*NASA WARNING* | NASA Warns Giant Asteroid May Hit Earth in December 2019

NASA has predicted 31 potential dates between 2019 and 2101, on which the asteroid threatens to hit the Earth. The closest impact date, which also happens to be the most likely date of cataclysm, falls on December 28, 2019.

A GIANT asteroid measuring more than 4,100ft in diameter risks striking the Earth on December 28, 2019, if it suddenly veers off-course, NASA’s asteroid trackers have warned.

The asteroid, dubbed Asteroid 2010 GD37, is next most likely to crash into Earth on December 21, 2093. The asteroid also threatens to hit Earth in December 2022, December 2024 and December 2027.

Even SWAT Teams are Helpless Against This…

NASA’s terrifying predictions are based on 19 observations made between April 5, 2010, and April 9, 2010.During this brief period of analysis, the US space agency calculated the asteroid’s diameter and mass as well as its barreling speed.

According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Asteroid GD37 measures roughly 4,137ft (1.261km) across.The asteroid also weighs in at an incredible 2.7 trillion kg or 2,700,000,000,000kg.

NASA asteroid warning: NASA’s orbital trajectory diagram (Image: NASA)

Because of this, NASA believes the asteroid packs a devastating impact force of 260,000 Megatons (Mt).Just one megaton is the equivalent of 1,000 Kilotons (Kt) or 1,000,000kg of TNT, meaning GD37 could hit Earth with the force of 260,000,000,000kg of TNT.

NASA-If an asteroid is indeed going to come very near the Earth then a collision cannot be ruled out early on.

For comparison, the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, had a blast force between 13Kt to 18Kt or 13,000 to 18,000 tonnes of TNT.And at the point of atmospheric entry, Asteroid GD37 would likely hit the Earth at a velocity of 64,088.225mph(28.65km per second).

But what exactly is the risk of Asteroid GD37 striking Earth this year or on any of NASA’s other 30 risk dates?

Thankfully, the danger is minimal and will likely remain so unless some force pushes the asteroid out of its orbit and into Earth’s path.

On December 28, 2019, there is an impact probability of 0.000000070 percent.This means there is a one in 1,400,000,000 odds of cataclysm or a 99.99999993 percent chance the asteroid will miss.

A devastating crash is even less likely to happen on the next most likely impact date in 2093.

Asteroids like GD37 are tracked by NASA’s Sentry systems, which keep a watchful eye on all cataclysmic asteroids threatening Earth.

The US space agency said: “Sentry is a highly automated collision monitoring system that continually scans the most current asteroid catalogue for possibilities of future impact with Earth over the next 100 years.

“Whenever a potential impact is detected it will be analysed and the results immediately published here, except in unusual cases where we seek independent confirmation.”

NASA asteroid warning: NASA’s potential impact calculations are truly terrifying

(Image: NASA)

“The impact probability will tend to grow as the orbit is refined and alternative and safer trajectories are eliminated.

“Eventually, the impact probability will drop, usually quite abruptly, to zero or, if the asteroid is really on a collision trajectory, it will continue to grow until it reaches 100 percent.”

As new observations and orbital calculations are made, NASA often removes objects from its list of threats.

And the good news is NASA currently knows of no object, which directly threatens the safety of the planet in the foreseeable future.

NASA said: “If an asteroid is indeed going to come very near the Earth then a collision cannot be ruled out early on.

Original video Discovery Channel large asteroid impact simulation

How often do asteroids hit Earth?

According to astronomer Lynn Carter of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, it is hard to say exactly how many space rocks pelt the Earth but there are some indicators.

Astronomers estimate the average number of meteors and asteroids which hit Earth by calculating how many hit a certain area over the course of one day.

Dr Carter said: “Another way to tell how many meteorites hit Earth each year is to look at the number of meteorites found in dry regions where there isn’t much vegetation or erosion, where you expect to be able to find most of the meteorites that fell.

“We can get an estimate of how long ago the meteorite fell to Earth by looking at how it’s been weathered, or altered by Earth’s atmosphere and the local climate.

“Then we can plot how many meteorites fell at that region per year.”

On average, studies suggest between 18,000 and 84,000 meteorites bigger than 10 grams reach the Earth each year.

Source: 

• https://amg-news.com/nasa-warning-nasa-warns-giant-asteroid-may-hit-earth-in-december-2019/

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/ }

25-04-2019 om 22:29 geschreven door peter  

New Questions About Ufo Sightings Answered and Why You Must Read Every Word of This Report

Things You Should Know About Ufo Sightings

UFOs aren’t so hampered. There isn’t a great deal of in between when it has to do with UFOs. Throughout that time period, there were two triangle UFOs sighted in the very same location.

