Ontdek de Fascinerende Wereld van UFO's en UAP's: Jouw Bron voor Onthullende Informatie!
Ben jij ook gefascineerd door het onbekende? Wil je meer weten over UFO's en UAP's, niet alleen in België, maar over de hele wereld? Dan ben je op de juiste plek!
België: Het Kloppend Hart van UFO-onderzoek
In België is BUFON (Belgisch UFO-Netwerk) dé autoriteit op het gebied van UFO-onderzoek. Voor betrouwbare en objectieve informatie over deze intrigerende fenomenen, bezoek je zeker onze Facebook-pagina en deze blog. Maar dat is nog niet alles! Ontdek ook het Belgisch UFO-meldpunt en Caelestia, twee organisaties die diepgaand onderzoek verrichten, al zijn ze soms kritisch of sceptisch.
Nederland: Een Schat aan Informatie
Voor onze Nederlandse buren is er de schitterende website www.ufowijzer.nl, beheerd door Paul Harmans. Deze site biedt een schat aan informatie en artikelen die je niet wilt missen!
Internationaal: MUFON - De Wereldwijde Autoriteit
Neem ook een kijkje bij MUFON (Mutual UFO Network Inc.), een gerenommeerde Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in de VS en wereldwijd. MUFON is toegewijd aan de wetenschappelijke en analytische studie van het UFO-fenomeen, en hun maandelijkse tijdschrift, The MUFON UFO-Journal, is een must-read voor elke UFO-enthousiasteling. Bezoek hun website op www.mufon.com voor meer informatie.
Samenwerking en Toekomstvisie
Sinds 1 februari 2020 is Pieter niet alleen ex-president van BUFON, maar ook de voormalige nationale directeur van MUFON in Vlaanderen en Nederland. Dit creëert een sterke samenwerking met de Franse MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP, wat ons in staat stelt om nog meer waardevolle inzichten te delen.
Let op: Nepprofielen en Nieuwe Groeperingen
Pas op voor een nieuwe groepering die zich ook BUFON noemt, maar geen enkele connectie heeft met onze gevestigde organisatie. Hoewel zij de naam geregistreerd hebben, kunnen ze het rijke verleden en de expertise van onze groep niet evenaren. We wensen hen veel succes, maar we blijven de autoriteit in UFO-onderzoek!
Blijf Op De Hoogte!
Wil jij de laatste nieuwtjes over UFO's, ruimtevaart, archeologie, en meer? Volg ons dan en duik samen met ons in de fascinerende wereld van het onbekende! Sluit je aan bij de gemeenschap van nieuwsgierige geesten die net als jij verlangen naar antwoorden en avonturen in de sterren!
Heb je vragen of wil je meer weten? Aarzel dan niet om contact met ons op te nemen! Samen ontrafelen we het mysterie van de lucht en daarbuiten.
Relics of the impactor identified in the Chang'e-6 lunar regolith. Credit: Prof. Xu,Y., et al. (2025)
Meteorites are both the messengers and time capsules of the Solar System. As pieces of larger asteroids that broke apart, or debris thrown up by impacts on other bodies, these "space rocks" retain the composition of where they originated from. As a result, scientists can study other planets, moons, and objects by examining the abundance of chemical elements in meteorites. Unfortunately, such studies are limited when it comes to meteorites retrieved on Earth, due to erosion, atmospheric filtration, and geological processes (like volcanism and mantle convection).
However, meteor impacts are well-preserved in the lunar environment, as it has virtually no atmosphere, experiences no wind or water erosion, and is (for the most part) geologically inactive. Recently, a research team with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) examined samples returned by the Chang'e-6 mission from the far side of the Moon. They identified seven olivine-bearing minerals from the lunar regolith they examined, which they determined to have been deposited by Carbonaceous Ivuna-type (CI) chondrites, a type of fragile meteorite that rarely survives impact with Earth.
CAS Professors Xu Yigang and Lin Mang led the research team. It consisted of researchers from the CAS's Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry (GIG), the College of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the CAS University, the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Brown University, the Research Organization of Science and Technology of Ritsumeikan University, and the Department of Archaeology, Environmental Changes and Geo-Chemistry at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. The paper describing their findings was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on Oct. 20th.
*Meteorites bombard a molten landscape in this illustration of the Late Heavy Bombardment.
Credit: NASA GSFC Conceptual Image Lab*
CI chondrites are a rare type of carbonaceous meteorite, which are defined by their relative abundance of carbon (up to 3%) in the form of graphite, carbonates, and organic compounds (including amino acids). The parent bodies originally formed in the outer Solar System, and many migrated into the inner Solar System when the planets were still forming. Due to their fragile nature, these meteorites account for less than 1% of meteorite samples examined by scientists. But on the Moon, chondrites are largely preserved, and their chemical makeup speaks volumes about the environment in which they formed.
