitational pull of Saturn's moons, showcasing how dynamic and ever-changing the ring system really is.

The mission also gave us deeper insights into Saturn's many moons, revealing their unique compositions and geological features. For example, Enceladus, one of Saturn's icy moons, has geysers that shoot out water vapor and organic materials, hinting at the possibility of subsurface oceans.

Thanks to the Cassini-Huygens mission, scientists gained valuable insights into the intricate dance of moons and rings around Saturn, completely transforming our understanding of the planet and its unique traits.

Saturn's moons and magnetic field

There is much more to Saturn than just those incredible rings. In fact, Saturn boasts a minimum of 145 moons, each with its own unique characteristics and mysteries.

Among these, Titan, the second-largest moon in the Solar System, truly steals the show with its thick atmosphere and intriguing surface. Interestingly, Titan has a magnetic field that, while weaker than Jupiter's, is stronger than Earth's, indicating complex interactions with Saturn's magnetic environment.

Titan radiates powerful radio waves, particularly from its spectacular auroras at the poles, which can provide valuable insights into both Titan's atmosphere and the overall dynamics of Saturn's magnetic field. The upcoming Dragonfly mission will search for life on Titan.

That said, Titan's mysteries pale in comparison to what we might find on Enceladus. Cassini discovered the presence of vital components for life on this icy Saturnian moon. 

Based on this data, experts have identified crucial organic compounds and a potent energy source, hinting at the moon's potential to support life.

"Not only does Enceladus seem to meet the basic requirements for habitability, we now have an idea about how complex biomolecules could form there, and what sort of chemical pathways might be involved," explains Jonah Peter, a doctoral student at Harvard University who conducted the research while working at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Stargazers, Saturn, and those magnificent rings

To sum it all up, as Saturn's rings prepare to vanish from view in March 2025, stargazers have a unique opportunity to witness this fleeting cosmic event.

The rings will align edge-on with Earth, making them virtually invisible and highlighting the dynamic nature of celestial objects.

For now, Saturn remains a captivating target for those with telescopes or high-powered binoculars. The planet's stunning rings, composed of countless ice particles and rocky debris, offer a glimpse into the complex and beautiful structure of our solar system.

{ https://www.msn.com/en-us/ }

De lancering maakt deel uit van ESA's Sentinel 2-programma, een project dat in samenwerking met de Europese Commissie loopt. De Sentinel-2C zal de Sentinel-2A vervangen. Die was gelanceerd in juni 2015 en intussen staan we heel wat verder, wat voor een grote verbetering zal zorgen in de aangeleverde data. Dat zegt Inge Jonckheere van de ESA in een gesprek met VRT NWS.

Jonckheere werkt als directeur van de Green Solutions Division bij ESA die satellietdata gebruikt voor alle mogelijke wetenschappelijke en maatschappelijke toepassingen, specifiek dan voor het observeren van de aarde, het milieu en het klimaat. 

Over de missie

De Sentinel 2-missie telt 2 identieke satellieten, Sentinel 2A (gelanceerd in 2015) en Sentinel 2B (2017), die in dezelfde baan vliegen maar 180 graden uit elkaar om de dekking en de revisit-tijd te optimaliseren. De satellieten draaien elke 100 minuten in een baan om de aarde en bestrijken elke 5 dagen alle landoppervlakken, grote eilanden, binnenwateren en kustwateren.

Eenmaal in een baan om de aarde zal Sentinel-2C zijn voorganger Sentinel-2A vervangen, terwijl Sentinel-2D later Sentinel-2B zal vervangen om de continuïteit van gegevens na 2035 te waarborgen.

Sneller data, en een goed oog

De combinatie met de nog actieve Sentinel-2B wordt voortaan beter. Er zullen vaker data binnenlopen, wetenschappers zullen zowat om de week een update krijgen van wat er op de grond gebeurt. 

"We zullen met deze satellietcombinatie elke 5 tot 10 dagen beeld hebben van een specifiek gebied, afhankelijk van de breedtegraad - tegenover ongeveer tweewekelijks met 1 satelliet - waardoor de tijdsresolutie preciezer wordt", zegt Jonckheere.   

"We krijgen daardoor bijna continu een aanvoer van data. En hoe meer data je hebt, hoe beter de opvolging van natuurlijke processen en extreme events."

En er is meer. De nieuwe optische satelliet heeft ook een relatief scherp oog. "Je moet rekenen op een grondresolutie van 10 tot 30 meter, wat relatief gezien behoorlijk nauwkeurig is. Sommige satellieten die gebruikt worden voor het klimaat hebben amper een paar kilometer resolutie."

Het is wel zo dat wolken de observatie kunnen verstoren, maar net daarvoor is het zo belangrijk dat de omlooptijd door het gebruik van de 2 satellieten nu een stuk korter gaat worden. 

Van methaan tot algenbloei in het water

De nieuwe satelliet heeft toepassingen voor landbouw, waterkwaliteit, natuurrampen en de uitstoot van het sterke broeikasgas methaan. 

De ESA gaf deze illustratie vrij van de lancering van de Sentinal-2C.

© Foto: ESA

Zoveel mogelijk op eigen benen staan in tijden van AI (en fake data)

De lancering is niet enkel van belang voor meer en betere data. Het gaat er ook om dat Europa zelf zoveel mogelijk op eigen benen wil staan wat betreft datagaring. Momenteel is er voor zulke aardobservatie- programma's veel samenwerking met bijvoorbeeld de Amerikaanse ruimtevaartorganisatie NASA en/of met China, en worden veel data samengelegd.

{ https://www.msn.com/nl-be/ }

Belief in aliens visiting Earth is skyrocketing – Is that dangerous for society?

Belief in a cover-up is even higher than belief in alien visitation. In 2019, a Gallop poll found that a staggering 68% of Americans believed that “the US government knows more about UFOs than it is telling”.

This political trend has been decades in the making. Jimmy Carter promised document disclosure during his presidential campaign in 1976, several years after his own reported UFO sighting. Like so many other sightings, the simplest explanation is that he saw Venus. (That happens a lot.)

Hillary Clinton also suggested she wanted to “open [Pentagon] files as much as I can” during her presidential campaign against Donald Trump. As seen in the video below, Trump suggested he’d need to “think about” whether it was possible to declassify the so-called Roswell documentation (relating to the notorious claimed crash of a UFO and the recovery of alien bodies).

The first steps in this direction go back to Alexander Kazantsev’s science fiction tale Explosion: The Story of a Hypothesis (1946). It presents the 1908 Tunguska meteorite impact event as a Nagasaki-like explosion of an alien spacecraft engine. In Kazantsev’s tale, a single giant black female survivor has been left stranded, equipped with special healing powers. This lead to her adoption as a shaman by the indigenous Evenki people.

NASA and the space science community do support efforts such as the Native Skywatchers initiative set up by the indigenous Ojibwe and Lakota communities to ensure the survival of storytelling about the stars. There is a real and extensive network of indigenous scholarship about these matters.

But UFOlogists promise a far higher profile for indigenous history in return for the mashing together of genuine indigenous stories about life arriving from the skies with fictional tales about UFOs, repackaged as suppressed history.

The modern alien visitation narrative has not, after all, emerged out of indigenous communities. Quite the opposite. It emerged in part as a way for conspiracy-minded thinkers in a Europe torn apart by racism to “explain” how complex urban civilizations in places like South America could have existed prior to European settlement.

Squeezed through a new age filter of 1960s counterculture, the narrative was flipped to value indigenous people as having once possessed advanced technology. Once upon a time, according to this view, every indigenous civilization was Wakanda, a fictional country appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

If all of this stayed in its own box, as entertaining fiction, then matters would be fine. But it doesn’t, and they aren’t. Visitation narratives tend to overwrite indigenous storytelling about sky and ground.

This is a problem for everyone, not just indigenous peoples struggling to continue authentic traditions. It threatens our grasp of the past. When it comes to insight into our remote ancestors, the remnants of prehistoric storytelling are few and precious, such as within indigenous storytelling about the stars.

• https://youtu.be/plqTwci7rY4

Take the tales of the Pleiades, which date back in standard forms to at least 50,000 years ago.

This may be why these tales in particular are heavily targeted by alien visitation enthusiasts, some of whom even claim to be “Pleiadeans”. No surprises, Pleiadeans do not look like the Lakota or Ojibwe, but are strikingly blond, blue-eyed, and Nordic.

It is increasingly clear that belief in alien visitation is no longer just a fun speculation, but something that has real and damaging consequences.

Tony Milligan is a research fellow in the Philosophy of Ethics at King’s College London.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

{ https://studyfinds.org/ }

Ganymede Was Struck by Giant Asteroid 4 Billion Years Ago, New Research Suggests

Jupiter’s moon Ganymede has an ancient impact structure called a furrow system. This system is the largest impact structure in the outer Solar System, and the impact should have significantly affected Ganymede’s early history.

Distribution of furrows and location of the center of the furrow system shown in the hemisphere that always faces away from Jupiter (top) and the cylindrical projection map of Ganymede (bottom). The gray regions represent geologically young terrain without furrows. Furrows (green lines) exist only on geologically old terrains (black regions).

Image credit: Naoyuki Hirata, doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-69914-2.

Ganymede is the largest satellite in the Solar System and has many unique features, including tectonic troughs known as furrows.

Furrows are the oldest surface features recognized on Ganymede because they are crosscut by any impact craters with diameters exceeding 10 km. They can provide a window into the early history of this moon.

{ https://www.sci.news/ }

Kurt Russell’s Shocking UFO Encounter: Reporting Six UFOs Over Phoenix, Arizona

In the realm of UFO sightings, one of the most intriguing and well-documented incidents is the “Phoenix Lights” event, which occurred on March 13, 1997. Among the many witnesses to this mysterious phenomenon was Hollywood actor Kurt Russell, who later revealed that he was the pilot who first reported the unusual lights in the Arizona skies. Russell’s account adds a unique and personal perspective to the ongoing fascination with UFOs and extraterrestrial life.

The Phoenix Lights Incident

The Phoenix Lights incident is one of the most significant UFO sightings in the United States. On that night in 1997, thousands of people across Arizona reported seeing a massive, V-shaped formation of lights silently moving across the sky. The phenomenon was visible for hours and was witnessed by people in various locations, including Phoenix, Tucson, and the Sonoran Desert. Despite numerous eyewitness accounts, the lights’ origin remains a mystery, leading to widespread speculation and debate.

Kurt Russell’s Encounter

Kurt Russell’s involvement in the Phoenix Lights incident was not widely known until he discussed it years later during an interview. At the time of the sighting, Russell was flying a private plane into Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport with his son. As they approached the airport, they noticed six bright lights in a row, hovering in the sky in a formation that defied conventional explanation.

Concerned about the unusual sight, Russell contacted air traffic control to report what he was seeing. Interestingly, air traffic control informed him that no other planes were in the vicinity, and there were no military exercises or activities scheduled that could account for the lights. Russell’s report to the authorities is now recognized as one of the first official accounts of the Phoenix Lights.

The Aftermath and Speculation

Following the sighting, the Phoenix Lights incident gained national attention, with media coverage and investigations by both civilian and military organizations. While some officials claimed the lights were simply flares dropped by military aircraft during training exercises, many witnesses, including Kurt Russell, remain unconvinced by this explanation. The lack of definitive answers has only fueled speculation about the true nature of the lights.

Kurt Russell’s account adds a significant layer to the story because of his credibility as a public figure and his background as a licensed pilot. His detailed description of the six UFOs and his proactive approach in reporting the sighting make his story one of the most compelling aspects of the Phoenix Lights phenomenon.

Legacy of the Phoenix Lights

Over two decades later, the Phoenix Lights incident remains one of the most discussed and analyzed UFO sightings in history. It has inspired documentaries, books, and countless theories about extraterrestrial life and government cover-ups. Kurt Russell’s revelation that he was the pilot who reported the sighting has only added to the intrigue, cementing his place in UFO lore.

Russell himself has expressed a mix of curiosity and bewilderment about the incident. In interviews, he has admitted that the experience was strange and unexplainable, leaving him with more questions than answers. For many, his testimony is a reminder that even the most grounded and skeptical individuals can encounter phenomena that challenge their understanding of the world.

VIDEO:

• Kurt Russell Reports SIX UFOs Flying Above Pheonix In Arizona | UFO Witness

• https://youtu.be/_s0GC_uPNKE

Kurt Russell’s report of six UFOs over Phoenix, Arizona, is a fascinating chapter in the larger story of the Phoenix Lights incident. His experience as a pilot and a public figure adds credibility and intrigue to an event that continues to captivate those interested in UFOs and unexplained aerial phenomena. Whether or not the Phoenix Lights were of extraterrestrial origin, the mystery remains unsolved, leaving room for ongoing speculation and wonder.

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

©Sources: Graphic Created using Canva, Pixabay / geralt, NASA CC0 Images via Canva

Black Hole in a Planet's Orbit Could Indicate an Advanced Civilization
An English mathematical physicist and Nobel-prize winner named Roger Penrose hypothesized how energy could be extracted from a rotating black hole in 1971. He proposed constructing a harness around the black hole's accretion disk—where infalling matter reaches near-light speeds—which would trigger an enormous release of energy across multiple wavelengths.

Since then, several scientists have proposed that advanced civilizations might use this idea—dubbed the Penrose Process—to power their technology. This technological possibility suggests just one interesting technosignature that scientists looking for life beyond Earth could search for in outer space.

©Unsplash / Aman Pal

Following Hypotheses
Building upon this idea, scientist John M. Smart has proposed the Transcension Hypothesis. In this hypothesis, he suggested that advanced intelligence may migrate to regions surrounding black holes. There, they could take advantage of the energy available.

The latest idea based on the Penrose Process comes from Harvard Professor Avi Loeb. His paper where he poses his latest findings and ideas, "Illumination of a Planet by a Black Hole Moon as a Technological Signature," was recently published in the scientific journal Research Notes of the AAS.

©Wikimedia Commons / Cmichel67

Avi Loeb’s Paper
Professor Avi Loeb is an extremely accomplished scientist. He is the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University, the Director of the Director of the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center of Astrophysics (CfA), the founding Director of the Black Hole Initiative (BHI), and the head of the Galileo Project.

In his latest paper, he proposed that advanced civilizations could rely on a "Black Hole Moon" to provide their home planet with power indefinitely. He argues that the way a black hole would light up the planet it orbits could serve as a potential technosignature for future SETI surveys. (SETI stands for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.)

©Stephen Hawking in the 1980s / Wikimedia Commons / NASA

Stephen Hawking’s Theory
In 1975, Stephen Hawking theorized that black holes emit photons, neutrinos, and some larger particles. These theoretical larger particles have been called "Hawking Radiation." Since then, proposals for harnessing black holes as an energy source typically fall into one of two categories.

