December MUFON eNewsletter- with the MonthlyUFO  Sighting Statistics

COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD UNITED STATES 379 CANADA 26 UNITED KINGDOM 19 FRANCE 9 AUSTRALIA 8 BRAZIL 3 NEW ZEALAND 3 INDIA 3 MEXICO 2 SWITZERLAND 2 JAPAN 2 CZECH REPUBLIC 2 ITALY 2 GREECE 1 COLOMBIA 1 INDONESIA 1 FINLAND 1 SPAIN 1 HONDURAS 1 NEPAL 1 THAILAND 1 COSTA RICA 1 IRAQ 1 NICARAGUA 1 BELGIUM 1 KOREA, (South) 1 SWEDEN 1 CHILE 1 NETHERLANDS 1 TURKEY 1 ALBANIA 1 PORTUGAL 1 VIET NAM 1   TOTAL: 480 SHAPE Circle 65 Sphere 64 Unknown 43 Other 42 Triangle 37 Oval 29 Disc 25 Star-like 22 Square/Rectangular 19 Cigar 18 Cylinder 11 N/A 10 Tic Tac 9 Diamond 7 Fireball 7 Boomerang 6 Bullet/Missile 5 Flash 3 Blimp 3 Chevron 3 Teardrop 3 Cone 2 Saturn-like 1 STATES OF THE USA California 37 Florida 30 Texas 25 Arizona 21 New York 16 Ohio 16 Colorado 14 Virginia 13 Massachusetts 13 Missouri 12 Washington 10 Michigan 10 Minnesota 10 Oregon 9 Arkansas 9 Pennsylvania 9 Georgia 8 Indiana 8 Oklahoma 7 Illinois 7 Wisconsin 7 Connecticut 7 North Carolina 6 Alabama 6 Maryland 5 New Jersey 5 West Virginia 5 New Mexico 5 Tennessee 5 Utah 4 Nevada 4 Idaho 4 Kentucky 4 Louisiana 4 Montana 4 Alaska 3 Kansas 3 Mississippi 3 South Carolina 2 South Dakota 2 Maine 1 Nebraska 1 Hawaii 1 New Hampshire 1 Rhode Island 1 District of Columbia 1 Delaware 1 DISTANCE < 100 ft 68 101-500 ft 50 501 ft - 1 Mile 66 Over 1 Mile 92 Unknown 73 NO VALUE 26 ERT Most impressively there were 12 Landings, Hovering, or Takeoffs reported, and 31 Entities observed.

{ Mufon.com }

A team of Italian scientists took the world by storm last March when they announced the discovery of a colossal underground complex plunging nearly 3,500 feet beneath Egypt's Giza Plateau and linking chambers the size of city blocks.

Now Filippo Biondi, the radar engineer who developed the imaging method, has gone public with evidence that he said leaves little room for doubt.

In a new interview on Jesse Michels' American Alchemy podcast, Biondi revealed that four independent satellite operators, Umbra, Capella Space, ICEYE and Italy's Cosmo-SkyMed, all returned identical raw tomography data showing the same structures.

'All four satellites gave exactly the same results,' Biondi said. 'That is really amazing. We cannot announce anything without these basic scientific methods.'

Using a technique he pioneered called synthetic aperture radar Doppler tomography, Biondi's team measures microscopic vibrations on the Earth's surface. 

Those vibrations carry acoustic 'fingerprints' from objects thousands of feet underground, allowing the software to reconstruct 3D images even though the radar waves themselves never penetrate the soil.

The scans reveal eight massive hollow cylinders dropping straight down from the base of the Khafre pyramid, the middle of the three great pyramids. 

Each shaft has a central column wrapped in perfect helical coils and terminates more than 3,500 feet below the plateau in 260 × 260 × 260-foot cubic chambers, larger than most modern sports arenas.

The Italian scientists who claimed to have found hidden structures beneath Egypt's Giza pyramids said four independent satellite operators all returned identical raw tomography data showing the same structures

'The pyramids are the tip of the iceberg,' Biondi declared. 'It's just a hat to complete something that is located underneath. The substance is below.

'When asked if the spirals could be natural formations, he shot back: "100 percent. It's man-made. You do not find perfect coils like this in geology".'

However, many mainstream experts, including Egyptologist Dr Zahi Hawass, have dismissed the findings as 'fake news' since they were announced this spring. 

Hawass has pushed back on the claims, arguing that the radar technology cannot penetrate beneath the pyramid to the extent the Italian researchers suggest 

But the criticism has not stopped the Italian researchers, as they have found the same signature in smaller form under the third pyramid, Menkaure, and as a single giant shaft beneath the Sphinx. 

Identical spiral-shaft geometry was also detected 30 miles away at Hawara, the site ancient writers called the Labyrinth.

The Giza complex consists of three pyramids, Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, built 4,500 years ago on a rocky plateau on the west bank of the Nile River in northern Egypt. 

So far, the team has measured a depth of over 3,280 feet, more than half a mile down.