"Systematic identification and classification of meteorites on the airless Moon thus provide additional critical constraints for reconstructing the primordial accretion history and impactor population of the inner Solar System," they state in their paper. However, this remains challenging since meteors will vaporize upon colliding at high velocities with the lunar surface. Upon examining the samples, the team confirmed that they were formed from molten droplets resulting from impact, which then underwent rapid cooling and crystallization due to exposure to the extreme cold and vacuum of space.
However, using textural characterization and an analysis of in-situ triple oxygen isotopes, the team confirmed that the samples are relics of CI-like chondrites that struck the Moon before the Nectarian Period (approximately 3.92 billion years ago). This coincides with the Late Heavy Bombardment, which took place 4.1 to 3.8 billion years ago. This period was characterized by a disproportionately high number of asteroids and comets striking the Earth-Moon system and other bodies in the inner Solar System.
These impacts are believed to have been the means through which water and organic molecules were introduced to the inner Solar System. Since CI chondrites are known to be rich in water and organic materials, as demonstrated by the samples returned from asteroid Bennu that showed traces of amino acids, these findings support the hypothesis that asteroids played a key role in delivering water and other volatiles to the inner Solar System. Additionally, the team suggests that previously-detected deposits of water ice on the Moon, which showed indications of certain positive oxygen isotopes, were likely delivered by CI chondrites in the past.
Based on these findings, the team conducted a preliminary statistical analysis of meteoritic materials, indicating that CI chondrites likely played a significantly greater role in shaping the Earth-Moon system than previously thought. Their study offers new insight into the evolution of our Solar System and the events that helped give rise to life. Furthermore, the integrated methodology they devised could be a valuable tool for assessing other returned samples of extraterrestrial materials, pointing the way towards future research opportunities.
Scientists are baffled by a gruesome new species dubbed the 'carnivorous death ball' that lives in the deepest part of the ocean.
The new predatory sponge, officially part of the Chondrocladia genus, was found 11,800 feet deep, east of Montagu Island off the coast of Antarctica.
Looking like some arty installation in a London gallery, the 'incredible specimen' gets its name due to several long appendages ending in pinkish orbs.
These eerie globes are covered in tiny hooks meant to snag its prey – typically small unfortunate crustaceans such as copepods.
This makes the carnivorous death ball unusually ruthless compared with the gentle, passive, filter-feeding undertaken by most sponges.
Dr Michelle Taylor, head of science at the Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census, compared the species to a 'series on ping pong balls on stems'.
'Sponges generally don't eat animal flesh – they normally just filter-feed all of the little particles that are in the water,' she said. 'But this is a very unusual section of the sponge taxa in that they actually capture small amphipods like little crustaceans.
'These animals get caught in the hooks and then are slowly enveloped over a period of time until all of the nutrients are kind of squeezed out of them.'
Its spherical form is covered in tiny hooks that trap prey, a clear contrast to the gentle, passive, filter-feeding undertaken by most sponges
This horror-film-worthy discovery was made on an expedition in February to March this year led by Ocean Census aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel R/V Falkor.
Experts used a remotely operated and tethered underwater vehicle called ROV SuBastian to scan the ocean's depths to about 14,700 feet (4,500 metres).
ROV SuBastian surveyed underwater volcanic calderas, the South Sandwich Trench, and seafloor habitats around Montagu and Saunders Islands.
Overall, it collected nearly 2,000 specimens across 14 animal groups (phyla), including 30 previously unknown deep-sea species, although there could be more to be confirmed.
According to Dr Taylor, the pink death balls are 'a few centimetres across' and are thought to have water inside them.
'We presume they increase the surface area that could come into contact with potential prey items,' she told the Daily Mail.
'Sponges are sedentary organisms – they will spend their whole life in that one spot.
'That's one of the reasons they have to have efficient ways to capture food, they cannot chase it.'
The discovery was made on an expedition led by Ocean Census aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel R/V Falkor
A new iridescent scale worm found by the ROV SuBastian at 9,379 feet (2,859 metres) at the South Trench dive site, northwest of Zavodovski Island, South Atlantic Ocean
A previously unknown species of sea star found by the ROV SuBastian at 3,631 feet (1,107 metres) at the Mystery Ridge dive site
Armoured and iridescent scale worms (Eulagisca sp. nov.)
Sea stars (Brisingidae, Benthopectinidae and Paxillosidae)
Crustaceans including isopods and amphipods
Rare gastropods and bivalves adapted to volcanic and hydrothermal-influenced habitats
Among the other discoveries were new armoured and iridescent scale worms, also referred to 'Elvis worms', known for their shimmering, colourful scales.
The scales are bioluminescent – they naturally produce and emit light – and produce repeated flashes, presumably to distract potential predators.
Also found were previously unknown species of sea stars – called Brisingidae, Benthopectinidae and Paxillosidae.
There were also rare gastropods and bivalves adapted to volcanic and hydrothermal-influenced habitats – extreme environments with high temperatures and pressures.