Some scientists believe in the possibility of the Penrose Process, which involves capturing the energy from angular momentum of black hole accretion disks. Similarly, some believe that capturing the heat and energy generated by black hole hypervelocity jets would be possible, perhaps in the form of a Dyson Sphere. On the other hand, some believe that these black-hole-civilizations would have to feed matter into the black hole they rely on and harness the resulting Hawking Radiation in order to create power.

©Unsplash / NASA Hubble Space Telescope

An Orbiting Black Hole Engine
In his recent paper, Loeb proposed that an advanced alien civilization could rely on the latter process by engineering a black hole to orbit their home planet. This black hole would be relatively very small, weighing just one hundred thousand tons (10-11 g). (Yes, this sounds like a lot, but it is not in terms of black holes.)

However, without any sort of maintenance, this black hole would evaporate in just a year and a half through the emission of Hawking Radiation. Loeb explained that, luckily for any potential civilization, a black hole could be sustained by giving it small amounts of matter—about 4.85 lbs (2.2 kg) per second. In return, the black hole would offer a continuous supply of power.

©Unsplash / NASA Hubble Space Telescope

Powerful and Efficient
“This black hole system is the most efficient engine that I ever thought about,” Loeb explained. “The fuel is converted to energy with the perfect efficiency of 100%, because the mass falling into the black hole is ultimately coming out as Hawking Radiation. I have not seen this idea discussed before and had a ‘Eureka moment’ when I realized it a few weeks ago.”

According to Loeb, the amount of antimatter needed is currently beyond humanity’s capabilities—a civilization more advanced than our own would have to figure that out. However, Loeb's proposed 10-11 g black hole could continuously supply 40 quadrillion Watts of power, which is certainly enough to power a planet.

©Unsplash / NASA Hubble Space Telescope

Using Waste for Energy
"The global energy use is a few terra-Watts, ten thousand times less than the power supply of this black hole," Loeb explained. Another benefit is that a black hole can use any type of matter as fuel, including the waste generated by a civilization. In this way, a black hole engine could address an advanced civilization's waste disposal issues while simultaneously offering a limitless source of energy.

"The other advantage of this black hole engine is that it can use any form of matter as fuel,” Loeb said. “It could be trash. There is no better way to recycle trash than convert it into clean energy with 100% efficiency."

©Canva / Riddhima's Images

Possible for Advanced Civilizations
Humans produce roughly 1.92 billion metric tons of waste annually. This is having a severe impact on our planet Earth. However, this would be enough to feed a black hole of Loeb’s proposed size for more than 437 million years.

According to Loeb, a black hole engine that uses waste as its energy source would be much simpler than other proposed alien energy sources. Theoretically, it would be technology that a Type II civilization could engineer (for reference, Earth is only _almost_ a Type I civilization).

©Pixabay / GuillaumePreat

A Technosignature on Earth
“This is the big challenge,” Loeb said. “Any production line of a 10-11 g black hole requires compressing matter or radiation to a mass density that is 60 orders of magnitude above the density of solid iron. The density of atomic nuclei or neutron stars is only 15 orders of magnitude above solid density. This was possible to achieve in the cosmic radiation density less than a femtosecond after the Big Bang."

In another recently written paper by Loeb, he argued that, based on the theory of General Relativity, black holes could be made out of light. According to his theories, this proposed black hole engine would be detectable light-years away, which might be most interesting about his hypothesis. This would make black hole engines viable technosignatures that would indicate the existence of a far-away advanced civilization to scientists.

©Unsplash / NASA Hubble Space Telescope

Potential Extraterrestrial Power
As with many proposed technosignatures—such as science-fiction-like Dyson Spheres and other megastructures—the idea of a black hole engine remains speculative and theoretical. However, as Freeman Dyson noted, if something is within the realm of our imagination and the underlying physics are valid, a sufficiently advanced civilization might already be employing it.

Loeb speculated, “The black hole engine could be discovered as a rogue rocky planet that is illuminated by a gamma-ray moon with no stellar-mass companion. If we ever find evidence for such an engine, we would need to consider the possibility that the source was created or trapped as a primordial black hole by a highly advanced technological civilization. There is no better marker of technological innovation than creating a furnace out of spacetime curvature in the form of a mini black hole.” Loeb’s hypothesis is another interesting theory posed by scientists that could help to confirm life beyond our Earth.

{ https://www.msn.com/en-us/} 

Video by The Atlantic. Source: Sobli / RDB / ullstein bild / Getty.

At a meeting in NASA headquarters yesterday, the public had some blunt questions about UFOs, or, as the government now calls them, “unexplained anomalous phenomena.” A NASA spokesperson summarized them aloud: “What is NASA hiding, and where are you hiding it? How much has been shared publicly? Has NASA ever cut the live NASA TV feed away from something? Has NASA released all UAP evidence it has ever received? What about NASA astronauts—do they have an NDA or clearance that does not allow them to speak about UAP sightings? What are the science overlords hiding?” In short: Are you guys lying to everyone?

There was some gentle laughter among the panelists, whom NASA had convened on the subject. No, NASA “has never intentionally cut a live feed to hide anything,” a senior agency official said. A retired astronaut who worked at NASA for 20 years chimed in: “There was never any formal or informal discussions at all about UAPs or UFOs or anyone reporting anything that would suggest something from beyond our planet.” An astrobiologist—the kind of scientist whose job revolves around finding extraterrestrial life—said that scientists are a “rebellious” type, and if someone told him to keep a secret as big as this, he’d want to spill.

The group had spent the past several months examining reports of strange sightings in the sky, and yesterday’s hours-long event was its first (and only) public meeting. The NASA-organized committee, a mix of scientists and industry experts, did not make any dramatic pronouncements. The main takeaway was what we’ve heard all along. “Many events have conventional explanations,” David Spergel, an astrophysicist who chairs the committee, told reporters. (See: balloons.) “There remain events that we do not understand,” he said, “but these events tend to be characterized by poor-quality, limited data.” Ultimately, the group found UAP data “insufficient to provide conclusive evidence about the nature and origin of every UAP event,” Spergel said.

• Read: A new age of UFO mania

But in doing this work, NASA has discovered a different truth: Talking about UFOs can be a nasty business. If you publicly investigate, contemplate, or even breathe about UFOs, you will probably be harassed on the internet. Several of the panelists “have been subjected to online abuse due to their decision to participate on this panel,” Dan Evans, the NASA official assigned to the committee, said at the outset of the meeting. “A NASA security team is actively addressing this issue.’ (Evans later told me that there were “specific attacks on the character of individuals.”) And then there are the accusatory questions and distrust from the public. The agency has finally opened the doors to serious discussions about UFOs, and what it’s gotten instead is seriously toxic.

NASA has historically steered clear of anything involving UFOs, leaving the matter up to other federal agencies, which operated clandestine UFO programs for military and national-security purposes. The world’s top space agency was more concerned with searching for alien life far beyond Earth’s atmosphere—around planets orbiting other stars, for example—than weird things in our own sky. But UFOs have been popping up in the news quite a bit in recent years, thanks to newspaper reports on those secret government programs and the resulting congressional hearings. But last year, NASA’s administrator, Bill Nelson, seemed to succumb to the pull of UFOs and directed the agency to form a panel of experts.

Spergel and the other members of the committee stressed that their goal was not to conduct an exhaustive investigation of every frame of grainy footage but to provide a “roadmap” for NASA that details how the agency could contribute to the future study and analysis of UFOs. The panel did not have access to any classified data either. That approach was bound to provoke those who believe that some reported UFOs have extraterrestrial origins, and that the government—and perhaps now NASA too—is hiding that fact.

• Read: What the UFO discussion really needs

Despite the high emotions surrounding UFOs, nearly all public meetings on the subject are quite anticlimactic, and distinctly lacking in someone unfurling a giant sign from the ceiling that declares, once and for all, WE FOUND THE ALIENS. I’ve covered the space industry for years, and to me, the most surprising result was how absorbed NASA seemed to be in the discussion. Last year, a NASA official said a dedicated UAP-research effort would pose a “reputational risk” for the agency. But yesterday, this committee was advising NASA to approach UFOs in a way that the agency has not done in its nearly 65-year existence. Instead of opting out, the panelists said that NASA should help reduce the stigma surrounding UFOs; one expert from the Federal Aviation Administration said that the agency should “leverage its brand image” to do so. Evans, the NASA official, was also on board, saying, “It’s now our collective responsibility to investigate these occurrences with the rigorous scientific scrutiny that they deserve.”

The NASA panel must now draw up a formal report to deliver to agency leaders this summer. One panelist said that NASA should set up its own UFO office, a modest but dedicated force, to collect and archive data alongside other, more serious programs in the Defense Department. But first, NASA would probably like everyone to stop getting worked up over aliens. Nicola Fox, NASA’s associate administrator for science missions, said yesterday that “harassment only leads to further stigmatization of the UAP field, significantly hindering scientific progress and discouraging others to study this important subject matter.” Indeed, the road to understanding the nature of UFOs will be paved with abuse and, as NASA now knows, an ungodly number of emails. “I think every one of the 16-strong panel, plus myself, receives emails on a daily basis of all sorts concerning this subject,” Evans told me. Some of them are terrible, and, unfortunately, there’s nothing anomalous about that.

{ https://www.theatlantic.com/ }

The sighting was so bizarre that it baffled the RAF

A Leicester family has finally revealed the truth behind a UFO mystery 

(Image: Leicester Mercury)

A Leicestershire family has finally revealed the truth behind a decades-old UFO mystery. An unidentified flying object spotted in 1970, which puzzled locals and even involved the RAF, has been revealed to be a homemade hot air balloon.

Former RAF engine fitter and licensed pilot, Albert Jones, has been identified as the creator of the UFO which caused a stir 54 years ago. Mr Jones crafted hot air balloons using tissue paper and firelighters as part of their annual bonfire night celebrations.

Martin Jones, 64, from Whitwick, near Coalville, shared the story to mark what would have been his father's 100th birthday. He revealed how his father swore him and his friends to secrecy at the time. He said: "He was worried about repercussions once the RAF got involved."

One of these balloons landed in a garden on Nursery Road, Leicester, sparking a UFO sighting report. A Leicester Mercury report from November 7, 1970, covered the incident with the headline "Space objects crash-land". In it, the article showed Iris Draper, of Nursery Road, Scraptoft Lane, who had discovered one of the "UFOs" in her back garden.

The object was described as a 12-foot-long white paper balloon attached to a 4-foot wooden hoop, with a wooden cross supporting a small wire basket.

The RAF and Met Office were unable to identify the objects at the time, leaving them a mystery for years. Albert's fascination with flight stemmed from his RAF days and continued with his interest in gliding and private piloting.

Mr Jones, who was 10 years old at the time of the incident, told LeicestershireLive: "My dad owned a hardware shop in Whitwick. Every bonfire night, he used to sell fireworks himself. When bonfire night was over, anything that was left, he used to have a big display himself, because he was just a big kid really."

The balloons, launched from the family's hardware shop in Whitwick, often travelled several miles.

Describing the balloon-making process, Martin said: "He'd lay all these sheets of tissue paper down and glue them all together. It'd be probably 12 foot high and six foot diameter, or whatever he decided to do at the time."

The balloons often travelled impressive distances. Martin said: "My cousin once followed one on his motorcycle and lost sight of it going over Burton on Trent."

Mr Jones said his father likely launched smaller balloons throughout the year for personal amusement, contributing to local UFO lore. Speaking about how his father would feel about the truth finally coming out, Martin said: "He would laugh about it now."

{ https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/ }

Mysterious 400 feet 'ice ship' spotted in Antarctica on Google Earth baffles people

The mysterious object frozen in ice has stirred several theories among people who link it to a secret Nazi bunker, as well as, a UFO.

Representative Cover Image Source: Pexels | (L)Gu Bra; (R)Marina Zvada

Since the launch of geo-browser Google Earth in 2001, people have stumbled upon strange structures and bizarre formations lurking across the globe. The luxury of free access to the entire planet from the comfort of the desk has attracted over 1 billion people to sign up for the tool and pore through the photo artifacts available. In 2020, a YouTuber who goes by MrMBB333 (@MrMBB333) and who describes himself as “The Earth Watchman,” shared a video in which he claimed to have found a 400-feet “ice ship” on the surface of Antarctica. The strange discovery prompted hundreds of people to cook up assorted theories about the mysterious vessel frozen in ice.

Representative Image Source: Pexels | Nathy

Google Earth is a computer program that provides detailed views of Earth including 3D representations, created mostly using satellite imagery. It covers more than 98% of the world. Sometime that year, some eagle-eyed Google Earth fans sent some coordinates to MrMBB333, which depicted some mysterious object frozen between icebergs. The YouTuber explored the location himself and shared about it in the video.

The clip shows a large chunk of ice emerging out of an icy landscape found 100 miles off the shore of Antarctica and just below New Zealand. The YouTuber said that it “looks like an old torpedo thawed out into the ice” or “maybe a small submarine” or “a large bowling pan.” He put the map into 3D view to get a better view of the unusual shape. He then said that the shape actually resembled the outline of a ship 428 feet long. "You look down on it and it looks like the outline of a ship. This measures 400ft long, whatever that looks like it looks like a ship,” he said.

Representative Image Source: Pexels | Francesco Ungaro

He noted that the ship was as big as a five-story building and it contained a hull, the main deck area, and chimneys on the top. "An ice ship if you want to call it – a 400ft yacht just sitting there off the coast of Antarctica," he concluded. Furthermore, examining the ship, he reflected that it was probably built with a purpose. "Looks like a random iceberg, but one part looks like it's built with purpose, looks like an entryway and the symmetrical features look like it has been created," he said, and added, "It doesn't look random but as if it had a purpose."

Image Source: YouTube | @christywoods9180

The discovery of this “ice ship” has since sparked bizarre theories of its formation, which include everything from Nazis’ secret bunkers to a government building, UFO, booster rocket, and even Noah’s Ark. “Germany did have a base there, from Hitler,” commented @kaboom6227. @juanitazook9797 added, “Probably bunkers down there for the elite.”

Image Source: YouTube | @janellemedveckyulickey

@josht777 said, “That ship probably ended up there from the Bermuda Triangle,” whereas, @aussietiger3036 thought “That yacht could be the infamous Noah’s Ark, and that boomerang craft could be the same one as the infamous Phoenix lights.” But some people, like @gnexus01, believed that it was just a plain old chunk of ice lying at the coordinates “66°54'16.36" S, 163°13'39.03"E” on Google Earth. Whatever its true story, the abandoned ice boat’s mystery is surely a digital adventure that curious Google Earth fans will not want to miss.

{ https://www.good.is/ }

The idea that aliens may have visited the Earth is becoming increasingly popular. Around a fifth of UK citizens believe Earth has been visited by extraterrestrials, and an estimated 7% believe that they have seen a UFO.

The figures are even higher in the US – and rising. The number of people who believe UFO sightings offer likely proof of alien life increased from 20% in 1996 to 34% in 2022. Some 24% of Americans say they’ve seen a UFO.

This belief is slightly paradoxical as we have zero evidence that aliens even exist. What’s more, given the vast distances between star systems, it seems odd we’d only learn about them from a visit. Evidence for aliens is more likely to come from signals from faraway planets.