The structures appeared like tubes, a total of eight, descending from the base of the pyramid to what looked like huge chambers more than 260 feet wide and 260 feet high, sitting at the bottom.

Filippo Biondi (left) made the announcement while speaking with podcast host Jesse Michels

The team said the technology captured enormous chambers (pictured) at the bottom of the shafts

The scans also captured a spiral-like structure around each of the eight shafts.

Read More

• Scientists discover mysterious form of energy in Egypt's pyramids that should only exist in modern times 

Biondi admitted he and his team do not know the purpose of these structures, but theorized the spirals could be stairs or cables wrapped around each one. 

'I can say that this structure, the tubes extending beneath the pyramid, seems to be related to information,' he said.

'Generating energy is a kind of information. Information is everything.' 

To silence skeptics who claimed the images were AI hallucinations, Biondi pointed to blind tests, including his method perfectly imaged Italy's Gran Sasso underground physics laboratory,  buried inside a mountain 125 miles away, with 100 percent accuracy.

The team has already submitted a formal proposal to Egyptian authorities under the Khafre Research Project. 

The plan requires no drilling, as existing shafts between the Sphinx and Khafre pyramid, currently filled with centuries of debris, appear in the scans to be service entrances leading directly into the kilometer-deep complex.

The iconic pyramids of Giza are already one of the world's greatest enigmas. But in March, the mystery deepened when a team of Italian scientists said they found a vast city and network of tunnels stretching thousands of feet below the Egyptian structures

'We only need permission to clean them and descend,' Biondi said. 'If they approve before the end of this year, physical exploration could begin in 2026.'

Podcast host Jesse Michels, visibly stunned, closed the interview with: 'After this conversation, I'm convinced on a lot of it. 

'These kinds of discoveries are speeding up. Humanity feels ready.'

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

Mysterious 'demon monolith' adorned with screaming faces and twisted bodies appears in California desert

By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

A mysterious 'demonic monolith' has appeared in the California desert, adorned with screaming faces, twisted bodies, serpents and a giant eye carved into its center.

Standing more than nine feet tall, the black statue was spotted by several visitors in Joshua Tree National Park over the past few days. 

Witnesses claim it groans every few minutes, glows at night, and is covered in hundreds of sculpted human corpses.

Word of the strange structure exploded online after a TikTok video went viral, with the creator insisting, 'It's not a hoax. It's not AI. It's real. It wasn't here yesterday.' 

Drivers passing along Highway 62 also reported seeing smoke drifting off the monolith as they drove by.

The eerie discovery has sparked a wave of fears and conspiracies, with some speculating it could be part of a ritual site or a warning of an ominous event yet to come.

But soon, an entirely different theory emerged.

Canadian video game journalist Geoff Keighley posted about the monolith on X, igniting speculation that the statue could be tied to an upcoming game reveal.

Standing more than nine feet tall, the black statue was spotted by several visitors in Joshua Tree National Park over the past few days

The statyue features hundreds of twisted bodies, along with other demonic imagery

Because Keighley organizes one of the biggest gaming events of the year, fans assumed the mysterious figure might be a teaser for an unannounced project.

Gamers quickly began connecting the statue's features to different franchises. 

One fan traveled to the desert and suggested it might be linked to God of War. Others floated theories pointing to Doom: The Dark Ages DLC, The Elder Scrolls VI, Elden Ring 2, a Diablo IV expansion, a new Castlevania, a brand-new dark-fantasy IP or even Lords of the Fallen 2.

However, CI Games CEO Marek Tyminski stepped in to shut down at least one rumor.

'Flattered so many think we're behind that statue,' Tyminski posted on X. 'Can confirm it's not us, we're just as hyped as you are. 

'Devs are praying it's something FROM. Huge respect to them, and we dream of reaching that level one day. Big news coming for both Lords of the Fallen and Lords II.'

Keighley later shared another post teasing major news coming on December 11, fueling speculation that the true origin of the monolith may finally be revealed. 

One gamer even traveled to the desert, suggesting a link to God of War. Other theories point to potential DLC for Doom: The Dark Ages or The Elder Scrolls VI.

Canadian video game journalist Geoff Keighley posted about the monolith on X, igniting speculation that the statue could be tied to an upcoming game reveal

Other gamers have speculated that the monolith could be related to Elden Ring 2, a Diablo 4 expansion, a new Castlevania, a brand new dark fantasy IP or Lords of the Fallen 2.

However,  CI Games CEO Marek Tyminski has confirmed that it's not Lords of the Fallen 2.

'Flattered so many think we're behind that statue,' Tyminski shared on X.

'Can confirm it's not us, we're just as hyped as you are. Devs are praying it's something FROM. 

'Huge respect to them and we dream of reaching that level one day. Big news coming for both Lords of the Fallen and Lords II.'

Keighley shared another post, saying big news is coming on December 11, suggesting all will be revealed then. 