Also observed were 'zombie worms’ – officially called Osedax, which is Latin for bone-eater – although these are not thought to be new to science, according to the experts.
These worms have no mouth or gut and rely on symbiotic bacteria to break down fats inside the bones of whales and other large vertebrates.
Additional possibly new are black corals and a potential genus of sea pens – which look like old-fashioned writing quills – which are 'undergoing expert assessment'.
Scientists are constantly finding new species around the world, but the ones at the water's deepest darkest depths are among the hardest to locate.
Pictured, a potentially new genus of sea pens - which look like old-fashioned writing quills. This one was found at 2,641 feet (805 metres) down at the Mystery Ridge dive site
Pictured, a new isopod found by the ROV SuBastian at 11,500 feet (3,533 metres) at the Ridge North dive site
Still, the vast majority of the world's oceans – about 80 per cent – have not been mapped, explored or even seen by humans.
While some animals can survive at extreme depths thanks to adaptations, human beings can only go about 400ft unaided by modern technology, such as pressurised submersibles.
With such equipment, the deepest anyone has been in the ocean is 35,853 feet (10,928 metres) in the Challenger Deep of the Mariana Trench, achieved by Victor Vescovo in April 2019.
The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, 'remains profoundly under-sampled', according to Dr Taylor.
'To date, we have only assessed under 30 per cent of the samples collected from this expedition, so confirming 30 new species already shows how much biodiversity is still undocumented,' she said.
'Each confirmed species is a building block for conservation, biodiversity studies, and untold future scientific endeavours.
'By coupling expeditions with species discovery workshops, we compress what often takes more than a decade into a faster pathway while maintaining scientific rigour by having world experts involved.'
Before the expedition in March, none have ever been filmed alive before in their natural habitat, either juvenile or adult, Dr Taylor said.
What are sponges?
Sponges are simple but historic aquatic animals with dense but porous skeletons, highly adapted to their environment.
Certain sponge species have a fossil record dating back around 600 million years to the earliest period of Earth’s history, the 'Precambrian'.
Like corals, sponges are immobile aquatic invertebrates and they are not well-adapted for moving around the ocean floor.
Sponges are important inhabitants of coral reef ecosystems; they can affect water quality on the reef as the sponges filter water, collect bacteria, and process carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus.
In nutrient-depleted coral reefs, some sponge species are thought to make carbon biologically available by excreting a form of 'sponge poop' that other organisms feed on.
In this way, sponges protect the reef against extreme fluctuations in nutrient density, temperature, and light, benefiting the survival of other reef organisms.
Mysterious 3I/ATLAS object leads NASA and Harvard to take unprecedented action in space
Hubble captured this image of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on July 21, 2025, when the comet was 277 million miles from Earth. Hubble shows that the comet has a teardrop-shaped cocoon of dust coming off its solid, icy nucleus.
Hubble captured this image of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on July 21, 2025, when the comet was 277 million miles from Earth. Hubble shows that the comet has a teardrop-shaped cocoon of dust coming off its solid, icy nucleus.
A mysterious interstellar object known as 3I/ATLAS has prompted NASA and Harvard University to initiate one of the most extraordinary cooperative monitoring operations in modern space history, as reported by El Adelantado. The joint effort, which involves agencies across the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN), was discreetly activated after the comet began exhibiting behavior scientists described as “inexplicable.”
Discovered in July 2025 by the NASA-funded ATLAS telescope in Chile, 3I/ATLAS is the third interstellar object ever identified passing through our solar system. It appears to have come from a completely different star system, traveling at speeds exceeding 209,000 km/h on a hyperbolic trajectory that will eventually send it back into deep space.
NASA and Harvard’s unprecedented response to 3I/ATLAS
The quiet but sweeping international alert surrounding 3I/ATLAS began on October 21, 2025, when Harvard’s Minor Planet Center issued bulletin MPEC 2025-U142. The notice marked the activation of a global space safety protocol under the IAWN, directing international observatories to focus on the comet until January 27, 2026. Although NASA confirmed that Earth is not in danger, the object’s unpredictable motion and unique physical features have raised scientific—and political—interest.
“The object is most likely a natural comet, but its anomalies imply that we must consider a technological origin because of the large implications to humanity in that case,” explained Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb (as per NY Post).
Loeb, who first suggested that the interstellar traveler ʻOumuamua might have been artificial, described 3I/ATLAS as potentially a “black swan event”—a rare, unpredictable phenomenon with civilization-altering potential.
“We must remain open-minded. It’s at least a thousand times more massive than the previous interstellar objects we’ve seen,” he said.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble, and several other observatories—including TESS, Swift, Lucy, and Parker Solar Probe—have been tasked with monitoring the object. Even amid a U.S. government shutdown, NASA confirmed that “essential personnel” continue tracking 3I/ATLAS due to its significance. Congress has also taken notice. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) recently called on NASA to release unreleased imagery and data about the object, writing that “this information is of great importance to advancing our understanding of interstellar visitors.” Sources within NASA and the Pentagon confirmed plans to brief lawmakers about the ongoing investigation, despite normal operations being paused.