In a paper accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, I argue that the belief in alien visitors is no longer a quirk, but a widespread societal problem.

The belief is now rising to the extent that politicians, at least in the US, feel they have to respond. The disclosure of information about claimed Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs rather than UFOs) from the Pentagon has got a lot of bi-partisan attention in the country.

Much of it plays upon familiar anti-elite tropes that both parties have been ready to use, such as the idea that the military and a secretive cabal of private commercial interests are keeping the deep truth about alien visitation hidden. That truth is believed to involve sightings, abductions and reverse-engineered alien technology.

Belief in a cover-up is even higher than belief in alien visitation. In 2019, a Gallop poll found that a staggering 68% of Americans believed that “the US government knows more about UFOs than it is telling”.

This political trend has been decades in the making. Jimmy Carter promised document disclosure during his presidential campaign in 1976, several years after his own reported UFO sighting. Like so many other sightings, the simplest explanation is that he saw Venus. (That happens a lot.)

Hillary Clinton also suggested she wanted to “open [Pentagon] files as much as I can” during her presidential campaign against Donald Trump. As seen in the video below, Trump suggested he’d need to “think about” whether it was possible to declassify the so-called Roswell documentation (relating to the notorious claimed crash of a UFO and the recovery of alien bodies).

Former president Bill Clinton claimed to have sent his chief of staff, John Podesta, down to Area 51, a highly classified US Air Force facility, just in case any of the rumours about alien technology at the site were true. It is worth nothing that Podesta is a long-time enthusiast for all things to do with UFOs.

The most prominent current advocate of document disclosure is the Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer. His stripped back 2023 UAP disclosure bill for revealing some UAP records was co-sponsored by three Republican senators.

Pentagon disclosure finally began during the early stages of Joe Biden’s term of office, but so far there has been nothing to see. Nothing looks like an encounter. Nothing looks close.

Still, the background noise does not go away.

Problems for society

All this is ultimately encouraging conspiracy theories, which could undermine trust in democratic institutions. There have been humorous calls to storm Area 51. And after the storming of the Capitol in 2021, this now looks like an increasingly dangerous possibility.

Too much background noise about UFOs and UAPs can also get in the way of legitimate science communication about the possibility of finding microbial extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology, the science dealing with such matters, has a far less effective publicity machine than UFOlogy.

History, a YouTube channel part owned by Disney, regularly delivers shows about “ancient aliens”. The show is now in its 20th season and the channel has 13.8 million subscribers. The Nasa astrobiology channel has a hard won 20,000 subscribers. Actual science finds itself badly outnumbered by entertainment repackaged as factual.

Alien visitation narratives have also repeatedly tried to hijack and overwrite the history and mythology of indigenous people.

The first steps in this direction go back to Alexander Kazantsev’s science fiction tale Explosion: The Story of a Hypothesis (1946). It presents the 1908 Tunguska meteorite impact event as a Nagasaki-like explosion of an alien spacecraft engine. In Kazantsev’s tale, a single giant black female survivor has been left stranded, equipped with special healing powers. This lead to her adoption as a shaman by the indigenous Evenki people.

Nasa and the space science community do support efforts such as the Native Skywatchers initiative set up by the indigenous Ojibwe and Lakota communities to ensure the survival of storytelling about the stars. There is a real and extensive network of indigenous scholarship about these matters.

But UFOlogists promise a far higher profile for indigenous history in return for the mashing together of genuine indigenous stories about life arriving from the skies with fictional tales about UFOs, repackaged as suppressed history.

The modern alien visitation narrative has not, after all, emerged out of indigenous communities. Quite the opposite. It emerged in part as a way for conspiracy-minded thinkers in a Europe torn apart by racism to “explain” how complex urban civilisations in places like South America could have existed prior to European settlement.

Squeezed through a new age filter of 1960s counterculture, the narrative was flipped to value indigenous people as having once possessed advanced technology. Once upon a time, according to this view, every indigenous civilisation was Wakanda, a fictional country appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

If all of this stayed in its own box, as entertaining fiction, then matters would be fine. But it doesn’t, and they aren’t. Visitation narratives tend to overwrite indigenous storytelling about sky and ground.

This is a problem for everyone, not just indigenous peoples struggling to continue authentic traditions. It threatens our grasp of the past. When it comes to insight into our remote ancestors, the remnants of prehistoric storytelling are few and precious, such as within indigenous storytelling about the stars.

Take the tales of the Pleiades, which date back in standard forms to at least 50,000 years ago.

This may be why these tales in particular are heavily targeted by alien visitation enthusiasts, some of whom even claim to be “Pleiadeans”. No surprises, Pleiadeans do not look like the Lakota or Ojibwe, but are strikingly blond, blue-eyed and Nordic.

It is increasingly clear that belief in alien visitation is no longer just a fun speculation, but something that has real and damaging consequences.

• This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
• Tony Milligan receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant agreement No. 856543).

{ https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ }

Man Claims He Captured Bizarre UFO Image Over Glasgow

PEXELS: UrlaPovaanna

Kay Smythe -News and Commentary Writer

A man living just outside of Glasgow, Scotland, says he accidentally captured a photograph Friday of a UFO while trying to snap the Northern Lights.

Gearóid Cearr claims he often heads out with his camera to capture photos of the Aurora Borealis and was shooting pictures at St. Ambrose High School football park around 9:30 p.m. when the lights appeared, according to Glasgow Live. Within the 100 or so photographs Caerr took, one of them contained something … odd.

Images shared by the outlet on social media show a series of red and white dots aligning in a repeated pattern in the middle of the sky.

The cluster of red and white lights were snapped streaking across the sky 🛸https://t.co/7fUWANChWRhttps://t.co/7fUWANChWR

— Glasgow Live (@Glasgow_Live) September 1, 2024

The image was snapped on Friday night above Coatbridge 

(Image: Gearóid Cearr)

“I said to myself I don’t remember seeing that when I took the photo. I posted it on a Facebook group to see if anyone knew what it was,” Caerr told the outlet. “Some say it is starlink satellites but it can’t be as they are only white. And when I catch planes in photos they never look like this.” 

• (RELATED: Let’s Be Totally Honest: The ‘Most Spectacular’ UFO Photo Ever Is Probably Fake)

{ https://dailycaller.com/ }

This Former NASA Engineer Has Discovered a Way To Overcome Earth’s gravity

Dr. Charles Buhler has developed an engine that harnesses a new force outside of our current knowledge of physics to create thrust without propulsion. Dr. Buhler, a NASA engineer and the co-founder of Exodus Propulsion Technologies, has revealed that his company’s propellantless propulsion drive, which appears to defy the known laws of physics, has produced enough thrust to counteract Earth’s gravity.

Dr. Buhler, a NASA scientist, worked on safety projects for space missions like the Space Shuttle and Mars Exploration. Now, he’s developing a way to clean dust from astronauts and equipment using electricity for NASA’s Moon mission. But that’s not all – he might have discovered a way to make a machine move without fuel, which would change space travel forever.

Dr. Buhler’s idea is based on a new understanding of gravity, which is like a heavy object warping a rubber sheet. He thinks he’s found a way to move an object in a straight line on this curved sheet, essentially creating a shortcut through space. This could revolutionize space travel, making it faster and more efficient. While it sounds like  science fiction, Dr. Buhler’s work could be the key to unlocking new possibilities for space exploration.

Now, to overcome is invisible force, Dr. Buhler and his team claim to have generated 1G (as in Earth’s 1G of gravity) of thrust without any propellant. If it’s true, it would be revolutionary for humanity and would unleash a new era of space exploration.

In 2001, British Electrical Engineer Roger Shawyer first introduced the “impossible drive,” known as the EmDrive. It was called “impossible” because its creator purported that the drive was reactionless, meaning no propellant required—in other words, it defied the known laws of physics (specifically, the conservation of momentum).

Scientists were curious but also skeptical. They tested the EmDrive, for 20 years and finally decided it didn’t work as promised.

Dr.  Charles Buhler, who worked on a range of programs while at NASA, has since co-founded Exodus Propulsion Technologies, which in 2019 applied for a patent for a system that they claim can generate force using asymmetrical electrostatic pressure. According to the patent, the system generates a voltage difference across an electrically conductive surface.

“The applied voltage difference creates an electric field resulting in an electrostatic pressure force acting on at least one surface of an object. Asymmetries in the resulting electrostatic pressure force vectors result in a net resulting electrostatic pressure force acting on the object,” the patent reads, adding that the invention could be used as a thruster to propel spacecraft.

“The magnitude of the net resulting electrostatic pressure force is a function of the geometry of the electrically conductive surfaces, the applied voltage, and the dielectric constant of any material present in the gap between electrodes.”

According to Dr. Buhler, whose team has been looking for alternative explanations for the force generated, they were able to create a large enough force for the (very small) object to overcome Earth’s 1G of gravity (i.e. enough thrust to move the object off the ground in Earth’s gravity) using the method.

That may sound like peanuts – but in the near-vacuum of space, you do not need a lot of thrust to accelerate (depending, of course, on the mass of your payload). If you could maintain a constant 1G of acceleration, for example, not only could you enjoy a nice artificial gravity equivalent to that on Earth, but you could reach vast distances within a human lifespan (or at least, from the traveler’s perspective). But doing so would require an unimaginable amount of force beyond what we are capable of delivering with current propellants.

Dr. Buhler’s claim, were it to be proven true and not the result of another force the team has not accounted for, would be huge. During tests, the team claims to have found an even more puzzling result; the device was apparently sometimes able to maintain this thrust without a constant electrical input.

Dr. Buhler told The Debrief that they’ve created a drive powered by a “New Force” outside our current known laws of physics, giving the propellant-less drive enough boost to overcome gravity.

“The most important message to convey to the public is that a major discovery occurred,” Buhler told The Debrief. “This discovery of a New Force is fundamental in that electric fields alone can generate a sustainable force onto an object and allow center-of-mass translation of said object without expelling mass.”

He stressed that this work is unaffiliated with NASA and that he recently presented his findings at the Alternative Propulsion Energy Conference (APEC), which is a club of engineers and enthusiasts eager to find ways to overcome the limitations of gravity and physics—and not always with the most scientifically sound methods. (Source)

Dr. Buhler and his team presented their findings at a conference called the Alternative Propulsion Energy Conference (APEC). This conference is a meeting of experts and enthusiasts who explore unusual ideas for space travel, like anti-gravity

Dr. Buhler made it clear that his work is not connected to NASA or the US Government. He just wants to share his team’s discovery with others who are interested in new ideas for space travel.

Dr. Buhler presented his team’s research at a conference, focusing on their experiments from the last decade. He shared detailed  math and steps they took to develop a new type of propulsion drive that doesn’t use fuel.

Read also:

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• This Swiss Scientist Claims There is Portal Underneath CERN from where Beings Coming In & Out
• This Salt Lake City Tech CEO Found Dead After Eerie Calls: ‘It’s All a Game… We’re in the Matrix’

They made big breakthroughs, like increasing the force generated from 0.01% of gravity in 2016 to much more in later years. Their goal is to reach “unity,” where the device can lift itself against Earth’s gravity. They measure force in small units, but aim to exceed 1 gravity of thrust. The team carefully ruled out other explanations for the force they measured, leading to a patented invention in 2020.

“Our materials are composed of many types of charge carrier coatings that have to be supported on a dielectric film,” Buhler told The Debrief. “Our aim is to make it as lightweight as possible, but that is sometimes difficult since the films and their coatings have to have a high dielectric breakdown strength.”

After employing these new designs, the next series of tests produced even more encouraging results. The team once again confirmed the thrust, but the new approach resulted in an order of magnitude jump to one ten-thousandth of a gravity. This was still not enough to leave the planet, but it was enough to know they were on the right track.

As the team neared their goal, they tried new and improved designs. They kept measuring the thrust and ruled out other explanations for what they were seeing.

Then, in 2022, something amazing happened. The force generated by their device suddenly increased significantly. Looking at their data, we can see that between early 2022 and November 2023, the force jumped from tiny fractions of gravity to a full Earth gravity. This means their small device (about 30-40 grams) was producing enough force to lift itself against Earth’s gravity. This is a remarkable achievement!

After decades of research, Dr. Buhler says he and his team had shown unequivocally that a new, fundamental force was at work and that his devices were tapping into that force to produce thrust without emitting any mass or propellant.

“Essentially, what we’ve discovered is that systems that contain an asymmetry in either electrostatic pressure or some kind of electrostatic divergent field can give a system of a center of mass a non-zero force component,” Buhler explained. “So, what that basically means is that there’s some underlying physics that can essentially place force on an object should those two constraints be met.”

Dr. Buhler’s claims are exciting, but we’ve seen similar claims about propellant-less drives before that didn’t hold up to scrutiny.

For example, NASA’s Eagleworks team thought they had found a way to make the EmDrive work in 2016, but later studies showed it didn’t actually work. So, before we get too excited about Buhler’s claims, we need to see rigorous testing and verification from multiple sources. It’s possible that Buhler’s team discovered something new, but it’s unlikely. Let’s call it an “improbable engine” for now.

Whenever the topics of anti-gravity and thrusters come up, I always go and watch this video of Bob Lazar.

Bob Lazar is saying that the technology he worked on operates based on a completely different type of physics than what we’re familiar with. Normally, all our  vehicles—whether planes, jets, or rockets—move by pushing something out the back, creating an action that pushes the  vehicle forward. But the craft he worked on doesn’t work that way. Instead, it uses something called “field propulsion,” which bends space and time in front of it, causing the craft to move forward without any traditional thrust.

Do you think we already have this anti-gravity technology?

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

Did aliens contact Boeing Starliner at NASA space-station today? UFO UAP Sighting News.

Boeing Starliner contacted NASA Mission Control and asked them what this strange sound was coming from the Starliner speakers. He held the microphone up to the speaker and a pinging sound or sonar sound came from it. It's very possible this was a radio transmission sent from an alien ship to the spacestation to make contact. Radio waves are primitive to aliens, but when in Rome...do as the Romans do so that they understand one another better. 

Scott C. Waring 

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

AI Corrects Three UFO Photos From Nov 2005! Vancouver Island, Canada! UAP Sighting News.

Here is an interesting sighting with three photos of a UFO from different angles. The UFO was over a harbor area on Vancouver Island. When ai focuses it, we see an oval disk craft with an open cockpit on top. Very odd, never seen such a thing before. You may dislike ai or love it, either way, it's here to stay, so get use to it. It's a tool, until the day comes when we humans become tools for ai. 

Scott C. Waring 

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

Voyager 1 is back online! NASA's most distant spacecraft returns data from all 4 instruments

Even if Voyager 1 had gone dark for good, however, the mission would still have been a wild success. After it launched in 1977, its primary mission was to study Jupiter and Saturn — that was accomplished by 1980. (Its twin spacecraft, Voyager 2, went on to study Uranus and Neptune.) But Voyager 1 is on an unstoppable path. Continuing its journey away from Earth, the spacecraft entered interstellar space in 2012, returning crucial data about this mysterious realm.