The sighting itself, in spite of the corroborative sightings, is not difficult to dismiss by itself. UFO sightings are now able to easily be captured on video, while it’s through a telephone or video camera. On weekdays it appears that UFO sightings are driven by men and women that are routinely outside daily, rain or shine.

According to them, there wasn’t any sighting. The sighting remains unexplained, merely one of many in and about the Quaker State. The sighting came amid several similar sightings in the region in the preceding weeks. Almost thirty individual sightings would be reported as a consequence of the serious-minded appeal to the general public. One perhaps can only imagine how a lot more sightings may be on record in the event the Internet was available for witnesses to log and talk about their encounters. What follows is a mere range of what’s a huge quantity of strange aerial sightings over the uk at the conclusion of the 1970s.

Ufo Sightings Can Be Fun for Everyone

Tony Dodd, among the UK’s leading UFO researchers and investigators at the moment, would be among the first to analyze the incident. The helicopter would circle the area many times, letting the witness to snap several pictures from various angles. While pilots reporting UFOs is nothing new, there now seems to be a feeling of urgency to produce such reports known on the section of the respective witnesses. A number of other pilots have witnessed that same specific thing. Besides that truth, it may even be possible to blind a UFO pilot.

Introducing Ufo Sightings

Some, however, would examine the incident and realize the unfortunate pair as a convenient if temporary scapegoat. Then explain someone who died in the incident has a fortune in a financial institution and should you help them get the amount from the bank you will find a lot of money. Incidentally, it’s claimed the incident would end in the recovery of a downed disk. A lot of people, including Leverger himself, pondered in the event the incident was some sort of atmospheric incident or possibly a meteor. The strange incidents continued for a number of weeks. Two more incidents occurred in the wee hours of 8th July. Investigation would indicate that the rash wasn’t an answer to something like poison ivy or an allergic reaction.

With no fear whatsoever, the witness would step from his vehicle to receive a better look. He would begin to experience severe problems with his eyes. The witnesses weren’t clear in the event the craft had sped away or in the event the lights had simply gone out. There are also a number of witnesses. Additional a lot of other witnesses would back-up the 2 officers’ sighting.

The History of Ufo Sightings Refuted

The footage is a bit shaky on account of the simple fact the witness had to use full-zoom to concentrate on the craft. The footage below, however, is extremely much worth watching, if simply to provide a feel for what people around the world, but in particular the usa, claim they’re seeing increasingly in the skies above them. What earns the video footage even more credible is there is footage taken by different folks in various areas of town.

Source: 

• http://footageofufos.com/2019/04/new-questions-about-ufo-sightings-answered-and-why-you-must-read-every-word-of-this-report/

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/ }

25-04-2019 om 22:09 geschreven door peter  

Scientists Merge Machines With Living Things.. Biomaterials aka Living Machines Becomes A Reality

Scientists have created simple machines made of biomaterials with the properties of living things. These so-called “living machines” have the properties of living things despite being human-engineered machines.
 

As a genetic material, DNA is responsible for all known life. But DNA is also a polymer. Tapping into the unique nature of the molecule, Cornell engineers have created simple machines constructed of biomaterials with properties of living things.

“We are introducing a brand-new, lifelike material concept powered by its very own artificial metabolism.We are not making something that’s alive, but we are creating materials that are much more lifelike than have ever been seen before,” said Dan Luo, professor of biological and environmental engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Using DASH, the Cornell engineers created a biomaterial that can autonomously emerge from its nanoscale building blocks and arrange itself – first into polymers and eventually mesoscale shapes, reports news.cornell.edu.

RT America’s Trinity Chavez reports on the breakthrough.

• http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/2019/04/machines-from-biomaterials-becomes.html

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/ }

25-04-2019 om 21:53 geschreven door peter  

5 Strange Phenomena Science Can't Explain

The unknown doesn’t tend to stay unknown. After all, there are quite a few very smart people out there, constantly endeavoring to document and understand our world and its mysteries. Often, they’re the ones to turn to when something seems inexplicable. We rely on experts for answers, but sometimes, they’re as baffled as we are when strange phenomena are encountered. Whether they’re objects or events, such phenomena remain puzzling until they’re identified and understood, if they ever are.