To the untrained eye, 3I/ATLAS might appear to be just another comet, but astronomers quickly realized it was anything but ordinary. Its hyperbolic orbit confirms that it originated beyond our solar system, and its Manhattan-sized nucleus—approximately 5 kilometers in diameter—places it among the largest interstellar objects ever observed. The comet’s most striking feature is its “anti-tail”—a bizarre plume of dust and particles that points toward the Sun instead of away from it. This reversal defies normal cometary behavior, which typically results from solar radiation pushing material outward. Compounding the mystery is the comet’s non-gravitational acceleration, believed to be caused by uneven jets of gas and dust that act like thrusters, sending it veering slightly off expected paths.
NASA’s Webb Telescope also detected nickel emissions without any iron, a composition never seen in natural comets. Loeb noted that this particular form of nickel—nickel tetracarbonyl—has only ever been observed in human manufacturing processes, further deepening the enigma. Despite the growing intrigue, NASA maintains that 3I/ATLAS poses no threat to Earth. It will pass no closer than 270 million kilometers from our planet—roughly 1.8 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. Still, the object’s unusual characteristics have prompted agencies to use it as a “natural laboratory” to test methods for tracking and analyzing future interstellar visitors.
“The more we learn about 3I/ATLAS, the better we’ll understand how interstellar material moves through our solar system—and how to respond to it safely,” said a NASA spokesperson.
For now, Earth remains safe—but the lessons gleaned from 3I/ATLAS will likely shape our planetary defense and interstellar research strategies for decades to come.
Terwijl België worstelt met een reeks onverklaarbare dronesightings boven luchthavens en militaire basissen, roepen deze incidenten herinneringen op aan gelijkaardige gebeurtenissen in de Verenigde Staten vorig jaar. Wat begon als sporadische meldingen in oktober en november 2025, heeft geleid tot tijdelijke sluitingen van luchtruim en een spoedbijeenkomst van de Nationale Veiligheidsraad.
Deskundigen trekken parallellen met de Amerikaanse dronegolf van 2024, en vragen zich af of dit massa-hysterie, propaganda of een reële dreiging betreft. Een analyse van de gelijkenissen en mogelijke afloop voor België.
De Belgische dronecrisis: wat gebeurt er?
De afgelopen weken zijn er meerdere meldingen geweest van onbekende drones boven kritieke infrastructuur in België. Op dinsdagavond 4 november werden luchthavens zoals Brussels Airport en Liège Airport tijdelijk gesloten nadat drones werden waargenomen in de nabijheid. Woensdag volgden meer sightings, waaronder boven militaire basissen zoals Schaffen in Diest en Kleine-Brogel, waar Amerikaanse nucleaire wapens zijn opgeslagen. Minister van Defensie Theo Francken (N-VA) beschreef de incidenten als een mogelijke “spionage-operatie“, met vermoedens richting een staatsactor, mogelijk Rusland. De drones, die in fasen vlogen en soms in groepen, veroorzaakten chaos voor reizigers en militaire operaties. Brussels Airport, de drukste luchthaven van het land, was rond 20.00 uur gesloten na detectie van drie drones. De Nationale Veiligheidsraad zit vandaag bijeen om de situatie te beoordelen, met inbegrip van versterkte beveiligingsmaatregelen en mogelijke internationale samenwerking.
Parallellen met de VS in 2024: een opvallende overeenkomst
Vorig jaar, in november en december 2024, werd de Verenigde Staten overspoeld door meldingen van mysterieuze drones boven militaire basissen en luchthavens. Sightings werden gerapporteerd boven bases in New Jersey, Ohio en zelfs Amerikaanse installaties in het Verenigd Koninkrijk en Duitsland. Net als in België leidden deze tot tijdelijke sluitingen van luchtruim, zoals bij Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, waar het luchtruim vier uur lang werd afgesloten.
De gelijkenissen zijn opvallend:
Locaties: beide gevallen betreffen gevoelige sites, waaronder militaire basissen met nucleaire componenten (VS: diverse bases; België: Kleine-Brogel) en luchthavens.
Patroon van sightings: drones verschenen in groepen of zwermen, vaak ’s avonds, en leidden tot operationele disrupties. In de VS werden ze waargenomen boven 17 basissen nabij Chinees eigendom land, wat spionage-vermoedens opriep. In België worden gelijkaardige patronen gemeld, met drones die in fasen opereren.
Publieke en media-aandacht: media-aandacht voedde speculaties over buitenlandse inmenging – China in de VS, Rusland in België – wat leidde tot bredere publieke onrust.
Toch zijn er verschillen: de Amerikaanse golf was breder verspreid en duurde langer, met aanhoudende discussies tot in 2025, terwijl Belgiës incidenten acuter lijken en sneller worden toegeschreven aan een specifieke actor.
