Why 2015 Was a Weird Year for UFO Sightings
We're no closer to finding intelligent life from other planets and we might be farther from finding it at home.

• Neel V.

Mankind’s relationship to space changed in 2015: Not only did we find liquid water on Mars, the commercial space race heated up, making our own starry ambition seems more plausible than ever. But we didn’t find life and life didn’t find us — at least not in a verifiable way. UFOs were spotted, sure, but they stayed stubbornly U.

The most exciting and provocative alleged UFO sighting actually came from someone who probably has a better view for spotting them than anybody else: Astronaut Scott Kelly was floating 259 miles above the surface of the Earth aboard the International Space Station when he snapped and tweeted this pic:

View image on Twitter

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Scott Kelly 

✔@StationCDRKelly

Day 233. Once upon a #star over Southern India. #GoodNightfrom @space_station! #YearInSpace

12:56 AM - 16 Nov 2015

Immediately, people began asking what that mysterious glint of light was in the corner. What could it be?

The answer, it turns out, was: “Lot of stuff.” Forbes made a pretty convincing argument that it was the High Definition Earth-Viewing System mounted on a module attached to the ISS. Light from the instrument seems to have reflected back at Kelly’s camera as he took the picture. In fact, you can see this much more clearly when you increase the contrast on the image:

That’s a letdown, sure. But there were plenty of other big, weird sightings throughout the year. There were strange lights flying over Los Angeles a few weeks ago, but the Navy claimed responsibility, saying it was part of a missile test flight off the Pacific coast.

https://youtu.be/DpJ6YcKXtLA

Naturally, not everyone bought that explanation.

Lenticular clouds freaked out a bunch of people over in Cape Cod, South Africa last month. And, to be fair, the whole thing did look an awful lot likeIndependence Day. In this instance, however, it’s much easier to accept a scientific explanation involving strange variations in the atmosphere. Still looks freaky though:

instagram_sa  3 months ago

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Did you notice the UFO's flying over #capetown yesterday? 👽 Photo by @mijlof 📷

There were two big UFO sightings in India this year — one in June documented by a fifth grade student; and another, much larger object snapped by an individual who claims to have seen the mysterious ship rotating in the air. Both sightings were in the state of Uttar Pradesh and so far, there aren’t any clear explanations as to what they might have been.

That doesn’t necessarily mean those and other UFOs are signs of extraterrestrial objects zipping around through our sky. There are actually a ton of rational explanations for UFOs, ranging from aircraft balloons, aberrations of light, natural objects from space, and even birds. And ticking off those things from the list doesn’t mean it must be a ship from another planet.

Mankind’s constantly increasing access to the internet certainly hasn’t helped people keep a more rational mind about what they’re seeing. Just Google “UFO” one of these days and get lost in a k-hole community of people who are convinced those are alien objects coming to abduct human beings and signing secret deals with the government. In addition, the ubiquity of smartphones means everyone can document whatever strange things they see, and immediately post it to social media. Insert an appropriate hashtag like #UFO or #aliens or #FlyingSaucer. One can get lost in the pile of evidence.

Unfortunately, although smartphone cameras are getting better with every month, they’re still subject to a lot of the deficiencies that limit pretty much any kind of photographic equipment. Strange light or reflections can appear much brighter than they actually are. They might obscure the focus of an object and make it look more strange than it really is. While a lot of cameras allow you to manipulate the image quality in ways that offset those problems, most people neglect to do that before they send something straight to Twitter.

The only UFO this year that actually got scientists’ attention was the WT1190F object that burned up in Earth’s atmosphere about four weeks ago, over the Indian Ocean. No one was really what that piece of debris was, but scientists were pretty sure it was the remnants of some old rocketry equipment used in a previous launch.

Scientists were pretty excited about studying WT1190F reentry into Earth’s atmosphere to study the behavior of how objects plummet down from space into the Earth. It’s unclear yet what they found, but it ought to lead to some insights as to how meteors crash into Earth, and how humans can build better heat shields on spacecraft that are carrying astronauts back to Earth.

Photos via NASA and YouTube

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14-02-2016 om 21:11 geschreven door peter  

Famous UFO cases: Kaikoura lights – New Zealand, 1978

Kaikoura, N.Z.

Following the nature of events that took place that night, theNew Zealand air force was on high alert to intercept any detectable UFOs in sight. One whimsical interpretation purported by the media was that the crew on the air plane had apprehended Venus that night. On the legal front, the police collaborated with the air force to investigate into the matter but later, the famous UFO case of Kaikoura lights, 1978, was referred to the UFO cases department in the intelligence agencies.

© 2010 www.Latest-UFO-Sightings.net

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14-02-2016 om 18:31 geschreven door peter  

Deze vintage NASA-postercollectie gunt u een futuristische blik in de toekomst - HLN.be 

 Bron: NASA / Mashable

© NASA JPL, Invisible Creature.

ART & DESIGN NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory heeft Don en Ryan Clark - het ontwerpersduo achter Invisible Creature - gevraagd een reeks posters te ontwerpen om het grote publiek een beeld te geven van hoe 'het leven in de toekomst' eruit zou kunnen zien. Elk van de posters - in strak retro-design - verbeeldt een historische NASA-missie in de ruimte.

"Elke poster stelt een specifieke NASA-missie in de ruimte voor", laat één van de designers horen. "Zo hebben we er bijvoorbeeld eentje voor de Voyager's Grand Tour, de ontdekking van Enceladus en voor het NASA Mars exploration program." Voor het design van hun collectie lieten de ontwerpers zich rechtstreeks beïnvloeden door de typische vintage reisposters uit de jaren 40, 50 en 60. 

Het resultaat is een strakke reeks beelden die tegelijkertijd modern en retro aandoen. De hele collectie is integraal en gratis te downloaden op de NASA website.

© NASA JPL, Invisible Creature.

© NASA JPL, Invisible Creature.

© NASA JPL, Invisible Creature.

14-02-2016 om 18:10 geschreven door peter  

FBI Stunningly Confirms “Beings Are Visiting Us From Other Dimensions”

(Before It's News)

While writing my previous post, The Shadow People – ‘Interdimensional Beings’ Being Seen By Many, I was shocked to learn that people like Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking both though it was entirely possible we were being visited on “shadow people” from other dimension. 

The way they explained it, there are four actual dimensions, and because space-time has the ability to bend light, it is possible that people (or beings) in one dimension can see the shadows of people (or beings) from another dimensions. 

More specifically, they said there are three dimensions of space, and one dimension of time, and while it is believed that Shadow People can possibly be seen, according to Stephen Hawking, matter and light are confined to the “membrane” of the dimension they reside in, therefor full scale interdimensional travel he says, is not possible.

Much of the rest of that post goes on to take a very different view than Stephen Hawking, but as I looked into the matter further, imagine my surprise when I learned the FBI “Beings Are Visiting Us From Other Dimensions.”

There has been much talk nowadays about inter-dimensional worlds, especially what with the Large Hadron Collider in CERN officially being fired back up recently to go hunting for them.  Whilst we are all considering where the Aliens could be coming from and IF other Dimensions are actually a fact rather than Fiction, along comes this VERY important piece of evidence courtesy of the F.B.I!

And this is a very true story people, the FBI admitted that we have been visited by “beings from other dimensions” and the official link from the FBI vault can be found here: vault.fbi.gov

To be fair it is very surprising that the FBI have shown such a vast amount of interest in the whole study of the UF phenomena?! But is it really that surprising when people have been reporting UFO sightings pretty much since the beginning of time, no not really!  I guess it could even be possible that there are a lot of science fiction movies that are actually based on real events, or as some may even call them “leaks” to the general public, given by the government in order to deliberately raise awareness among the population? Subconsciously planting that seed into all of our brains that the Aliens truly are with us!