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/ }

25-04-2019 om 21:42 geschreven door peter  

Bright UFO takes off from Mt. Shasta, California

Photographer:

 When visiting my mom in Mt. Shasta on 4/17/19, I was out late looking to take a night-time picture of Mt. Shasta.

As I was taking pictures of the mountain, I called my son who was in our vehicle parked nearby waiting for me, and asked him if it was my imagination or was that star just above Mt. Shasta moving?

He wasn't sure but anyway, when I got home to my mom's and uploaded the pictures, I noticed that one picture with that "star" that I thought was moving earlier, was hovering over the mountain and just below and to the right as you look at the picture, there was a grey cigar shaped object and something on the side of it reaching up toward that "star".

That picture was taken at 10:30 PM with a 20-second shutter speed. The very next picture, a minute later at 10:31, the "star" had taken off from the mountain and left a light trail; and also the object on the mountain was no longer there.

My son and I were curious to see if we could get pictures of it the next night on 4/18/19 and around the same time, we were able to get even more shots that have baffled us of this "star" or whatever it is because of the strange lights and trails that we captured around it. Mufon case 99821.

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

25-04-2019 om 21:27 geschreven door peter  

100% Proof That Aliens Lived On Mars Southern Pole, April 25, 2019, UFO Sighting News.

Date of discovery: April 25, 2019
Location of discovery: South Pole, Mars
Source: 

• https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05742
  

I found some really amazing structures in the southern part of Mars. The structures appear to be above the ground tunnel like...almost as if a dome was stretched out. One of the structures is in the shape of a capital E. This must be a structure in the shape of alien writing. The word might have a religious or cultural meaning. 

NASA tries to explain the formations as carbon dioxide freezing and creating these structures, but we all know that NASA cannot be trusted to tell us the truth. The structures do appear ancient, but are still in extraordinary condition and might be a good location for a future Mars base one day since the structures are already completed. 
Scott C. Waring

{ https://www.etdatabase.com/ }

25-04-2019 om 21:09 geschreven door peter  

GREAT CATCH! Daytime UFO video – Palm Springs, California 24-Apr-2019

This really interesting footage of a bright disc-shaped UFO was filmed over Palms Springs, CA on 24th April 2019.

Witness report:

 I saw bright disc shaped object and pulled out my phone and filmed for a minute or so. I was driving in the Palm Springs area around 12:30pm and caught something out of the corner of my eye. I decided to turn around to see I could get a better look at a disc shaped object. I pulled over on side of the road and took a quick video with my phone.

Source: MUFON

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

25-04-2019 om 20:08 geschreven door peter  

Bright UFO caught on tape over Holtwood, Pennsylvania 21-Apr-2019

This bright unidentified flying object was caught on tape over Holtwood, Pennsylvania on 21st April 2019.

Witness report:

Glowing orb that ascended very quickly, changed direction and shape from a glowing pulsating orb, to a dark grey reflective triangle. My boyfriend and I were having a small bonfire and were sitting facing south toward the river and noticed a strange fast moving red/orange orb coming up the horizon behind the trees, we got out our cell phone and recorded this orb and as it flew overhead. It pulsated a red, orange glow. it changed direction from south to west and seemed to change shape as it flew into the clouds. It also seemed to turn off its lights and then it was a dark grey black triangle that reflected the clouds and was semi-transparent. We recorded this, but its hard to see where it flew into the clouds.

Author (MUFON)

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

25-04-2019 om 20:02 geschreven door peter  

US Government Insider Reveals Pentagon Has A Warehouse For Mysterious Metal Possibly From Crashed UFOs

A former military intelligence official has made a shocking claim regarding mysterious materials possibly from crashed alien spacecraft. Luis Elizondo said the American government has stored “metamaterials” perhaps from extraterrestrial spaceships in a specially modified warehouse in Las Vegas. Elizondo, who was a former head of the secret Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) of the US Defense Intelligence Agency claimed that aerospace billionaire Robert Bigelow run the warehouse, which is under armed guard and secured with concrete and barbed wire.

Luis Elizondo explained that the “metamaterials” are composites which don’t occur naturally. He said that we don’t have the technical capacity to reproduce such materials with precision.

Elizondo headed the American government investigation into UFOs that shut down in 2012. The Pentagon had spent multi-million dollars for the UFO investigation. The secret project amassed information on other aircraft which seemed to move extremely fast without having any visible form of propulsion.

