A fast–moving creature has been filmed rising and sinking out of Loch Ness – sparking excitement that it could be the Loch Ness monster.  

Sasha Lake, 31, was standing on the banks of the loch on 1 March at around 6pm, when he spotted something moving in the water. 

The mysterious object was moving at incredible speed against the waves – and luckily Mr Lake had his phone at the ready to capture it on camera. 

'I was excited and intrigued. I only stopped filming because it went out of view,' he said. 

Mr Lake, from Bath, showed the footage to Alan McKenna, the leader of Loch Ness Exploration, who claims there is 'no animal that we know of in Loch Ness that can reach this speed.'

While its identity remains unclear, this is the first possible sighting of the Loch Ness monster this year. 

It comes after the monster, nicknamed 'Nessie', was 'spotted' five times in 2025, according to the The Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register. 

A fast–moving creature has been filmed rising and sinking out of Loch Ness – sparking excitement that it could be the Loch Ness monster

Sasha Lake, 31, was standing on the banks of the loch on 1 March at around 6pm, when he spotted something moving out of the water

The mythical creature has been a staple feature of Scottish folklore for centuries, but gained worldwide attention in 1933, when the first photo was snapped.

'I was there with the mystery in mind, of course, but there are so many aspects of Loch Ness that interest me,' Mr Lake said.

'But the potential of possibly experiencing something unusual is always in my thoughts, and part of the excitement.

'I always have my phone ready in my pocket. I'm not as easily fooled by things I see on the surface these days, so this really was an interesting experience.'

After seeing the movement on the surface of the water with his own eyes, he was even more shocked and excited to have captured it on video.

'I was incredibly intrigued, I was excited about the possibility that what I was filming and seeing was something out of the ordinary,' Mr Lake said.

'The way it moved, and the quickness of it, made me think, okay, alright, I definitely think this is something a little bit odd.

'There was a lot going through my mind.

After seeing the movement on the surface of the water with his own eyes, he was even more shocked and excited to have captured it on video

'I was just observing it and just thinking, right, I have a strong feeling that this could be something unusual, and I should film this.'

Freaked out, Mr Lake added: 'I stood there for a moment, processing what I had just experienced.

'I sat down, and tried to think of anything that could explain this, and I simply couldn't think of anything.

'I was in a state of confusion. I feel there is a strong possibility that I have filmed something unknown in Loch Ness. It has people scratching their heads.'

Mr McKenna, who runs the independent research group, Loch Ness Exploration said the speed of the object is what stands out to him the most. 

 'The first thing that jumps out straight away is the speed. You can definitely see the wash its creating at the head of the wake,' he explained.

'Hand on heart there's no obvious candidate for what it could be. It is far too fast for a seal, it's not a swimmer or kayaker, definitely not wind turbulence either.

'There's no animal that we know of in Loch Ness that can reach this speed.

'I think it's a really intriguing piece of footage. It's mad. There is definitely something there.'

READ MORE

• Nessie, is that you? Loch Ness Monster has been 'spotted' FIVE times this year, official records show

Shaun Sloggie, who works for cruise Loch Ness in Fort Augustus, was equally intrigued by the footage – particularly the fact the object appears to be moving against the waves.

'Whatever it is, it's moving fast and it's moving against the wind and waves,' Mr Slogie said.

And it must be pretty big making a wave like that.'

What IS the Loch Ness Monster?

Rumours of a strange creature living in the waters of Loch Ness have abounded over the decades, yet scant evidence has been found to back up these claims.

One of the first sightings, believed to have fuelled modern Nessie fever, came in May 2, 1933.  

On this date the Inverness Courier carried a story about a local couple who claim to have seen 'an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface'.

Another famous claimed sighting is a photograph taken in 1934 by Colonel Robert Kenneth Wilson.

It was later exposed as a hoax by one of the participants, Chris Spurling, who, on his deathbed, revealed that the pictures were staged.

Other sightings James Gray's picture from 2001 when he and friend Peter Levings were out fishing on the Loch, while namesake Hugh Gray's blurred photo of what appears to be a large sea creature was published in the Daily Express in 1933.