Now that Voyager 1 is back online, the team will continue to "touch up" the spacecraft to get it back in top form, including resynchronizing its timekeeping software to execute commands at the right time, as well as performing maintenance on the digital tape recorder that measures plasma waves. And hopefully, Voyager 1 will have a long, happy life ahead.

{ https://www.space.com/ }

Their study, published in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, examines the big five personality traits: extraversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, along with schizotypy traits (behaviors that resemble schizophrenia), to help determine if UAP experiencers could be distinguished from those who had not reported seeing a UAP.

The Big Five Personality Traits: What Are They? 

In the 1970s, two research teams—one led by Paul Costa and Robert R. McCrae of the National Institutes of Health and the other by Warren Norman and Lewis Goldberg of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and the University of Oregon—found that most human character traits can be explained by five dimensions. Surveys of thousands of individuals uncovered these mostly distinct traits:

• Neuroticism: Emotional stability; individuals with high scores are characterized by anxiety, inhibition, moodiness, and lower self-assurance.
• Extroversion: Encompasses cheerfulness, initiative, and communicativeness.
• Openness: Fond of innovation and displays of creativity. 
• Agreeableness: Dictates how they interact with others. Other traits include being friendly, empathetic, and warm.
• Conscientiousness: Gauges a person’s level of organization. Individuals with high scores are motivated, disciplined, and trustworthy.

The Findings

Dr. Stubbings’ experiment involved 206 participants, including 103 who said they had witnessed or self-reported seeing a UAP. The team analyzed personality traits to see how participants naturally grouped together.

The study consisted of three groups. Group one had average traits, whereas the second group, designated the Neurotic/Schizotypy group, was high on neuroticism and schizotypy traits. The last controlled group, labelled O-ACE, was found to have high openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion but low neuroticism and schizotypy traits. 

“These were the groups that ‘emerged’ out of the data analysis,” Dr. Stubbings told The Debrief. “The latent profile analysis demonstrated these three patterns of personality profiles. Prior research looked at correlation and regression (predictive patterns) but not a latent (underlying) profile.”

“This was a new finding,” Stubbings told The Debrief.

The study concluded that the third group, O-ACE, was more likely to see UAPs. Over the years, stigma and stereotypes have helped create narratives that people who see UAPs are more than likely emotionally reactive; in other words, they may display neurotic behavior and are prone to perceptual and cognitive abnormalities.

However, the recent data does not appear to support this narrative. Instead, Dr. Stubbings and his coauthors state in their paper that the “descriptive UAP accounts by the general public were similar to the descriptions provided by military witnesses.” 

Stubbings, when asked why people with high conscientiousness see UFOs, said it is difficult to answer such a question based on the current data in-hand.

“Our data indicates that there is a small statistical relationship, but further research should explore why that relationship exists,” Stubings told The Debrief. “But my guess is that people who are high in conscientiousness might be more willing to admit to themselves that they have seen something and believe it is the right thing to do to admit it.” 

However, Stubbings notes that conscientiousness alone is probably not everything in this equation, but instead, combinations of other variables—specifically low scores in Neuroticism and higher scores in Openness, also contribute.

“We need further research to explore the nuances of these personality factors in the emergence of both belief and experience.”

Dr. Stubbings also noted that “only 28 percent of participants reported their sightings anywhere, and 14 percent used a UFO reporting organization, which suggests that events are vastly underreported.” His paper also suggested that stigma and a lack of proper reporting avenues were the main obstacles impacting their willingness to report their sightings.

Dr. Stubbings initiated his research by referencing an older academic paper on UAPs published in the Applied Cognitive Psychology Journal in 2011, which found that certain personality factors were predictors of an individual’s belief in UFOs. 

“This is relevant to the UFO topic more broadly because what people perceive and recall tends to be in line with their beliefs,” Stubbings told The Debrief. “If beliefs can be predicted by personality factors, then it supports the notion that it is a particular kind of person who is more prone to belief in UAPs, and in turn, they end up seeing and recalling what they believe to be true.” 

“In other words, people see UAP not because they are there but because of the conviction of their beliefs, which are influenced by their personality dispositions. 

“So the idea was born to change the dependent variable of ‘belief’ to ‘have you had a sighting.’ Those who believe in UFOs/UAP might not have the same characteristics [as] those that report to have seen what they believe to be a UAP.”

Fundamentally, Stubbings says that in addition to understanding the kinds of personality traits and psychological drivers that may contribute to a person’s likelihood of observing and reporting UAP, scientists need to be engaging in dialogue about the assessment, diagnosis, formulation, and treatment of mental health distress in individuals who claim to have observed UAP or even had direct contact with purported NHI. 

“This topic is one of the most fascinating areas,” Stubbings told The Debrief, “and I believe other scientists from around the world need to help address this mystery.”

Stubbings and his colleagues Sophie Ali and Alexander Wong’s new paper, “Who Sees UFOs? The Relationship Between Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Sightings And Personality Factors,” appeared in the Spring 2024 issue of the Journal of Scientific Exploration.

• Chrissy Newton is a PR professional and founder of VOCAB Communications. She hosts the Rebelliously Curious podcast, which can be found on The Debrief’s YouTube Channel. Follow her on X: @ChrissyNewton and at chrissynewton.com.

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

Estimating the Basic Settings of the Universe

The Standard Model describes how the Universe has evolved at large scale. There are six numbers that define the model and a team of researchers have used them to build simulations of the Universe. The results of these simulations were then fed to a machine learning algorithm to train it before it was set the task of estimating five of the cosmological constants, a task which it completed with incredible precision. 

The Standard Model incorporates a number of elements; the Big Bang, dark energy, cold dark matter, ordinary matter and the cosmic background radiation. It works well to describe the large scale structure of the Universe but there are gaps in our understanding. Quantum physics can describe the small scale of the Universe but struggles with gravity and there are questions around dark matter and dark energy too. Understanding these can help in our understanding of the evolution and structure of the Universe. 

Enlarged region of the Saraswati Supercluster, the largest known structure in the Universe, showing the distribution of galaxies. Credit: IUCAA

A team of researchers from the Flatiron Institute have managed to extract some hidden information in the distribution of galaxies to estimate the values of five of the parameters. The accuracy was a great improvement on values that were attained during previous attempts. Using AI technology the team’s results had less than half the uncertainty for the element that describes the clumpiness of the Universe than in the previous attempt. Their results also revealed estimates of other parameters that closely resembled observation. The paper was published in Nature Astronomy on 21 August. 

The team generated 2,000 simulated universes after carefully specifying their cosmological parameters. These included expansion rate, the distribution and clumpiness of ordinary matter, dark matter and dark energy and using these the team ran the simulations. The output was then compressed into manageable data sets and this was used to compare against over one hundred thousand real galaxies data. From this, it was possible for the researchers to estimate the parameters for the real Universe. 

The parameters the team managed to fine tune are those that describe how the Universe operates at the largest scale. These are essentially, the settings for the Universe and include the amount of ordinary matter, dark matter, dark energy, the conditions following the Big Bang and just how clumpy the matter is. Previously these settings were calculated using observations from the structure of galaxy clusters. To arrive at a more accurate group of settings observations needed to go down to smaller scale but this has not been possible. 

Instead of using observations, the team used their AI approach to extract the small scale information that was hidden in the existing observational data. At the heart of the approach was the AI system that learned how to correlate the parameters with the observed structure of the Universe – but at small scale. 

In the future the team hope to be able to use their new approach to solve other problems. The uncertainty about the Hubble Constant is an example where the team hope AI can help to fine tune its value. Over the next few years though, and as observational data becomes more detailed both Hubble’s Constant and the Settings of the Universe will become far better understood along with our understanding of the Universe. 

Source : 

• Astrophysicists Use AI to Precisely Calculate Universe’s ‘Settings’

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

Coronal Loops-Digital Art Combination Captures Power of the Sun, Rendered by Andrew McCarthy

The solar chromosphere is the second layer of the Sun’s atmosphere residing above the Sun’s surface, known as the photosphere (4,130 to 6,330 °C), and below the corona (just under 1,000,000 °C). The chromosphere is known for its red color that is observed hydrogen-alpha electromagnetic emissions and extends between 3,000 to 5,000 kilometers (1,900 to 3,100 miles) in height, which is approximately one percent of the Sun’s radius, while exhibiting temperatures ranging between 3,500 to 35,000 °C. It is the solar chromosphere that is responsible for producing coronal loops, which are arch-like structures produced by the Sun’s magnetic field activity, typically occurring from sunspots. In addition to the incredible image, McCarthy also posted an equally incredible 14-second video of these incredible features in action.

McCarthy tells Universe Today, “These are an example of the magnetic loops captured authentically by isolating the plasma caught in them. This produces coronal rain, plasma raining back onto the photosphere.”

Our Sun is essentially a giant ball of plasma that is undergoing constant change, both within its interior and on its surface, including radio waves, solar wind, and magnetic field. Studying the magnetic field teaches scientists about 22-year cycles where the poles of the magnetic field flip and then return to their initial position, resulting in increased solar activity occurring over 11-year cycles during each transition. This increased magnetic field activity results in increased solar wind emanating from the Sun, leading to solar storms that can strike Earth, causing auroras near our planet’s poles while also harming satellites in orbit and electronic ground stations. One of the most revered incidents of solar storms on Earth was the Carrington Event, which occurred between September 1-2, 1859, resulting in worldwide auroras and telegraph station fires across the globe, as well.

Scientists who study the Sun and its various features are known as solar physicists who use a combination of ground- and space-based telescopes to obtain data regarding the Sun’s activity on a 24/7 basis. Arguably one of the most successful missions to study the Sun is NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, which was launched on August 12, 2018, and has traveled closer to the Sun than any human-made spacecraft in history, coming within 7.26 million kilometers (4.51 million miles) from the Sun’s surface in September 2023 and again in March 2024. During its mission, the Parker Solar Probe encountered magnetic field switchbacks, which is when the magnetic field reverses its direction, resulting in heating the solar corona.

Examples of ground-based telescopes that study the Sun include the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory, which like McCarthy, uses specialized equipment to safely study the Sun and its various features, providing data and images that can be used for research and public outreach. Therefore, how can McCarthy’s work be used for scientific research, and has his past work been used for scientific research purposes?

“This image is in no way intended for scientific research, but rather a product of scientific research,” McCarthy tells Universe Today. “That said, hydrogen alpha images of the sun offer real insight into the behavior of the sun’s magnetic field and are used by scientists worldwide. Amateurs capturing the sun in detail can complement the data produced by professional observatories on earth and in space and play a role in public outreach that can sometimes be lacking by professional institutions.”

McCarthy has become well-known for capturing incredible images of the Sun and sharing them with the public, including breathtaking images and videos of tornado-like prominences emanating from the solar chromosphere in March 2023, which also captured images of the solar corona. Along with these images, McCarthy provides detailed descriptions of the events occurring in his work with the goal of exciting the public about the Sun and its many incredible features.

“The Sun is unique in that every time I photograph it, it looks completely different,” McCarthy tells Universe Today. “The features are always changing. For that reason, it’s a target I will keep coming back to. While intended purely as a piece of digital art, my goal with this piece was to inspire people to ponder our fragile existence kept in balance by our host star. Hopefully it inspires more people to study it, as it gives us a better understanding of this universe we live in!”

What new discoveries will we make about our Sun in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!

• As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!

Links:

• Andrew McCarthy: X (Twitter) & Website

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

The Steve Kilburn Alien Abduction

• (As heard in the Weird Darkness episode, “Unveiled Under Hypnosis: The Alien Secrets of Steve Kilburn” from July 30, 2024.)

It was only by a strange sense of foreboding that would grip Steve Kilburn whenever he passed or even just thought about one particular stretch of Maryland road that memories of his alien abduction began to surface. This alien emotion eventually led him to speak with UFO researcher Budd Hopkins. When Kilburn underwent hypnotic regression in an attempt to get further clarification on where this shadow of dread was coming from, it revealed that something utterly bizarre had happened there years back.

Steven not only saw a weird object that night during the early ’70s while driving back home, but he was also visited by strange beings who eventually got him on board. Even worse, he would be subjected to medical procedures for the better part of a year. The specifics that would later come to light through regressive hypnosis wouldn’t just offer insight into an encounter Stephen Kilburn experienced—a number of these precise details are present in universal human stories about alien abduction, adding credibility to his account.

This is yet another case from the files of Budd Hopkins, described in great detail by authors with a contemporary perspective who run through details not included elsewhere. It can be read about at length in *Missing Time: A Documented Study Of UFO Abductions*. This, as we will see, is one of the most complex and nuanced cases in history.

When Steven Kilburn first mentioned to Budd Hopkins this peculiar sensation troubling him, they were no strangers. Through his friendship with Bloecher, another Fortean Society member, Kilburn attended more than one meeting of UFO buffs at Hopkins’ New York studio apartment — gatherings arranged and hosted by the two researchers.

In *Missing Time*, Hopkins said that after a meeting, where everybody was getting their things together and preparing to leave, Kilburn went up and said, “Something might have happened to me in college.” He countered with, “there was probably nothing to it,” but mentioned one particular stretch of road he had to drive on whenever he visited his girlfriend.

Hopkins asked if Kilburn could remember any UFO sighting connected with the road in question, to which Kilburn replied that he didn’t recall “anything particular.” However, he always had a sense that “something happened to me one time when I was driving home.” That was when Kilburn mentioned that he would be interested in trying hypnotic regression to see if there was something more to discover.

The two let the matter lie for a while, but one day Hopkins called Bloecher and told him about his chat with Kilburn, confiding that he suspected there was more to those foreboding premonitions. They eventually talked with psychologist Dr. Girard Franklin, who agreed to do the session. What they discovered would be astonishing for all involved.

The session took place in May 1978 at Dr. Franklin’s office in downtown Manhattan, several weeks after Kilburn revealed his doubts to Hopkins about the strange events that occurred that night in 1973.

Steven explained that when he lived in Baltimore before moving to New York, his girlfriend lived six miles away in Frederick. He remembered making the drive to see her, occasionally driving west along Route 40. “Ten or fifteen miles of that road is completely empty,” he said. He added that he often left his girlfriend’s house very late, and this part of the road was dark and seemingly endless.

One night, about a year into doing this drive, he was driving from Frederick to Maryland. Somewhere between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., “I couldn’t remember if I had actually seen something [high up], but I felt it the first time.” He added that all of a sudden, he felt weird and didn’t know why, noting: “That feeling someone is watching you when you wake from sleep.” Ultimately, he said that for some reason, the experience seemed too weird to him or even weirder “going to be happening.”

After that, every time Steven drove down that road, he felt the same way. As years passed, Steven tried hard to forget the event. But every once in a while, he would wonder if the impossible had actually happened that night between Frederick and Baltimore.