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

NASA under fire as its big reveal on the interstellar visitor ignites explosive cover-up accusations

• MORE: Strange signal detected from mysterious interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS as it moves closer to Earth 

By CHRIS MELORE, US ASSISTANT SCIENCE EDITOR

NASA's big reveal of the mysterious interstellar object has been slammed as a joke, with many claiming the space agency is covering up what they really know.

The newest images of the visitor, known as 3I/ATLAS, were released by the space agency on Wednesday.

I/ATLAS (pictured) exhibits unique features, including an anti-tail, extreme color changes, an extremely unusual course, and a massive coma

In August, the Two-Meter Twin Telescope in the Canary Islands captured an image showing a faint jet extending roughly 3.7 miles from the object's nucleus, pointing toward the sun

NASA's James Webb Telescope spotted the interstellar visitor in August and the June spacecraft is scheduled to observe it in 2026

However, the pictures, taken on a rather sophisticated camera on Mars, were largely blurry and showed only a distant dot.

Moreover, NASA refuted any claims that the object, which had made unexpected maneuvers that dumbfounded experts, is anything other than a large space rock.

The agency's associate administrator Amit Kshatriya declared at a press conference on YouTube: '3I/ATLAS is a comet.'

Social media went into a frenzy, with many alleging the space agency was hiding what they actually knew and was withholding clearer images.

'What a waste of time! NASA is lying so bad. They are all so scripted. The gaslighting is off the charts,' one person posted on X.

'You have lost all credibility with this blurry hogwash photo. Anyone over there who cares about Earth should dump the entire unedited image archive to Wikileaks,' another social media user wrote.

NASA's sophisticated HiRISE camera was supposed to provide a detailed image of the interstellar object near Mars, but the photo shown on Wednesday was blurry and vague

Other images revealed by NASA showed 3I/ATLAS from great distances which made the object look like a dot among the stars

NASA's HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was expected to provide one of the best images of 3I/ATLAS to date, since it was able to view the object from just 19 million miles away.

However, the image shown on Wednesday was a fuzzy, black-and-white picture that did not have any definition.

In fact, the clearest and most detailed image presented by NASA did not actually show the interstellar object. Instead, it showed a color image of the chemical elements being released into space by 3I/ATLAS.

'It was a foggy London day when the NASA Mars orbiter took this photo haha,' one person joked on social media.

The space agency also pushed back on claims that 3I/ATLAS was displaying any behaviors that were unnatural for a typical comet.

Previously, Harvard professor Avi Loeb had already discovered at least 11 anomalies that scientists have yet to fully explain, including a cometary tail pointing in the wrong direction, the object turning blue near the sun, and course changes that defy gravity.

However, the NASA team dismissed any irregularities being recorded as a byproduct of the object coming from a distant solar system likely composed of a completely different chemical makeup than our own.

Nicky Fox, who works for NASA's science mission directorate, added: 'We certainly haven't seen any technosignatures [technological traces of intelligent life] or anything from it that would lead us to believe it was anything other than a comet.'

The only detailed image revealed by NASA did not include 3I/ATLAS, and only showed a trail of chemicals the object was supposedly emitting

NASA maintained that 3I/ATLAS was a comet with no signs of extraterrestrial life

'It's gonna look different because it didn't come from our solar system,' Fox added.

The quick dismissal of the alternative possibilities surrounding 3I/ATLAS only fueled the speculation online that NASA was trying to bury the subject of alien life.

'This is s***. Tell the truth once and for all to all mankind!!' one frustrated viewer posted.

'Seems like they are trying really hard to convince us that it's just a rock,' another person said.

When Fox was directly asked whether NASA scientists had investigated the possibility that 3I/ATLAS could be an alien craft, the associate administrator avoided giving a clear answer to the question. 

'We love all of the different science and all of the different hypotheses into what these things can be,' Fox replied.

'NASA= NEVER A STRAIGHT ANSWER,' an X user posted during the press event. 

'I should be mad about the NASA event being an absolute flop but I actually just can't stop laughing,' another viewer wrote.

Images of 3I/ATLAS taken by the Nordic Optical Telescope in Spain on November 11 showed the alleged comet has not broken apart as expected

Color-enhanced images shared by multiple social media users revealed 3I/ATLAS developed a strange green glow as it neared Mars and the sun last month

Since its discovery in July, the majority of scientists and astronomers have agreed with NASA's assessment, calling 3I/ATLAS a normal comet with a slightly different chemical arrangement than space rock which formed in this solar system.

Loeb, a physicist and head of the Galileo Project, a scientific research group looking for signs of extraterrestrial life, has been the most prominent voice disputing the comet theory.

He contended that those in the scientific community who have dismissed the more extraordinary possibilities are more concerned with being right and avoiding criticism than alerting the public to a potentially world-changing event.

'Here we are talking about a potential for something that could affect humanity in the future in a dramatic way, and so you shouldn't apply the same approach of being as conservative as possible,' Loeb told the Daily Mail in October.

'I don't want to be their therapist, but they're trying to obviously protect their reputation, not take risks, and also pretend that they know the answer in advance.'

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

President Donald Trump has allegedly been 'fully briefed' on what the US government has been keeping secret about UFOs and alien life living among humans.