Wat kunnen we verwachten in België? Lessen uit de VS
Gebaseerd op de Amerikaanse ervaring, waar veel sightings uiteindelijk werden toegeschreven aan hobbydrones, misidentificaties (zoals sterren of vliegtuigen) of onschuldige activiteiten, zou België een vergelijkbare afloop kunnen zien. In de VS resulteerde het niet in grote confrontaties, maar wel in oproepen voor betere regelgeving en detectietechnologie. Militaire bases bleven alert, maar de hype ebde weg zonder duidelijke uitkomst.
Voor België voorspellen experts een korte periode van verhoogde beveiliging, mogelijk met nieuwe dronewetgeving of internationale druk op vermoedelijke actoren zoals Rusland. Als het inderdaad spionage betreft, zou het kunnen leiden tot diplomatieke spanningen, maar zonder bewijs blijft het bij onderzoeken. Een volledige ontmaskering is onwaarschijnlijk, gezien de VS-zaak nog steeds onopgelost is.
Massahysterie, propaganda of paniekzaaierij?
Critici suggereren dat deze gebeurtenissen elementen van massa-hysterie bevatten, vergelijkbaar met de VS waar sociale media en nieuwsberichten meldingen versterkten, leidend tot overreacties. Sommige sightings bleken vals alarm. Propaganda-aspecten zijn mogelijk: in geopolitieke contexten kunnen zulke incidenten worden gebruikt om publieke steun voor defensie-uitgaven te mobiliseren of af te leiden van andere issues.
Toch nemen overheden het serieus, met reële risico’s voor veiligheid. “Het is een mix,” zegt een defensie-analist. “Sommige zijn echt, maar media-amplificatie creëert paniek.” Belgiës reactie – inclusief mogelijke NAVO-betrokkenheid – wijst op een voorzichtige aanpak om hysterie te vermijden.
Terwijl onderzoeken doorgaan, blijft de vraag: zijn dit onschuldige vliegende objecten of een voorbode van bredere bedreigingen? België, net als de VS, zal waarschijnlijk sterker uit deze crisis komen, met verbeterde waakzaamheid tegen de onzichtbare dreiging uit de lucht.
Discover interesting facts about where alien life forms are likely to exist, and what they look like.
(Image credit: KTSDESIGN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via Getty Images)
Quick facts about aliens
Has extraterrestrial life been discovered?: Not yet!
Where are scientists looking for aliens?: Water-rich bodies in our solar system, like Jupiter's moon Europa, and Earth-like exoplanets — planets outside our solar system
How many planets in the Milky Way have the right conditions for life? An estimated 300 million
E.T., Stitch, Chewbacca, Groot — humans have a lot of ideas about what aliens might look like. But what is the science behind extraterrestrial life? Is it possible that humans will ever experience "first contact" with an alien species?
Many scientists hope so. They're looking for extraterrestrial life on planets with conditions that look like Earth's. A life-friendly planet would probably have water, for example. And for water to be a liquid, the planet must be the perfect distance from its sun for that water not to freeze or turn into a gas.
There's no evidence yet for life on other planets, but as scientists discover more and more planets outside our solar system, they're hopeful that some of these worlds will be "just right" for life to exist or evolve there.
Scientists have been listening for alien signals with special radio receivers since 1992. They haven't picked up any yet!
Mars might have once hosted life — most likely tiny things like bacteria — but scientists can't say for sure.
Jupiter's moon Europa has an ocean, and it might have hydrothermal vents, or cracks in the seafloor where hot water seeps through. Scientists think life on Earth may have evolved in hydrothermal vents.
The "Goldilocks zone" is the space around a star where temperatures allow liquid water to exist. Many scientists think planets in the Goldilocks zone are those most likely to host life.
Sci-fi aliens like Baby Yoda are fun to imagine, but scientists are serious about extraterrestrial life. There are some 100 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy and at least 2 trillion galaxies in the universe we can study. If most of those stars have at least one planet around them, there could be up to 20 billion trillion extraterrestrial worlds out there.
Given those numbers, it would be shocking if only a single planet — Earth — had life. But our closest neighbors in the solar system, Mars and Venus, don't seem to have any life. Some moons of Saturn and Jupiter have water, so they could have life — most likely tiny creatures the size of germs. If Earthlings ever meet aliens face-to-face, they'll probably need a microscope to say hi.
Until scientists find some firm proof, such as a communication signal from an alien world or fossilized microbes from Mars, Earth remains the only planet where life is known to exist.
What might aliens look like?
What aliens would look like would depend on where they came from. For example, on the icy moons in our solar system (Jupiter's Ganymede and Europa, and Saturn's Enceladus), life could thrive around hydrothermal vents in the oceans under the ice. This life might look like the weird creatures of the deep ocean seen on Earth. There could be primitive microbes, like Earth's single-celled Archaea. There might be relatively simple creatures with many cells in their body, sort of like Earth's tube worms, which live off chemicals from the vent fluid.
Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago, and we think the first life existed by about 4.2 billion years ago. But life on Earth started simple and stayed that way for a long time. The first microbes that produced carbon evolved at least 3.7 billion years ago. (Carbon is an element that is a part of all known life.) But the kind of cells that gave rise to animals, plants and other complex life-forms didn't evolve until between 2.7 billion and 1.8 billion years ago. Life-forms made of many cells didn't show up until 600 million years ago. And modern humans came on the scene only around 300,000 years ago.
That means that, if other planets with life are like Earth, the time period in which they might host intelligent life (or even something as cuddly as a koala) is pretty brief. But there's a good chance that human life might overlap with microbial life on another planet.
Scientists do think that life on other planets would be driven by the same processes as it is on Earth, namely evolution. Changes to the environment drive living things to change, leading to new and more complex species. So a planet out in space that is like Earth and has been through many changes in its surface, rocks and climate would probably have complex life, too. In that case, aliens might face similar challenges and needs as here on Earth, and thus might evolve similar features. Eyes, for example, have evolved independently dozens of times on Earth, and they might evolve in life on other planets, too.
Superpowerful telescopes are allowing researchers to detect planets beyond our solar system that might host life. This image shows some exoplanets that might be similar to Earth (from left to right): Kepler-22b, Kepler-69c, Kepler-452b, Kepler-62f and Kepler-186f. Earth is on the far right.(Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech)
Where might aliens live?
Some scientists still hold out hope that life exists elsewhere in our solar system. If it does, it's probably on one of the these moons:
Ganymede: Jupiter's largest moon is bigger than Mercury and hides a giant ocean under its icy surface.
Europa: Another moon of Jupiter with an ice-bound ocean, Europa has liquid water, heat generated by the pull of Jupiter's gravity, and chemicals that are the building blocks of life.
Enceladus: This Saturn moon spews water vapor that contains carbon compounds from its surface. One of these compounds, hydrogen cyanide, is important for the origin of life.
Titan: This moon of Saturn is very cold, but it does have carbon-rich liquid on its surface. Any life found on Titan would have to thrive in conditions not seen on Earth.
Triton: Neptune's moon Triton is very, very cold, but it might have an ocean under its surface layer of ice. It also has geological activity in the form of geysers that erupt when the sun heats the nitrogen ice on the planet's surface.
And our next-door neighbor, Mars, may have hosted life in the past, because it used to have liquid water and an atmosphere. Today, any life would have to persist in deep pools of water below the Red Planet's surface.
Outside the solar system, scientists are continually discovering new exoplanets. They can learn things about these planets' atmospheres by studying the types of light waves they see using superpowerful telescopes. One promising exoplanet for life is called K2-18b. This world is too far for humans to visit, but the light from the planet has reached Earth. This light tells us the planet has an ocean. Scientists think they've detected some chemicals in K2-18b's atmosphere that could be made by marine life, but they don't know for sure.
How are scientists looking for aliens?
Scientists look for aliens in a few different ways.
First, they listen for alien signals. This is called "passive SETI," for "search for extraterrestrial intelligence." If aliens are smart like we are, their technology might send signals into the cosmos. On Earth, for example, all of the radio waves from our phones, satellites and TV station communications "leak" into space, and these leaking radio waves could be picked up if anyone were listening. So Earthlings use telescopes designed to pick up radio waves from space, hoping to find extraterrestrial signals.
That only works for tech-savvy aliens, though. Scientists also use light to look at the kinds of molecules that are present on far-off planets and moons. On Earth, some molecules are usually or always made by living things, so if those molecules are found elsewhere, they could be a sign of life. This kind of research lets scientists look for hints of life on exoplanets that are too far away to reach with a spacecraft.
Scientists also send spacecraft to the nearby places where life might exist. The Mars rovers, for example, collect rock samples that could contain evidence of fossilized ancient Martian microbes. (They haven't found any yet, but you never know!) NASA is planning to send a drone with propellers, called Dragonfly, to Saturn's moon Titan in 2028. Dragonfly would reach Titan by 2034 and search for chemicals tied to life. The European Space Agency would like to send a mission to Enceladus, also to search for signs of past or present life.
NASA's Kepler space telescope before it launched into orbit, trailing Earth around the sun. The telescope is one of the key tools astronomers use to discover exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system. (Image credit: NASA/KSC)
Are UFOs aliens?
Unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are things in the sky that aren't explained. The first modern UFO sighting goes back to 1947, when a U.S. fighter pilot reported seeing flying saucers in Washington. Not every UFO sighting can be explained, but many turn out to be events with an Earthly origin. For example, the famous "UFO crash" from Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947 was actually debris from an experimental military balloon that was supposed to pick up sound waves from atomic bomb tests in the Soviet Union.