Elizondo said that other craft appeared to hover without rotor blades. A video of an encounter between an oval-shaped object without exhaust, wings or tail and an F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet was later released to illustrate such sightings investigated by the AATIP. Most of the investigations were contracted out to Bigelow Aerospace, whose founder once told in a TV interview that he believes aliens are real and that UFOs have visited Earth.

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

25-04-2019 om 19:58 geschreven door peter  

Two linked lights over Central Plateau, Brazil 17-Apr-2019

This fast UFO formation was filmed over Central Plateau in Brazil on 17th April 2019.

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

25-04-2019 om 19:53 geschreven door peter  

Water molecules released from the surface suggest water is buried in the moon’s soil

BY LISA GROSSMAN 

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE  Water molecules in the moon’s vicinity suggest that a thin layer of water is buried in the moon’s soil. In this image taken from the International Space Station, the blue glow is from Earth’s atmosphere.

NASA

Meteor showers bring moon geysers. A lunar orbiter spotted extra water around the moon when the moon passed through streams of cosmic dust that can cause meteor showers on Earth.

The water was probably released from lunar soil by tiny meteorite impacts, planetary scientist Mehdi Benna of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and colleagues report April 15 in in Nature Geoscience. Those random impacts suggest water is buried all over the moon, rather than isolated in freezing dark craters — and that the moon has been wet for billions of years.

Samples of lunar soil brought back by the Apollo astronauts suggested that the moon is bone dry. But in the last decade or so, several remote missions have found water deposits on the moon, including signs of frozen surface water in regions of permanent shadow near the poles (SN: 10/24/09, p. 10).

“We knew there was water in the soil,” Benna says. What scientists didn’t know was how widespread that water was, or how long it had been there.

Benna and colleagues used observations from NASA’s LADEE spacecraft, which collected data from lunar orbit from November 2013 to April 2014 (SN Online: 4/18/14). LADEE’s spectrometers detected dozens of sharp increases in the abundance of water molecules in the moon’s exosphere, the tenuous atmosphere of gas molecules that clings to the moon. Twenty-nine of those measurements coincided with known streams of space dust.

When Earth passes through those streams, the dust burns up in the atmosphere, producing annual meteor showers like the Leonids and the Geminids. But because the moon has no true atmosphere, bits of dust from the same showers strike the moon’s surface directly, stirring up what lies beneath.

Benna and colleagues calculated that only meteorites heavier than about 0.15 grams could have released the water. That means the top eight centimeters or so of lunar soil are indeed dry — smaller impacts would have released water if any was there. Beneath that dry coating is a global layer of hydrated soil, with water ice clinging to dust grains.

But the moon is by no means soggy. Squeezing half a ton of lunar soil would yield barely a small bottle of water, Benna says. “It’s not a lot of water by any measure, but it’s still water.” And it’s too much water to have arrived at the moon recently, he says. The moon may have held on to at least some of this water since the time of its formation (SN: 4/15/17, p. 18).

Future studies could help figure out whether and how that water could be useful for human explorers.

The finding is “plausible and certainly provocative,” says planetary scientist Erik Asphaug of the University of Arizona in Tucson. “It’s the kind of paper that is good to see published so we can debate it.”

---

Editor's note: This story was updated April 19, 2019, to clarify that LADEE collected data from lunar orbit from November 2013 to April 2014.

Citations

• M. Benna et al. Lunar soil hydration constrained by exospheric water liberated by meteoroid impacts. Nature Geoscience. Published online April 15, 2019. doi:10.1038/s41561-019-0345-3.

Further Reading

• H. Thompson. How a vaporized Earth might have cooked up the moon. Science News Online, March 12, 2018.
• T. Sumner. Competing ideas abound for how Earth got its moon. Science News. Vol. 191, April 15, 2017, p. 18.
• C. Crockett. Long-running lunar mission reveals moon’s surprises. Science News. Vol. 189, June 11, 2016, p. 10.
• C. Crockett. RIP LADEE: 9/6/2013 – 4/18/2014. Science News Online, April 18, 2014.
• A. Grant. Moon's water may have earthly origins. Science News. Vol. 183, June 29, 2013, p. 8.
• R. Cowen. A damp moon: Water found inside and out. Science News. Vol. 176, October 24, 2009, p. 10.
• R. Cowen. Lunar liquid. Science News. Vol. 174, August 2, 2008, p. 12.

{

25-04-2019 om 01:21 geschreven door peter  

Not long after the Big Bang, chemistry as we know it took its first baby steps

BY MARIA TEMMING 

 

CHEMICAL RELIC  The elusive helium hydride ion, thought to be the first type of molecule to form in the universe, has been found in the planetary nebula NGC 7027 (shown in infrared light in this Hubble image).