Robert Kenneth Wilson, a London physician, captured arguably the most famous image of the Loch Ness Monster. The surgeon’s photograph was published in the Daily Mail on April 21, 1934 - however it was later proven to be a fake 

The first reported sighting of the monster is said to have been made in AD565 by the Irish missionary St Columba when he came across a giant beast in the River Ness.

But no one has ever come up with a satisfactory explanation for the sightings - although in 2019, 'Nessie expert' Steve Feltham, who has spent 24 years watching the Loch, said he thought it was actually a giant Wels Catfish, native to waters near the Baltic and Caspian seas in Europe.

An online register lists more than 1,000 total Nessie sightings, created by Mr Campbell, the man behind the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club and is available at www.lochnesssightings.com. 

So what could explain these mysterious sightings? 

Many Nessie witnesses have mentioned large, crocodile-like scutes sitting atop the spine of the creature, leading some to believe an escaped amphibian may be to blame.

Native fish sturgeons can also weigh several hundred pounds and have ridged backs, which make them look almost reptilian.

Some believe Nessie is a long-necked plesiosaur - like an elasmosaur - that survived somehow when all the other dinosaurs were wiped out.

Others say the sightings are down to Scottish pines dying and flopping into the loch, before quickly becoming water-logged and sinking.

While submerged, botanical chemicals start trapping tiny bubbles of air.

Eventually, enough of these are gathered to propel the log upward as deep pressures begin altering its shape, giving the appearance of an animal coming up for air.

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

23-03-2026 om 17:00 geschreven door peter  

Yes, there really is a massive “gravity hole” under the ice, known as the Antarctic Geoid Low (AGL). It’s one of the most extreme gravitational anomalies on Earth.

Instead, it’s a region where Earth’s gravitational pull is slightly weaker than average. Because of this, the planet’s “gravity surface”, called the geoid — dips by about 120 meters compared to the global norm. This subtle dip influences ocean behavior, sea level measurements, and even how ice sheets evolve over time. 

Recent research, including studies published in Scientific Reports, has helped scientists better understand what’s causing it. The answer lies deep within Earth, far below the Antarctic ice. XX Over tens of millions of years, slow-moving currents in the mantle, the layer beneath Earth’s crust, have shifted dense material around the planet. These movements, including sinking tectonic slabs, reduce mass in certain regions. Less mass means weaker gravity. 

Models suggest this anomaly has existed for at least 70 million years, dating back to the age of dinosaurs. It became significantly more pronounced between 50 and 30 million years ago, a period that also saw major climate shifts and the formation of Antarctica’s massive ice sheets. And importantly, it’s still evolving today, just at an incredibly slow pace. 

A weak-gravity region under Antarctica may have evolved alongside major climate changes, hinting that Earth’s deep interior could shape sea level and ice-sheet growth in unexpected ways.

Credit: Shutterstock

This isn’t guesswork. Scientists used global earthquake data, advanced physics simulations, and reconstructions of Earth’s interior to map the anomaly with increasing precision. 

Researchers used a computer model to discover that the gravity hole was weaker around 70 million years ago (left) but was becoming stronger 40 million years ago (right)

Scientific Reports

That being said, Antarctica does remain one of the most restricted and least explored places on Earth. Protected zones, such as the Antarctic Treaty System. Given that scientists now acknowledge the existence of a massive gravity anomaly, it raises questions about whether it could be linked to the hollow Earth theory, and prompts us to wonder what might truly lie hidden beneath the ice, beyond what is currently revealed to the public

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

23-03-2026 om 16:35 geschreven door peter  

Interpreting the Wheel of Ghosts

Existing interpretations have diverged in their explanations of what the Wheel of Ghosts meant to the people who built it. Those explanations run the gamut of what is generally assumed of these mysterious ancient sites: a ceremonial space, a burial mound, or an astronomical observatory.

However, these interpretations all relied on a major assumption that has proven false: that the Wheel of Ghosts is unique to the area.

That basic assumption has now been turned on its head by an international multidisciplinary team of physicists and archaeologists. Their work was rooted in remote sensing, a broad category of tools that have allowed archaeologists to view areas at broad scales, and even image beneath the ground. While such technologies have long existed, their increased adoption among archaeologists has led to major discoveries in the last two decades.