In a recent interview, whistleblower and retired US Air Force Major David Grusch claimed that Trump has received reports on crashed spacecraft and non-human remains retrieved by the US, the origins of these beings, and their intentions.

Grusch, a current advisor to Congress's UAP Task Force, said the president could soon become the 'most consequential leader in world history' by publicly disclosing what America has kept hidden about extraterrestrials.

'Members of this current administration are very well aware of this reality. Certainly, the current president is very knowledgeable on this subject,' Grusch told Fox News.

To this point, previous White Houses, the US military, and even NASA have all denied that humans have made contact with alien life or have ever recovered extraterrestrial technology from crashed UFOs.

No physical evidence has ever been presented publicly that would back up the stories by countless civilians, scientists, and military personnel over the decades, who claim to have seen or interacted with beings from another world.

However, Grusch said the US military has not only recovered UFOs and alien bodies, but he personally viewed intelligence reports, data, and even pictures of non-human bodies with his own eyes.

The whistleblower also allegedly told members of Congress that Trump was even briefed during his first term about the existence of multiple alien races and how one species has been crossbreeding with humans.

David Grusch (Pictured) recently revealed that President Trump has been briefed on the existence of aliens and the effort to recover crashed UFOs

President Trump (Pictured) expressed skepticism that reports of UFOs and alien encounters were real during a June 2024 interview with Logan Paul

Grusch spent 14 years in the Air Force before working as an intelligence officer for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which builds and lunches surveillance satellites for the Pentagon.

From 2019 to 2021, he represented NRO on the UAP Task Force, but eventually became a whistleblower after allegedly learning that elements of the US government had prevented Congressional oversight on matters related to extraterrestrials.

In 2023, he testified before Congress, claiming that secret government departments had been running UFO retrieval and reverse-engineering programs for decades.

When asked if he would declassify the files about aliens on the Lex Fridman Podcast in September 2024, then-candidate Trump said: 'Sure, I’ll do that. I would do that. I’d love to do that. I have to do that.' 

Missouri congressman Eric Burlison previously echoed Grusch's statements, revealing the alleged existence of at least four alien species humans secretly know about.

Burlison added that Grusch had briefed the president on the existence of a race known as the 'Nordics,' which are generally human in appearance, with fair skin and blond hair, who have created alien-human hybrids.

'He [Grusch] said that the Nordic aliens are like a few hundred years more advanced than we are, but they're not super advanced,' Burlison said during an X space interview on June 27.

'He says that there are aliens that are crossbreeds living in the world,' the congressman added, noting that Grusch did not have an answer when asked how humans would be able to tell if someone was an alien hybrid.

In September, Congressman Eric Burlison of Missouri revealed video of a US military drone striking an orb-shaped UFO with a missile, which bounced off and did not stop the craft

Grusch described an alien race called 'the Greys' as being thousands of years more advanced than humans or other alien species humans know about (Stock Image)

Burlison, who appointed Grusch to the government's UAP committee, added that the Air Force veteran described another alien race called the Greys as being thousands of years more advanced than humans.

According to Grusch's reports, these aliens, who were shorter with grey skin and large black eyes, were responsible for sightings of craft that defied gravity and controlled technology using their minds.

As for whether these aliens were peaceful or coming to Earth with hostile intentions, Grusch revealed last month that the US has seen a 'mixed bag of activity.'

'We can't quite understand the intent of some of the sentients and why they're visiting. Could it be because we have interesting genetic material on Earth? We're a Jurassic Park tourist attraction for them. [It] could be a myriad of reasons,' he told Bret Baier of Fox News on November 21.

The UAP advisor added that the US was in a secret arms race with Russia and China, who have also captured and crashed alien spacecraft and have been working to reverse engineer the technology.

Although Grusch believed Trump may soon decide to release the classified reports on extraterrestrial programs and encounters, the president has previously said he was a skeptic when it comes to UFO conspiracies.

'People who are very smart and very solid have said they believe there is something out there, and you know it makes sense that there could be. I've never been convinced, even despite that, you know, I just for some reason it's not my thing,' Trump told the Impaulsive podcast in June 2024.

Despite the skepticism, Grusch claimed that the White House was motivated to 'do the right thing' in terms of disclosing all the whistleblower information Congress has been investigating regarding UFOs.

The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House for comment regarding the claims in Grusch's interview.

Grusch noted, however, that he and others have faced intimidation and threats of physical harm to stay quiet about the existence of alien life, but he did not name who has been behind the cover-up.

'I was physically threatened even before I sent in my intelligence community inspector general report under the previous administration,' the whistleblower alleged.

'I actually had to go and and seek legal protection that way because I was, you know, literally in fear both professionally and in my personal life.'

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

A celestial oasis? NASA's Perseverance Rover discovers evidence of tropical rainfall on Mars

• READ MORE: Bizarre 'helmet' spotted on Mars likened to harry Potter sorting hat

By JONATHAN CHADWICK, ASSISTANT SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR 

Bizarre 'bleached' rocks on the surface of Mars suggest that the Red Planet was once a tropical oasis, a new study reveals. 