Dr. Franklin posed more questions about the night in question, attempting to access any memories Steven could recall and what those recollections did for him before hypnotizing him. These memories were often nebulous at best. He remembered, for instance, staring at the dashboard during that particular drive but had no idea why. Then more memories were shared.

He remembered walking in front of his car after it had been pulled over on the side of the road. He saw light emanating, which he figured was from his car but couldn’t be sure. He said he could not remember how he got outside the car but distinctly felt like he was out of the car while it was stopped behind him.

When Dr. Franklin asked what he was thinking when this occurred, Steven replied that he remembered feeling scared, so much so that he felt shivers down his spine. He added that he felt “trapped” in his car and unable to go faster.

As he continued to talk, flashing memories seemed to take over his thoughts. He remembered glancing at the rearview mirror as if searching for someone—or something—tracking him. Even more troubling was the sensation that someone or something else had power over him.

At this point, Dr. Franklin called for Steven to be hypnotized, and the true revelations began.

Dr. Franklin regressed Steven to that evening when these strange feelings had crept in. He remembered that it was getting dark, which added to his sense of sleepiness. He opened the window to bring fresh air into the cabin as he tried, unsuccessfully, to regain his alertness. Suddenly, the car stopped as he leaned in to examine what was on the dashboard. He was completely lost and did not know what to do.

He then exited the car and glanced at a metal fence some yards away. He stopped there, continued silence as he was on the couch in his office. To all who were watching, he looked scared to death. He screamed, “On my shoulder … a clamp…pain and I cannot move!”

The whole event veered into the surreal during that session. Dr. Franklin tried to hush Steven as a recorded incoming message clicked on his answering machine. The click prompted Steven to “literally almost jump off the couch.” It was obvious that he had plunged into a massive state of fear and panic.

At last, Dr. Franklin was able to calm him down enough for Bloecher to start asking Steven questions.

Bloecher then asked him what was on his shoulder. Steven said it looked like a “big wrench” and seemed to be coming from behind him, although he wasn’t sure of that. He went on to say that this wrench-like item lifted him and landed about a foot on either side of his chest and back.

Then, he remembered seeing a light. Bloecher asked if that light was from his car, and Steven immediately said, “No, there’s something else you’re not seeing behind the fence.” He then mumbled: “…dressed in black…can’t see their faces…more than two…three or more…”

He asked if the figures he saw were behind the fence. Steven replied affirmatively, saying that they were. He began to panic again, saying over and over, “I don’t know what’s going to happen!” He paused and then said, “There’s someone coming towards me.”

While this was going on, Steven said he heard some type of noise. He had no idea whether it was the sound of them inhaling or some kind of sliding noise. Bloecher requested that he focus on the sound more, but instead of focusing, Steven began talking about what was occurring. He insisted that his sides and back were hurting, and it felt as though something had been twisting him towards the road.

It was then that Steven’s memories started to blend together. He remembered being maybe six feet away from the car, and now it was light out. Bloecher could hardly tell if it was day or not due to all the bright lights. Steven exclaimed in confusion: “Day… but now it’s night!”

Steven then described when one of the two figures that came out from behind or over the fence was now on his right. When ordered to describe the figure, Steven managed to say it was “very white” and later told investigators he did not want to look. Bloecher asked Steven whether the figure was as big as he was, and his answer was it’s ‘almost our size,’ only a little smaller. He added that its “neck and face were very white” with no hair above the neck.

Steven said the figure kept flickering in and out of sight, then declared, “He ain’t one of us,” adding, “Every time I see him, it gives me a fright!” This was followed by an account of something he said or did next. He put it this way: “…They want something from me. I don’t know what they want…”

At this stage, it was agreed to conclude the session and bring Steven out of the hypnotic state. He was shaken by the revelations, but it seemed Steven had finally found some peace knowing they were starting to uncover the layers from years earlier. A few months later, he’d repeat the process for another session that showed more results than anyone would have expected.

Seven months after the first session, Steven was willing to undergo a second hypnosis session in 1978. This time, the session was conducted by Dr. Aphrodite Clamar, who had worked with Hopkins before on an alien abduction case.

Once more, Dr. Clamar brought Steven back to that trip in 1973. He remembered that he was driving and feeling tired and sleepy. He said it was late, but when Dr. Clamar asked him to look at the time on the dashboard, he told her it wasn’t working. He said he briefly turned on the light in his car to check his watch, then looked back at the road and suddenly woke up. He remarked he had momentarily driven onto the shoulder, which woke him up.

He was now driving down a hill and began to accelerate. At that point, he leaned forward toward the dashboard, maybe to adjust his seat. As he did so, a luminous light shined from somewhere. He wondered why there were no other cars around.

The car then abruptly “turned violently” and snapped to the right. “Like a giant magnet just pulled it right to the right!” Steven said.

The next thing he knew, the car came to a halt, and out of nowhere, he felt an intense sensation that someone was watching him from behind. He looked in the mirror, but there was no reflection. The car stopped, and Steven was asking himself why he had even pulled over in the first place. The situation, which he found beyond confusing, opened up before him.

As he started to scan the area, his eyes landed on a big tree and a fence not too far away. He was “out of the car” and staring at the fence.

Surprised, he wondered whether or not another vehicle was driving by on the road surrounding him. It was only then, when he looked down, that he noticed that though his car had pulled off the road, it still was on “something solid,” as if it was the future location of a new street.

He heard an alien noise by the fence or just something wind-borne. He sat in front of the car and looked into the fence. All at once, the feeling hit him that he was not supposed to look that way toward the fence. Only then did his memory of what had brought him there come rushing back.

He said when he was going downhill, he saw “two lights in the sky” and leaned forward to get a better look at them. He first thought it could just be a reflection in the car window, so he turned on the light inside to check if they were gone — but they weren’t. He then deactivated the interior lights and still stared at the lights. He said, “Look at it go right there; it’s going way off to the right, up in the lights, over the highway and up with those trees.”

At this point, he was completely befuddled as to what the object could be, saying it looked like “two light beams, kind of worked diagonally,” one off to his right and another in the lower left. He said there were “lights and a shadow of something” behind the lights, indicating they may have been some sort of opaque object.

The lights kept moving and flew toward the vegetation on his right. He went back the way he came down the road, and as soon as he got to where it looked like the object had landed, his car started turning right. We can suspect that something else was pulling him. He said, “I wasn’t really that interested in going over there,” but the car made a right turn as if it had been yanked by some malevolent force.

He remembered looking at the fence from outside of the car. He watched the fence a few more seconds and then just found himself back in his car, driving home. He said that when he thought of this, “…I just don’t want to remember. I shouldn’t remember!”

Dr. Clamar asked him what he meant by this. His reply: “I know I’m not! It’s really serious! I might die. I mean, I know I won’t, if I remember, but I feel really, really afraid to see…”

Finally, Dr. Clamar brought him back to the point where he was outside his car staring at the chain-link fence and feeling nauseous all over again. He said he felt the “sense of things standing around him” and that something was going on near the fence. He remembered seeing a light on the regular that lit up his surroundings.

Then suddenly, he was faced with three grotesque figures before him. He could not say what made him so sure of it, but he knew one among them was overseeing the others. He said one of them was doing something behind him, and he believed they were “suspicious” about him. At that moment, he remembered the sight and sound of leather. Now, he could see that beyond their clothing—or whatever they were wearing—had a texture reminiscent of leather. And the material covered their arms and hands.

Looking back toward the figures, he continued. He said: “…I can see the faces, and they are white… chalky … like they are made out of rubber, or,… not rubber…. something…. only really a dull finish…”

One of them reached out and touched him. What struck him was that the moment one of those figures touched him, he felt pain. In addition to the hurt, he felt a sense of puzzlement from them. He said the figure in front of him was “motioning to the others” with his arm. He believed it had some sort of suit. Is it part of him or is it a suit? It does not appear to be skin.

He also described the figure’s rubbery fingers as “white plastic tubes” which seemed shiny.

He added that one of the figures appeared to be digging behind him while the one in front (the leader) was encouraging it to speed up. Although he couldn’t make out the figure behind him very well, it appeared more like it was poking around in the dirt than actually digging. He felt that this figure was not particularly strong.

Steven realized there were a few other figures he had not seen previously, digging near the first one. They were identical to the others and also watched as the figure behind Steven continued to fill in the “grayish” soil.

As Steven recounted the events, he seemed to lose any sense of fear: at one point, “the troubled tone [vanished] entirely,” and his speech was even “punctuated by small, ironic chuckles.” Hopkins realized he was “in some manner artificially calmed,” apparently by the figure on his left. We remember that Steven felt a bump in his hand as soon as he noticed it. What kind of narcotic was the figure injecting into him—one to turn the hysterical Steven calm, even serene?

Due to this newfound calmness, Steven let more information about his surreal environment emerge. He remembered, for instance, when his fear of the fast-moving vehicle just stopped, and he looked around to see if any more cars were coming from a distance (none).

He then turned his gaze towards the figures in front of him—a figure he called “the boss”—and, more specifically, at the eyes. They were “really shiny,” he remembered, quite large and devoid of pupils. He said the figure’s head was not roundish but more like “an upside-down teardrop” and had what looked like a “big, huge rounded bar across it.”

He followed this up by stating, “He looked like he wasn’t alive,” and that “he was very wooden and awkward to be there.” Steven said that while no communication from the figure had been made, it was “clear” to him that it hoped simply to leave. Steven remembered getting the sense the figure “wants me to say something or help him out or whatever”—but he did not understand what.

He later said he felt compelled by the figures, that they “could make me do whatever” they wanted to control him. He explained that he saw them kind of “communicate with each other, but they are not talking,” or at least nothing audible. Dr. Clamar replied, “Do you think they were speaking in their minds?” to which Steven responded that it appeared so because there was no doubt about what they were talking about.

He further said that there was a common thread among them as they engaged in some kind of argument or dispute, saying the leader wanted something while another didn’t. Steven got the impression they were arguing over where to dig, but he wasn’t sure.

• https://youtu.be/mJyPWX0En0o

Steven refocused his view toward the light penetrating the walls from behind, revealing silhouettes with a strong tang of musty, fiery old smell, finally putting a face to everything he saw. He looked back down at the eyes and said they were ‘so black’ and bottomless, like a liquid but fitting perfectly.

Not content with being perceived as uncomfortable, the figure shifted slightly, allowing Steven to realize it moved like “my knees hurt really bad,” hobbling clearly in discomfort. The figure dragged its feet a little. Steven described the boots, but there was no mention of feet.

He further detailed that the feet were shaped like cat’s eyes—had no toes, and pointed frontwards or backwards. He observed that the figure’s ankles, legs, and arms were very long and slender. He stared into the mouthless face and realized for the first time there were no ears, only a slit where a mouth would be. He pointed out that the figure never expressed any emotion.

The figure’s eyes trailed behind Steven, where the blinding light originated. Steven heard what sounded like something coming down, causing shadows to shift.

At this time, unable to guide his attention away from the falling object, Steven again saw what had seemed like “digging” behind, experiencing something like two forms of attack: one in front and another from behind. Hopkins described it as “so obvious that Steven was holding back from getting further into his story,” the kind of reflex we all possess. This might suggest something had been implanted in his mind to keep him from continuing even under hypnosis.

It would take almost two years before Steven agreed to be hypnotized once more. By then, he remembered that some physical examination had been made after an object came out of the sky. Due to the nature of what this involved, he resisted more regression sessions. Nonetheless, when the session resumed in February 1979 and drew a blank, another session two years later, presided over by Dr. Clamar, would reveal much more about this bizarre encounter with apparent alien entities.

Steven was directed in the sessions by Dr. Clamar to walk back to his BMW, where the figure (the leader) was waiting outside. He remembered what happened after the object fell from above behind him. He said, “This long clamp kind of thing,” seemingly from nowhere, grabbed him around the shoulder.” He described: “…it has a joint in the center like an elbow, one almost shaped like part of an arm around my shoulder. And I catch it standing behind me, to my right side. It is related to it…I have no clue what this can be…it seems like a frisbee!”

He went on to say that this particular saucer was “whitish” and looked like it was standing upright from some sort of platform. He felt the vice around his lower back. The figure then started waving its arms, and the clamp moved him in a direction that turned his back to them. He wasn’t quite sure what he saw, but it was completely dark.

Next, he saw a ramp, and it was clear the figure was trying to lure him inside.

He then said he could hear a weird noise that sounded like it was coming from the object, “it sounds like vibrating,” but stationary in one place. It then clamped down on his shoulder and shoved him toward the object.

The next thing he knew, he was moving along a tunnel-like walkway and realized he was actually walking. The clamp had vanished, and the figure was walking next to him. Moving into the familiar ‘Mass Abduction’ sequence, he found himself being guided through a door into another white room, well illuminated with the same almost “all-white” light. Despite the light, it didn’t seem to come from any real source of illumination—it was as if the very walls were themselves luminescent.

He remembered something going into his back and then suddenly being on the table in the middle of the room. At this moment, he saw that the walls were curved with no straight lines. He could make out more of the peculiar figures in the room; two were near him, and several others were against one wall.

While looking around and wondering how everything “had this metallic glow to it,” including himself, he noticed he was no longer wearing his clothes but some sort of crisscross type adult diaper. A gadget he described as “like a fancy ray gun,” with a needle attachment, descended from overhead. It started to spin on its own—it appeared that no one was controlling it. It stopped when its needle was right on top of him. He could not see it any longer, but he immediately felt something touch his back and imagined the needle had stuck him.

At the same time, Steven noticed that the person who showed him in was standing in a corner of the room, watching everything unfold.

During the exam, he was instructed to lay on his back, each side, and then his front. By the time he had done so, they had likely run a “full body sweep” with various devices placed on or around him. Despite the surreal circumstances, he managed to stay calm, almost as if a sedative was already in his bloodstream. There was something about the feeling of being unable to move yet at peace that made him fall asleep.

At this juncture, the regression session ended, and Steven emerged from hypnosis.

In the days that followed, Steven remembered additional minor details that were common in other alleged alien abduction scenarios. He recalled how the table didn’t just sit in the middle of the room but seemed to “grow” out of the floor with no seams or bolts visible, as if carved from the same material.

Many of the other devices used during these procedures were no different—they either emerged from the floor or hung down from the ceiling and even sidewalls as integral parts rather than separate apparatus.

There were probably more memories still buried deep in Steven’s unconscious, but he had found the key to the mystery that had cornered him for so long. Something very strange and unusual had happened.

According to Hopkins, certain elements of Steven’s story could only be validated by other documented cases of alien abduction. Such specifics as the texture of their skin (weird, like warm putty) and the description from Travis Walton of his purported captors, which took place a little over two years after Steven’s experience.

Walton not only said the creatures were about Steven’s size (5′ tall), but also described their “marshmallow-white flesh” with no fingernails on their fingers and “spotless” hands with “bare, smooth” non-wrinkled fingers. Steven described the hands similarly, saying, “And all those fingers were full-on beautiful.”