Close Encounters Of The Third Kind – Could it be that some Science Fiction films have been made to ‘educate’ us about Aliens?

Back in 2011 after there were some important documents which had been “declassified” a report written by a special agent of the FBI in 1947 reached the public. This particular FBI special agent, who was a lieutenant colonel whose identity has remained anonymous because of “national security” had gathered numerous amounts of data on the UFO phenomena after interviewing and studying the phenomena for many years.

Part of the FBI evidence

CHECK OUT OTHER STORIES BY THE UN-SILENT MAJORITY HERE:

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According to some of these exciting yet slightly bizarre unexpected reports and “Declassified” documents, we have been visited by numerous extra-terrestrial beings, some of whom, are not only from other planets beyond our own, but also from other dimensions. Apparently some of these Alien beings originate from an ‘ethereal plane coexistent’ within our physical universe. These incredible “entities”, that apparently can “materialize” on our very own planet appeared as huge ‘translucent figures’.

Giant ‘translucent figures’ are visiting Planet Earth – according to the FBI

Please see below a transcript of some of the most important details of the report that you all need to know about:

1. Part of the disks carry crews, others are under remote control

2. Their mission is peaceful. The visitors contemplate settling on this plane

3. These visitors are human-like but much larger in size

4. They are not excarnate Earth people, but come from their own world

5. They do NOT come from a planet as we use the word, but from an etheric planet which interpenetrates with our own and is not perceptible to us

6. The bodies of the visitors, and the craft, automatically materialize on entering the vibratory rate of our dense matter

7. The disks posses a type of radiant energy or a ray, which will easily disintegrate any attacking ship. They reenter the etheric at will, and so simply disappear from our vision, without trace

8. The region from which they come is not the “astral plane”, but corresponds to the Lokas or Talas. Students of osoteric matters will understand these terms.

9. They probably can not be reached by radio, but probably can be by radar. if a signal system can be devised for that (apparatus)

Addendum: The Lokas are oval shape, fluted length oval with a heat-resistaning metal or alloy not yet known the front cage contains the controls, the middle portion a laboratory; the rear contains armament, which consists essentially of a powerful energy apparatus, perhaps a ray.

SUMMARY

Although some of the above can come across a little confusing and not very clear, you can certainly get the gist that they are talking about (in certain areas of the report) the types of craft that are entering our planets atmosphere! Many UFO sightings show the craft as appearing as if its ‘pulsing’ almost changing in shape in our atmosphere, could the above suggest that these crafts are possibly doing this due to being from another ‘Unknown’ Dimension? It definitely appears that way!

Many Orbs that are being seen around the world appear to have a similar energy force around them, as well as other UFO’s captured on Camera, almost like they are not quite real, or put it in a better way relevant to the text below, they almost appear ‘not of this world’.

Please see below a great capture above New York recently which gives a great example of one of these types of craft.  Note how its pulsing and changing in different shape, and please also note that this craft is in a strict ‘No Fly Zone’

Perhaps reports and research by those who rule this planet over the last so many years, have created the desire to search for where these Inter-dimensional Beings are coming from ~ Just perhaps this is why we now have our very own ‘Alien Technology’ hunting other worldly Dimensions……the Large Hadron Collider at CERN!

Interesting times lie ahead… Source

14-02-2016 om 16:50 geschreven door peter  

Einstein's Theory of General Relativity

Einstein's theory of general relativity predicted that the space-time around Earth would be not only warped but also twisted by the planet's rotation. Gravity Probe B showed this to be correct.

Editor's Note (Feb. 11): Gravitational waves predicted by Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity have been detected directly at last. Einstein was right. You can see our full discovery story here; a video on the find here; and our complete coverage of the historic scientific discovery here.

In 1905, Albert Einstein determined that the laws of physics are the same for all non-accelerating observers, and that the speed of light in a vacuum was independent of the motion of all observers. This was the theory of special relativity. It introduced a new framework for all of physics and proposed new concepts of space and time.

Einstein then spent 10 years trying to include acceleration in the theory and published his theory of general relativity in 1915. In it, he determined that massive objects cause a distortion in space-time, which is felt as gravity.

The tug of gravity

Two objects exert a force of attraction on one another known as "gravity." Sir Isaac Newton quantified the gravity between two objects when he formulated his three laws of motion. The force tugging between two bodies depends on how massive each one is and how far apart the two lie. Even as the center of the Earth is pulling you toward it (keeping you firmly lodged on the ground), your center of mass is pulling back at the Earth. But the more massive body barely feels the tug from you, while with your much smaller mass you find yourself firmly rooted thanks to that same force. Yet Newton's laws assume that gravity is an innate force of an object that can act over a distance.

Albert Einstein, in his theory of special relativity, determined that the laws of physics are the same for all non-accelerating observers, and he showed that the speed of light within a vacuum is the same no matter the speed at which an observer travels. As a result, he found that space and time were interwoven into a single continuum known as space-time. Events that occur at the same time for one observer could occur at different times for another.

As he worked out the equations for his general theory of relativity, Einstein realized that massive objects caused a distortion in space-time. Imagine setting a large body in the center of a trampoline. The body would press down into the fabric, causing it to dimple. A marble rolled around the edge would spiral inward toward the body, pulled in much the same way that the gravity of a planet pulls at rocks in space. [Video: How To See Spacetime Stretch]

Strange Star Pair Confirms Einstein | Video

https://youtu.be/wFeN3YlRmHk

Experimental evidence

Although instruments can neither see nor measure space-time, several of the phenomena predicted by its warping have been confirmed.

Gravitational lensing:

Light around a massive object, such as a black hole, is bent, causing it to act as a lens for the things that lie behind it. Astronomers routinely use this method to study stars and galaxies behind massive objects.

Einstein's Cross, a quasar in the Pegasus constellation, is an excellent example of gravitational lensing. The quasar is about 8 billion light-years from Earth, and sits behind a galaxy that is 400 million light-years away. Four images of the quasar appear around the galaxy because the intense gravity of the galaxy bends the light coming from the quasar.

Gravitational lensing can allow scientists to see some pretty cool things, but until recently, what they spotted around the lens has remained fairly static. However, since the light traveling around the lens takes a different path, each traveling over a different amount of time, scientists were able to observe a supernova occur four different times as it was magnified by a massive galaxy.

In another interesting observation, NASA's Kepler telescope spotted a dead star, known as a white dwarf, orbiting a red dwarf in a binary system. Although the white dwarf is more massive, it has a far smaller radius than its companion.

"The technique is equivalent to spotting a flea on a light bulb 3,000 miles away, roughly the distance from Los Angeles to New York City," Avi Shporer of the California Institute of Technology said in a statement.

Changes in the orbit of Mercury:

The orbit of Mercury is shifting very gradually over time, due to the curvature of space-time around the massive sun. In a few billion years, it could even collide with Earth.

Frame-dragging of space-time around rotating bodies:

The spin of a heavy object, such as Earth, should twist and distort the space-time around it. In 2004, NASA launched the Gravity Probe B (GP-B). The precisely calibrated satellite caused the axes of gyroscopes inside to drift very slightly over time, a result that coincided with Einstein's theory.

"Imagine the Earth as if it were immersed in honey," Gravity Probe-B principal investigator Francis Everitt, of Stanford University, said in a statement.

"As the planet rotates, the honey around it would swirl, and it's the same with space and time. GP-B confirmed two of the most profound predictions of Einstein's universe, having far-reaching implications across astrophysics research."