Scientists at Purdue University in Indiana have analysed photos of fragments of bleached clay, found by NASA's Perseverance rover. 

The fragments – which range from pebbles to boulders – suggest the Red Planet was warm and wet for millions of years. 

In fact, Mars may have been like the tropical regions of Earth such as the Amazon rainforest of South America and the Guinean Forests of West Africa.

And they offer further evidence that the planet once had the right conditions to support life. 

Briony Horgan, professor of planetary science at Purdue University, called the rocks 'probably some of the most important outcrops we’ve seen'. 

'We think these [rocks] could be evidence of an ancient warmer and wetter climate where there was rain falling for millions of years,' she said. 

NASA missions have already found evidence that Mars was much wetter and warmer billions of years ago, so the bright fragments could offer insight into how Mars came to its current barren state. 

'Bleached' rocks that stood out on the reddish-orange surface of Mars are evidence that areas of our neighbouring planet once supported wet oases with humid climates and heavy rainfall

According to the researchers, the rocks were found at the Jezero Crater, a 28-mile impact basin on Mars that held liquid water billions of years ago.

Initial examinations by the Mars rover’s SuperCam and Mastcam-Z instruments were used to compare the kaolinite to similar rocks found on Earth. 

The analysis shows the fragments are made of kaolinite, a white clay mineral that typically forms on Earth under tropical conditions. 

Kaolinite forms on Earth after rocks and sediment are leached of all other minerals by millions of years of a wet, rainy climate. 

So the fact they're on Mars suggests the red planet once supported wet oases much like those on Earth – humid with heavy rainfall. 

'Right now, the evidence in these rocks really points toward these kinds of ancient warmer and wetter environments,' said Professor Horgan. 

'When we think about the possibility of these rocks on Mars representing a rainfall-driven environment, that is a really incredible, habitable place where life could have thrived if it were ever on Mars.' 

There's no major kaolinite formation nearby where the fragments could have potentially originated and moved from, perhaps due to weather. 

The rocks are scattered throughout the mission path Perseverance has followed since landing at the Jezero crater nearly five years ago

Scattered kaolinite rocks on Mars’ surface shows the dry, dusty planet could have featured a rain-heavy climate billions of years ago

Is there water on Mars today? 

Today, Martian water ice is locked away underground throughout the planet's mid-latitudes.

On Earth, usually the ice is just water ice - i.e. frozen H2O. But on Mars, it's actually water ice and CO2 ice mixed with each other.

On Mars, it's just so cold that it gets frozen, so you actually have those mixed together both at the poles and underneath the surface as well.

There is also a very small amount of water vapour in the Martian atmosphere.

The rocks are scattered throughout the mission path Perseverance has followed since landing at the Jezero crater nearly five years ago. 

Jezero crater used to contain a lake about twice the size of Lake Tahoe – so the researchers think the rocks are 'clearly recording an incredible water event'. 

'Maybe they were washed into Jezero’s lake by the river that formed the delta,' said Professor Horgan.

'Or maybe they were thrown into Jezero by an impact and they’re just scattered there – we’re not totally sure.'   

Rocks like these are 'so hard to form because they need 'so much water', according to the researchers, which is paradoxical to how Mars looks now. 

Our neighbouring planet is of course a dry, dusty, cold and desert-like environment with a very thin atmosphere, around 95 per cent of which is made up of CO2. 

Today, water on Mars is found in the form of water-ice just under the surface in the polar regions as well as in briny water, which seasonally flows down some hillsides and crater walls. 

However, scientists are in agreement that liquid water was once far more ubiquitous on Mars – which could have once resembled Earth with blue oceans and lush green lands. 

The Red Planet (pictured) is an average of 140 million miles (225 million km) away from Earth. Jezero crater is located on the western edge of a flat plain called Isidis Planitia, just north of the Martian equator

About 4.3 billion years ago, the Red Planet had enough water to cover its entire surface in a liquid layer about 450 feet (137 meters) deep, according to NASA.

Read More

• Mars needs its own time zone! Clocks tick 477 microseconds quicker on the Red Planet than on Earth 

Fast forward to 3.5 billion years ago, and this water was more scarce – channeled around the planet between crater lakes via rivers, much like on Earth today.

Liquid water was last on Mars perhaps as recently as 2 billion years ago, before the Martian atmosphere was lost and the liquid water evaporated.

NASA says: 'Mars appears to have had a watery past, with ancient river valley networks, deltas, and lakebeds, as well as rocks and minerals on the surface that could only have formed in liquid water. 

'Some features suggest that Mars experienced huge floods about 3.5 billion years ago.' 

The new study has been published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. 

MARS: THE BASICS

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun, with a 'near-dead' dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere. 

Mars is also a dynamic planet with seasons, polar ice caps, canyons, extinct volcanoes, and evidence that it was even more active in the past. 

It is one of the most explored planets in the solar system and the only planet humans have sent rovers to explore.