The Satellite View

Data for the research came from archives containing multiple satellite imagery platforms, including Google Earth Pro and CNES/Airbus. These archives held two decades of imagery captured between 2004 and 2024, providing multiple observations of the same regions over the years. Processing those images and then performing a comparative analysis helped the team to uncover these new sites.

Through AI processing, obscuring features like shadows and seasonal vegetation were mitigated, revealing features otherwise impossible to discern. These included signs of ancient human intervention, along with other notable landscape features, which were typically obscured. The team noted that this is a major boon to archaeology, alleviating the need for expensive, time-consuming expeditions to regions that may contain nothing of interest.

In the AI-processed imagery, researchers uncovered new sites resembling the wheel of Ghosts.

Credit: A. Kleiner

Uncovering Further Wheel of Ghosts-Like Sites

During their research, the team was shocked to find 28 sites resembling the Wheel of Ghosts, all of which had remained hidden in the area. These large, round structures shared many of the characteristics with Rujm El-Hiri and were all situated within a tight 16-mile radius of the site.

Amid the new discoveries, the Wheel of Ghosts remains singular in terms of its quality. Other sites were smaller, less elaborate, and more heavily degraded. This is likely why they remained undetected for almost six decades after the Wheel of Ghosts was first identified by modern archaeologists.

One of the primary impediments to clearly understanding the original site and these additional newly discovered structures is the broad time range archaeologists attribute to the original’s construction. This makes it difficult to determine exactly which group of people inhabited the area at the time, further clouding what these structures may have been intended for.

Intriguingly, while there seems to be a clear group of similar structures in this region, sites farther away in Galilee and Lebanon also resemble the Wheel of Ghosts in the new research. Tying together all of these sites, both near and far, will now require extensive on-the-ground research to determine if they were all occupied by a single culture

The paper, “Reassessing Rujm El-Hiri: Aerial Imagery and Stone Circles in the Proto-Historic Southern Levant,” appeared in PLOS One on March 18, 2026.

• Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.

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

22-03-2026 om 23:00 geschreven door peter  

“Many eyewitnesses in the state of Texas have filed reports on the American Meteor Society website of a bright fireball,” a NASA statement read. “The meteor was also detected by the Geostationary Lightning Mappers on the GOES satellites.”

Officials said the object became visible as it reached an altitude of about 49 miles above Stagecoach, which lies outside Houston to the northwest.

Before breaking apart approximately 29 miles above Bammel, Texas, the object reached speeds of 35,000 miles per hour, causing a loud boom reported by many in the region as the object streaked through the skies toward the southeast.

“The disintegration of the asteroidal fragment—which weighed about a ton with a diameter of 3 feet—unleashed an energy of 26 tons of TNT,” NASA’s statement read, “creating a pressure wave that propagated to the ground and causing the booms heard by some in the area.”

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

22-03-2026 om 22:12 geschreven door peter  

UFOs Landed In The Brazil Jungle, Google Earth Map! UFO UAP Sighting News.

Date of discovery: March 10, 2026

Location of discovery: Brazil jungle

Google coordinates: -25.152750, -49.407833

 

There are two hidden UFOs in the jungle of Brazil. One round and one triangle shaped. The round UFO has a very mechanical look to it with its arms and dark long windows between each arm. The triangle UFO is also unique in that it has a wing structure and tail wings. Now many UFO reports and videos have been coming out of Brazil this last twelve months and each one back this up...that UFOs land in the jungle forest in locations inaccessible to humans. These are rare catches, and I used google earth history to see they were not there a year before. Two UFOs which look like they are landed, not crashed. Two intact...alien craft...just sitting there...so the people on board could exit, explore and research the existing plants, animals, etc. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan 

 

 

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

22-03-2026 om 21:57 geschreven door peter  

While Searching The Bermuda Triangle For Lost Aircraft, History Channel Made A Tragic Discovery – And Contacted NASA To Confirm

Divers were searching the Bermuda Triangle for lost WWII planes when they found an odd – and clearly human-made – artifact buried in sand on the ocean floor.