More recently, strange videos have shown seemingly quick-moving, hovering objects. These "unidentified aerial phenomena" (UAPs) don't have an official explanation. However, they could be normal objects that seem to be moving quickly due to optical illusions, or things that aren't what they appear to be. The pilot who took the videos might have been seeing drones, weather balloons or even birds.
Any alien civilization with the kind of technology to build spacecraft has to be an enormous distance away, given that the closest exoplanet that has the right conditions for life is Proxima Centauri B, which is 24 trillion miles away. Proxima Centauri B isn't very close, and it might not have an atmosphere. So it might not have life at all, much less life that could travel to us. And we would need some seriously advanced way to get there: With current Earth technology, it would take 6,300 years for a spacecraft to travel from Earth to Proxima Centauri B.
In other words, no, UFOs probably aren't aliens. An alien civilization could send a spacecraft to our planet, but it would mean the aliens who sent it in the first place — and their kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, great-great-grandkids and so on — would probably be long dead before the craft reached us. So it's a lot more likely that UFO sightings are cases of mistaken identity.
Discover interesting facts about where alien life forms are likely to exist, and what they look like.
(Image credit: KTSDESIGN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via Getty Images)
4 Alien pictures
(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)The Golden RecordWhen NASA launched the Voyager spacecraft in 1977, they included these Golden Records, which contain images and sounds from Earth. These include greetings in 55 languages, music and pictures of life on Earth. The idea is that if aliens ever encountered them, they would understand what human culture was like.
(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/JHU-APL)Ancient Mars waterLandscapes like this one suggest Mars once had a wet surface. Here, a track cut by water in Jezero Crater ends in a fan of sediment that has likely been chemically changed by water.
(Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)Jupiter's moon EuropaJupiter's moon Europa might harbor life beneath its icy surface. This moon has a deep ocean beneath a shell of ice, and perhaps hydrothermal vents where life could evolve.
(Image credit: NASA/Ames Research Center/Daniel Rutter)Alien world?This artist's conception shows the exoplanet Kepler-1649c. This planet is similar to Earth in size and temperature and is in its star's habitable zone, the distance where liquid water could exist on the planet's surface.
A team of Harvard researchers established an observatory on top of the Sphere, a giant immersive entertainment venue in Las Vegas, in order to detect signs of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, or mysterious objects in the sky.
The observatory in Las Vegas is the third site for the Galileo Project, an initiative led by Harvard Astrophysics professor Abraham “Avi” Loeb to search for the potential existence of non-human made objects near Earth. Loeb announced the project in late October while speaking as a guest on podcast the Joe Rogan Experience.
“Hopefully, we will use it for science education, for public outreach, once again, to show the public that science can be exciting,” Loeb said. “My hope is that we can engage the public also in the analysis of the data.”
The observatories — located in Las Vegas, Cambridge and Pennsylvania — use visible and infrared light cameras to continuously monitor the sky. Using the observations, researchers can triangulate detected objects, calculating metrics such as its velocity and acceleration.The team also uses machine learning tools to help identify and classify the detected objects.
“So that will be the real fun, what kind of objects we find there,” Loeb said. “Of course, we are looking for the anomalous objects, the outliers. Anything that is made by humans is boring as far as I’m concerned.”
The project began when two executives in the entertainment industry, including the CEO of the Sphere, visited Loeb in his home and offered the Sphere’s rooftop as the location for an observatory. According to Loeb, the pair was inspired by his 2024 TedTalk titled “My Search for Proof Aliens Exist.”
Loeb is most excited for the prospect of identifying UAPs because of its potential to change “the future of humanity.”
“My hope is that if we find evidence for extraterrestrial intelligence, that it will convince us to cooperate, because we are all members of the human species,” Loeb said.
“I hope it will bring humanity to a better place, because we will change our priorities,” he added. “Instead of investing $2.4 trillion every year in military budgets, we might invest a similar amount of money in space exploration once we realize that there are some gadgets that enter the solar system from outside.
Even if the observatories do not identify anything other than human made technology, Loeb said the project will still be useful.
“The same sensors and software could be used for national security, so it will be helpful for the defense of the country in general,” Loeb said. “We are not wasting time in the sense of developing something that nobody would use.”
As of November, the observatory is operational and gathering data.
The research has garnered popular interest. Late last month, Alex Malycke, NASCAR racecar driver interested in Loeb’s work, featured Loeb and The Galileo Project logo on the hood of his car.
Loeb said that by communicating the scientific process to the public instead of just “what they need to know,” attracts people’s interest in research.
“I present it, not as a complete product that you just deliver to the public, but it’s the process of learning based on data, and in the fact that we don’t know in advance, and sometimes we make mistakes,” he said. “It’s like a detective story, as long as you enjoy the process of learning — and then the public seems to connect to that.”