One day on Mars takes a little over 24 hours and a year is 687 Earth days.

Facts and Figures 

Orbital period: 687 days

Surface area: 55.91 million mi²

Distance from Sun: 145 million miles

Gravity: 3.721 m/s²

Radius: 2,106 miles

Moons: Phobos, Deimos

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Scientists are baffled by a 'never–seen–before' blast from a supermassive black hole 130 million light–years away

• READ MORE: Terrifying simulation reveals how black holes generate light

By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

Scientists have been left baffled by a 'never–seen–before blast' from a supermassive black hole, 130 million light–years from Earth.

The colossal black hole sits at the centre of the spiral galaxy NCG 3783, and has a mass greater than 30 million suns.

Using a pair of powerful space telescopes, astronomers spotted a bright X–ray flare erupt from the black hole before vanishing.

Just hours later, the black hole whipped up cosmic winds that shot material into space at 37,280 miles per second (60,000 km/s) – one fifth of light speed.

This is the first time that scientists have been able to watch how an X–ray burst from a supermassive black hole triggers ultra–fast winds.

However, the process proved to be far more rapid than astronomers had previously anticipated.

Lead researcher Dr Liyi Gu, of the Space Research Organisation Netherlands, says: 'We've not watched a black hole create winds this speedily before.

'For the first time, we've seen how a rapid burst of X–ray light from a black hole immediately triggers ultra–fast winds, with these winds forming in just a single day.'

Scientists have been baffled to discover a 'never–seen–before blast' from a supermassive black hole, 130 million light–years from Earth (artist's impression), that sent material flying into space at a fifth of light speed 

The colossal black hole sits at the centre of the spiral galaxy NCG 3783 (pictured), and has a mass greater than 30 million suns

The largest and oldest of black holes are the so–called 'supermassive' black holes that sit in the hearts of most galaxies.

When a supermassive black hole, like the one in NCG 3783, starts to feed on nearby matter, it produces a vast amount of energy and becomes what scientists call an 'active galactic nucleus'.

Co–author Dr Matteo Guainazzi, an astronomer at the European Space Agency, told Daily Mail: 'If the black hole in our Galaxy would be active, it would be the strongest X–ray source in the sky.'

In fact, this X–ray radiation would be so strong that some scientists have even questioned whether it would affect Earth's habitability.

Active galactic nuclei (AGN) sometimes produce even more powerful bursts of X–ray radiation, and scientists still aren't entirely sure why.

Typically, astronomers have offered one of three explanations: pushes from the black hole's strong radiation field, pressure from extreme heat, and centrifugal forces in the surrounding disc of plasma.

However, in their new paper, published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, the researchers propose an alternative suggestion.

Dr Guinazzi says: 'The winds around this black hole seem to have been created as the AGN's tangled magnetic field suddenly "untwisted".'

If Sagittarius A*, the black hole in the centre of our galaxy (pictured), produce similar radiation, it would be the brightest source of X–rays in the sky and could even affect the habitability of Earth

What are black holes?

Interestingly, this is an extremely similar process to events found on the sun that produce so–called 'coronal mass ejections'.

Coronal mass ejections occur when highly twisted magnetic fields known as 'flux ropes' tangle around sunspots and build up massive amounts of energy.

When the ropes eventually snap, the blast can shoot billions of tonnes of solar material into space.

These are the vast eruptions of charged particles and radiation which create the Northern Lights as they collide with our atmosphere.

Just in November, an intense solar flare was followed by a coronal mass ejection that shot material into space at 930 miles per second (1,500 km/s).

The researchers believe that a similar process could have created the flare and winds from the core of NCG 3783.

The initial 'untwisting' of the magnetic field would have triggered the initial fast–moving burst of X–ray radiation and sent the wave of wind in its wake.

Dr Guinazzi says these would be 'similar to the flares that erupt from the Sun, but on a scale almost too big to imagine.'

Scientists believe the burst of energy might have been created in a similar way to how the sun produces coronal mass ejections (pictured), which shoot billions of tonnes of solar material towards Earth 

If the researchers' theory is correct, this may mean that black holes and stars are more similar than scientists had thought.

Since 'windy' galactic nuclei are so important for shaping their host galaxies, this would be an important discovery.

Co–author Dr Erik Kuulkers, of the European Space Agency, says: 'By zeroing in on an active supermassive black hole, the two telescopes have found something we've not seen before: rapid, ultra–fast, flare–triggered winds reminiscent of those that form at the Sun.

'Excitingly, this suggests that solar and high–energy physics may work in surprisingly familiar ways throughout the Universe.'

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In a statement detailing the discovery, the Kyoto team and colleagues from Meiji University noted that scientists have long considered chlorine and potassium to be key ingredients in planet formation and biological life. However, the exact origins of potassium and chlorine, dubbed odd-Z elements since they contain an odd number of electrons, have remained a mystery. That’s because current stellar formation models predict that stars create roughly one-tenth of the two life-supporting elements that astronomers have observed in the universe, leaving a deficit that scientists have struggled to explain.