 James Felton - Senior Staff Writer 

While exploring its natural habitat – the Bermuda Triangle – in 2022, History Channel stumbled across an intriguing piece of material, prompting them to contact NASA for further analysis.

Intrigue surrounding the Bermuda Triangle, a loosely-defined area of ocean between Florida, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda, can largely be traced back to an incident in 1945, known as "Flight 19".

On 5 December 1945, five TBM Avenger torpedo bombers carrying 14 men were participating in a mock bombing run in the Bahamas, a training exercise for student pilots.

In the second leg of the exercise, the team ran into some unusual trouble. In intercepted radio messages, one student pilot could be heard asking a crew member for a compass reading.

"I don’t know where we are," they could be heard replying. "We must have gotten lost after that last turn."

U.S. Navy Lieutenant Charles Carroll Taylor, an experienced pilot leading the flight, was later heard confirming similar issues to another pilot.

"Both my compasses are out, and I am trying to find Fort Lauderdale, Florida," he said in the recordings. "I am over land, but it’s broken. I am sure I’m in the Keys, but I don’t know how far down and I don’t know how to get to Fort Lauderdale."

That pilot urged Taylor to use the Sun, putting it on the port side, and the coastline to navigate their way back to Fort Lauderdale, but for reasons unknown, the advice was ignored.

{ https://www.iflscience.com/space-and-physics }

22-03-2026 om 21:45 geschreven door peter  

Story by Rafael Clemente

 

The idea of ​​sending that expedition to the Moon arose in the summer of 1968. It was a proposal put forward by George Low, head of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office. The program envisioned a first flight of the main capsule around the Earth in October of that year; this would be followed by another, also orbital, which would include the lunar module. But the lunar module wouldn’t be ready until spring, which would delay the entire program, jeopardizing John F. Kennedy’s goal: “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade.”

Meanwhile, U.S. spy satellites had located the Russian N-1 super rocket (the equivalent of Wernher Von Braun’s Saturn V) installed at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It might not yet be operational, but what was certain was that, using smaller Proton rockets, the Soviet Union could launch a Soyuz-type capsule on a circumlunar trajectory. It wouldn’t be a lunar landing attempt, but the propaganda impact would be immense.

The 'Apollo 8' crew (from left to right): James Lovell, William Anders and Frank Borman.

© Heritage Images (Heritage Space/Heritage Images via Getty Images)

Low sent his proposal to NASA’s top brass. If the first crewed Apollo flight was successful, the next one would be to our satellite. No lunar module. Just go, orbit a few times, and return.

The first manned mission, Apollo 7, was a success. A mixed bag, since all three astronauts caught colds that put them in a foul mood throughout the flight. This, combined with their exasperation at ground control’s constant changes and expansions to the experiment program, eventually erupted in the first mutiny aboard a spacecraft. None of the three ever flew again. But that’s another story.

• Related video: NASA is one step closer to re-sending astronauts to orbit the moon (WFAA-TV Dallas/Ft. Worth)

Thus, in November 1968, NASA officially announced the change of plans. Apollo 8, with its three crew members — Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders — would go to the Moon, taking advantage of the next launch window in December. They would spend Christmas where no human being had ever been before. There was a sense of urgency. By then, the USSR had sent two capsules on the same trajectory. They carried no people, but they did have a small menagerie: a couple of tortoises, flies, earthworms, plants, seeds, and bacterial cultures. These were the first living beings to visit the vicinity of our satellite.

The 'Apollo 8' astronauts at Cape Kennedy, Florida, on December 21, 1968.

© Bettmann

(Getty Images)

In retrospect, the Apollo 8 flight was an extremely high-risk endeavor. Almost reckless. Without a lunar lander, the command module was entirely dependent on its maneuvering engine both to enter lunar orbit and to break out of orbit and return to Earth. There was no alternative. In all likelihood, any catastrophe along the way would have been fatal.

When, years later, Apollo 13 suffered an oxygen tank explosion, the crew was able to survive by converting their lunar module into a kind of lifeboat. The engine that was supposed to allow them to land on the Moon was used to maneuver them into a safe return trajectory to Earth (a trajectory very similar to that planned for Artemis 2). And it was by using up their reserves of air, water, and electricity that they were able to complete the journey.