Gravitational redshift:

The electromagnetic radiation of an object is stretched out slightly inside a gravitational field. Think of the sound waves that emanate from a siren on an emergency vehicle; as the vehicle moves toward an observer, sound waves are compressed, but as it moves away, they are stretched out, or redshifted. Known as the Doppler Effect, the same phenomena occurs with waves of light at all frequencies. In 1959, two physicists, Robert Pound and Glen Rebka, shot gamma-rays of radioactive iron up the side of a tower at Harvard University and found them to be minutely less than their natural frequency due to distortions caused by gravity.

Gravitational waves:

Violent events, such as the collision of two black holes, are thought to be able to create ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) is currently searching for the first signs of these tell-tale indicators.

In 2014, scientists announced that they had detected gravitational waves left over from the Big Bang using the Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization (BICEP2) telescope in Antarctica. Such waves are thought to be embedded in the cosmic microwave background. However, further research revealed that their data was contaminated by dust in the line of sight.

"Searching for this unique record of the very early universe is as difficult as it is exciting," Jan Tauber, the European Space Agency's project scientist for the Planck space mission to search for cosmic waves, said in a statement.

Editor's recommendations:

• Video: Flying Space-time's Warps and Twists
• 8 Ways You Can See Einstein's Theory of Relativity in Real Life
• Top 10 Strangest Things in Space

{ http://www.space.com/ }

14-02-2016 om 16:40 geschreven door peter  

Mars Science Laboratory mission team members ran mobility tests on California sand dunes in early May 2012 in preparation for operating the Curiosity rover, currently en route to Mars, after its landing in Mars' Gale Crater.

Michael Malin, left, principal investigator for three science cameras on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, comments to a news reporter during tests with Curiosity's mobility-test stand-in, Scarecrow, on Dumont Dunes in California’s Mojave Desert.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
› Full image and caption 

Team members of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission took a test rover to Dumont Dunes in California's Mojave Desert this week to improve knowledge of the best way to operate a similar rover, Curiosity, currently flying to Mars for an August landing.

The test rover that they put through paces on various sandy slopes has a full-scale version of Curiosity's mobility system, but it is otherwise stripped down so that it weighs about the same on Earth as Curiosity will weigh in the lesser gravity of Mars.

Information collected in these tests on windward and downwind portions of dunes will be used by the rover team in making decisions about driving Curiosity on dunes near a mountain in the center of Gale Crater.

First, however, the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, launched Nov. 26, 2011, must put Curiosity safely onto the ground. Safe landing on Mars is never assured, and this mission will use innovative methods to land the heaviest vehicle in the smallest target area ever attempted on Mars. Advances in landing heavier payloads more precisely are steps toward eventual human missions to Mars.

Curiosity is on track for landing the evening of Aug. 5, 2012, PDT (early on Aug. 6, Universal Time and EDT) to begin a two-year prime mission. Researchers plan to use Curiosity to study layers in Gale Crater's central mound, Mount Sharp. The mission will investigate whether the area has ever offered an environment favorable for microbial life.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ . You can follow the mission on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

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14-02-2016 om 16:22 geschreven door peter  

Beware Falling Rocks: Asteroid Day Will Highlight Impact Risks

An international band of asteroid experts gathered Tuesday to discuss the future of asteroid research and avoidance in preparation for the second annual Asteroid Day.

On June 30, 1908, a large meteorite or comet exploded above the remote Russian countryside, flattening 770 square miles (1,990 square kilometers) of forest. Now, June 30 is Asteroid Day, part of a campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of an asteroid strike on Earth.

At a press conference Feb. 9, the organizations behind Asteroid Day announced their plans for the latest effort, inviting a panel of experts to speak about the need for more study of asteroids as well as a commitment to preventing a large body from striking the Earth. The event was held at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC). [Near-Earth Asteroids: Famous Space Rock Flybys and Close Calls]

Strikes from asteroids and comets big enough to threaten people are rare in any given year, but over time they are just about inevitable, the researchers said. For instance, on Feb. 13, 2015, a meteor fell near Chelyabinsk, Russia, and exploded some 18 miles (29 km) above the Earth's surface, the shock wave breaking windows and causing injuries to 1,500 people.

"An event like Chelyabinsk happens about once every 50 years, and we don't have a system designed to discover and track these things," Mark Boslough, a physicist at Sandia National Laboratories who is one of the founders of Asteroid Day, said at the conference.

(Even more recently, reports came in of a meteorite that may have killed a person in India, but it is unclear whether the object was actually a meteorite.)

The organizers of Asteroid Day, among them Brian May, an astrophysicist and former guitarist for the rock band Queen, noted that concerted efforts are needed to find asteroids that might collide with the Earth, and to send spacecraft to study them.

"This is not about fearmongering," said Grig Richters, filmmaker and co-founder of Asteroid Day. "It's about being aware there is a potential threat, and understanding better where we are from."

"Bringing space technology to bear to deflect asteroids will require widespread public support," said Tom Jones, a former space shuttle astronaut who also chairs the Association of Space Explorers' Committee on Near-Earth Objects. "We only need modest resources compared to the cost of absorbing impact. Asteroid Day is to educate the public so we can work together to avoid an impact."

To that end, the scientists who came to ESTEC highlighted some of the work being done to study asteroids — to learn more about them, understand what they are made of and come up with better strategies for preventing a disaster by avoiding getting hit.

One such mission is the proposed Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA). Planned for a 2020 launch, the spacecraft in this mission would approach the asteroid 65803 Didymos, a binary asteroid that consists of two bodies, one about 800 meters (2,600 feet) across and the other about 150 m (490 feet) across. The craft would orbit the larger of the two bodies, launching a 660-lb. (300 kilograms) impactor at the smaller asteroid as it makes a close approach to the Earth. (While Didymos can get within a few million miles of the planet, there's no danger the object will hit Earth.)

Researchers would measure how much the impact moves the smaller asteroid, and how the asteroid's structure and surface hold up after the strike. [100-Foot Asteroid to Buzz Earth Next Month]

Aside from sending probes to investigate what asteroids are made of, the first big task is to catalogue where the possible threats are, said Detlef Koschny, the Space Situational Awareness Near-Earth Object co-manager at the European Space Agency. ESA established a near-Earth object segment in 2008 to help Europe detect such asteroids by observing wide swathes of the sky. One part of the program, at the University of Pisa in Italy, will track where the asteroids are going; ESA is also discussing further work with other countries.

In Europe, a prototype telescope that can scan the whole sky should be in place next year, said Patrick Michel, a planetary scientist and senior researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research. (He noted that the United States has its own efforts in place as well.) And citizens can help, too, he said: "You need to make sure you observe an object again, to make sure we don't lose it again. Amateur astronomers play an important role."

Detection is so important because the further out you find an asteroid, the easier it is to move it, the researchers said. The nuclear bomb approach, made famous by the movie "Armageddon" (and the 1979 film "Meteor") would only be worth doing if there is very little warning, Boslough said, "and we wouldn't be able to test it in space."

The technology, he said, isn't ready yet in any case.

Famed science communicator Bill Nye was also a panelist, and said since humans have the capacity to alter asteroid paths if necessary, it behooves humanity to do it. "We've no evidence the dinosaurs had a space program," he said, "and it cost them."

You can follow Space.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook & Google+. Original article on Space.com.

EDITOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS

• 'Bigger Than Chelyabinsk' Asteroid To Skim By Earth | Orbit Animation
• Asteroids Galore! 10,000th Near-Earth Object Discovered
• Asteroid Apophis Gives a Earth Close Shave in 2029 (Infographic)

{  http://www.space.com/ }

14-02-2016 om 16:15 geschreven door peter  

Burbage historian recalls Hinckley's UFO

"I hoped that one day I would see a UFO – but did not really believe that it would happen"

{ http://www.hinckleytimes.net/ }

14-02-2016 om 15:04 geschreven door peter  

ALWEER SIGAARVORMIGE UFO BOVEN MARS OPPERVLAKTE  ( VIDEO )

 { www.NIBURU.nl }

14-02-2016 om 14:52 geschreven door peter  

UFO Hunting Satellite Is Coming To Space

UFO images and videos seem to appear every day near the International Space Station. Most of the times, the alleged UFOs in the pictures turn out to be a space debris, light reflections, an antenna attached to the station, and among other usual things.

Howeck said that they got the satellite through the Interorbital Systems, and they will also do the launch as part of the package of buying the satellite. The more fund the team can get, the more scientific equipment can be included on board.ver, it would be interesting to know that someone might launch a satellite into Earth’s orbit with the very particular mission, and that is to detect and prove unknown objects out there.

A team of researchers known as CubeSat for Disclosure aims to use a low-orbit satellite controlled by them to study potential objects in Earth’s atmosphere. They hope to find and verify a real extraterrestrial craft. They are planning to open-source the data to the individuals.

The CubeSat for Disclosure team will launch a little satellite with infrared, electromagnetic and radiation sensors, and two cameras that are capable of photographing a full 360 degrees.

There are many reports seeing UFOs near the ISS, but the video feeds suddenly cut out without apparent reasons. Project coordinator Dave Shock says that this will not happen if they can control the images. He explains that nobody will corrupt or alter the data, so the alleged government cover-up won’t be happening.

CubeSat for Disclosure, however, doesn’t have the launch date yet, and they are still raising more money to pack the satellite as much instrumentation as possible. The team is using the air and spaceport Interorbital Systems out of the Mojave Desert.

ShoShock said that they got the satellite through the Interorbital Systems, and they will also do the launch as part of the package of buying the satellite. The more fund the team can get, the more scientific equipment can be included on board.

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

14-02-2016 om 14:38 geschreven door peter  

Men In Black Russian Documentary With English Subtitles

14-02-2016 om 01:29 geschreven door peter  

Wonders in the Sky: A Breakthrough in UFO Research

Help Us Uncover the Reality of Ancient UFOs 

We have re-launched our campaign based on the initial success with early collectors, who have already reserved the first 150 books. Their contributions have enabled us to finish the research and the layout for the book, which is now being printed in China, with an expected release date in the US of late May 2016.

Wonders in the Sky is a collector's limited edition book by world-leading UFO researchers Jacques Vallée and Chris Aubeck, which presents the scientific research and artistic beauty of 424 UFO sightings prior to the Industrial Revolution. This is the new benchmark in UFO research.

Under our contract with the initial publisher of the paperback edition of Wonders in the Sky (Tarcher-Penguin) we have agreed no more than 500 copies of this exceptional, Limited Edition will ever be printed.

The text has been augmented with many new cases, a new round of analysis of all previous cases, and stunning new iconography in high-resolution color. Only 348 copies are still available for subscription!!

             "Golden orb" phenomenon seen at Spoletium (Umbria, Italy) in 91 BC

    Collector's Limited Edition of Wonders in Sky

14-02-2016 om 01:28 geschreven door peter  

Phoenix Arizona Alien Encounter

(Before It's News)

14-02-2016 om 00:55 geschreven door peter  

Strange Lights In The Sky Over The Netherlands (Video)

(Before It's News)

Witness recorded with his phone strange lights in the sky in the South of the Netherlands on February 2, 2016.

Witness states: I filmed this with my phone from inside the car. Can anyone explain to me what I was just looking at?
 

The Dutch news websites immediately explain it as being “polar stratospheric clouds” but I did not see any other different colors that are specific with polar stratospheric clouds.

Polar stratospheric clouds also known as nacreous clouds are colorful clouds in the winter polar stratosphere at altitudes of 15,000–25,000 meters (49,000–82,000 ft).

The cloud formation with the three lights/objects is quite different if you compare it with a specific polar stratospheric cloud.
 

Witness added some stills and contrast effects to enhance the pictures, but the video footage itself is unedited.

Thanks http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/

Check out more contributions by Jeffery Pritchett ranging from UFO to Bigfoot to paranormal to Prophecy

14-02-2016 om 00:46 geschreven door peter  

Gravitational Waves: What Their Discovery Means for Science and Humanity

People around the world cheered yesterday morning (Feb. 11) when scientists announced the first direct detection of gravitational waves — ripples in the fabric of space-time whose existence was first proposed by Albert Einstein, in 1916.

The waves came from two black holes circling each other, closer and closer, until they finally collided. The recently upgraded Large Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) captured the signal on Sept. 14, 2015. Not every scientific discovery gets this kind of reception, so what exactly is all the hype about, and what's next for LIGO now that it has spotted these elusive waves?

First of all, detecting two colliding black holes is thrilling by itself — no one knew for sure if black holes actually merged together to create even more-massive black holes, but now there's physical proof. And there's the joy of finally having direct evidence for a phenomenon that was first predicted 100 years ago, using an instrument that was proposed 40 years ago. [Gravitational Waves Detected by LIGO: Complete Coverage]

But what is truly monumental about this detection is that it gives humanity the ability to see the universe in a totally new way, scientists said. The ability to directly detect gravitational waves — which are generated by the acceleration or deceleration of massive objects in space — has been compared to a deaf person suddenly gaining the ability to hear sound. An entirely new realm of information is now available.

"It's like Galileo pointing the telescope for the first time at the sky," LIGO team member Vassiliki (Vicky) Kalogera, a professor of physics and astronomy at Northwestern University in Illinois, told Space.com. "You're opening your eyes — in this case, our ears — to a new set of signals from the universe that our previous technologies did not allow us to receive, study and learn from."

"Up until now, we've been deaf to gravitational waves," LIGO Executive Director David Reitze, of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), said during an announcement ceremony in Washington, D.C. "What's going to come now is we're going to hear more things, and no doubt we'll hear things that we expected to hear … but we will also hear things that we never expected."

With this new sensory view of the universe, here are some of the things scientists hope to discover.

The universe unlocked: gravitational waves detected

https://youtu.be/UkrM9pRy43M

Gravitational Waves Observed

https://youtu.be/tu64i49Y_ps

New windows on the universe

LIGO is particularly sensitive to gravitational waves that come from violent cosmic events, such as two massive objects colliding or a star exploding. The observatory has the potential to locate these objects or events before light-based telescopes can do so, and in some cases, gravitational-wave observations could be the only way to find and study such events.

For example, in yesterday's announcement, scientists reported that LIGO had identified two black holes spinning around each other and merging together in a final, energetic collision. As their name suggests, black holes don't radiate light, which means they are invisible to telescopes that collect and study electromagnetic radiation. Some black holes are visible with light-based telescopes, because material in their immediate vicinity radiates, but scientists haven't seen examples of merging black holes with radiating material around them.

In addition, the black holes spotted by LIGO are 29 and 36 times the mass of the sun, respectively. But Reitze said that as LIGO's sensitivity continues to improve, the instrument could be sensitive to black holes that are 100, 200 or even 500 times the mass of the sun that are further away from Earth. "There could be a really nice discovery space that opens up once we get out there," he said.