Curious if exploding stars that have gone supernova could account for the remaining 90%, the Kyoto University-led team studied the remnant of a Milky Way supernova called Cassiopeia A. According to the researchers, the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) satellite, launched in 2023, was the ideal tool to search for the missing life-supporting elements.

After aiming XRISM’s sensitive microcalorimeter Resolve device at Cassiopeia A, the researchers collected high-resolution X-ray spectrographic data on the remnant of an exploded star. The team said this tool provided high-energy resolution of the supernova remnant, “an order of magnitude better” than previously used X-ray detectors, offering an unprecedented glimpse into the heart of a dying star.

As hoped, the instrument’s increased resolution revealed emission lines from rare earth elements that had been created in the extreme environment of the exploding star. When the team compared the spectrum data with known signatures, they found that chlorine and potassium were produced by Cassiopeia A.

Next, the team compared the results with numerous supernova nucleosynthetic models. According to the press release, this analysis revealed the telltale spectral signatures of both life-supporting elements “at abundances higher than predicted” by generally accepted supernova models.

“When we saw the Resolve data for the first time, we detected elements I never expected to see before the launch,” explained corresponding author Toshiki Sato.

The team said that discovering the presence of chlorine and potassium at such high levels offers the “first observational evidence” that exploding stars could finally explain the mysterious origins of the key ingredients for life. The Kyoto-led team also said the data suggest that ‘strong’ mixing inside massive stars, which could be caused by fast rotation, binary interaction, or shell-merger events, “can significantly enhance the production” of these life-supporting elements.

Although the study examined only a single supernova remnant, the team said their findings show that chlorine and potassium can be produced in a star’s interior in sufficient quantities to account for the previously observed deficit. The data also indicates that ingredients that are considered critical for life can be created in an extreme, intense environment “far removed from anything resembling the conditions needed for life to emerge.”

“I am delighted that we have been able, even if only slightly, to begin to understand what is happening inside exploding stars,” said corresponding author Hiroyuki Uchida.

The team said the XRISM satellite’s ability to probe the deep interiors of stars, where elements critical for life are produced, demonstrated the power of high-precision X-ray spectroscopy. When discussing the impact of the findings, Sato said that making this type of crucial discovery with a satellite his team developed “is a true joy as a researcher.”

When discussing the following steps, the team said they plan to use the high-resolution capabilities of the XRISM satellite to determine if Cassiopeia A is an exception and the mysterious origin of the excess chlorine and potassium seen throughout the universe is still an open question, or do other dying stars also create an abundance of the critical for life elements needed to make up the previously observed difference.

If future observations reveal a similar signature of chlorine and potassium at the heart of other supernovae, the team said, it will show that such internal mixing processes “are a universal feature of stellar evolution.”

In the statement’s conclusion, corresponding author Kai Matsunaga noted that where life came from is an “eternal question everyone has pondered at least once.” So, helping solve such a longstanding mystery can also provide researchers with personal value.

“Our study reveals only a small part of that vast story, but I feel truly honored to have contributed to it,” Matsunaga said.

The study “Chlorine and Potassium Enrichment in the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant” was published in Nature Astronomy.

• 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.

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Scientists Propose Earth May Have Been Terraformed by Aliens

Gary Manners

A controversial new scientific paper has sent shockwaves through the academic community by suggesting that life on Earth may not have emerged through natural processes alone, but could instead be the result of deliberate terraforming by advanced extraterrestrial civilizations. The research, published by Imperial College London's Professor Robert Endres, applies cutting-edge information theory and AI models to demonstrate that the odds of life spontaneously arising from chemical chaos are so astronomically low that alien intervention becomes a "logically open alternative."

The study, titled "The unreasonable likelihood of being: Origin of life, terraforming, and AI," challenges fundamental assumptions about Earth's biological origins. Using mathematical frameworks based on rate-distortion theory and algorithmic complexity, Endres concludes that assembling a viable protocell within Earth's available timeframe would require persistence over geological timescales that strain credibility.

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

So many skeptics think they have debunked Jesus' resurrection. Well, I'm an expert... here's what actually happened

By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

For millions of Christians, the resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone of their faith, a moment they believe rewrote history. 

But skeptics insist the event has far more earthly explanations, arguing it was the result of confusion, misidentification or even deception.

Dr Jeremiah Johnston, an Oxford-trained theologian, said most attempts to debunk the resurrection fall into two major buckets: misconception and deceit.

'Misconception theories usually take two forms: either Jesus didn't die, or his followers visited the wrong tomb,' Johnston writes in his book 'Body of Proof.'

The first, known as the 'swoon theory,' suggests Jesus never truly died but merely lost consciousness and later revived, a claim Johnston says ignores medical evidence of his death and the impossibility of freeing himself from the tomb in such a weakened state.

The second, the 'wrong tomb theory,' argues Jesus' followers simply went to the wrong burial site before proclaiming he had risen.