Artemis 2 faces a similar problem: it also won’t have a lunar lander. This is the responsibility of SpaceX, Elon Musk’s company, and it’s still unknown when it will first fly. The contract with NASA requires demonstrating a successful descent and subsequent takeoff from the Moon under automated control before entrusting it with human passengers. That should happen in 2028, so time is of the essence.

View of the Moon taken during NASA's 'Apollo 8' mission in December 1968.© Interim Archives

(Getty Images)

NASA didn’t want to take the same risks as in 1968, especially with a new spacecraft that has only flown once without a crew. That’s why Artemis 2 won’t orbit the Moon. It will simply follow a figure-eight trajectory, passing high above the far side before heading back. Even if all propulsion systems failed, the return would be guaranteed from the very first minute. For NASA, that’s the most important thing.

And what will the astronauts do during the journey? Essentially, thoroughly test all the onboard systems, from the cameras and the computer for star navigation (the Apollo missions made do with a sextant and a computer with 38K of memory) to the new toilet built into the cabin floor, complete with a door to ensure some privacy. Half a century ago, astronauts only had plastic bags and had to trust that their colleagues would look the other way while they used them.

Specifically, the astronauts will practice the approach and formation flight with the rocket’s final stage. This is a preparatory exercise for what their Artemis 3 colleagues will have to do, but this time to dock with the lunar lander. It’s a routine maneuver, both in manual and automatic modes: the Soyuz and Dragon capsules perform it every time they have to deliver new crews to the International Space Station. But for the Artemis 2 Orion spacecraft, it’s a first.

'Apollo 8,' the first manned mission to lunar orbit, departing from Earth.

© Corbis (Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)

After all, NASA still remembers the problems that plagued another newly designed capsule — Boeing’s Starliner — in 2024 during its first attempt to dock with the International Space Station. Five of the 28 positional control engines failed, partly due to unexpected helium leaks and corrosion of the fuel valves. It was later discovered that the culprit had been ambient humidity while the rocket was on the launch pad.

The astronauts will serve as guinea pigs, and not just during the flight. For six months, the four have been providing blood, saliva, and urine samples to be compared with those obtained during and after the journey. The idea is to conduct a study of immune biomarkers. They have also provided bone marrow samples, which have been implanted in small, pen-sized devices to see how tissues respond to radiation and microgravity. And during the flight, their sleep, circadian rhythm, stress levels, and mood will be monitored. The attention to their mood is certainly intriguing. Not everyone has the opportunity to travel through space to contemplate, for a few hours, the side of the Moon that no one else sees.

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22-03-2026 om 21:14 geschreven door peter  

Key takeaways

De Amerikaanse luchtmacht versnelt de productie van de Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider stealthbommenwerper, de opvolger van de verouderde B-2 Spirit. Al bijna drie decennia lang vormt de B-2 een hoeksteen van de Amerikaanse nucleaire triade. Hoewel de vliegtuigen nog steeds operationeel zijn, naderen ze hun pensioen en moeten ze worden vervangen door een even geavanceerde bommenwerper.

B-21 Raider

Wikicommons

Verbeterde capaciteiten

De B-21, die al in de inventaris van de Amerikaanse luchtmacht is opgenomen met ten minste twee geleverde testvliegtuigen, belooft de wereldwijde aanvalscapaciteiten van de luchtmacht aanzienlijk te verbeteren. Hoewel het uiterlijk doet denken aan de B-2, zijn er belangrijke verschillen, zoals minder motoren en een kleinere voetafdruk.

Omdat het Ministerie van Luchtmacht de dringende behoefte aan de B-21 inziet, heeft het onlangs een overeenkomst gesloten met Northrop Grumman om de productie met ongeveer 25 procent te verhogen. Deze versnelling heeft tot doel de bommenwerpers sneller te leveren dan oorspronkelijk gepland, zodat er in de nabije toekomst een groter aantal gevechtsklaar is.