Scientists already know that studying the sky in different wavelengths of light can reveal new data about the cosmos. For many centuries, astronomers could only work with optical light. But relatively recently, researchers built instruments allowing them to study the universe using X-rays, radio waves, ultraviolet waves and gamma-rays. Each time, scientists got a new view of the universe.

In the same way, gravitational waves have the potential to show scientists totally new features of cosmic objects, LIGO team members said. [Study of Gravitational Waves Could Unravel Many Mysteries (Video)]

"If we're ever lucky enough to have a supernova in our own galaxy, or maybe in a nearby galaxy, we will be able to look at the actual dynamics of what goes on inside the supernova," said LIGO co-founder Rainer Weiss of MIT, who spoke at the announcement ceremony. While light is often blocked by dust and gas, "gravitational waves come right out [of the supernova], boldly unimpeded," Weiss said. "As a consequence, you really find out what's going on inside of these things."

Other exotic objects scientists hope to study with gravitational waves are neutron stars, which are mind-bogglingly dense, burned-out stellar corpses: A teaspoon of neutron-star material would weigh about a billion tons on Earth. Scientists aren't sure what happens to regular matter under such extreme conditions, but gravitational waves could provide extremely helpful clues, because these waves should carry information about the interior of the neutron star all the way to Earth, LIGO scientists said.

LIGO also has a system set up to alert light-based telescopes when the detector seems to have spotted a gravitational wave. Some of the astronomical events that LIGO will study, such as colliding neutron stars, may produce light in all wavelengths, from gamma-rays to radio waves. With LIGO's alert system in place, it's possible that scientists could observe some astronomical events or objects in various wavelengths of light, plus gravitational waves, which would provide a "very complete picture" of those events, Reitze said.

"When that happens, that'll be, I think, the next big thing in this field," he said. 

Relativity

Gravitational waves were first predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity, which was published in 1916. That famous theory has stood up to all kinds of physical tests, but there are some aspects that scientists haven't been able to study in the real world, because they require very extreme circumstances. The extreme warping of space-time is one example of this.

"Until now, we have only seen warped space-time when it is very calm — as though we had only seen the surface of the ocean on a very calm day, when it's quite glassy," Kip Thorne of Caltech, another founding member of LIGO and an expert on warped space-time, said at yesterday's ceremony. "We had never seen the ocean roiled in a storm, with crashing waves. All that changed on Sept. 14. The colliding black holes that produced these gravitational waves created a violent storm in the fabric of space and time." [The History & Structure of the Universe (Infographic)]

"This observation tests that regime beautifully, very strongly," Thorne continued. "And Einstein comes out with beaming success."

But the study of general relativity via gravitational waves is far from over. Questions remain about the nature of the graviton, the particle believed to carry the gravitational force (just like the photon is the particle that carries the electromagnetic force). And scientists have many questions about the inner workings of black holes, which gravitational waves may help illuminate (so to speak). But all of that, the scientists said, will be revealed slowly, over the course of many years, as LIGO and related instruments collect more data on more events.

A legacy for the future

Looking toward the next three years, Reitze said the collaboration is focused on increasing LIGO's sensitivity to its full potential. This will make the observatory — which consists of two big detectors, one in Louisiana and the other in Washington state — more sensitive to gravitational waves. But scientists don't know how many events LIGO will see, because they don't know how often many of these events occur in the universe.

LIGO detected the binary black hole merger even before the instrument began its first official observation campaign after its recent upgrade, but it's possible that this was a lucky break. To get the gravitational astronomy train rolling, LIGO simply needs more data.

When asked to comment on LIGO's impact on the world beyond the scientific community, and about how gravitational-wave science might influence people's daily lives, Reitze simply said, "Who knows?"

"When Einstein predicted general relativity, who would have predicted that we'd use it every day when we use our cellphones?" he said. (General relativity provides an understanding how gravity influences the passing of time, and this information is necessary for GPS technology, which uses satellites that orbit further away from the gravitational pull of the Earth than people on the surface).

LIGO is "the most sensitive instrument ever built," said Reitze, and the technological advances that have been made while building the observatory may feed into technologies that will be used in ways people can't yet predict.

Thorne said he sees the larger contribution of LIGO slightly differently.

"When we look back on the era of the Renaissance, and we ask ourselves, 'What did the humans of that era give to us that's important to us today?' I think we would all agree it's great art, great architecture, great music," he said.

"Similarly, when our descendants look back on this era, and they ask themselves, 'What great things came to us?' … I believe there will be an understanding of the fundamental laws of the universe and an understanding of what those laws do in the universe, and an exploration of the universe," Thorne added. "LIGO is a big part of that. The rest of astronomy is a big part of that. And I think that cultural gift to our future generations is really much bigger than any kind of technological spin-off, than the ultimate development of technology of any kind. I think we should be proud of what we give to our descendants culturally."

Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

EDITOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS

• What Colliding Black Holes Sound Like | Video
• How Gravitational Waves Work (Infographic)
• Hunting Gravitational Waves: The LIGO Laser Interferometer Project in Photos

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14-02-2016 om 00:25 geschreven door peter  

Bright UFO Discards Another Glowing Object To Ground Level

A man in Spokane Valley in Washington claimed to have witnessed and recorded a glowing sphere on video. The object apparently stopped to hover and seemed to drop something. On January 26, 2014, the witness noticed a bright object in yellow, red, and orange colors from the outside into a back porch around 7 p.m.

He went north of his house and stopped before he changed direction to the east. He alerted his family for them to witness the strange aerial event.

The witness saw the object hovered, flashed brightly many times, and discarded something glowing from the bottom of it. The object then slowly lost its brightness.

Interestingly, it wasn’t the first time he saw the object. He saw the same object doing the same thing in almost the same place, only slightly farther southeast.

A second witness made a report to UFOSNW of a large glowing orange sphere to the east at approximately 1810 hours on the same date. The witness lived around a mile from the first witness who took a video footage.

MUFON investigator James E. Clarkson closed the case as an unknown aerial vehicle (AUV). He considered the case as strange with technical evidence and strong witness credibility.

13-02-2016 om 23:05 geschreven door peter  

Details

Written by Miguel Mendonça

Category: In-depth

 Published: 13 February 2016

By Miguel Mendonça

In 2015 I met ET-human hybrids for the first time—eight of them. Within two months, my reality was expanding so fast that I had to let go of trying to understand it all intellectually. It became clear that this cannot all be understood with the mind. We cannot turn their information on consciousness, love and oneness into personal knowledge without opening our hearts and occasionally letting the mind take a back seat.

That is just one of the key learnings that came out of the research that Barbara Lamb and I undertook for what has become the book Meet the Hybrids – The Lives and Missions of ET Ambassadors on Earth. The hybrids have access to a level of understanding that answers not just the big questions of ufology, but many of the biggest questions that humans have ever thought to ask.

Let that sink in for a moment. Then let the questions flow: how do they know so much? Who are they? What are they? Why are they here?

This brief introduction to hybrids will only scratch the surface of what we uncovered in the research, but it will give the reader a sense of the complexity and multidimensional nature of the subject.

This has major implications for ufology, and indeed the wider enterprise of human inquiry. I will close with some further thoughts on what this suggests for our continuing research in this field.

What is a hybrid?

There are various types of hybrids it seems. For our glossary, the definition we arrived at—with input from the hybrids—was: a being which has been genetically altered to be more than one species.

How are hybrids created?

Another complex question. One of the hybrids was created as part of a military project, combining DNA from her human parents and two ET races. Four of the hybrids understand they had ET genetics introduced while in their mother’s womb. Commonly, they are composed of a number of ET races. Some call these their ET ‘frequencies’.