Johnston said the second category, deceit, contends the resurrection story was fabricated by Jesus' own followers, a notion he argues 'flies in the face of Jesus' ethical teaching.'

A final theory claims Jesus never existed at all, an idea archaeologists and historians say collapses under the weight of documented historical evidence.

Millions of Christians believe Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead. However, skeptics insist the event has far more earthly explanations, arguing it was the result of confusion, misidentification or even deception

The Bible says a woman named Mary Magdalene was the first witness to the resurrected Jesus, a detail that has long fascinated historians and theologians because, in the first century, a woman's testimony carried little authority.

According to the Gospel accounts, Mary went to the tomb at dawn and found the stone rolled away. 

The body was gone, and moments later, she encountered Jesus himself, becoming the first to proclaim the resurrection. 

But when she ran to tell the disciples, they dismissed her story as unbelievable.

Scriptures such as Luke 24:34 and 1 Corinthians 15:5 then describe a series of follow-up appearances: first to Peter, and later that same day to the rest of Jesus' followers, who were gathered behind locked doors in Jerusalem, fearful and in hiding.

'The case against the resurrection of Jesus is usually based on the utter uniqueness of the claim itself: A man who had been dead for two or three days came back to life,' said Johnston. 

'Skeptics also usually claim that the historical evidence itself is weak, that there were no witnesses to the event, or the New Testament writings that report the resurrection are not credible.'

He laid out all of these theories in the book, starting with the swoon theory, which emerged in the late 18th and early 19th centuries during a wave of rationalist skepticism toward Christianity.

Dr Jeremiah Johnston, an Oxford-trained theologian, discussed all the leading theories that debunk the resurrection in his book, while offering reasons why they fall apart. Here he is pictured holding a replica of the Crown of Thorns in front a an image of the Shroud of Turin

The idea resurfaced in the 20th century through authors like Hugh Schonfield, whose book The Passover Plot argued that Jesus was given a drugged drink on the cross to simulate death.

Johnston argues that Roman executioners were too experienced to mistakenly remove a living man from a cross. 

And even if such an error had occurred, he said, it would have been physically impossible for a severely wounded Jesus to free himself, push aside the heavy stone, and slip past guards without being noticed.

'It supposes that Jesus passed out, perhaps becoming comatose; that his executioners wrongly thought he was dead; and that his followers who buried him also wrongly thought he was dead,' Johnston wrote. 

'Then after a day or two in the tomb, Jesus awoke, managed to exit the tomb, and found a few of his followers.'

Even then, he added, Jesus would have appeared broken and near death, hardly a figure who would inspire proclamations that he had conquered it.

The wrong tomb theory, proposed by New Testament scholar Kirsopp Lake, suggests that the women who visited the tomb were grief-stricken and confused, accidentally entering a different, empty tomb and assuming Jesus had risen. 

They then spread what was, according to this theory, an honest mistake.

Johnston noted that this explanation fails to account for later events described in Scripture, most notably the dramatic conversion of Saul of Tarsus, a fierce persecutor of early Christians. 

The first, known as the 'swoon theory,' suggests Jesus never truly died but merely lost consciousness and later revived, a claim Johnston says ignores medical evidence of his death and the impossibility of freeing himself from the tomb in such a weakened state 

According to the New Testament, Saul (later known as Paul) encountered the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus, an experience that transformed him from enemy to evangelist.

Deceit theories, meanwhile, argue that there was no empty tomb at all, that Jesus' followers fabricated the entire resurrection narrative and everything that followed. 

Johnston pushed back on this idea, asking why a group of demoralized disciples would invent a story that contradicted Jewish expectations of the Messiah and risk persecution to defend it.

'Why rehabilitate an apparent failed prophet and Messiah?' Johnston said. 'Why claim against all popular expectations that the crucified Jesus was Israel's long-awaited Messiah? The scenario is improbable.'

The final category, mythicism, denies not just the resurrection but Jesus' existence altogether, portraying Christ as a purely mythical figure rather than a historical one. 

The second, the 'wrong tomb theory,' argues that Jesus' followers simply went to the wrong burial site before proclaiming he had risen. Pictured is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which many believe was built on top of Jesus' tomb

Some proponents argue that the earliest Christian writings, such as Paul's letters, describe a heavenly being, not a man who lived in Galilee.

But the overwhelming scholarly consensus dismisses mythicism. Archaeological findings, ancient writings, and references from non-Christian historians all point to Jesus as a real figure who lived in 1st-century Judea.

'Not only were the four Gospels written and circulated within one or two generations of Jesus' time,' Johnston said, 'but we have the letters of Paul, a contemporary, who knew some of Jesus' original followers and was acquainted with Jesus' brother James.'

Some mythicists also claim Nazareth did not exist in the early first century. 

Yet a fourth-century Jewish inscription found at Caesarea Maritima lists priestly families from Nazareth, adding to the archaeological evidence of the village's antiquity.

'I know many archaeologists — Jewish, Christian, and with no religious orientation whatsoever — and not one doubts that Jesus was a real person,' Johnston said.

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