Among other incidents, Hopkins mentioned several others dating back to 1957 where marshmallow-like skin (or color and consistency) was noted, and strange hands were described.

The detail about substances apparently administered to pacify Steven also recurs in many alien abduction encounters, as does Steven’s strong feeling that he shouldn’t remember and that his memory was deliberately abolished. The abductors in numerous other alien abduction cases seem to have made a point of mental programming to ensure the victims forget the incident and resist any attempts, like hypnotic regression, to recall it.

Hopkins added that under hypnotic regression, Steven had no memory of his original sighting until the UFO re-contact session. Counterintuitive as it may seem, this is true in many other instances—an indication of intentional efforts to ensure witnesses remember nothing about their experiences.

The Steven Kilburn abduction seems to have been one of the most complicated cases (in terms of time spent pulling it out) and also one that appeared realistic. After the third and final hypnotic session with Steven, Hopkins called neurosurgeon Dr. Paul Cooper. Steven had detailed an elaborate neurological examination administered by his alien abductors, so he asked Dr. Cooper to evaluate whether the responses mimicked what would be expected during a real exam. The findings were interesting.

Ten days after Dr. Cooper met with Steven for the final time, he spent an afternoon with him and then called Hopkins, describing it as the “spookiest two-and-a-half hours” of his life. He stated that no matter which process Steven described, his answers about what would happen to his body and where exactly it would be felt were accurate. To sum it up: short of having advanced medical knowledge, Steven described a verifiable event.

In his medical opinion, Cooper concluded that they only wanted to examine Steven: “They just wanted to see how he works.” This conclusion is one that many alien abduction researchers and investigators have reached.

• (Source: Marcus Lowth, UFOInsight.com)

The short video below looks at some of the most intriguing alien abduction cases on record.

{ https://weirddarkness.com/ }

FOIA Documents Reveal AARO’s Authorized and Repeated Attempts to Engage with David Grusch

By John Greenewald

The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), tasked to investigate Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), made numerous attempts to interview UFO whistleblower David Grusch regarding his claims of U.S. Government engagement with extraterrestrial materials and technologies. These new documents were just released to The Black Vault in FOIA case 24-F-0266, which was filed on November 2, 2023, and they outline not only the timeline of events to contact Grusch, but numerous text messages and emails.

The following is an overview and brief timeline, as explained in a January 8, 2024, Memorandum for Record, which was one of the documents released in the case.

Timeline of AARO’s Attempts to Engage David Grusch:

• June 8-13, 2023: Initial contact was made with known associates of Grusch, urging them to have him speak with AARO. These efforts were clarified during dialogues between AARO’s Director and individuals close to Grusch.
• June 26, 2023: AARO staff reached out directly for Grusch’s contact details and extended an interview invitation, which Grusch declined.
• June 28, 2023: After Grusch’s congressional testimony, AARO sought any verifiable information he might have shared with Congress.
• July 27, 2023: Further attempts to arrange an interview through another associate of Grusch, who was meeting him the following day.
• October 6, 2023: A secure call was made to encourage Grusch to participate in a formal interview.
• November 10, 2023: Grusch agreed to be interviewed on November 14, after Congressional staff urged his cooperation.
• November 14, 2023: Grusch failed to appear at the scheduled interview, expressing doubts about AARO’s authorization to handle classified information.
• November 19, 2023: AARO contacted Grusch again, reiterating their authorization and inviting him to discuss his claims, which he declined.
• January 8, 2024: AARO provided additional documentation to address Grusch’s concerns about confidentiality and classification handling, maintaining a standing invitation for an interview.

As noted in the above email also released in the records, there was a scheduled meeting with Grusch after he finally agreed to meet. However, he never showed, and seemingly even left them waiting in the lobby at the agreed meeting time and location.

Grusch later apologized in an email, but alluded to his no-show being tied to what he felt were unanswered questions that he wanted addressed prior to the meeting.

After the timeline was outlined, the memorandum ended with, “During interactions between AARO and Mr. Grusch from November 2023 to January 2024, it became evident that Mr. Grusch had no intention of providing AARO with information regarding his claims.”

But the memorandum outlining the timeline of contact attempts was not the full extent of the release. Numerous emails and text message exchanges were provided to support the above timeline.

One example of the latter were text message exchanges between Christopher Mellon, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, and Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the Director of AARO at the time they were written, on the encrypted text messaging system known as Signal.  These messages reveal Mellon attempting to mediate between Grusch and AARO to clarify misunderstandings about AARO’s legal capacities.

Note: Mellon’s texts are in the grey/white and Kirkpatrick is in blue/white.

Through Mellon, Grusch was asking why AARO just did not get their information from the Inspector General’s office, as Kirkpatrick then explained due to the “criminal investigation” aspect of the material, they would not have access to it until the IG decided to release it. However, Kirkpatrick explained that Grusch still was able to give his testimony and evidence to AARO directly, outside of the criminal investigation.

Kirkpatrick labels Grusch’s assertions and Mellon’s response to him as “absurd and false” during the exchange.

Another exchange showed how Kirkpatrick told Mellon he was “… defending and adjudicating, and [Mellon was] undermining the very organization [he]purported to help establish for this purpose.” Mellon’s response was that he never claimed Grusch’s claims were “accurate” but he felt Grusch was “sincere and credible.” His full response is above. (Note: The message appears to have been cut off. An appeal has been filed for the rest of it under the “Read More” link, as shown in the screen shot).

The exchanges released began on June 11, 2023, and lasted until June 13, 2023. Another exchange was at an unknown date relaying AARO’s position that, “By law, AARO may receive all UAP-related information, including any classified national security information involving military, intelligence, and intelligence-related activities, at all levels of classification regardless of any restrictive access controls, special access programs, or compartmented access programs.”

Mellon agreed to pass that on to Grusch’s attorney, then he stated he would, “… seek to avoid further communication unless it is something that seems extraordinary or if [likely Kirkpatrick]initiate.” No further communication between Mellon and Kirkpatrick was released.

Another document in the FOIA release is the memorandum confirming AARO’s authority to receive and handle all UAP-related information, regardless of its classification. This memorandum, signed by Major General David Abba, Director, DoD Special Access Program Central Office (DoD SAPCO), explicitly states that AARO representatives are authorized to engage with individuals who possess sensitive U.S. Government information about UAPs, even if bound by nondisclosure agreements. This document is crucial because it directly counters Grusch’s claims of legal and security risks in cooperating with AARO, providing a clear legal basis for AARO’s ability to hear details about his story.

It should also be noted, that on April 17, 2024, Abba took part with the now acting Director of AARO Tim Phillips, in a classified briefing for some members of Congress. Details of that briefing, as of the writing of this article, are scant.

The detailed FOIA documents, including the timeline of engagements and the text messages with Christopher Mellon, demonstrate AARO’s persistent and legally supported efforts to involve David Grusch in their investigation. Despite these efforts, Grusch’s refusal to cooperate, based on disputed claims about AARO’s authority, raises more questions about the discrepancies between his public statements and his actions. The memorandum affirming AARO’s authorization to receive classified information is a critical piece of evidence supporting the office’s capacity to conduct its mandated tasks, reinforcing AARO’s role in the ongoing UAP investigations.

Numerous attempts by The Black Vault in the past to contact David Grusch about his claims have never been returned. No attempt was made to contact him for this specific article as all methods to contact him have been exhausted. The results of the appeal on the above case will be posted, when available.

Document Archive

• Release Package for FOIA Case 24-F-0266 [28 Pages, 4MB]

{ https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/ }

{ https://unsolvedcanadianmysteries.ca/ }

David Michael Jacobs was an Associate Professor of History at Temple University for nearly four decades before his retirement a few years back. Tenured in 1981, he taught a variety of classes with a focus on 20th-Century American history, including one that's made him infamous: Unidentified Flying Objects in American Society. The three-credit course was perpetually popular. Students were invited to learn about "American society's reaction to the UFO phenomenon". Jacobs analyzed "UFOs and the controversy that has surrounded them by studying the attitudes of various groups toward the phenomenon". At the culmination of the course, Jacobs shared his own personal research, comprised of thousands of hypnosis-based interviews with 150 people who claimed to have been abducted by aliens. He also told students his personal beliefs: that aliens are here, they are abducting humans, and may be intent upon planetary domination.

A few more of his conclusions, not necessarily shared with students, but openly available on his personal website: Humans are being impregnated and forced to have hybrid babies. These hybrids are now walking amongst us. At least two percent of Americans have been abducted. Aliens use a "mindscan" procedure to effectively entrance humans.

If not for his ivory tower position, Jacobs could easily be dismissed as a crank. His genial, humble demeanor also cloaks his pseudoscientific stance.

"I have tried to be as objective and as 'agenda free' as possible," he says. "I have no New Age, spiritual, religious, transformational, or transcendent program to promote. I try to stay as close to the evidence as I can. However, there is no possibility that I have avoided error. The majority of evidence for the alien abduction phenomenon is from human memory derived from hypnosis administered by amateurs. It is difficult to imagine a weaker form of evidence. But it is evidence and we have a great deal of it. Still, readers must be skeptical of what I say and of what all others say in this tangled arena of alien abductions, hypnosis, popular culture, and memory."

Jacobs' self-deprecation doesn't shield him from being wrong, however. His evidence – interviews with alleged abductees using amateur hypnosis – is not really evidence at all. Rather than the stories being real, it's far more likely that Jacobs is accidentally prompting his subjects to unwittingly fabricate them. Alternatively, in subjects' relaxed state, they may just be regurgitating information that was widely available. Or they may be misinterpreting nightmares or sleep paralysis as alien visitation. Jacobs admits that alleged abductees have a key commonality: either their mother, father or both were abductees as well. This suggests a compromised mental state may factor in to their frightening tales.

Jacobs' claims also have no convincing physical evidence, which he persistently attempts to explain away.

If you argue that there's no actual evidence of abductions, no smartphone movies, for example, he says the aliens are invisible.

"They take people through walls, windows, and ceilings. During this part of the abduction scenario, the UFOs, the aliens, and the abductees have been rendered 'unseeable.' This is advanced technology at work."

If you contend that there's no way intelligent aliens could reach Earth due to the vastness of space and the inconceivability of traveling faster than light, he counters that aliens have technology that we can't fathom.

"At this point we cannot know the levels of science and technology that ultimately led to the development of a method of transportation to Earth that surmounted what we presently see as insuperable difficulties."

If you ask why scientists haven't noticed any human-alien hybrids by now, Jacobs simply says you can't tell them apart from real humans.

Ultimately, Jacobs' grandiose claim of widespread alien abductions echoes the case of Carl Sagan's invisible dragon, a skeptical thought experiment he shared in his essential book The Demon-Haunted World.

"A fire-breathing dragon lives in my garage," Sagan claims...

"Show me," you say. I lead you to my garage.

You look inside and see a ladder, empty paint cans, an old tricycle — but no dragon. "Where's the dragon?" you ask.

"Oh, she's right here," I reply, waving vaguely. "I neglected to mention that she's an invisible dragon." 

You propose spreading flour on the floor of the garage to capture the dragon's footprints.

"Good idea," I say, "but this dragon floats in the air."

Then you'll use an infrared sensor to detect the invisible fire.

"Good idea, but the invisible fire is also heatless." 

You'll spray-paint the dragon and make her visible.

"Good idea, but she's an incorporeal dragon and the paint won't stick." 

And so on. I counter every physical test you propose with a special explanation of why it won't work.

"Now, what's the difference between an invisible, incorporeal, floating dragon who spits heatless fire and no dragon at all?" Sagan asks, before explaining. "Claims that cannot be tested, assertions immune to disproof are veridically worthless, whatever value they may have in inspiring us or in exciting our sense of wonder."

Just like Jacobs' human-abducting, malevolent aliens...

{ https://www.realclearscience.com/ }

Fly Over The 'Grand Canyon' Of Mars In High-Resolution Orbiter Imagery

{ https://www.space.com/ }

Lily Nova, 29, took up astrophotography in 2020 to cure her lockdown boredom (

Image: Caters News Agency)

Lily Nova, 29, from St Louis, Missouri, US, says she had her first encounter with aliens in November 2020 after taking up astrophotography to cure her lockdown boredom

By Beth Kilgallon - Ryan Fahey /News Reporter

A woman who claims to have spotted a UFO during lockdown says she's been visited by aliens ever since.

Lily Nova, 29, from St Louis, Missouri, US, says she had her first encounter at the end of 2020 after taking up astrophotography to cure lockdown boredom.

But the encounters did not stop there, with Lily now claiming the extraterrestrial beings visit her on a daily basis.

They've approached her in all manner of spacecraft, including metallic ships, black triangles and orbs that move in an "unearthly" way, she claims.

She also says she knows what some of the beings look like.

She first started getting into astrophotography in the summer of 2020 during the lockdown which eventually led to her first encounter with aliens just a few months later, in November.

She said: "My first encounter with aliens and UFOs was very intense.

"I went outside for some fresh air one night and I immediately locked eyes with bright light hovering over the neighbourhood.

"I started investigating and realised it was a UFO. Seconds later I looked away briefly and when I looked back there was a second craft that was much closer.

"I could actually see the triangular shape of the craft.

"The UFOs did some impressive manoeuvres to show me that it wasn't a regular aircraft before they disappeared above me.

"It really spooked me because aliens and UFOs aren't something I have thought about much before. It was a total reality shifting experience.

"A couple of months later I had my second encounter. After that, it kept happening more frequently and now I am having experiences daily.

"During my encounters I have also been able to see what the beings look like.

"One of the first beings I saw was a girl with light blue skin. She had no hair, but she was very beautiful. She was wearing a skin tight grey suit and I saw her ship mates standing behind her in the same uniform.

"I have also seen another group of beings with light blonde hair, fair and glowing skin and bright blue eyes.

"I believe they send images of themselves to me through telepathy. I think they are easing me into an introduction as it would be such a shocking experience for any human to have an alien walk up to you."

Lily believes that the aliens were testing the waters with her after her first shocking encounter as she says they were motioning towards her and knew she was recording.

She thinks that they then gave her some space to process the experience before appearing to her again.

Lily added: "My encounters have been very close from the start. I could not believe what I was seeing, it was groundbreaking and it piqued my interest in astrophotography even more.

"I needed to find out as much as possible.

"I abandoned my career as a nutritionist because it was overtaken by my passion for finding out more about UFOs and aliens.

"It's not something I ever expected to happen.

"The shock of my encounters with the UFOs eventually turned to comfort as I had more and more experiences.
"It felt like I was developing a relationship with them.

"These experiences have changed everything for me. It has totally changed my view of the world and I have learnt so much about the cosmos and other beings.

"I have been focusing on spreading awareness of what I have found."

Lily now believes that she can invite these experiences with aliens and UFOs when is she is in a relaxed, open and blissful state of mind.

She says that she has even developed a sixth sense and intuitive gut feeling for when they are going to appear to her.

Lily added: "Whenever I am out doing my creative passion, astrophotography, this is when I believe I can make contact and invite these encounters.