One of the hybrids described a process called ‘spinning’, in which the various genetics and ‘energetic imprints’ of the ET ‘parents’ are combined, in order to set up the template for the cell mass. This is then made ready for the being to incarnate on Earth to human parents.

Several understand they made an agreement as a soul to incarnate on Earth as a hybrid, and they may recall doing the planning while in that pre-corporeal state.

Another of the hybrids had several theories as to how he was created, including the possibility that, given his Mantis component, he may have created himself. As these particular Mantis beings don’t die in the way we understand, they can choose a new form as required.

How do they know they are hybrids?

Most of them uncovered their identity slowly, putting pieces together over the years as memories of ET visitations came back, visitations increased or messages from ETs came through more clearly.

They all have ‘guides’ or ‘star families’ they interact with in various ways. These guides may be ET, or human or animal spirits. Sometimes these guides offer hints, sometimes they are more direct with their messages. They can also use physical effects to enhance their messages.

It was common that the hybrids had no shock or surprise at receiving confirmation of their nature. Many expressed relief—a reaction far from what a regular human, I imagine, would have at learning such a thing.  

Why are hybrids created?

This is the question the hybrids themselves are most concerned with. What is their purpose—their mission? And what are the ETs trying to achieve through this enterprise?

This is, in my view, the most important information to come out of this research for the field of ufology. The answer depends on which ETs one is referring to. There are principally two classes: those in ‘service to self’, and those in ‘service to others’. Most of the ‘negative’ experiences with ETs may occur with the service to self ETs, who reportedly display little compassion for the needs of humans. The ‘service to others’ class are, in general, more like cosmic missionaries, and are here to help humankind evolve—to move through the ‘Ascension’ process.

Ascension is another contested topic. Some hybrids view it as a process of the planet and its inhabitants shifting from the third to the fifth dimension—becoming less physically dense, and some see it as more of a spiritual evolution, in the sense of becoming more enlightened, and living more harmoniously with ourselves, each other and the world in which we live. So both could be thought of as processes of spiritual development, but the term ‘spiritual’—as ever—has varying interpretations.

Both classes are creating hybrids. The activity of the ‘self’ class has been documented across two key books by David Jacobs, and the ‘others’ class by ourselves, and 17 years ago, by CristiAnne Quiros in her PhD dissertation. Many people have explored aspects of these subjects over the last few decades, but I refer here to specific studies of hybrids.

Understanding of the hybrid subject has been previously somewhat skewed towards a darker interpretation, as Jacobs’ work and conclusions have dominated the discourse. His research has pointed to a ‘colonization’ program, wherein certain ETs seek to take over Earth by producing hybrids which look human but can control the minds of other humans through their superior psychic abilities.

The dissertation of Quiros, a psychology graduate, was (to my knowledge) the first major study of the phenomenon which directly involved people identifying as hybrids. The lives and understandings of six—all North American women—were explored for the purposes of equipping the therapeutic community to assist hybrids and their friends and family. Quiros found that the hybrids saw their creation, and the intentions of the ETs responsible, as being a fundamentally benevolent enterprise, which seeks to preserve and enhance human life, principally through the expansion of human consciousness—relating to the concept of Ascension.

Our research explored the subject in a similar way, but went deeper and wider. What became evident is that Jacobs and Quiros may both be correct in their conclusions—they are simply talking about different ETs. The hybrids noted that among the races we hear of regularly, there are often several varieties. For example, the reptilian hybrids in the book made it clear that they are connected to benevolent reptilians, and the male Mantis hybrid said that there are Mantis beings with very different looks and agendas.

Between these two classes of beings there may be a nebulous middle ground, wherein experiencers are being traumatized by ‘service to others’ ETs who may have their own reasons for giving people the experiences they do. One of the hybrids pointed to the work of Lyssa Royal and Keith Priest, who discuss this in detail.

Bringing these two strands of research together to form a synthesis is an important step in comprehending the apparently contradictory information that has been coming forth over the last six decades concerning ET intentions. If we give credence to both sides of the interpretation, we have a much richer, more comprehensible picture of what is happening on this planet, involving the work and agendas of non-human intelligences.

Missions, abilities and services

Linking into the Ascension process are the missions of the hybrids. Some have numerous aspects to their missions. They are equipped with special abilities that help them carry out these missions, which they will often deliver through particular services.

Their missions range from helping the Earth and its people and animals, to helping other hybrids and starseeds, to developing new technologies.

In terms of abilities, most or all of them have some psychic and healing ability. The healing may involve psychic function at the diagnostic level as well as the treatment level.

Hybrids as spiritual teachers

Within a month of commencing the interviews, it was evident that perhaps above all else, this type of hybrid is effectively a spiritual teacher. Their understanding of the journey of the soul, of the evolutionary process we are all undertaking, is often detailed and profound. This is a subject that refuses to get hung up on the material or the intellectual—no matter how much we may want to apply the standards of Western materialist science to it. John Mack concluded the same in his research. We need to be open to other ways of knowing, particularly direct experience. The book offers advice and techniques from the hybrids for pursuing one’s own Ascension, and even for connecting with ETs directly.

Beyond ufology

The hybrids take us right through and beyond ufology, and throw open a mass of questions as to what we may best do with their information, and how we may continue to make progress with this subject. If we accept the word of the hybrids, and work with their information and techniques personally, we find that ufology becomes too small a place for this exploration. The level of conceptual expansion and personal spiritual revelation available to anyone suggests that we revisit the definition of ufology, and ask whether this is still a useful term, or if it has now been outgrown.

The increasing contact between science and spirituality which is developing in the mainstream—as well as the continuing exploration of space—is opening up opportunities for the information that has been produced by ufology to connect with and contribute to these more conventional modes of inquiry. And given the unprecedented democratization of information flows in our culture, I submit that the time has never been better for those of us committed to expanding our understanding of reality to make progress in offering our research to the mainstream.

The hybrids offer the royal road to solving the mysteries of ufology, and so much more. Let us make the best use of this resource. After all, for many of them, helping us is built into their mission.

Miguel Mendonça is co-author with Barbara Lamb of Meet the Hybrids – The Lives and Missions of ET Ambassadors on Earth 
Now available on Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com

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13-02-2016 om 12:38 geschreven door peter  

Mobile Stargazing: The Universe at Your Fingertips

Being out under the stars on a clear night can be "food for the soul," and it's been known to trigger a lifelong passion for astronomy in more than one impressionable youngster - myself included! But it can also leave you wondering what you're looking at. Is that bright object a star, or a planet, or even a satellite? Where does one constellation end, and the next one begin? And where can I find that comet that everyone’s been talking about? Is it even visible from where I live?

It's not always convenient to consult an astronomy book, or magazine star chart, in the dark, and not everyone has access to these aids. But nearly everyone has a mobile device these days, and there are plenty of apps available for sky watchers of all ages and knowledge levels. In this series of columns, we'll explore astronomy the 21st century way – with astronomy and space-related apps and gadgets.

Here, we'll explain how to navigate the sky and learn some prominent stars and constellations. We'll learn why different stars are visible at different times of the year. We'll cover how the planets move along the ecliptic (the plane of the solar system), and where to find it. We'll study the moon's motion across the sky, and why it occasionally eclipses a star – or the sun! We'll start off by helping you configure the app so you're ready for the next clear night. [Smart Space Apps to Explore the Universe]

For telescope owners, astronomy apps can offer advice on what to observe, and what’s likely to be visible with your equipment, large or small. Many naked eye stars are actually double or multiple systems, often comprised of stars of different colors - and these can be enjoyed in a backyard telescope. Most of these multiple stars were named before the invention of the telescope, so they only bear a single name. Other stars vary in brightness on a repeating schedule that you can track yourself by observing how they vary compared to their neighbors in the eyepiece field of view. Advanced astronomy apps provide background information of the story behind the names, and the interesting science around the stars’ behavior.