WILLIAM B. LATTER/SIRTF SCIENCE CENTER/CALTECH, NASA, ESA

{ https://www.sciencenews.org/ }

25-04-2019 om 00:48 geschreven door peter  

Lights from an Unidentified Flying Object Appears in the Skies of Beijing, China

Paranormal researcher Scott C Waring uncovered footage of mysterious UFO lights that appeared in the skies over China. These bright lights, possibly from multiple unidentified flying objects, hovered in the night skies, and not only appeared in the skies of Beijing, but also in other regions of the country. “The lights caught the attention of most of Beijing, but it was seen by people that were 100 km away!

That means the UFOs went to many locations, not just over Beijing. The light is lumpy and contained. That means its not a spotlight from the ground. A spotlight would spread the light evenly in all areas and cannot make lumps like this in the clouds. The lights suddenly appear as a group of spots, and then spreads into a plurality of spots, and moves quickly, sometimes ring-shaped, and sometimes resembles a pattern, and sometimes becomes another irregular pattern,” said Waring. Read more for the video and additional information.

“Interestingly, the shape of the UFO that appeared in China seems very similar to the unidentified flying object that appeared a few months back in Baji California. The clip from Baji California was uploaded to YouTube by Tyler Glockner who runs the YouTube channel ‘Secureteam10’, and the conspiracy theorist revealed that eyewitnesses had live-streamed the UFO sighting on Instagram,” reports IB Times.

{ https://www.techeblog.com/ }

25-04-2019 om 00:29 geschreven door peter  

Scientists think aliens could be living in other universes

Alien life could exist in other universes, according to a group of scientists studying a mysterious force known as dark energy.

Previous theories suggested our universe has the perfect amount of dark energy, which acts against gravity and is making the cosmos expand at an accelerated rate.

It was understood that any more would create such rapid expansion that stars and planets wouldn’t have time to form.

The multiverse theory, first put forward in the 80s, said there was a “luckily small” amount of the force in our universe.

But researchers at Durham University claim these celestial bodies would still have formed even if a universe had 100 times the dark energy that ours does.

They used giant computer simulations to suggest that, if other universes exist, they may be just as likely to harbor life.

An artist’s rendition of a multiverse

Jaime Salcido/SWNS.com

“The formation of stars in a universe is a battle between the attraction of gravity and the repulsion of dark energy,” said Professor Richard Bower of Durham University’s Institute for Computational Cosmology.

“We have found in our simulations that universes with much more dark energy than ours can happily form stars. So why such a paltry amount of dark energy in our universe?”

“I think we should be looking for a new law of physics to explain this strange property of our universe and the Multiverse theory does little to rescue physicists’ discomfort.”

Their findings are published in two related papers in the journal, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The density of gas after 13.8 billion years of evolution, featuring a universe with no dark energy, left, our universe, center, and a universe with 10 times more dark energy than our own

Jaime Salcido/SWNS.com

And their simulations were created using the EAGLE (Evolution and Assembly of Galaxies and their Environments) project – one of the most realistic programs mapping the observed Universe.

The dark energy conundrum has plagued scientists for years, said Jaime Salcido, a postgraduate student of Durham University.

He added: “Our simulations show that even if there was much more dark energy or even very little in the universe then it would only have a minimal effect on star and planet formation.”

The widely accepted eternal inflation theory claims our universe came into existence with a brief burst which saw the universe expand at a rapid pace.

Some suggested this meant that, in some regions, the universe is still expanding and will continue to grow infinitely.

In doing so, it creates multiverses: an endless supply of universes much like our own, populated with Earth-like planets, societies and even individuals that resemble us.

{ https://nypost.com/ }

25-04-2019 om 00:17 geschreven door peter  

Data from a NASA craft’s last days suggest the inner core makes up about half of the total core

BY  CAROLYN GRAMLING 

POCKMARKED PLANET  This enhanced-color image of Mercury, using data gleaned from NASA’s MESSENGER mission, reveals mineralogical differences in the rocks that make up Mercury’s crust. The mission, which ended in 2015, continues to yield new finds, including that Mercury has a giant solid inner core.

CARNEGIE INST. OF WASHINGTON, JHU-APL, NASA

The smallest planet in our solar system has a massive solid inner core.