"During my first initiated contact, where I have invited them instead of them just showing up, I even received a vision of being on the space ship and of the ships crew members.

"I have been out with a friend who is experienced in meditation, and we set our intention for them to appear to us, and within five minutes of getting out the car, a bright golden orb appears and was moving around to our questions

{ https://www.mirror.co.uk/ }

Woman Claims She Has Daily Encounters With UFOs And Aliens Who Use Telepathy

A woman from St. Louis, Missouri named Lily Nova claims to have daily encounters with aliens and even gave up her career to pursue more knowledge about them.

Nova claims that her first alien encounter occurred during the pandemic after she took up astrophotography to combat her boredom.

“My first encounter with aliens and UFOs was very intense,” the Mirror reports she claimed. “I went outside for some fresh air one night and I immediately locked eyes with bright light hovering over the neighborhood. I started investigating and realized it was a UFO.

“Seconds later I looked away briefly and when I looked back there was a second craft that was much closer. I could actually see the triangular shape of the craft. The UFOs did some impressive maneuvers to show me that it wasn’t a regular aircraft before they disappeared above me.”

Lily Nova claims that she has seen numerous aliens over the span of her many encounters with UFOs.

She says she once saw an alien girl with light blue skin with no hair who “was very beautiful” and “wearing a skin-tight grey suit.”

“I have also seen another group of beings with light blonde hair, fair and glowing skin and bright blue eyes,” Nova added. “I believe they send images of themselves to me through telepathy. I think they are easing me into an introduction as it would be such a shocking experience for any human to have an alien walk up to you.”

Nova says that after her alien encounters she gave up her career as a nutritionist “because it was overtaken by my passion for finding out more about UFOs and aliens.”

She also claims that she has developed a sort of sixth sense when it comes to knowing when the encounters will occur.

“Whenever I am out doing my creative passion, astrophotography, this is when I believe I can make contact and invite these encounters,” she said. “I have been out with a friend who is experienced in meditation, and we set our intention for them to appear to us, and within five minutes of getting out the car, a bright golden orb appears and was moving around to our questions.”

Lily Nova and Demi Lovato should get together sometime and exchange notes.

{ https://brobible.com/ }

Waarnemingen van gigantische hagedissen in Florida komen steeds vaker voor: wat zijn het en waarom zijn ze daar?

door Janine

Antony Stanley/Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 2.0

Als we het hebben over invasieve uitheemse soorten, bedoelen we dieren die zijn geïntroduceerd in een ecosysteem waar ze geen deel van uitmaken, maar die daardoor een bedreiging vormen voor de lokale biodiversiteit. Er zijn veel voorbeelden, zoals de blauwe krab en de Louisiana rivierkreeft, of zoogdieren die door kolonisten naar verschillende delen van de wereld zijn gebracht. Heel anders is het geval van de gigantische hagedissen die onlangs in Florida zijn gespot, reptielen die vreemd zijn aan het lokale ecosysteem maar een potentieel gevaar vormen voor dieren en mensen. Laten we eens kijken wat het zijn en waarom ze in Florida voorkomen.

Gigantische hagedissen in Florida: een steeds vaker voorkomende waarneming

Over waarnemingen van reuzenhagedissen in Florida wordt met min of meer regelmatige tussenpozen gesproken, maar de laatste jaren steeds vaker. Een van de meest recente incidenten werd gedocumenteerd door een vrouw genaamd Renee Aland, die video's en foto's deelde van een waarneming op een paar meter afstand.

Op de beelden is een groot reptiel van bijna twee meter lang te zien dat bekend lijkt te zijn met de verharde wegen van Florida. Renee vertelt hoe het in een kanaal dook en kort daarna weer boven water kwam, zonder acht te slaan op de vrouw die filmde met haar mobiele telefoon en ondertussen haar dochter aanspoorde om niet uit de auto te stappen. Nadat ze de video en de beelden had gedeeld op sociale media, stuurde de vrouw de documentatie ook naar de Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, die de waarneming zal afhandelen en het dier mogelijk zal vangen. Maar wat was het precies?

Wat zijn de gigantische hagedissen die in Florida werden gespot?

Volgens functionarissen van het FFWCC, en afgaande op Renee's beelden, zijn de reuzenhagedissen die in Florida zijn gezien Aziatische watervaranen, wetenschappelijke naam Varanus salvator. Het gaat om een reuzenhagedis die zelfs langer kan worden dan twee meter en iets kleiner is dan de Komodovaraan, een van zijn naaste verwanten. Aziatische watervaranen worden dan ook vaak verward met Komodovaranen, waar ze fysiek op lijken.

Net als Komodovaranen kunnen watervaranen zich voeden met grotere prooien en bezitten ze gifklieren in hun onderkaak. In de praktijk bijten ze hun prooi en kunnen hem dan zelfs uren of dagen volgen, wachtend tot het gif effect heeft. Deze reuzenhagedissen komen oorspronkelijk uit Zuidoost-Azië, maar waarom bevinden ze zich dan in Florida?

Waarom zijn er varanen in Florida?

Dat er Komodovaranen of watervaranen in Florida zijn is niet verrassend, omdat ze misschien te gast zijn in een dierentuin en dus geen invasieve uitheemse soorten zijn. Het probleem is een ander: watervaranen worden vaak geïntroduceerd als exotische huisdieren, en slagen er misschien in om uit gevangenschap te ontsnappen of worden vrijgelaten door hun eigenaars. Daardoor worden het uitheemse en invasieve dieren die de biodiversiteit van het gebied in gevaar kunnen brengen.

Dit is een wijdverspreid maar weinig besproken probleem, dat mogelijk een probleem vormt voor inheemse soorten en hun evenwicht. Aan de andere kant zijn Aziatische watervaranen echte reuzenhagedissen: ze vormen misschien geen echt gevaar, maar ze moeten zeker niet onderschat worden.

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl/ }

About 66 million years ago, a cataclysmic event marked the end of the dinosaur era. This episode is linked to the impact of a giant asteroid in the Chicxulub region of Mexico. Until now, the exact nature and origin of this celestial body remained subject to debate.

A new study published in Science sheds light on these mysteries by revealing that this asteroid originated from the outer Solar System, beyond Jupiter, and not from a comet as some had supposed.

Illustration image Pixabay

Researchers employed an innovative method to analyze samples of ancient sediments. These contain ruthenium, a chemical element absent from terrestrial rocks. By comparing the isotopes of ruthenium in the samples with those from different classes of meteorites, they determined that the asteroid that struck Earth was a carbonaceous type (type C). This indicates it formed beyond Jupiter's orbit, in a region where asteroids contain more carbon and volatile elements.

This discovery challenges the hypothesis put forward in 2021 by two Harvard researchers, who proposed that the Chicxulub impactor was a long-period comet. According to their theory, the comet was fragmented by the Sun's gravitational influence before a fragment collided with Earth. However, the new data confirm that the celestial object was indeed a carbonaceous asteroid, thus refuting the comet idea.

Ruthenium played a key role in this identification. In fact, the isotopes of this element allow for distinguishing type C asteroids, formed in the outer Solar System, from type S asteroids, which are more common and originate from the inner Solar System. The fact that the Chicxulub asteroid is type C is particularly significant, as most meteorites found on Earth are type S, formed in regions closer to the Sun.

The implications of this discovery extend beyond dinosaur history. According to Mario Fischer-Gödde, a geochemist at the University of Cologne and lead author of the study, better understanding the nature of asteroids that have impacted Earth over time could provide clues about the origin of water on our planet. He also suggests that if other mass extinctions were caused by type C asteroids, it would be essential to closely monitor this type of celestial object in the future, as they could pose a significant threat to life on Earth.

Ismar de Souza Carvalho / Southern Methodist UniversityL.(L)

A footprint left by a Theropod dinosaur discovered in the Borborema region in northeastern Brazil in South America. (R) Theropod tracks located in the Cameroon's Koum Basin from when South America and Africa were connected under the super continent of Gondwana. Brazil's and Cameroon's Koum Basin 

{ https://www.techno-science.net/en/ }

© The Island – Sri Lanka/Facebook

For decades, a massive anomaly sprawling across 1.2 million square miles on the Indian Ocean floor has baffled scientists. This phenomenon, known as the “gravity hole,” has sparked endless debate and curiosity. Read on as we uncover this mystery, officially named the Indian Ocean Geoid Low.

© Shiv Kar/Facebook

The Indian Ocean’s Gravity Anomaly
So, what’s the deal with this vast region of the Indian Ocean that sits up to 106 meters below the global average sea level? It turns out there’s a significant dip in Earth’s gravity here. This gravitational anomaly has puzzled scientists for years, but recent studies are shedding light on its origins and linking it to deep geological processes.

© Paul Wilson Images/Facebook

Understanding the Geoid Low
Geologists have a term for this “hole”—a geoid low, where Earth’s gravity is weaker than average. It might sound alarming, but it’s just a natural part of our planet’s gravitational landscape. Recent research suggests that molten rock plumes rising from deep beneath Africa are responsible for this phenomenon; these plumes are at the edge of an ancient sea bed.

© International Centre for Global Earth Models (ICGEM)/Facebook

Earth’s Shape and Gravitational Variation
Ideally, Earth would have uniform gravity, but it’s not a perfect sphere. It’s flatter at the poles and bulges at the equator, causing variations in gravity. Different regions exert varying gravitational pulls based on the crust, mantle, and core mass distribution. Such complexity contributes to gravitational anomalies like the low geoid of the Indian Ocean.

© Space Live/Facebook

The Potsdam Gravity Potato
To visualize these gravitational tugs, scientists use gravity measurements from sensors and satellites to create models like the “Potsdam gravity potato.” The model highlights Earth’s gravitational highs and lows, helping scientists understand the mass distribution beneath the surface. It’s like taking off each layer of an onion, discovering more with every peel.

© Woodwalker/Wikipedia

Discovery and Confirmation of the IOGL
The Indian Ocean Geoid Low (IOGL) was discovered by Dutch geophysicist Felix Andries Vening Meinesz in 1948 during a ship-based gravity survey. Since then, subsequent shipboard expeditions and satellite measurements have confirmed its presence. This IOGL is the planet’s most prominent gravitational anomaly, covering over three million square kilometers.

© Will Walker/Facebook

Investigating the Origins
Researchers Attreyee Ghosh and Debanjan Pal compared various computer models of the region’s formation over the past 140 million years. Each model used different variables for the convection of molten material within the mantle. Their goal? To pinpoint the cause of the IOGL. Their findings point to a distinctive mantle structure influenced by ancient geological events.

© The Role of the Mantle and the African Blob

The Role of the Mantle and the African Blob
The study suggests that the IOGL is due to a unique mantle structure combined with an adjacent disturbance under Africa known as the “African blob.” This large low-shear velocity province (LLSVP) consists of hot, low-density material, thought to be remnants from ancient seafloor slabs, which influence the region’s gravitational characteristics.

© Encyclopedia of Science/Wikipedia

Connection to the Tethys Ocean
Geologists believe Tethyan slabs, remnants of an ancient seafloor from the Tethys Ocean, form the African blob. Over 200 million years ago, the Tethys Ocean existed between the supercontinents Laurasia and Gondwana. As India moved northward, it created the Indian Ocean and left behind these geological traces.

© NASA Earth/Facebook

Evolution and Persistence of the IOGL
Around 20 million years ago, the geoid low probably formed its current shape as plumes began spreading through the upper mantle. The mantle material flow from the African blob sustains this anomaly. As long as these flows continue, the geoid low will persist.

© Paddy Dolan/Facebook

Future Implications
The IOGL will eventually dissipate when temperature anomalies cause it to move, which could take many millions of years. Studying this geoid low provides valuable insights into Earth’s internal processes and the dynamic nature of its mantle.

• The post Unraveling the Indian Ocean’s Mysterious Gravity Hole appeared first on Housely.

 { https://www.msn.com/en-us/channel/topic/Science/tp-Y_ }

5.5 million years ago the Mediterranean dried out, with sobering lessons for humanity today – new research

What would happen if humans dried out the Mediterranean sea, turning it into a giant salt lake? Would its wildlife survive, and if so, how long would it take to recover?

Map of Herman Sörgel’s Atlantropa project, which aimed to partially empty the Mediterranean in order to gain more land in Europe, an extension of Nazi Germany’s idea of Lebensraum.  Wikimedia Commons, Devilm25 (map), VulcanTrekkie45 (translation), CC BY

These may seem like wildly theoretical questions, but not for Herman Sörgel, a Bavarian architect who dedicated much of his life to this exact project: building a giant dam across the Strait of Gibraltar, letting the Mediterranean dry up, and colonising the land reclaimed from the sea.

Sörgel organised lectures and documentaries and raised funds until the 1950s for a project which, he believed, would promote cooperation between Africa and Europe, and power both continents through gigantic hydroelectric megaprojects.

What he did not know was that his dream had already come true at the end of the Miocene era, 5.5 million years ago, as a simple result of natural forces.

When the Mediterranean disappeared

Since the 1970s, several generations of marine geologists and geophysicists have confirmed the existence of a one to three kilometre thick layer of salt buried throughout most of the deeper parts of the Mediterranean Sea.

This is almost a million cubic kilometres of salt that testify to a brief period when the Mediterranean was isolated from the rest of the world’s oceans – brief in the geological sense, as the episode lasted about 190,000 years

https://youtu.be/y6GV_tnFta0

Visualisation of the Messinian Salinity Crisis.

The culprit was not, of course, an eccentric German architect, but plate tectonics. The Mediterranean basin, trapped between two continents that today continue to move closer by up to two centimetres every year, was cut off from the Atlantic. Its waters quickly evaporated due to the region’s arid climate, leaving behind vast amounts of salt.

This episode, known as the Messinian salinity crisis (the Messinian being the last period of the Miocene), is the biggest extinction event suffered by the Earth since the meteorite that wiped out the flightless dinosaurs and ended the Mesozoic era 65 million years ago.

Closure of the last connecting channel between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, leading to the Messinian salinity crisis 5.96 million years ago. (B) and (C): the rivers that formerly drained into the Mediterranean carved deep gorges into the continent’s edges; (D) evaporation caused salt saturation in the waters and the precipitation of salt layers more than a kilometre thick; (E) lakes remained in the deepest parts of the sea. This illustration show how mammals, such as camelids and gerbils, were able to move across the Strait of Gibraltar.  Pau Bahí y Daniel García Castellanos/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

As a result, no geoengineering experiments are needed to answer our initial question: how resilient is marine life in the face of an environmental crisis of this magnitude?

The answer has just been published in the journal Science, in a study led by Konstantina Agiadi of the University of Vienna in collaboration with the Spanish National Research Council and 28 other scientists from 25 European institutes.

After gathering all Mediterranean fossil data from between 12 and 3.6 million years ago, the results suggest that native marine life was virtually extinct when the Mediterranean was cut off, and that subsequent recolonisation by Atlantic species gave rise to a Mediterranean fauna more similar to the one we find there today.