Budgettaire gevolgen

Het versnelde schema beperkt ook mogelijke budgetoverschrijdingen door meer vliegtuigen binnen een korter tijdsbestek te leveren. Het initiatief vereist 4,5 miljard dollar (3,9 miljard euro) extra, wat al eerder is goedgekeurd onder de Reconciliation Act voor het boekjaar 2025.

Het B-21-programma heeft zich grotendeels aan het oorspronkelijke tijdschema en budget gehouden. Dat is opvallend in vergelijking met andere Amerikaanse militaire projecten, die vaak kampen met vertragingen en kostenoverschrijdingen. Het valt nog te bezien of de versnelde levering invloed zal hebben op dit positieve trackrecord. (jv)

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22-03-2026 om 20:46 geschreven door peter  

Alle letters van DNA en RNA aangetroffen in Ryugu-stof

Yorick La Rivière - Redacteur astronomie/ruimtevaart & Moderator Disqus

In stof van de asteroïde Ryugu zijn alle vijf nucleobasen gevonden: de chemische letters van DNA en RNA. De vondst versterkt het idee dat de ingrediënten voor leven wijdverspreid waren in het vroege zonnestelsel en mogelijk via ruimterotsen op aarde zijn beland.

Wetenschappers hebben in stof van de asteroïde (ook: planetoïde) Ryugu iets bijzonders gevonden. Eerder werd in monsters van Ryugu al uracil gevonden, maar nu blijkt dat ook de andere vier nucleobasen aanwezig zijn.

In de monsters die de Japanse Hayabusa2-missie in 2020 naar de aarde bracht, zijn nu alle vijf de fundamentele nucleobasen aangetoond: adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine en uracil. Dat zijn de chemische bouwstenen die samen de letters van DNA en RNA vormen. Volgens de onderzoekers laat dat zien dat belangrijke ingrediënten voor leven niet alleen op aarde voorkomen.

Deze ontdekking, gepubliceerd in Nature Astronomy, toont aan dat de chemische ingrediënten voor DNA en RNA niet alleen op aarde voorkomen, maar waarschijnlijk algemeen aanwezig waren in het vroege zonnestelsel.

Wat zijn nucleobasen eigenlijk?

Nucleobasen zijn de stikstofhoudende moleculen die de ‘letters’ vormen in de genetische code. In DNA werken adenine, guanine, cytosine en thymine; in RNA wordt thymine vervangen door uracil. Samen met suikers en fosfaten vormen ze nucleotiden, de bouwstenen van DNA en RNA. Zonder deze basen zou de blauwdruk voor groei, voortplanting en evolutie simpelweg niet bestaan.

De onderzoekers analyseerden twee monsters van het oppervlak van Ryugu en vonden in beide de volledige set. Het ene monster bevatte zelfs ongeveer drie keer zo veel van deze organische moleculen als het andere. Omdat de monsters rechtstreeks van Ryugu naar de aarde zijn gebracht en niet eerst door de aardse atmosfeer zijn gegaan, is de kans op vervuiling praktisch nihil. Daardoor leveren de monsters bijzonder sterk bewijs dat zulke moleculen ook buiten de aarde kunnen ontstaan.

Elke asteroïde heeft zijn eigen chemie

Opvallend genoeg is de chemische samenstelling van Ryugu niet identiek aan die van andere bekende ruimterotsen. In de Murchison-meteoriet, die in 1969 in Australië insloeg, zitten relatief veel purines (adenine en guanine). Daarentegen bevatten asteroïde Bennu en de meteoriet Orgueil (Frankrijk, 1864) juist meer pyrimidines (cytosine, thymine en uracil). Ryugu laat een meer evenwichtige verdeling zien. Dat wijst erop dat deze objecten elk een andere chemische en evolutionaire geschiedenis hebben doorgemaakt.

De onderzoekers denken dat ammoniak daarbij een belangrijke rol kan hebben gespeeld, al gaat het nog om een hypothese en niet om sluitend bewijs.

Een kosmisch verhaal van leven

Ryugu is een donkere, brokstukkenhoop van ongeveer 900 meter groot die behoort tot de zeldzame Cb-type asteroïden – rijk aan koolstof. Hij wordt gezien als een overblijfsel van het vroege zonnestelsel, ruim 4,5 miljard jaar oud. De monsters vertellen een fascinerend verhaal: ze bevatten sporen van vloeibaar water, aminozuren en zelfs vitamine B3, naast nu dus de complete set nucleobasen.

Deze opeenstapeling van vondsten maakt het steeds aannemelijker dat koolstofrijke asteroïden als Ryugu een soort tijdcapsules zijn waarin chemische ingrediënten uit het vroege zonnestelsel bewaard zijn gebleven. Dat zulke bouwstenen van DNA en RNA blijkbaar op meerdere plekken in het zonnestelsel konden ontstaan, zet ook het verhaal van ons eigen ontstaan in een groter kosmisch perspectief.

Met de vondst van alle vijf nucleobasen op Ryugu is een belangrijke mijlpaal bereikt. Het toont aan dat de moleculaire ‘letters’ van het leven niet alleen op aarde bestonden, maar wijdverbreid waren in de ruimte. Het verhaal van het leven op onze planeet is daarmee onlosmakelijk verbonden met de chemie van oeroude asteroïden die de bouwstenen miljarden jaren geleden mogelijk op veel plekken hebben afgeleverd. 

• Schrijf je in voor de nieuwsbrief! Ook elke dag vers het laatste wetenschapsnieuws in je inbox? Of elke week? Schrijf je hier in voor de nieuwsbrief!

Uitgelezen? Luister ook eens naar de Scientias Podcast: 

Bronmateriaal

• "A complete set of canonical nucleobases in the carbonaceous asteroid (162173) Ryugu" - Nature Astronomy
  
• Afbeelding bovenaan dit artikel: Ryugu gefotografeerd door Hayabusa2, net voor landing in 2018. Foto: MASCOT/DLR /JAXA

Laatst aangepast op: 19 maart 2026

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{ https://scientias.nl/nieuws/astronomie-ruimtevaart/ }

22-03-2026 om 13:29 geschreven door peter  

Rare 'daytime fireball' meteor creates powerful sonic boom as 7-ton space rock explodes above eastern US

A hefty meteor exploded in the daytime skies over Ohio shortly after entering Earth's atmosphere on March 17. This photo, taken in Pennsylvania, shows the smoke trail leftover by the "fireball."

(Image credit: megan b. via AMS)

An extremely rare "daytime fireball" meteor was recently spotted streaking across sunny blue skies over the eastern U.S. after a fridge-size space rock exploded and triggered a powerful sonic boom. The unusual event, which was also visible from space, may have rained tiny meteorite fragments across the local area, experts say.

The 6-foot-wide (1.8 meters) asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere on Tuesday (March 17), at approximately 8:57 a.m. EDT, and began to burn up in the skies over Lake Erie in northern Ohio at a speed of around 40,000 mph (64,400 km/h), according to a NASA report. The flaming space rock, which weighed around 7 tons (6.4 metric tons), then broke apart around 30 miles (48 kilometers) above the town of Valley City near Akron, creating a bright flash that lasted for up to seven seconds.

Multiple eyewitnesses and security cameras recorded the explosion, and at least 200 people — from states including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Wisconsin, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia, as well as part

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Several people along the meteor's path reported hearing a loud bang coming from the sky, which was later confirmed to be a sonic boom from the fragmenting space rock, according to a post on the social platform X by the Cleveland branch of the National Weather Service.

The streaking fireball was also visible from space and was caught on camera by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) GOES-19 weather satellite, which orbits Earth at an altitude of around 22,000 miles (35,500 km), Live Science's sister site Space.com reported.

Fireball meteors occur when falling space rocks are superheated due to high levels of friction from the surrounding air, according to AMS. This eventually causes the object to break apart, which creates a bright flash of light.

These explosions can be extremely powerful. The latest fireball, for example, likely exploded with the equivalent force of 250 tons (227 metric tons) of TNT and unleashed pressure waves that "may have shook houses" on the ground, according to the NASA report.

{ https://www.livescience.com/space/astronomy/meteoroids }

21-03-2026 om 23:33 geschreven door peter