If you're a planet enthusiast, an astronomy app can tell you where the four Galilean moons of Jupiter are, and whether they are eclipsing one another, or casting their little round black shadows on the great planet's face. Jupiter rotates once every 10 hours or so, so your app is a great aid to determine when to look for the Great Red Spot. We'll explain how to configure and use the app to do all of these tasks.

Deep sky objects, nebulas, star clusters, and galaxies populate the night sky year round. While most galaxies are beyond the reach of backyard telescopes, several are easy to see with unaided eyes, if you know where to look. The Great Andromeda Galaxy, also known as Messier 31, is six full moon diameters across, and the light you're seeing now left there 2.5 million years ago! Messier 31 is one of a list of 110 famous deep sky objects first listed by French astronomer Charles Messier in 1771, many of which can be spotted without a telescope. We'll cover how to generate lists of these objects for your location and observing date, and use your app to find them.

Not all apps are created equal. While we won't play favorites, we will identify the simple ones for beginners, and highlight the ones with advanced features that budding astronomers and even teachers can use, indoors or out, to fully learn the science. When new apps are released or old favorites updated, we'll review them and highlight what's new.

From time to time, we'll explain the purpose for many of the features, like the red screen mode for night vision, the meridian and ecliptic reference lines, and the various coordinate grids that can be switched on. Some of the apps allow you to explore the universe by flying from place to place and seeing the sky from another star. Or view our solar system as seen from another planet.

Some of the apps even allow you to connect to a computerized telescope and drive it around the sky. We'll cover that, too.

This Mobile Stargazing column will go beyond stargazing. We'll look at the apps for various space telescope and planetary exploration missions, including apps that tell you how to see the International Space Station, or watch spacewalks on your phone. There are even apps to alert you when to head outside and look for auroras, also known as northern lights. We'll also see how stargazers use mobile devices as astronomy aids, from taking smartphone astrophotographs, to leveling your telescope tripod, to catching that perfectly composed photograph by predicting where the moon or other objects will be on a given day and time.

In the next column, we'll highlight how mobile devices and apps represent a fundamental shift, allowing us to make a connection with the sky that we just couldn't before. We'll highlight common features found on most astronomy apps and how to set them up for best results. I'm also interested to hear what you want to know about, so please send questions and ideas for topics to cover in future columns. Until then, keep your eyes on the skies!

Editor's note: You can reach Chris Vaughan via email, and follow him on Twitter @astrogeoguy, as well as Facebook and Tumblr.

This article was provided by Simulation Curriculum, the leader in space science curriculum solutions and the makers of the SkySafari app for Android and iOS. Follow SkySafari on Twitter @SkySafariAstro. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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13-02-2016 om 12:06 geschreven door peter  

Meteorite hunter Geoff Notkin searching for space rocks with metal detectors in the Atacama Desert, Chile. Credit: Photographs by Geoffrey Notkin. Copyright 2016 Aerolite Meteorites Inc. View full size image

When news broke that a meteorite may have crash-landed in India last weekend, some experts thought it was odd that no one had seen a fiery space rock blaze across the sky.

That turned out to be the first of many clues suggesting that the unusual incident wasn't caused by a space rock, but likely by a land-based explosion — one that killed one person and injured three others, experts told Live Science.

"Initial assessments, based on photos posted online, are not consistent with something from space," NASA said in a statement emailed to Live Science. "Small meteorites do not start fires or cause explosions when they hit the ground." [See Photos of Meteorites Discovered Around the World]

The intense scrutiny paid to the Indian event isn't out of the ordinary. Typically, researchers rush to find meteorites the moment these extraterrestrial rocks hit Earth, said Geoff Notkin, president of Aerolite Meteorites, the world's largest meteorite company, and former host of the TV show "Meteorite Men," which aired from 2009 to 2012 on the Science Channel.

Notkin has chased Earth-bound meteorites for more than 20 years, and shared his tactics for tracking down the space rocks. But first, it's important to review the terminology: Small chunks of rock in space are called meteoroids. They're called meteors (shooting stars) when they fall through Earth's atmosphere, and they're known as meteorites if they touch down on land or in the water. 

About 48.5 tons (44,000 kilograms) of meteoritic material falls on Earth daily, but it's usually the large, rare meteors and meteorites that make headlines (and craters), according to NASA.

Fireball in the sky

Large meteors often look like fireballs as they blast across the sky, much like the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor explosion that rained meteorites across parts of Russia and Kazakhstan, Notkin said. Researchers can use Doppler radar — the same technology that meteorologists use to predict the weather — to follow the meteor and its debris as it breaks apart during its flight.

"If we can get Doppler data on the falling patterns, it can really narrow the search area," Notkin said.

This stone meteorite was part of the massive Chelyabinsk fireball, seen over Russia on February 15, 2013.
Credit: Photographs by Geoffrey Notkin. Copyright 2016 Aerolite Meteorites Inc.

View full size image

Other than that, researchers rely on eyewitness accounts and video footage (if there is any) to track the meteor. Sometimes, meteorites tumble onto private land, and Notkin will ask landowners if he can look on their property. (If the meteorite is later sold after being studied, Notkin and the landowner will agree on how to split the profits, he said.) In the United States, a meteorite that falls on a landowner's property belongs to the landowner, but if a space rock falls on public land, it belongs to the Smithsonian Institution, Notkin said.

Once researchers find the landing site, they examine objects in the area. Chances are, it's a meteorite if it has "a thin, black rind" on its surface — one that formed when the rock was "superheated" as it raced through Earth's atmosphere, he said.

"When they make it to Earth, they look very much like charcoal briquettes," Notkin said.

Moreover, meteorites are rich in iron, so they stick to magnets, he said. But the longer a meteorite sits on Earth, the more it's exposed to oxygen, water, fertilizers and other contaminating elements.

"There's a real urgency to recover them and get them to the lab as quickly as possible," Notkin said. "These are recently arrived visitors from outer space that have a lot of potential valuable information that they can tell us about their origin." [Crash! 10 Biggest Impact Craters on Earth]

Once a meteorite is in the lab, researchers can analyze its components. For instance, the mineral schreibersite, which contains nickel, iron and phosphorous, is found only in iron meteorites, Notkin said. Another clue is the Widmanstätten pattern, a geometric structure unique to iron meteorites, he said. Some meteorites are packed with gemstones, which form on asteroids that once had a molten core and formed crystals out of the magma.

Recovered meteorites can also yield fascinating geologic discoveries. In 2011, researchers found a new type of mineral on a 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite.

Space rock skeptic

After investigating countless meteorites, Notkin said he was skeptical when he heard about the Indian episode.

"When there's an unexplained event — when there's an explosion or a strange rock appears — it's very common for people who don't have expertise in meteorite science to say, 'Oh, that must be a meteorite. It must be something that fell out of the sky,'" Notkin said.

NASA seemed to echo that skepticism.

"To form a crater the size of what has been posted online would have required a meteorite of at least several kilograms," NASA said in the statement. "While more details may be forthcoming from local scientists, this is unlikely something from space."

Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter @LauraGeggel. Follow Live Science@livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

Editor's Recommendations

• When Space Attacks: The 6 Craziest Meteor Impacts
• Fallen Stars: A Gallery of Famous Meteorites
• Danger! Falling Rocks: Meteorites and Asteroids (Infographic)

13-02-2016 om 11:47 geschreven door peter  

Clinton wades into quicksand of the UFO phenomenon

By Darren Bond

In early 2016, Hillary Clinton gave what might be the most significant signal ever telegraphed to the American people about UFOs.

Or she just confirmed that the concussion she suffered three years ago has finally gotten to her.

On Jan. 4, Clinton, in response to a question from a reporter, stated that she intended to get to the bottom of the UFO issue and opined that she thinks we may have been visited, but wasn’t sure. She also stated that her campaign manager, John Podesta, made her personally pledge to get the information out. She suggested a task force might be created to look into the matter.

This is not the first time a person running for the Presidency has expressed an interest in the topic. President Jimmy Carter, during his 1976 campaign, stated that, as president, he would seek to get all the information about UFOs released to the public. It has beenreported that during a top-secret intelligence briefing, one of the first questions the newly elected President Carter asked the then-current CIA director George H.W. Bush was whether he could get access to the government’s information related to UFOs. Bush denied the request, stating that the president-elect had no “need to know” this information.

President George H. W. Bush

In a strange twist, we fast-forward to Oct. 15, 2015, when that very same former CIA director and former-President George H.W. Bush — while campaigning for his son Jeb — was asked whether the government would ever tell the truth about the UFO phenomenon. His response was, “Americans can’t handle the truth.” Naturally, Jeb’s spokesman said the comments didn’t represent the campaign.

Toward the end of the same article, reporting on the President’s comments, the writer suggested that Bush Sr. was likely suffering from some form of senility; however, undercutting that assertion in the very same article were the former president’s 1988 comments on the subject when his senility was not in question. He verified that the issue was classified, and that he knew a good deal about it.

Mainstream media have long-dismissed stories on the subject by making the obligatory comment about little green men. Everyone then chuckles because educated media types all know that humans are the only beings in the universe.

True to form, when Hillary Clinton broached the subject in January, CNN suggested she was joking. But while she may have been somewhat playful in her demeanor, the substance and extent of her comments suggested purpose and planning.

Clinton has been involved in UFO discussions through what the UFO community refers to as the Rockefeller Initiative. She has a good bit of background on the issue. We can either assume she is senile, was just joking, or she has some calculated interest in revealing what would be the most important disclosure in human history.

Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta

The key is John Podesta. He has stated that getting the UFO files released was his greatest failure while in the Obama Administration.

He also encouraged Lena Dunham to ask Hillary about UFOs several months ago.

The campaign neither disavowed Hillary’s comments nor suggested she was joking. Also, keep in mind that her comments were made on the weekend at a small-town newspaper, a prime time and location to test the waters on a new issue.

The main directive of any campaign manager is to stay on point. Promoting the campaign manager’s UFO opinions is not part of that prime directive. I find it hard to believe that the campaign hadn’t rehearsed this and probably a thousand other off-the-wall questions. She could easily have said she had no interest in the topic. If she wanted to be playful, why not joke about Donald Trump’s hair being the vestigial remains of his Sasquatch heritage?

Of course, maybe these were the gratuitous ravings of a politician trying to get the UFO community’s vote. But she didn’t just make one statement: She promised action. These tangible expressions and promises for the government to review the issue are steps that no governmental official, past or present, has been willing to even acknowledge, much less pursue.

In this author’s humble opinion, the evidence for the UFO phenomenon is so overwhelming that only the uninformed will be surprised by the reality of UFOs. (Check out the Citizen Hearing on Disclosure for a comprehensive background). What the phenomenon represents is another matter.

The political repercussions of UFO disclosure

Regardless of your view, the perplexing question remains: What could the Democratic frontrunner for the U.S. presidency gain by interjecting the issue of UFOs into her campaign?

The speculation starts with the assumption that UFOs are a real phenomenon that the government knows exists but is unwilling to admit. If we don’t assume at least that much, then I can’t really see any advantage for Hillary Clinton to mention the subject.

As a candidate who is not adored among her supporters nor trusted among the voters generally, what would be the advantage to mention the topic if she thought it were a dead end? It would seem to have only downsides and no upside; however, what if she felt she needed to swing for the fence with some truly game-changing information that could change the dynamic and the topic of the race?

There is no doubt changing the topic of her campaign would be helpful. Recently, she has faced questions about her health. She is facing an insurgent campaign from Bernie Sanders that has gained momentum. Bill Clinton’s sexual escapades have been forcefully reconstituted in the new book, The Clintons’ War on Women, and are systematicallyseeping into the campaign. Her role in the destruction of the credibility of Bill’s victims is a major part of the book and an awkward issue for the campaign. The never shy Donald Trump has not so gently fanned those flames.

The Clinton Foundation’s fundraising from foreign sources is still ripe for discussion. The Benghazi affair lingers. Finally, and probably most importantly, the classified email problem continues to fester and could result in an indictment, and an indictment in the middle of the campaign would be almost insurmountable.

All these issues undercut the image of Hillary as a champion of women and a competent, trustworthy leader. UFO disclosure is the one issue that could vaporize every one of her political liabilities and render Donald Trump and the seven dwarfs irrelevant.

The effects of a Disclosure President

Hillary would probably not be the Disclosure President; however, for Hillary to get the political benefit of disclosure, she only has to set off the chain reaction and watch as President Barack Obama makes the announcement. In this one stroke, Obama is made relevant and thrust back into a worldwide media storm — not the story of the year, but the story of all recorded human history. While President Obama might bask in the attention, he would have to answer some of the most difficult and delicate questions a president has ever been asked, thus clearing the way for the next president to continue the project of disclosure with very little political risk.

In the meantime, disclosure would suck all of the air out of the election, obliterating her political baggage. She would then become a champion of truth on the most important issue of all time. She would be instantly changed into the good government advocate that brought transparency to that good ol’ boy military-industrial complex, which had been sitting on this truth for its own purposes for at least 70 years. It would give her the power to move forward and control the debate on the issue.

It would also disconnect her from the systematic deception of the government. How would Americans react if the country had been denied the benefits of transformative technologies paid for by the citizens but hidden for decades? What if NASA had been building rockets while the government had space technology capable of traveling easily to planets and maybe the stars? By initiating the start of disclosure, Hillary Clinton would guarantee her role as the first woman president and the greatest whistleblower the world has ever seen.

Presidential candidates Cruz and Trump

One can imagine the confusion and consternation of the two leading Republicans with the change of topic. How could Trump recapture the limelight? His campaign against illegal “aliens” would take on a new meaning. He would no doubt brag that he had long known everything there is to know about UFOs. (In fact, he was trailed by a UFO at a recent campaign stop.) But he would be in the most uncomfortable position of having President Obama and Hillary Clinton leading the discussion with the real inside scoop.

Ted Cruz would have a different problem. Since his base is substantially made up of the evangelical right, the religious implications would pose a serious challenge to this group’s religious world views. Would they take the position that disclosure was an elaborate conspiracy? Not a preposterous idea. Would they express the revelation as demonic interference and mesh this notion into their end-times theology? A person with Cruz’s intellect, political smarts and obvious religious faith would have to very quickly come up with a convincing and unifying reaction.

Many Americans would sigh a bit of relief that the government had finally admitted what was obvious to them. The cultural conditioning that has been going on for the last 70 years would finally make sense to everyone.

If Hillary could pull off disclosure, she would likely guarantee her election; however, if she attempted it and failed, it would probably be the final nail in the coffin of her candidacy.

Either way, it would be the most interesting pre  sidential campaign in American history.

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13-02-2016 om 11:37 geschreven door peter