Native, extinct and migrant species

By statistically analysing information from more than 750 scientific papers, we were able to document 22,932 presences of a total of 4,897 marine species living in the Mediterranean. Before the crisis, 779 species could be considered endemic species (i.e. documented only in the Mediterranean). Of those, only 86 were still present after the salinity crisis. All the tropical corals that were abundant in the Mediterranean before this cataclysmic environmental change disappeared.

A dugong feeding on the sea floor near Marsa Alam, Egypt. Metxitherium serresii, a closely related sirenians, is the only local Mediterranean mammal older than the salinity crisis that remained present after the event. Due to the limited paleontological record, however, it cannot be excluded that their survival took place out of this sea.  Julien Willem, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

However, some apparently endemic sardine species managed to survive. The sirenian, a sea mammal related to today’s manatees and dugongs (also known as sea cows) also survived.

Because fossil records are limited and fragmented we cannot be certain that these species were all endemic, or that they would not have survived outside the Mediterranean, hence the value of basing our study on statistics from a large number of species. But for those that were endemic, where did they manage to survive, and what refuges did they find to avoid the radical increase in salt levels and temperature?

These questions remain unanswered, but we have been able to establish that changes in populations are the result of replacement by Atlantic species after the Mediterranean’s re-flooding, rather than rapid adaptation to the new hypersaline environment. In other words, life did not have enough time to adapt, and the extinct species were replaced by Atlantic species that migrated into the Mediterranean.

Several iconic species, such as the great white shark and the dolphin, only appeared in the Mediterranean after the crisis. Even more interestingly, the current richness of fauna in the western Mediterranean only came after the re-flooding – previously, the eastern Mediterranean (Ionian and Levantine Seas) had possessed a higher number of different species.

The striped dolhin (Stenella coeruleoalba) is one of the most common dophin species in the Mediterranean.  Francesca Grossi/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

Lessons on mass extinction

The impact of the Mediterranean’s isolation on its fauna and flora was catastrophic, destroying most of its ecosystems. Another significant finding from our research is that it took more than 1.7 million years for species numbers to recover. This slow recovery of the richness of Mediterranean ecosystems provides the first detailed quantification of how wildlife responds to an extinction event of this magnitude.

The Mediterranean’s biodiversity today is very high thanks to the presence of numerous endemic species. Our results suggest that this was also the case six million years ago, but that the vast majority of these endemic species disappeared when it was cut off from the Atlantic.

Perhaps another lesson learned from this study is that, however tempting it may be to believe that geoengineering projects can allow us to maintain our current rate of emissions and ecosystem destruction, the Earth’s geological past will reveal more than any experiment.

When the Mediterranean was reconnected to the Atlantic, it was repopulated by the huge reserve of species in the world’s oceans, yet it still took millions of years for the Mediterranean’s ecosystems to recover in terms of richness. No one knows yet how long it will take for marine life to recover from the kind of global-scale change that is currently underway.

{ https://theconversation.com/europe }

Being Stranded In Space Could Upend Starliner Astronauts’ Perception of Time

Waiting slows our perception of time.

by Ruth Ogden, Daniel Eduardo Vigo and The Conversation

 

NASA

They arrived in the Boeing Starliner spacecraft — the first test of the spaceship with astronauts. Wilmore and Williams were supposed to stay on the ISS for around eight days and return on the same spacecraft. But there is now debate about the safety of Starliner after it experienced helium leaks and thruster problems on its way to the ISS.

In the coming days, NASA and Boeing may decide to clear Starliner to carry the astronauts back to Earth. This means their stay might not last too much longer. But if officials decide against Starliner, the astronauts face waiting an additional six months in orbit before returning. So how do astronauts cope with a potential six-month wait for a lift home?

Waiting for things is difficult at the best of times. Under normal circumstances, it is frustrating, stressful and anxiety-provoking. But in extreme situations, with high stakes, waiting can be purgatory.

Part of the reason that waiting is difficult is that it distorts our sense of time. Think of the last time you were waiting for a delayed train, test results or a text from a potential new partner. Did it fly by or drag? For most people, time spent waiting crawls at a glacial pace. As a result, delays and periods of anticipation often feel much longer than they actually are.

Waiting slows our perception of time because it changes the amount of time that we spend thinking about time. During normal daily life, we often ignore time, and our brains have a limited capacity. If time isn’t important, we simply don’t think about it, and this helps it to pass quickly.

When we are waiting, our desire to know when the wait is over increases how much we think about time. This “clock watching” can make the minutes and hours feel like they are passing at a snail’s pace. Stress, discomfort and pain exacerbate this effect, meaning that waiting in difficult situations can seem even longer.

Starliner in orbit.

NASA

Waiting also slows our perception of time because it is what we do and how we feel. Normal life is busy and full of ever-changing activities and interactions. The sudden need to wait halts the flow of life, often leaving us with nothing else to do, thus increasing levels of boredom and frustration.

In general, time filled with activity passes more quickly. We all got a taste of this during COVID lockdowns. When we were stuck inside, unable to see friends and engage in normal daily activities, the loss of routine and distractions caused time to drag for many.

For the astronauts stuck on the ISS, anxiety about when they will return, limited opportunities for activities and fewer opportunities to contact friends and families combine to make their wait to return home feel significantly longer than six months — if it should come to that.

However, as academics who research the effects of time on human psychology and biology, our ongoing work with crew members at research stations in Antarctica aims to shed light on whether waiting in extreme environments is different to waiting during normal daily life.

A year in Antarctica

While being stuck for six months on the ISS may sound like many people’s worst nightmare, it is not uncommon for scientists to spend long periods isolated and confined in extreme environments. Every year, organizations such as the Instituto Antártico Argentino (which uses the Belgrano II Antarctic station), the French Polar Institute and the Italian Antarctic Programme, in cooperation with the European Space Agency (which all use Antarctica’s Concordia station), send crews of people for up to 16 months to conduct research on the frozen continent.

During the March to October polar winter, teams spend six months in near darkness – and from May to August, in complete darkness – facing outside temperatures of up to -60C, wind speeds of 160 km/h (100 mph) and storms which prevent almost all outdoor activity. Limited internet coverage can also prevent constant communication with the outside world.

For the last year, we have researched how life in Antarctica influences people’s experience of time. Each month, we asked crew members how time felt like it was passing in comparison to before their mission. Trapped on base, with limited contact with the outside world, you might expect time to drag. However, our results suggest the opposite may be true.

Analysis of crew members’ experiences indicated that being constantly busy with complex tasks such as scientific research helped the time to pass swiftly, according to 80% of crew responses. Only 3% of responses indicated that time actually dragged, and these reports occurred when nights were long, and there was little to do.

These experiences may provide hope for those stuck on the ISS. Like life in an Antarctic station, these NASA astronauts have busy and mentally demanding lives. These factors may help time to pass quickly.

However, a key factor of their wait may be their ability to tolerate the uncertainty of when they will return. Wilmore and Williams will spend their time in a space equivalent to the inside of a Boeing 747 plane. However, better information about “when” things will happen and “why” delays are being incurred can help people tolerate waiting and reduce its impact on their wellbeing.

• This article was originally published on The Conversation by Ruth Ogden at the Liverpool John Moores University and Daniel Eduardo Vigo at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Argentina. Read the original article here.

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

The Webb Telescope Just Identified 6 Giant Gaseous Planets That Are More Massive Than Jupiter

And these strange worlds may be a lot more common than we thought.

by Kiona Smith

 

STSCI

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) peered into a nearby star cluster and found a handful of rogue gas giants — including one with its own disk of dust swirling around it. The results suggests that rogue planets may not only be worlds that got kicked out of their star systems, but worlds that coalesce out of clouds of interstellar gas in the same way stars do — just smaller.

Johns Hopkins University astrophysicist Adam Langeveld and his colleagues published their work in The Astronomical Journal.

This is JWST’s latest image of NGC 1333, a stellar cluster about 1,000 light years away, where new stars — and new rogue planets — are still being born.

STScI

Lonely Planets Club

Langeveld and his colleagues surveyed a cluster of stars called NGC 1333, which exists 1,000 light years away in the constellation Perseus, with JWST’s Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) instrument. They found six gas giants — each between five and 10 times more massive than Jupiter — drifting through space on their own, not orbiting a star. One of these lonely worlds even had a disk of dust orbiting it, as if in the process of forming its own little family of planets (or moons). And based on their observations, Langeveld and his colleagues say rogue planets, once thought to be rare flukes of nature, might make up about 10 percent of the objects in the cluster.

We know that stars form when dense clumps of gas and dust in clouds called nebulae collapse under their own gravity, creating enough heat and pressure at their centers to kickstart nuclear fusion. And we know that sometimes, a clump of material can form an object that’s just on the threshold of being able to start burning as a star, but doesn’t have quite enough mass to get there: a brown dwarf. But astronomers weren’t sure whether even smaller objects, like giant gas planets, could form the same way.

The team of astrophysicists used JWST “to search for the faintest members of a young star cluster, seeking to address a fundamental question in astronomy: how light an object can form like a star?” says Johns Hopkins University astrophysicist Ray Jayawardhana, the senior author of the recent paper, in a recent statement. “It turns out the smallest free-floating objects that form like stars overlap in mass with giant exoplanets circling nearby stars.”

The smallest rogue planet Langeveld and his colleagues spotted, a gas giant about 5 times the mass of Jupiter (or 1,600 times the mass of Earth, if you prefer), is an important clue. It sits at the heart of a swirling disk of gas and dust, which looks exactly like the disks that form around newborn stars, where material eventually coalesces into planets. That suggests that the planet probably formed like a star, just from a smaller cloud of gas and dust. And it may be forming its own miniature system, like Jupiter or Saturn with their swarms of moons.

In other words, rogue planets may not always be planets that formed in orbit around a star like our Sun, only to get kicked out of the star system by a close encounter with a sibling planet or a passing star (which may have happened at least once in our own Solar System’s history). Instead, they can apparently spawn all alone, from much smaller clouds of gas than the ones that form stars.

“This is important context for understanding both star and planet formation,” says Langeveld in a recent statement.

What’s Next?

Langeveld and his colleagues hope to learn more about these lonely planets’ atmospheres in their next round of observations with JWST. Once they have that information, they’ll compare the rogue gas giants’ atmospheres to brown dwarfs and to “normal” gas giants that orbit stars. That could offer clues about whether gas giants that coalesce alone in the middle of space contain a different mix of elements than those that form in the disks around newborn stars.

The astronomers also hope to find more objects like the small rogue planet with its own little protoplanetary disk. That could shed light on whether, or how, rogue planets might form their own systems of planets (or moons). Picture all the diverse worlds that orbit the gas giants in our Solar System — Jupiter’s icy moon Europa and volcanic hellworld Io, or Saturn’s Titan with its methane seas — orbiting a version of Jupiter all alone in deep space, unlit by any star, heated only by the tidal pull of their planet.

“The diversity of systems that nature has produced is remarkable and pushes us to refine our models of star and planet formation,” says Jayawardhana.

{https://www.inverse.com/ }

Microplastics Can Cross the Blood-Brain Barrier, A New Study Suggests — Here’s Why That Matters

Plastic levels in the brain were much higher than in organs surveyed.

by Elana Spivack

 

Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library/Getty Images

A preprint study — which is a scientific study that has not yet been reviewed by other scientists for publication in a journal — was posted online in May by the National Institutes of Health looking at the amount of microplastics in human brain samples from autopsies. The study found that brains had higher concentrations of microplastics than other organs, and that these autopsy samples also had higher concentrations of microplastics than autopsy samples from a 2016 study. Though this paper is still under review to ensure the methods and findings are trustworthy, the key results of the study exemplify yet another vital organ affected by microplastics.

For the study, the authors examined livers, kidneys, and brains from autopsied cadavers. They found that concentrations of microplastics in the brain samples they examined “ranged from 7 to 30 times the concentrations seen in livers or kidneys.” They also found that brain samples collected and analyzed in 2024 contained significantly higher concentrations of microplastic, with over 3,000 micrograms per gram of human tissue in 2016 and over 4,800 micrograms per gram in 2024. Some samples ranged as high as more than 8,800 micrograms of plastic per gram of brain tissue.

We don’t know yet what effects, if any, microplastics could have on the brain, but this study does confirm that these bits of plastic can cross the blood-brain barrier, which is the protective membrane that helps regulate what molecules enter the brain from circulating blood.

“Based on our observations, we think the brain is pulling in the very smallest nanostructures, like 100 to 200 nanometers in length, whereas some of the larger particles that are a micrometer to five micrometers go into the liver and kidneys,” lead author of the study Matthew Campen, a toxicologist and professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, told CNN.

While it seems like microplastics are omnipresent in today’s society, figuring out how to affect our health is key.

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

The Event Horizon Telescope Just Made A Major Breakthrough — Black Holes Can Now Be Seen in ‘Color Vision’

The team that delivered the first-ever image of a black hole is getting more ambitious.

by Doris Elín Urrutia

 

EHT, D. Pesce, A. Chael

“This new ‘color vision’ allows us to tease apart the effects of Einstein’s gravity from the hot gas and magnetic fields that feed the black holes and launch powerful jets that stream over galactic distances,” Sheperd “Shep” Doeleman, astrophysicist and Founding Director of the EHT, said in an announcement published Tuesday.

The supermassive black hole M87* seen two ways in two simulated images. The 345 GHz view is on the right, and represents the newest capability of the Event Horizon Telescope. 

EHT, D. Pesce, A. Chael

Two is better than one

Doeleman tells Inverse that supermassive black holes are busy places. Seeing two frequencies would reveal more of its organized chaos. The team has published simulation images to depict how the new frequency changes the view.

“When you have two separate frequencies, you’re able to tease apart different effects around the black hole,” Doeleman says.

Albert Einstein predicted that gravity bends all light, across all wavelengths, in the same way. Right around the black hole’s shadow, where gravity is so strong that not even light can reflect back out, data across both frequencies may look the same.

But farther away from the event horizon, other phenomena like the black hole’s jets of superheated plasma will look differently from one frequency to the next.

Seeing in color

Having two sets of information allows for color. The data from the telescopes is radio, a wavelength of light invisible to human eyes. The single color of existing EHT images are packed with information at 230 GHz. But now that EHT can take observations at 345 GHz, imagery specialists can add a new color to the golden ring. This will be exciting to view not only as a still image, but eventually, as a motion picture.

This composite simulated image from the Event Horizon Telescope shows how the supermassive black hole M87* might look at different radio frequencies of 86 GHz (red), 230 GHz (green), and 345 GHz (blue).

EHT, D. Pesce, A. Chael

Doeleman and other researchers hope the telescopes in the EHT network will be able to take not just two radio wavelengths at the same time, but eventually three.

“The EHT's successful observation at 345 GHz is a major scientific milestone,” Lisa Kewley, Director of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, said in the announcement. “By pushing the limits of resolution, we’re achieving the unprecedented clarity in the imaging of black holes we promised early on, and setting new and higher standards for the capability of ground-based astrophysical research.”

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }