Aliens Or Not, There's Still A Lot To Discover In NASA's Kepler Data

This week, the internet worked itself into a frenzy over the possibility that we’ve found an alien megastructure. But whether or not there’s a Dyson sphere buried in the Kepler data, the discovery of a strange, flickering star is very interesting.

Indeed, it points to an entirely new use for the spectral data on 150,000-odd stars that NASA’s Kepler mission spent four years acquiring: Finding and studying really weird astronomical phenomena.

Aliens?!

If you missed the latest alien hysteria, here’s the gist: A thousand light years from Earth in the direction of the Cygnus constellation, a star known as KIC 846285 is behaving in an extraordinary manner. The star flashes and fades, light a lightbulb on a dimmer switch. On several occasions during our four years observing it, its light output dipped by over 20%.

It doesn’t look at all like the planetary transit events Kepler was built to detect — these will cause a star to dim periodically, by about 1% at most. As far as astronomers can tell, there’s nothing else like KIC 846285 in the Kepler database.
Aliens or Not, There's Still A Lot to Discover In NASA's Kepler Data

Dips in KIC 846285’s brightness over a 1500 day observational period. The bottom two panels are blown-up versions of the top one centered around day 800 and 1500. Image via Boyajian et al.

In a paper released on arXiv, a research team led by Tabby Boyajian proposes a number of natural explanations for the star’s light signature, including giant sunspots, epic clouds of cosmic dust, and a massive collision between two planet-sized objects. All of these scenarios are problematic for one reason or another. The most likely story is that a “family of exocomet fragments” were swept into orbit around KIC 8462582 when another star zipped close by.

Then there’s the unnatural explanation: Aliens. As astronomer Jason Wright explains in a forthcoming paper, KIC 8462852’s light pattern could be consistent with a “swarm of megastructures” built by an alien civilisation to harness the star’s energy. Wright, Boyajian, and UC Berkeley SETI director Andrew Siemion are now proposing that we point a massive radio dish at the star, to hunt for the technobabble of an advanced society.

“I’m still stumped about what could be going on,” Wright told me in an email. “But something is clearly orbiting the star, and whatever they are, they are very large and have complex shapes.”

A New Use For Kepler?

Whether or not the alien explanation holds water — and we should bear in mind that every time researchers have cried aliens in the past, they have been wrong — the fact that KIC 8462852 has piqued the interest of SETI is, in itself, interesting.

The Kepler mission was designed to stare unblinking at a fixed point in the sky, hunting for the tiny shadows of planets transiting across stars. And it’s done a beautiful job. To date, Kepler has uncovered over 4100 planetary candidates and 1000 confirmed exoplanets. Extrapolating from its small cosmic census, astronomers have reached an astounding conclusion.

Artist’s impression of a planet encircling Gliese 667Cb. Image Credit: ESO/L. Calçada

“We have learned most stars have planets, that Earth sized planets are common, and a good fraction are in the habitable zone of their star,” lead Kepler investigator Bill Borucki said at an exoplanet conference I attended this past May. “And when you put the numbers together: 100 billion stars, 10 per cent with Earth-sized planets, 10 per cent stars like the sun, that’s a billion Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone of stars like the sun.”

The Kepler mission has literally revolutionised our view of the cosmos. Thirty years ago, we weren’t sure there were any Earth-like planets beyond our solar system, now, there could be a billion. The possibility of finding life beyond Earth is no longer a pipe dream.

But as recent the Dyson sphere hubbub shows, there’s more to Kepler’s wealth of data than planetary bean counting.

A collision between two massive objects is one phenomena we might discover by looking at starlight. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)

To wit, by deliberately seeking out weird spectral patterns within Kepler’s dataset, we might discover all sorts of interesting and bizarre astronomical phenomena. Wright imagines quite a few possibilities in a forthcoming paper, including gravitational interactions between planets, massive exomoons, asymmetrical stars, and yes, alien infrastructure. That last one is all that the popular press picked up on, but any of these discoveries would be fascinating.

KIC 8462852 also shows us how to go about finding the cosmically weird and unexpected: Human eyeballs. Our putative Dyson sphere was first noticed by Planet Hunters, a fleet of volunteer citizen scientists who have been trained to trawl through spectral data and pick out stars that look interesting. Because KIC 8462852’s flickering pattern is so irregular, it would have been tough for a computer algorithm to spot. But ordinary men and women on their lunch break could tell that this star was special, and now, SETI astronomers want to point radio telescopes at it.

Kepler’s planet-hunting glory days may be waning — but we’ve just scratched the surface of what this little telescope has to teach us.

Top: Artist’s depiction of planets around stars in the Milky Way. Image Credit: ESO / M. Kommesser

{ http://www.gizmodo.com.au/ }

22-10-2015 om 23:20 geschreven door peter  

Study Explains Our Failure To Find Intelligent Alien Life: Most Habitable Planets Are Not Yet Born

By Alyssa Navarro, Tech Times

Most habitable planets in the Milky Way galaxy are not yet born, a new study suggests. Scientists believe that this is connected as to why humans have not found intelligent alien life forms yet.
(Photo : NASA/ESA/STScI)

Despite the progress in the development of more advanced technologies, humanity's search for intelligent alien life has yet to be successful. A recent theoretical study suggests that because the Earth was born early into the evolving universe, most habitable planets may not have been born yet.

Planetary scientists collected and analyzed data from NASA's Kepler space observatory and Hubble space telescope. They concluded that when the Earth was formed 4.6 billion years ago, only eight percent of livable planets had also most likely formed in the universe. Because of this, 92 percent of planets fit for habitation are most likely still just gas and dust.

Researchers explained that even after our sun burns out in 6 billion years, more planets will still be forming. All these findings are published [pdf] in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The study said that the birth of stars 10 billion years ago had occurred at a fast rate. Back then, the universe's levels of helium and hydrogen were very low. Now, the formation of stars has been slowed down, but there are enough leftover helium and hydrogen for the universe to cook up more planets and stars.

"There is enough remaining material [after the "big bang"] to produce even more planets in the future, in the Milky Way and beyond," said Molly Peeples of Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), co-author of the study.

About 1 billion rocky Earth-sized worlds exist in the Milky Way galaxy, the scientists said. Taking into account the vastness of the observable universe, the number will increase to 100 billion Earth-sized planets.

Meanwhile, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute conducts research and projects that focus on finding intelligent alien life. The institute said that they aim to find answers to the questions that the previous generation has only dared to ask.

Currently, SETI has begun tracking down signs of alien life near the star KIC 8462852 through the Allen Telescope Array (ATA). The ATA is just one of their many technologies.

To fully understand the possibility of searching for signals given off by extraterrestrials, scientists use the famous Drake Equation devised by astronomer Frank Drake. It measures several factors based on the possible number of civilizations in our galaxy alone. However, scientists say that the equation is mostly speculative.

SETI also said that even though some Earth-sized planets have been discovered, probes cannot be sent because of the magnificent distance in light years between our planet and those other planets.

Related Articles

NASA's Kepler Telescope Finds Unusual Star With Strange Light Patterns

Astronomers Create New Habitability Ranking For Exoplanets

Astronomers Discover Tatooine-Like Transiting Circumbinary Planet

Many More Earth-Like Worlds Are Waiting To Be Born, Study Suggests

Search For Intelligent Aliens Near KIC 8462852 Star Begins: SETI Astronomers Use ATA To Find Signs Of Advanced Technologies

{ http://www.techtimes.com/ }

22-10-2015 om 23:08 geschreven door peter  

Other-worldly shapes hovering over mountains look like UFOs - but they're something quite different

The spectacular images were taken by Vladimir Voychuk, who focused on Kamchatka's volcanoes in eastern Russia

Otherworldly: Lenticular clouds over Kamchatka's iconic volcanoes

At a glance you could mistake these shapes hovering over mountain tops for UFOs.

But in reality they're actually just clouds.

To be more specific, these incredible pictures show lenticular clouds over Kamchatka's iconic volcanoes in eastern Russia.

The stunning images, formed to align with the wind direction, were taken by 35-year-old photographer from Klin Vladimir Voychuk.

He said: "It's not the first time I've seen clouds like this but it's the first time I've been able to catch it on film.

"My personal favourite is the shot of the two grey clouds forming around the Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano - taking that picture took my breath away."

Stunning: The lenticular clouds formed to align with the wind direction

Incredible: This isn't an alien invasion, now it's just the weather

"It's a pretty rare thing to capture on film because the cloud was formed not only by vapour but also the smoke coming out of the active volcano," he continued.

Despite having to travel thousands of miles to get there, Vladimir thinks Kamchata is one of the most spectacular places in the world to photograph.

Bizarre: The clouds often resemble flying saucers hovering in the sky

Spacey: The images could be taken out of a sci-fi movie

He said: "It's probably one of my favourite places to take pictures.

"It takes me a long time to get there but it's always worth it. I don't think there's anywhere in the world that's better."

{ http://www.mirror.co.uk/ }

22-10-2015 om 22:54 geschreven door peter  

What will the aliens say to us?

Bright blue space stars background

Photo Credit: iStock

Kicking around near the top of my very long and weird list titled "Things I'm Definitely Gonna Write Someday, I Swear" is a science fiction short story.

Picture this: We have encountered our first alien life form and it's clearly intelligent. We set about feeding each others' languages into computers and finally, come up with a translator program. And once everything is set up, the first thing the aliens say to us is, "Have you heard the good news about Jesus Christ?"

I always imagine the lead scientist as someone who both the plot and appearance make clear is not Christian, like Jeff Goldblum, typing back, "I did hear about that . . . but I wish I'd paid more attention to it."

I can think of an almost infinite number of first statements from aliens that would blow our minds, and the best book on the subject would be one in which every chapter were a different story, with a different first statement. But in real life, to find the alien wisdom, we've first got to find the aliens.

The story idea popped back into my brain last week with the announcement that scientists have discovered a very strange star, with some seemingly unnatural attributes that could suggest a highly intelligent civilization has been hanging out there and building stuff. It's official designation is KIC 8462852 but it's much cuddlier nickname is "Tabby's Star," after Tabetha S. Boyajian, a Yale University postdoctoral student whose team observed it and published a paper about it.

What's special about Tabby's Star is that its pattern of light emission doesn't make sense in any normal way for a star its age and size. It's one of a group of about 150,000 stars that the Kepler Space Telescope stared at for four years. When the Kepler team members realized they couldn't interpret all the data, they created Planet Hunters, a group of humans who look at the sky through telescopes, which Boyajian oversees. It is, to me, amazing and charming that in many ways, humans are still better at looking for certain things in stars and space patterns than any computer program.

What's weird about Tabby's Star, and several Planet Hunters noticed this trait independently of each other, is that the light pattern it emits was interrupted at regular intervals by something that seemed to be orbiting it. And for a variety of reasons that are well-explained in Boyajian's 15-page, deeply brainy paper (age of the star, how gravity fields work, etc.), the light pattern suggests an orbiting clump of matter circling the star that doesn't quite match up with natural phenomena. It looks like it was made, scientists say, on purpose.

And that's one of the things the folks at the Center for SETI Research at the University of California have always thought we should be looking for in the big sky.

So Monday, SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) announced it had begun pointing its dish at Tabby's Star to see whether it emits radio waves, which would suggest intelligence-created communication. If SETI finds those, it'll bring more technology to bear. And this could happen very fast. We could know a lot more in a year about what's happening around Tabby's Star.

Or rather, what was happening on Tabby's Star. You see, it's about 1,500 light-years away, which means we're looking at light emitted right after the Roman Empire wound down.

Which leads us to another idea for a science-fiction story, a sad one I find all too easy to believe: If there were a technologically advanced civilization around Tammy's Star 1,500 years ago, and it was anything at all like us, I find it very hard to believe it's still around.

{ http://www.newsday.com/ }

22-10-2015 om 22:46 geschreven door peter  

Daily UFO Headlines 10/22/2015

(Before It's News)

openminds.tv

What will the aliens say to us? – Newsday

Pyramid-shaped UFO ‘mothership’ appears over Brazil – Metro News

Other-worldly shapes hovering over mountains look like UFOs – but they’re something quite different – Mirror Online

Study Explains Our Failure To Find Intelligent Alien Life: Most Habitable Planets Are Not Yet Born – Tech Times

Aliens Or Not, There’s Still A Lot To Discover In NASA’s Kepler Data – Gizmodo Australia

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Final proof aliens exist? Nasa photos show ancient Hieroglyphs carved into rock on Mars

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22-10-2015 om 22:40 geschreven door peter  

Final proof aliens exist? Nasa photos show ancient Hieroglyphs carved into rock on Mars

ASA•YouTube

ALIEN hunters claim to have found the historic “final straw” of evidence that extra terrestrial beings exist claiming they have discovered ancient hieroglyphic-like carvings on Mars.

By JON AUSTIN

Is writing on the wall for non alien believers?NASA•YouTube

Is the writing on the wall for non alien believers?

Nasa photographs, taken by the Curiosity Rover, apparently show the writing on a rock.

Footage of Nasa images, taken by its Curiosity Rover, show the writing on a rock, according to and alien researchers and conspiracy theorists who are convinced it proves there was once an ancient civilisation on Mars, much like those on Earth.

They even believe they may have evolved alongside us.

But sceptics argue the so-called discoveries on the images sent back by the rover – a 4WD droid which is exploring the Martian surface – are just textures in rocks.

NASA•YouTube

There are claims this resembles Mayan statues on Earth

They said people are being tricked into seeing familiar objects, such as writing and faces, by pareidolia – a phenomena that causes the brain to interpret what they eye sees in patterns an d textures as familiar things.

On top of this, researchers often manipulate the images, such as in this case, where the ‘writing” has been darkened to bring it out, they said.

One viewer posted on UFOsightings daily after seeing the images, which have been uploaded to YouTube: “If you zoom in on the original you can see the small boxes that appear to be pixels that make up the photograph.

“It appears to be those boxes that are outlined in this picture to make it appear like writing.

“I read an article that talks about how these photographs, when taken from the original version and reformatted to jpegs, end up looking like this with these small boxes.

NASA•YouTube

Stretching it? This “crashed UFO” looks suspiciously like a rock

“It’s difficult to tell if it’s a conversion issue or if it’s simply something someone highlighted in order to create a specific perception.”

The “writing” is the latest in a series of anomalies such as statues, fossils and even “aliens” that UFO hunters claim to have found in the pictures.

Other newer ones include something that it is being suggested is like a Mayan statue, and even remains of buildings and a crashed UFO.

Some people are convinced by them.

Some suggest this could be the foundations of a ruined building

NASA•YouTube

Scott C Waring, editor of UFOsightings daily wrote on his website: “The carvings do look very similar to ancient Egyptian carvings.

“This is a monumental discovery, one that archeologists around the world should be taking a closer look at.

“A written language from another planet, its the final straw that will reveal disclosure. This is what we need to find more of.”

But Nasa says although the rover has found evidence of water flows on the surface of mars – one of the requirements for life to start – there has been no evidence yet of any life being present on the Red Planet.

Source: http://www.express.co.uk/news/science/613184/Final-proof-aliens-exist-Nasa-photos-show-ancient-Hieroglyphs-carved-into-rock-on-

22-10-2015 om 22:30 geschreven door peter  

Ashland Nebraska UFO Abduction, 1967

(Before It's News)

http://spookscentral.com/

In Ashland, Nebraska, on December 3, 1967, Herbert Schirmer, a 22 years young patrolman, was making his usual rounds. He had checked the Ashland Sales Barn, and several gas stations along Highway 6 when he noticed what he thought were red lights on top of a large truck. He had just passed through the intersection of Highways 6 and 63 at about 2:00 AM.

He drove the short distance down 63 and stopped with his headlights shining on the object. According to Schirmer, the object was definitely not a truck. The red lights that he had seen were blinking through the oval portholes of a metallic, oval-shaped object that was hovering at a height of about eight feet above the road’s surface.

The object appeared to have a polished, aluminum surface and had a sort of walk around it. It had a structure underneath, like a landing gear.

As he watched, the object rose into the air with flames coming from underneath. It passed almost directly over Schirmer’s patrol car, then quickly shot out of sight.

Schirmer returned to the police station, noting that it was now 3:00 AM., which surprised him because he felt that only ten minutes had passed. At the station, he made this entry into his logbook:

“Saw a flying saucer at the junction of highways 6 and 63. Believe it or not!”

Afterward, Schirmer developed a red welt on his neck, a headache, and he began to feel ill. Word of Schirmer’s sighting was related to the Condon Commission at the University of Colorado, which investigated UFO reports.

Schirmer was asked to come to Boulder, Colorado. At Boulder, on February 13, 1968, he was hypnotized by psychologist Dr. Leo Sprinkle of the University of Wyoming.

Under hypnosis, Schirmer recalled that, after he stopped his car near the object, the engine died and his radio went silent. A white object emerged from the craft and seemed to communicate mentally with him, preventing him from drawing his gun as he was want to do.

After the hypnotic session had ended, Schirmer was able to recall even more details about the encounter. The beings were friendly, they drew energy from electrical power lines, and they had a base on Venus.

The Condon Committee concluded that: “Evaluation of psychological assessment tests, the lack of any evidence, and interviews with the patrolman, left project staff with no confidence that the trooper’s reported UFO experience was physically real.”

Psychologist Dr. Sprinkle, however, felt that Schirmer “believed in the reality of the events he described.”Herbert Schirmer

Returning to Ashland, Schirmer was appointed Ashland’s Police Chief when Chief Wlaskin resigned. However, he resigned after two months, unable to concentrate on the job due to his UFO experience.

According to Schirmer, he was ridiculed by some of the townspeople, his car was dynamited, and his wife left him.

Further regression hypnosis sessions were conducted on June 8, 1968, by hypnotist Loring G. Williams and the results of those sessions were reported in two books: “Gods, Demons, and Space Chariots” and “Gods and Devils from Outer Space” by Eric Norman.

One odd fact that was brought out was that the aliens wore uniforms with an emblem of a winged serpent on the left breast, similar to the winged serpents that have appeared in mythology around the world.

references:

www.nicap.org

“Gods, Demons, and Space Chariots,” by Eric Norman

“Gods and Devils from Outer Space,” by Eric Norman

Conference where Herbert Schirmer discusses in detail his abduction experience (1967) Note the serpent emblem on the alien sketch that Herbert drew.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Schirmer Drawing

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22-10-2015 om 20:08 geschreven door peter  

Wetenschappers TU Delft bewijzen ongelijk Albert Einstein: We leven in een ‘spookachtig’ universum

Wetenschappers van de TU Delft hebben aangetoond dat deeltjes elkaar zelfs op grote afstand direct kunnen beïnvloeden. Daarmee is kwantumverstrengeling bewezen.

De onderzoekers hebben de denkbeelden van Einstein naar eigen zeggen voor eens en voor altijd ontkracht. De resultaten zijn gepubliceerd in vakblad Nature. De Delftse fysici toonden aan dat elektronen in twee diamanten, die door 1,3 kilometer campus van elkaar waren gescheiden, een onzichtbare verbinding kunnen hebben: een soort telepathie.

Eén van de basisprincipes van Einstein is realisme: als je een blauwe knikker ziet, ga je ervan uit dat die knikker al blauw was voordat je ging kijken. Een andere eigenschap is lokaliteit, waarbij dingen niet iets anders kunnen beïnvloeden wat heel ver weg is, zonder dat er tijd tussen zit.
Heilige graal

Dus als er nu iets op Mars gebeurt, zou dat ons hier niet kunnen beïnvloeden. De maximale snelheid waarmee dat kan, is de snelheid van het licht, zo stelde Einstein. Maar de wetenschappers hebben laten zien dat informatie soms sneller gaat dan het licht.

Theoreticus John Stewart Bell bedacht in 1964 een experiment dat zou kunnen aantonen dat spookachtige actie op afstand zoals Einstein het noemde, echt bestond. Dit Bell-experiment geldt binnen de kwantummechanica als heilige graal.
Wereldbeeld van Einstein klopt niet

“De kwantummechanica stelt dat een deeltje zoals een elektron zich in twee verschillende toestanden tegelijk kan bevinden,” zegt hoofdonderzoeker Ronald Hanson. “Het kan zelfs op twee verschillende plaatsen tegelijk zijn, zolang het niet wordt waargenomen. Dit fenomeen heet superpositie. Het gaat volledig tegen onze intuïtie in.”

Volgens de onderzoekers van de TU Delft is definitief bewezen dat Albert Einsteins wereldbeeld niet klopt. De toestand van een deeltje wordt niet bepaald door een verborgen variabele en is dus niet al vooraf vastgelegd. Zelfs op grote afstand kunnen deeltjes invloed uitoefenen op elkaars toestand.

Bekijk ook onderstaand filmpje over het experiment:

[TU Delft]
© Copyright (c) NineForNews.nl

22-10-2015 om 19:56 geschreven door peter  

De 5 opmerkelijkste complottheorieën over de ruimtevaart

Er zijn complottheorieën die stellen dat de Verenigde Staten niet echt astronauten naar de maan hebben gestuurd. Volgens deze theorieën hebben de maanlandingen niet daadwerkelijk plaatsgevonden, maar zijn ze door de NASA en de Amerikaanse regering in scène gezet.

Toekomstmakers heeft de vijf opmerkelijkste complottheorieën over de ruimtevaart op een rij gezet.

Komeet 67P

Toen ESA in november vorig jaar landde op komeet 67P, publiceerde de website UFO Sightings Daily een e-mail van een geheime medewerker van de Europese ruimtevaartorganisatie ESA. In die mail stond dat de missie onderdeel was van een plan van ESA en NASA om het bestaan van aliens te verbergen. Komeet 67P zou een buitenaards object zijn dat in het verleden communicatiesignalen door de ruimte had gestuurd.

Roswell

Bij Roswell zou in 1947 een ruimteschip een noodlanding hebben gemaakt. De regering zei dat er een weerballon was gecrasht, maar in de jaren zeventig kwamen er verschillende bronnen naar voren die beweerden dat het een ruimteschip was geweest, en dat de Amerikaanse overheid de lichamen van aliens in het geheim naar Area 51 had gebracht.

Mars

Volgens sommigen is er leven op Mars. Op de foto PIA10214, in 2007 gemaakt door Marsjeep Curiosity, zou onder meer een vrouw zijn te zien die over een rotswand leunt. Op andere foto’s zouden gebouwen staan. NASA zei dat het om rotsformaties ging.

Maan

Er zijn mensen die geloven dat de maan een ruimteschip is, gebouwd door aliens of tijdreizende mensen uit de toekomst. Zo is het volgens hen wel heel erg toevallig dat de maan precies op de goede plek staat om de zon compleet te bedekken tijdens een zonsverduistering. Ook zijn sommige kraters volgens hen intern ontstaan, terwijl er op de maan nooit vulkanische activiteit is geweest.

Maanlandingen

Veel mensen twijfelen aan de echtheid van de maanlandingen en geloven dat de beelden in scène zijn gezet. Het bewijs dat ze hiervoor aandragen bestaat onder meer uit de wapperende vlag terwijl er geen wind is op de maan en het feit dat er geen krater ontstond op de plek waar de lander neerkwam. Ook het gebrek aan sterren aan de horizon zou erop wijzen dat de landingen in een filmstudio zijn opgenomen.

[RTLZ]
© Copyright (c) NineForNews.nl

22-10-2015 om 19:49 geschreven door peter  

Glowing Red UFO Over Beach Surprises Spectators In Florida, Sept 26, 2015, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: Sept 26, 2015
Location of sighting: Panama City beach, Florida, USA

This looks very similar to the two red UFOs seen over Vero Beach that I reported on Sept 26, 2015. I will put that video below for you to compare. It looks like there is an underwater base around the Florida coast line. Although the beaches are far apart, there are a lot of similarities.
Scott C. Waring
www.ufosightingsdaily.com

Eyewitness states:
UFO PANAMA CITY BEACH 9/26/2015. I would love to have this analysed because this was truly the weirdest thing l ever encountered. It was a very cloudy night. No stars. No noise. Towards the end it started disappearing and reappearing. What l can't see on this video, is when it really disappeared, purple light beamed from the clouds above it. I have still pics of it that l took before filming. The light emitted from it changed colors and was brighter than a regular light. The light resembled lasers or neon, however it was so bright, it seemed unreal. It was less than a mile away...l was on the 17th floor of an ocean front condo balcony. You can hear the people on the beach reacting to it...Let me know what you think. I have not believed in in aliens.

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

22-10-2015 om 19:31 geschreven door peter  

Diamond UFO Over Newark, Ohio Frightens Eyewitnesses, Oct 20, 2015, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: Oct 20, 2015
Location of sighting: Newark, Ohio, USA

This type of UFO is frequently seen around the world. I recently reported this UFO over two different beaches in Florida last week. Also, I myself recorded such a UFO a few years back during the summer.

Here he not only sees the UFO, but gets to see it moving. The sky is very cloudy and even the moon is blocked out at the end of the video, but not this UFO, which means its below the clouds, not behind the clouds.
Scott C. Waring
www.ufosightingsdaily.com

Eyewitness states:
UFO'S WITH ORANGE PULSING LIGHT FILMED OVER ORCHARD DR.

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

22-10-2015 om 19:25 geschreven door peter  

Squid-Shaped UFO Makes A Return After Its First Appearance In 1991

An incredible moment of a mysterious object is apparently recorded on video for the second time around in a UFO hotspot area.

The captivating video shows a UFO that looks like a squid, which reportedly returns to the same spot after 24 years.

Amado Marquez claimed to have captured the bizarre object for the first time flying above his house in Mexico in 1991.

On September 11, 2015, he claimed to have recorded on video the same UFO. According to the Journal De Montreal report, the city officials can’t identify the object.

Amado resides in Tepoztlán area, where UFO sightings are the usual things in the sky. The municipality is located in the State of Morelos, a mountainous area. Many residents have come forward to report unidentified flying machines, particularly above the Tepoztlan Valley.

UFO enthusiasts and tourists, who want to see a UFO personally, flock to the area. The mysterious phenomena help the place become a tourist destination.

Some locals in the region believe that aliens have been making landings in this area. On May 5, 2015, Amado claimed he also filmed a bell-shaped flying object moving in the sky at low altitude above the hill.

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

22-10-2015 om 19:15 geschreven door peter  

Unidentified flying object over Melbourne, Australia 14-Oct-2015

Here’s one interesting footage of a huge bright object flying across the sky above Melbourne in Australia. This was filmed on 14th October 2015.

Witness report: Just seconds before this sighting, Peter Maxwell Slattery saw what sort of looked like a kite, fly by the side of his house, as he investigated, he could not see it, but when going back to his backyard he saw what you see in this video. About half way into the footage Pete leaves the camera on a tripod pointing at the object, so you can see that this object is moving as he is not touching the camera until just before the footage stops, at which time it is going out of view, next this thing disappeared.

Author (Peter Maxwell Slattery @ youtube)

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

22-10-2015 om 19:12 geschreven door peter  

Researchers confirm: The Largest Pyramid in Mexico has been found

Researchers discover immense pyramid in Mexico, larger than Teotihuacan’s Pyramid of the Sun.

Researchers in Mexico have discovered a Pyramid that, according to initial measurements, is larger than the Great Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan. Initial excavations were done in 2010.

The Pyramid, 75 meters in height, was explored by specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) on the acropolis of Tonina, Chiapas, estimated to be around 1700 years old.

Emiliano Gallaga, director of the archaeological zone, explained that work has been done in the last two years, and by means of a “three-dimensional, researchers verified that in the northeastern part of the site, stands one of the largest construction in Mesoamerica, comparable in size only to great Mayan cities like Tikal and El Mirador in Guatemala.

Researchers confirm: The Largest Pyramid in Mexico has been found

Another features which makes this “unique” pre-hispanic structure stand out are the seven platforms which integrate it and were specific spaces intended to serve as palaces, temples, housing and administrative units. It is a unique structure for various specific functions within the social, political, economic and religious structure, which is not repeated in any other archaeological site of the Mayan world stated researchers from INAH.

“It’s a big surprise to see that the pyramid was done almost entirely by pre-Hispanic architects and therefore is more artificial than natural. “This is because it was believed that the entire structure was a natural hill, but recent evidence has revealed that the structure was almost entirely built by ancient inhabitants.

Archaeologists added that the pyramid is bigger than we had anticipated. The structure is connected by roads located on top of surrounding elevations.

Gallaga added that, after all of the information, we can confirm that this pyramid exceeds in height the pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan which measures 65 meters. INAH researchers have determined that the city center had an architectural continuity between 10 and 12 hectares, which is the double of what was previously thought and mainly corresponds to the south facade of the Acropolis, one of the most important Mayan areas known to researchers.

 Sourcewww.ancient-code.com

{ http://alien-ufo-sightings.com/ }

22-10-2015 om 01:03 geschreven door peter  

Scientists at Large Hadron Collider. Contact with Parallel Universe in Days

SCIENTISTS conducting a mindbending experiment at the Large Hadron Collider next week hope to connect with a PARALLEL UNIVERSE outside of our own.

Large Hadron Collider

Collision course: Large Hadron Collider could discover parallel universe

The staggeringly complex LHC ‘atom smasher’ at the CERN centre in Geneva, Switzerland, will be fired up to its highest energy levels ever in a bid to detect – or even create – miniature black holes.

If successful a completely new universe will be revealed – rewriting not only the physics books but the philosophy books too.

It is even possible that gravity from our own universe may ‘leak’ into this parallel universe, scientists at the LHC say.

The experiment is sure to inflame alarmist critics of the LHC, many of whom initially warned the high energy particle collider would spell the end of our universe with the creation a black hole of its own.

But so far Geneva remains intact and comfortably outside the event horizon.

Indeed the LHC has been spectacularly successful. First scientists proved the existence of the elusive Higgs boson ‘God particle’ – a key building block of the universe – and it is seemingly well on the way to nailing ‘dark matter’ – a previously undetectable theoretical possibility that is now thought to make up the majority of matter in the universe.

But next week’s experiment is considered to be a game changer.

Mir Faizal, one of the three-strong team of physicists behind the experiment, said: “Just as many parallel sheets of paper, which are two dimensional objects [breadth and length] can exist in a third dimension [height], parallel universes can also exist in higher dimensions.

“We predict that gravity can leak into extra dimensions, and if it does, then miniature black holes can be produced at the LHC.

“Normally, when people think of the multiverse, they think of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, where every possibility is actualised.

“This cannot be tested and so it is philosophy and not science.

“This is not what we mean by parallel universes. What we mean is real universes in extra dimensions.

Image of protons colliding at LHC

Atom art: An image of two protons smashed together at the LHC

“As gravity can flow out of our universe into the extra dimensions, such a model can be tested by the detection of mini black holes at the LHC.

“We have calculated the energy at which we expect to detect these mini black holes in ‘gravity’s rainbow’ [a new scientific theory].

“If we do detect mini black holes at this energy, then we will know that both gravity’s rainbow and extra dimensions are correct.”

When the LHC is fired up the energy is measured in Tera electron volts – a TeV is 1,000,000,000,000, or one trillion, electron Volts

So far, the LHC has searched for mini black holes at energy levels below 5.3 TeV.

But the latest study says this is too low.

Instead, the model predicts that black holes may form at energy levels of at least 9.5 TeV in six dimensions and 11.9 TeV in 10 dimensions.

Is there more than one of you out there, somewhere?

In a fascinating piece over at Medium, astrophysicist Ethan Siegal waxes mathematical, cosmological, and philosophical on multiverse theory, and its implications for all the iterations of you that may or may not exist:

…would it be possible that there’s a Universe out there where everything happened exactly as it did in this one, except you did one tiny thing different, and hence had your life turn out incredibly different as a result?

It’s an incredible notion: that there’s a Universe out there for every outcome that’s conceivable. There’s one where everything with a non-zero probability of having happened is actually the reality in that Universe.

But there are an awful lot of ifs that are mandatory to get there. For one, the inflationary state must have happened for not just a long amount of time — not just for the 13.8 billion years that our Universe has been around — but for an infinite amount of time.

Why is that, you ask? Surely, if the Universe has been expanding exponentially — not just for a tiny fraction of a second but for 13.8 billion years, or around 4 × 10^17 seconds — we’re talking about a tremendous volume of space! After all, even though there are regions of space where inflation ends, most of the volume of the Universe is dominated by regions where it hasn’t ended.

So realistically, we’re talking about at least 10^10^50 Universes that started off with initial conditions that might be very similar to our own. That’s 10^100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Universes, which might be one of the biggest numbers you’ve ever imagined. And yet, there are numbers that are bigger that describe how many possible outcomes there are for particle interactions.

There are 10^90 particles in each Universe, and we need for all of them to have the exact same history of interactions for 13.8 billion years to give us a Universe identical to our own, so that when we choose one path over another, both Universes still wind up existing. For a Universe with 10^90 quantum particles in it, that’s asking an awful lot — for fewer than 10^10^50 possibilities to exist for how those particles will interact with one another over 13.8 billion years. The number you see above, for instance, is just 1000! (or (10^3)!), or 1000 factorial, which describes the number of possible permutations there are for 1000 different particles to be ordered at any instant in time. Consider, mind you, how much bigger this number is — (10^3)! — than (10^1000) is.

(10^3)!, for those of you wondering, is more like 10^2477.

But there are not 1000 particles in the Universe, but 10^90 of them. Every time two particles interact, there’s not just one possible outcome, but an entire quantum spectrum of outcomes. As sad as the case is, there are way more than (10^90)! possible outcomes for the particles in the Universe, and that number is many googolplexes times larger than a paltry number like 10^10^50.

In other words, the number of possible outcomes from particles in any Universe interacting with one another tends towards infinity faster than the number of possible Universes increases due to inflation.

Even setting aside issues that there may be an infinite number of possible values for fundamental constants, particles and interactions, and even setting aside interpretation issues such as whether the many-worlds-interpretation actually describes our physical reality, the fact of the matter is that the number of possible outcomes rises so quickly — so much fasterthan merely exponentially — that unless inflation has been occurring for a truly infinite amount of time, there are no parallel Universes identical to this one.

Read the entire piece – which includes some great discussion of multiverse theory in general, and its implications for our reality as we know it – over atMedium.

www.express.co.uk

www.io9.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_universe

22-10-2015 om 00:55 geschreven door peter  

The Mandela Effect: More Proof of Parallel Universes?

By Rob Schwarz

Image: Ben Mortimer via CC by 2.0

As a follow -up to my post on the Berenst#in Bears problem, I thought this was worth sharing.

Yesterday, I found myself over at the subreddit r/Glitch_in_the_Matrix. And, wouldn’t you know it, the top post over there is about something called the Mandela Effect. This is the apparent name for phenomena like the Berenst#in Bears problem, in which we remember something contrary to reality.

Exploring it further, I found that the name, coined by Fiona Broome, stems from the absurd number of people who seem to “remember” that Nelson Mandela died in prison in the 1980s, and not at his home in Johannesburg in 2013. In fact, there’s even a subreddit dedicated to this kind of stuff at r/MandelaEffect, and you can read Broome’s own website on the subject at MandelaEffect.com.

Other examples of this “effect” include a portrait missing from this universe of Henry VIII, in which he’s holding a turkey leg, New Zealand being in a different location, and perhaps strangest of all, the color Chartreuse being “something other than yellow-green.” You can check out Broome’s full list of anomalies here.

Alternate Time Streams or False Memories?

However, the problem with something like the Mandela Effect is this: just because you hear something or even see something, that doesn’t mean it’s true.

Sometimes we read something incorrectly, or experience false memories. Sometimes we’re told something, even (well, especially) by the news media, that’s incorrect. We assume it’s true, because why not, and go about our business.

Then, when we later find out that Nelson Mandela has only recently died, or New Zealand is in a different location on the map, or that the Berenstein Bears are actually the Berenstain Bears, this information clashes with what we thought we knew. And if enough people are misinformed about the same topic, I imagine that’s when we run into the so-called Mandela Effect.

In other words, that’s a roundabout way of saying sometimes we’re wrong.
But that’s a boring way to look at things, isn’t it? As I said before, this is an interesting phenomenon, regardless of whether you want to ascribe it to parallel universes or false memories. The brain is a tricky thing, and the universe is trickier. Head over to Mandela Effect, explore the possibilities, and draw your own conclusions.

Do you have any memories that don’t quite mesh with our current reality?

{ http://www.strangerdimensions.com/ }

22-10-2015 om 00:41 geschreven door peter  

Carl Sagan: Cosmos, Pale Blue Dot & Famous Quotes

Called "America's most effective salesman of science" by Time magazine, astronomer Carl Sagan spent much of his career translating technical scientific explanations to make them easily digestible by the general public. Described as a natural teacher, he educated not only through classroom lectures but also through interviews and on television shows. His 13-part TV series, “Cosmos,” has been seen by over 600 million people in more than 60 countries. The show was so popular it returned to television in 2005. [See also our overview of Famous Astronomers and great scientists from many fields who have worked in astronomy.]

[Pin It] Carl Sagan at the Very Large Array in New Mexico.
Credit: Cosmos/Discovery
View full size image

Life on the Pale Blue Dot

Carl Edward Sagan was born Nov. 9, 1934 in Brooklyn, New York. He attended college at the University of Chicago, where he attained a Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics. After doing his postdoctoral work, he taught at Harvard. When he wasn't granted tenure, he moved on to Cornell University in New York, serving as the director for the Laboratory for Planetary Studies and the Associate Director of the Center for Radio Physics and Space Research.

He was married three times, and had a total of five children.

Diagnosed with the rare bone marrow disease myelodysplasia, Sagan underwent three bone marrow transplants over the course of his life. Complications from the disease resulted in his contracting pneumonia, which led to his death on Dec. 20, 1996. He was 62 years old.

Making science interesting

Although Sagan was most widely known for his scientific communication with the general public, he made many significant contributions to the field of science directly.

While Sagan attended graduate school, the planet Venus was often considered to be similar to Earth. As part of his thesis, Sagan computed the first greenhouse model for Venus' atmosphere, which revealed a higher temperature than previously suspected. He suggested that the seasonal changes observed on Mars was caused by dust storms on the planet, and wrote a series of papers on the organic chemistry of Jupiter's atmosphere.

Serving as an advisor to NASA, Sagan helped to design and manage the Mariner 2 mission to Venus, the Mariner 9 and Viking trips to Mars, the Voyager system to the outer solar system, and the Galileo mission to Jupiter. He also helped to brief astronauts prior to their trips to the moon.

But Sagan was far more visible as a scientific educator than he was as a researcher. He was gifted at breaking down scientific concepts into explanations that the public could readily understand, without seeming to talk down to them. He authored hundreds of popular articles and more than two dozen books, frequently appeared in Time magazine — landing the cover on at least one occasion. And was a guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson 26 times, calling it "the biggest classroom in history." His 13-hour miniseries, Cosmos, was loved by countless children and adults, and his nonfiction and fiction books were widely read.

Sagan helped lay the groundwork for two new scientific disciplines in the course of his lifetime: planetary science and exobiology. He was the first president and one of the founders of The Planetary Society, an organization dedicated to inspiring and involving the public in space exploration. He promoted the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), where he served as a trustee.

Describing him in October of 1980, Time magazine wrote, "Sagan sends out an exuberant message: science is not only vital for humanity's future well being, but it is rousing good fun as well."

Sagan’s books and TV episodes

In 1977, Sagan began work on the television series “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage,” serving as writer and presenter. The show aired on the Public Broadcasting Service in October of 1980 and was the most widely watched series on American public television for nearly a decade. The show won an Emmy and a Peabody award and was broadcast around the world. The accompanying book of the same name was on the New York Times best seller list for 70 weeks, and was the best-selling science book ever published in the English language.

This narrow-angle color image of the Earth s a part of the first ever "portrait" of the solar system taken by Voyager 1. The spacecraft acquired a total of 60 frames for a mosaic of the solar system from a distance of more than 4 billion miles from Earth and about 32 degrees above the ecliptic. Image released Feb. 14, 1990.
Credit: NASA/JPL
View full size image

At Sagan’s request, NASA commanded its Voyager 1 spacecraft to turn its camera on Earth, creating an image that came to be known as the Pale Blue Dot, one of the most famous pictures of Earth from space ever taken. Sagan used that name as the title of a book. The sequel to “Cosmos,” “The Pale Blue Dot,” toured the solar system and the galaxy, arguing for the necessity of planetary science and the exploration of Earth's closest neighbors. It, too, was widely and well received by the general public.

An earlier nonfiction book by Sagan, “The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence,” focused on the evolution of human intelligence. It received the 1978 Pulitzer Prize.

Although the majority of Sagan's work was nonfiction, he also used fiction to present scientific principles when he published the fiction novel “Contact” in 1985. Based on interactions between the human race and an advanced species of extraterrestrials, the novel sold over a million copies in its first two years of publication. In 1997, it was released as a movie starring Jodi Foster.

Carl Sagan quotes

Advances in medicine and agriculture have saved vastly more lives than have been lost in all the wars in history.
—The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1997), 11.

At the heart of science is an essential balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes—an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive they may be, and the most ruthless skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new. This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense.
—The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1997), 304.

Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it out of them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and enthusiasm for science intact.
—Psychology Today (Jan 1996).

For myself, I like a universe that, includes much that is unknown and, at the same time, much that is knowable. A universe in which everything is known would be static and dull, as boring as the heaven of some weak-minded theologians. A universe that is unknowable is no fit place for a thinking being. The ideal universe for us is one very much like the universe we inhabit. And I would guess that this is not really much of a coincidence.
—'Can We know the Universe?' in M. Gardner (ed.), The Sacred Beetle and Other Great Essays in Science (1985), 109.

In a lot of scientists, the ratio of wonder to skepticism declines in time. That may be connected with the fact that in some fields—mathematics, physics, some others—the great discoveries are almost entirely made by youngsters.
—Psychology Today (Jan 1996).

It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But is it not stirring to understand how the world actually works—that white light is made of colors, that color is the way we perceive the wavelengths of light, that transparent air reflects light, that in so doing it discriminates among the waves, and that the sky is blue for the same reason that the sunset is red? It does no harm to the romance of the sunset to know a little bit about it.
— Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994), 159

It is the responsibility of scientists never to suppress knowledge, no matter how awkward that knowledge is, no matter how it may bother those in power; we are not smart enough to decide which pieces of knowledge are permissible, and which are not. …
—Lily Splane, Quantum Consciousness (2004), 80.

It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning and unexpected findings of science.
—Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science (1974, 1986), 73.

Our passion for learning ... is our tool for survival.
—Cosmos (1980, 1985), 230-231

The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
—The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1997), 429

The fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the clown.
— Carl Sagan, In Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science (1980), 34.

— Nola Taylor Redd

More information:

The Carl Sagan Portal

The Planetary Society

The Carl Sagan Center at SETI

{ http://www.space.com/ }

22-10-2015 om 00:28 geschreven door peter  

Plusieurs étranges ovnis aperçus en Californie

Photo crédit:UFOSIGHTINGSDAILY.COM

Article source: journaldemontreal.com/

by JEAN-MAXIME BOURGOIN

Dans la nuit du 16 octobre dernier, à Bakersfield, en Californie, plusieurs Américains auraient vu un étrange rassemblement d’ovnis dans le ciel, rapporte le ufosightingsdaily.com.

L’un des témoins raconte que son voisin était dans la rue et criait son nom, visiblement en état de détresse. Il croyait d’abord qu’il avait besoin d’aide, mais en sortant de chez lui, il a tout de suite aperçu plusieurs lumières bizarres dans le ciel.

Selon lui, il y avait une centaine de vives lumières blanches et bleues se déplaçant sur une surface équivalant à 45 pâtés de maison.

«Quelques voitures se sont immobilisées en bordure de la route pour regarder ce que nous observions. Plusieurs voisins sont sortis et ont regardé la scène en état de choc. Nous étions tous là, incrédules, à regarder la formation. Ils se sont éloignés, puis ont disparu», a raconté le témoin au site dédié aux observations d’ovnis.

Le principal témoin a pris trois photos de l’étrange événement, mais une seule était suffisamment claire pour être en mesure de l’agrandir.

UFOSIGHTINGSDAILY.COM

crédit photo:
UFOSIGHTINGSDAILY.COM

photo crédit:
UFOSIGHTINGSDAILY.COM

L’an dernier, un phénomène semblable a été observé dans le ciel de la Californie.

Le dailygrail.com a mis en ligne une carte interactive, basée sur 61 000 rapports en sol américain, illustrant le nombre d’observations d’ovnis par habitant aux États-Unis. Curieusement, les ovnis seraient plus présents sur la côte ouest américaine.

*************************************

Remarque:

« Il doit y avoir un certain nombre de méprises parmi ces observations.

Le nombre d’observations reste tout de même conséquent, et tout ne doit pas être des méprises ou des farces.

Pouvons nous parler de vague?

Ce rapport est intéressant car , il détermine un secteur géographique plus défini sur les incursions inexpliquées concernant les états-unis.

Par ailleurs,notre contact au Québec Yann du GARPAN nous signale également un nombre élevé d’observations notamment au Québec et en France, mais d’autres pays aussi. Nous collaborons afin de travailler ensemble sur ces informations.

La question est de savoir parmi ces observations, la fréquence réelle cette année, de cas que nous pouvons qualifiés d’inexpliqués, insolites.

Pouvons nous parler de vague comme ce fut le cas dans les années 1950 puis 1980/1990?

Peut-être avons nous des vagues sur une décennie concernant de possibles incursions non-identifiables? Alors, aurions nous des tests périodiques, ou des visites sporadiques hasardeuses ? «

{ https://area51blog.wordpress.com/ }

21-10-2015 om 22:00 geschreven door peter  

John Podesta: Pulling Back the Curtain on UFOs

Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

by Leslie Kean

co-authored with Ralph Blumenthal

It was the tweet heard round the worlds. On John Podesta's last day at the White House on February 13th, the longtime Presidential counselor, who is likely to chair a 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign, dashed off a confession that lit the blogosphere with thousands of retweets and comments: "Finally, my biggest failure of 2014: Once again not securing the #disclosure of the UFO files."

Along with the media, which couldn't resist a spoof by late-night comedian Jimmy Fallon, conspiracy theorists are having a field day. Taking Podesta's barb as confirmation of fantastic coverups by operatives with knowledge of extraterrestrials and twisted political agendas, they imagine Podesta himself holds devastating secrets. Some are claiming with bravado that their own activism is what prompted his recent lighthearted remark.

The facts hardly bear that out.

Actually, as surprising as the tweet was, Podesta's position on the controversial issue was not exactly news. A staunch proponent of open government, he has previously called for the release of any government files on unidentified flying objects, or more broadly, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), that merit such action under existing law. As Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton, Podesta pressed for Executive Order 12958 which declassified broad categories of information formerly withheld on the grounds of national security.

In 2002, Podesta began publicly supporting what became a landmark Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by the Coalition for Freedom of Information, an independent advocacy group. NASA had been stonewalling and refusing to release its records concerning a significant 1965 UFO incident in Kecksburg, PA. Many witnesses described seeing a fireball in the evening sky, followed by a controlled landing and the systematic military recovery of a spacecraft-like object, rushed away on the back of a flatbed truck. As reported by local radio and newspapers, U.S. military personnel cordoned off the area, investigated the site, and left without ever providing a full report of the incident other than to dismiss it as a meteor.

One of many witness drawings of the Kecksburg object. Cell phones were not in use then. (Credit: courtesy Stan Gordon)

During the lawsuit's final hearing in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2007, the exasperated Presiding Judge, Emmet G. Sullivan, declared that "heads should roll" at NASA and that NASA's case was a "ball of yarn." He approved a settlement that required NASA to comb through hundreds of documents in specified locations, and provide them to journalist and plaintiff Leslie Kean, under the watchful eye of the court.

Success at forcing an agency to do this kind of extensive historical search under FOIA without Congressional intervention was unprecedented. Podesta called the victory "a triumph for open government and the spirit of inquiry."

John Podesta provided public support during the FOIA lawsuit against NASA, filed by the Coalition for Freedom of Information in 2003. (Credit: courtesy SCI FI Channel)

But - there was one problem. The resulting documents did not include one iota of information relating to the Kecksburg case, despite an earnest and thorough effort by NASA staff. Three hundred boxes were searched, on top of the hundreds of pages released during the court proceedings prior to the settlement. Yet they revealed nothing about the case at hand.

Could these be the "UFO files" that Podesta was alluding to in his tweet? Might there be others as well, stored in locations inaccessible to the FOIA in violation of the law?

Podesta has been a brave voice for sanity and objectivity on a subject that is generally considered unworthy of serious discussion. In a foreword for Kean's 2010 book, UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record, Podesta wrote: "The time to pull the curtain back on this subject is long overdue." Describing himself as "a curious skeptic" who understands the difference between fact and fiction, he said the American people "want to know, and they can handle the truth."

Official investigations around the world have consistently found that a small but significant percentage of sightings defy conventional explanation, most of them involving police officers, military personnel, pilots and air traffic controllers. Physical evidence such as radar returns, measurable effects on the environment, or scientifically analyzed photographs accompany the best cases.

In 2011, Podesta hosted a private meeting of government officials, scientists, and military and intelligence experts, organized by Kean and her coalition, at his liberal think tank, the Center for American Progress. A panel presented expert briefings backing the establishment of a modest official project to evaluate UAP in cooperation with other countries.

"The official position of the U.S., which has denied the existence of any abnormal aerial phenomena since 1969, is a weighty handicap and has a negative influence on the attitude of many governments," wrote Yves Sillard, former Director General of the French National Space Center, in his briefing paper. "If this position could be modified, the U.S. would probably play a leading role in this necessary international effort."

Ricardo Bermúdez, a retired Air Force general who directs the Chilean investigative effort, agrees. "United States participation would be beneficial for all countries," he stated.

A U.S. agency is long overdue. The Air Force's official investigation, Project Blue Book, was terminated in 1970 after two decades, since no sightings were determined to pose a national security threat. Yet over 700 cases remained unexplained. Since then, no branch of the government has investigated UAP.

This lack of both transparency and responsive action to alarming UFO incidents undermines public trust. Some unidentified objects may be attributable to foreign military aircraft or drones, and should be of general defense interest. Other phenomena display such unusual characteristics that they are of broader scientific interest. Under certain circumstances, UAP can even raise air safety concerns. Still, the FAA discourages pilots from reporting any such incidents, in stark contrast to policy in Europe and South America.

Official agencies in France and Chile, along with other South American countries, conduct rigorous, open UAP investigations. In 2014, the heads of these offices met in Paris for the first time, to begin a cooperative venture. The U.K. spent decades collecting data, but closed down its office in 2008 due to the overwhelming stream of Freedom of Information requests besieging the staff. Interest was so great that the Ministry of Defense decided to simply release all its documents online.

Xavier Passot, director of the French UAP agency GEIPAN, and Ricardo Bermúdez of Chile's CEFAA met on Oct. 30, 2014 to initiate a cooperative effort (Credit: courtesy CEFAA)

Yet here at home, a 2012 poll showed that nearly 80% of Americans believe the government has concealed information about UFOs. As a result, frustrated citizens turn to fringe conspiracists seeking some way of understanding our irrational denial of this very real phenomenon.

When UFO events occur here, civilian groups do the best they can in battling the obstacles to investigating them. At Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Nov. 7, 2006, a metallic disc was observed hovering over the United Airlines terminal for at least five minutes, before shooting straight up in the sky, at great speed, cutting a hole in the cloud bank. This was not a flying machine known to any of the aviation experts who witnessed or later analyzed the event.

On March 13, 1997, hundreds if not thousands of citizens, including the governor at the time, saw massive delta-shaped objects gliding silently over Arizona. Like the Kecksburg case, this event has never been explained despite a class action lawsuit filed in 2000 by witnesses in Phoenix. A court-ordered search for information was issued to the Department of Defense, but once again, no pertinent records were obtained.

Nonetheless, much more data on UFOs has been accumulated than ever before, and files have been released around the world. The phenomenon's physical reality is now firmly established. But its nature and origin remain a problem. Meanwhile, astronomers have reported that there could be as many as 40 billion habitable Earth-size planets in our galaxy; one out of every five sunlike stars has a planet the size of Earth orbiting it in the Goldilocks zone.

We need to join the other countries taking responsible action in addressing this persistent mystery, preferably at the White House level where The Office of Science and Technology Policy is well positioned to take on this task. John Podesta supports the effort to appoint a government staffer for this purpose - and that is no surprise.

*******************************************************************

Ralph Blumenthal is a former New York Times reporter who has written on UFOs.

Leslie Kean is co-founder of the Coalition for Freedom of Information and the author of UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go On the Record (Crown Publishing Group, 2010).
More:
UFO News

John Podesta

{ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-blog/ }

21-10-2015 om 21:40 geschreven door peter  

First China: Now 'parallel universe floating city' appears over seaside at HASTINGS

AFTER reports of a city in the sky appearing to thousands of people in China, residents in sleepy Hastings have reported seeing a similar apparition.

Video footage of what look like shadowy skyscrapers forming in clouds above Foshan in China have gone viral online after Express.co.uk reported the bizarre event.

Now a picture of a similar looking mirage in the sky taken at the coastal town in southern England have been posted on Facebook.

The weird formation is much further away in the Hastings scene, but a similar skycap can be made out.

One was taken by resident Natasha Marie’s mother-in-law, who was snapping coastal scenes during sunset.

However, the sky city was later seen forming in the distance, with much speculation about what the alien object could be.

One person who saw the pictures from both sides of the globe said: "This is crazy, what is going on? Is it the same city? Is this some sort of sign?"

But more level-headed people see them as coincidental optical illusions.

Earlier, Chinese TV news reports told how thousands of residents in TWO areas reported separately seeing a huge city form in the skies.

The Hastings

First thousands reportedly saw a ghostly alien city floating over Foshan in the Guangdong province of China.

A few days later people in the province of Jiangxi, China, also reported seeing a similar cloud city.

Weather experts have explained all these phenomena as natural mirages, an optical illusion called Fata Morgana.

Fata Morgana can be seen on land or sea and involves the optical distortion and inversion of distant objects such as boats, which can appears as skyscrapers because the images become stacked, when rays of light bend as they pass through air of different temperatures such as in a heat haze.

But the mystery did not stop sending conspiracy theorists into over drive, with claims of anything from an alien city briefly appearing through a wormhole to another dimension, a santanic symbol of impending doom, or a secret government hologram project to test how the public would react to a major paranormal event.

The Paranormal Crucible YouTube channel said in a video of the Chinese events it could be: "A temporal vortex, or a possible parallel universe materialising briefly into our own reality.

"It is also possible, considering China's technological achievements that a top secret holographic technology was tested over a heavily populated area in an effort to gauge the public reaction

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21-10-2015 om 18:28 geschreven door peter