UFOs orbiting Earth before our first satellite found in photos from the 1950s
Unexplained flashes were mjch more likely to show up the day after nuclear weapons tests
BY Daniel Smith
UFOs might have been spotted in orbit 70 years ago
(Getty Images)
Evidence of UFOs visiting Earth may have been discovered in a study of a treasure trove of photos of the night sky from the 1950s.
Scientists have been examining images taken before the beginning of the Space Age and have discovered mysterious flashes of light that appear in one image and then vanish in the next.
Studies suggest that some of those blips may be sunlight bouncing off flat, reflective objects high above Earth, years beforeRussialaunched the first satellite, Sputnik.
The research comes from the VASCO project (Vanishing and Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations), led by Beatriz Villarroel of Nordita at Stockholm University.
Her team pored over pre–Space Age photographic plates from California’s Palomar Observatory (1951–1957), hunting for 'transients' - points of light that appear once and never again.
Transients studied by the VASCO project
What they found is eyebrow‑raising. After sifting more than 100,000 candidates, the team reports:
The unexplained flashes were 68% more likely to show up the day after an atmospheric nuclear weapons test than on other days
The number of transients rose in step with reported UFO (now 'UAP') sightings - by roughly 8.5% per sighting, on average
Several flashes occurred in narrow lines, as if from moving, mirror‑like surfaces catching the Sun -with far fewer flashes where Earth’s shadow would block sunlight
One case lined up with the famed 'flying saucer' cluster over Washington DC on July 27, 1952. The pattern, researchers say, fits flat, highly reflective objects in high orbit - not round space rocks or dust, which would streak during Palomar’s 50‑minute exposures.
The plates pre‑date Sputnik in 19657, so if these were glints from orbit, they weren’t from human‑made satellites.
That has led the authors to float a few possibilities: unknown reflective objects in high Earth orbit, some UAP operating in space as well as air, or a still‑mysterious atmospheric effect linked to nuclear detonations that somehow produced next‑day flashes seen from Palomar.
Exclusive: Doctor describes face-to-face contact with live alien - NewsNation
NewsNation published an exclusive interview on Thursday in which a medical professional claims to have had a direct, face‑to‑face encounter with a living extraterrestrial entity. The doctor, who asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons, described the meeting as occurring during a routine night shift at a rural hospital in the Midwest. According to the interview, the being entered the emergency department through an unseen opening, stood approximately five feet tall, and communicated through a series of gestures and low‑frequency sounds that the doctor interpreted as an attempt at peaceful interaction. The physician said the encounter lasted roughly three minutes before the entity vanished without a trace.
In the interview, the doctor recounted that the alien’s appearance was “humanoid in silhouette but unlike any human anatomy I have ever seen.” The being’s skin was described as a smooth, iridescent gray, and its eyes were large, almond‑shaped, and appeared to emit a faint, pulsing light. The physician noted that the creature did not display any overt aggression; instead, it seemed to be observing the surrounding medical equipment before moving toward a vacant stretch of floor, where it halted and raised a hand in what the doctor interpreted as a sign of farewell. “I felt an overwhelming sense of calm, as if the presence was trying to reassure me that it meant no harm,” the doctor said, adding that no physical evidence—such as footprints or residue—remained after the encounter.
The doctor’s credentials, verified through the state medical board, include board certification in emergency medicine and a ten‑year tenure at the hospital in question. The physician has not previously spoken publicly about UFO or UAP phenomena, and the interview marks the first time they have disclosed the experience. NewsNation contacted the hospital’s administration for comment; a spokesperson confirmed that the doctor works there but declined to discuss the alleged incident, citing patient privacy and ongoing internal review. The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Task Force was also notified, and a statement from the agency indicated that the report would be logged and evaluated in line with standard procedures for civilian sightings.
Experts in aerospace and scientific skepticism have urged caution. Dr. Laura Chen, a senior researcher at the SETI Institute, said, “Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. A single anecdotal account, even from a reputable professional, must be corroborated by physical data or independent witnesses before it can be considered credible.” Former Pentagon UAP program director Luis Elizondo echoed this sentiment, noting that “the most compelling cases we have seen involve radar returns, multiple sensor recordings, or corroborated visual accounts. A solitary visual encounter, without supporting instrumentation, remains difficult to verify.” Conversely, some ufologists view the testimony as a potential breakthrough, pointing to the growing number of credible witnesses—pilots, astronauts, and now a physician—who report close‑range observations.
The interview arrives amid heightened public and governmental interest in unidentified aerial phenomena. In recent months, the Department of Defense released additional declassified videos, and Congress approved a $250 million budget for a permanent UAP investigative office. Public opinion polls show that roughly two‑thirds of Americans now believe that some UAP sightings may involve technology beyond current human capabilities. Whether the doctor’s account will add substantive weight to the ongoing debate depends on the outcome of the pending investigation and any physical evidence that might surface. For now, the story underscores the challenge of moving UFO discourse from anecdote to empirical inquiry, a transition that researchers say is essential for any scientific assessment of potential extraterrestrial contact.
Meer van UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
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