In its final trip around Mercury before crash-landing in 2015, NASA’s MESSENGER mission zoomed in close to the planet, enabling scientists to make detailed measurements of its gravity, spin and internal structure. Those data, researchers report April 10 in Geophysical Research Letters, suggest Mercury has a solid inner core about 2,000 kilometers in diameter, making up about half of Mercury’s entire core.

Scientists already knew that Mercury’s core was huge, taking up about 85 percent of the planet (SN: 4/21/12, p. 8). In 2007, radar observations made from Earth detected small oscillations in Mercury’s spin rate that suggested the core was at least partially liquid (SN: 5/5/07). Then MESSENGER data revealed that the planet has a weak magnetic field generated by circulation of molten metal in that liquid core (SN Online: 5/7/15). But it wasn’t clear if Mercury, like Earth, also has a solid inner core.

To study the planet’s interior structure, MESSENGER measured Mercury’s distribution of mass by tracking tiny shifts in the spacecraft’s orbiting speed caused by subtle variations in gravitational pull. Using those data, scientists were able to estimate what sort of interior composition would best explain how Mercury spins.

Big heart

Measurements of gravity anomalies within Mercury suggest that the planet’s solid inner core makes up about half of the total core. The entire core is about 85 percent of the planet.

NASA'S GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

Of the rocky planets, only Earth and Mercury still have magnetic fields generated by their cores. Such fields can shield planets from being battered by charged particles constantly streaming from the sun.

But Mercury’s core is cooling and solidifying faster than Earth’s. Earth’s solid inner core currently makes up only about a third of the total core. So observing how the innermost planet’s interior evolves, and how its magnetic field adjusts, may give a peek into the future of our own planet’s magnetic field, the researchers say.

Citations

• A. Genova et al. Geodetic evidence that Mercury has a solid inner core. Geophysical Research Letters. Published online April 10, 2019. doi: 10.1029/2018GL081135.

Further Reading

• C. Gramling. Earth’s core may have hardened just in time to save its magnetic field. Science News. Vol. 195, March 2, 2019, p. 13.
• C. Crockett. Mercury’s surface still changing. Science News. Vol. 190, No. 9, October 29, 2016, p. 10.
• C. Crockett. Mercury’s stunning landscape mapped. Science News. Vol. 189, June 11, 2016, p. 15.
• C. Crockett. Origin date established for Mercury’s magnetic field. Science News Online. May 7, 2015.
• N. Drake. Smallest planet yields big surprises. Science News. Vol. 181, April 21, 2012, p. 8.
• N. Drake. Messenger from Mercury. Science News. Vol. 180, November 19, 2011, p. 17.
• R. Cowen. Liquid Center: Mercury has a molten core, radar reveals. Science News. Vol. 171, May 5, 2007, p. 277.

{ https://www.sciencenews.org/ }

24-04-2019 om 23:55 geschreven door peter  

Cassini data now reveal that some of Titan’s lakes are surprisingly deep.

Infrared view of seas and lakes in Titan’s northern hemisphere, taken by Cassini in 2014. Sunlight can be seen glinting off the southern part of Titan’s largest sea, Kraken Mare.

Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/University of Idaho.

Saturn’s largest moon Titan is the only world in our solar system besides Earth known to have bodies of liquid on its surface. Scientists announced definitive evidence for them in 2007, based on data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The large ones are known as maria (seas) and the small ones as lacus (lakes). It’s now known that Titan’s hydrologic cycle is surprisingly similar to Earth’s, with one big exception: the liquid on Titan is liquid methane/ethane instead of water, due to the extreme cold. The moon’s northern hemisphere, in particular, has dozens of smaller lakes near its pole, and now scientists have found that they are surprisingly deep and sit on the tops of hills and mesas. These observations come from data collected during the last close flyby of Titan during the Cassini mission, which ended in 2017.

The new peer-reviewed findings were published on April 15, 2019, in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Scientists had thought that the lakes would be an almost equal mixture of methane and ethane, like the larger seas. This is the case with the one sizable lake in the southern hemisphere called Ontario Lacus. But to their surprise, they found that the lakes in the northern hemisphere are composed almost entirely of methane. As lead author Marco Mastrogiuseppe, a Cassini radar scientist at Caltech, explained:

Every time we make discoveries on Titan, Titan becomes more and more mysterious. But these new measurements help give an answer to a few key questions. We can actually now better understand the hydrology of Titan.

Map of Titan’s seas and lakes in the northern hemisphere.

Image via JPL-Caltech/NASA/ASI/USGS.

But while some questions may be answered, other new ones are also raised. Why the difference between the lakes in the northern and southern hemispheres? Also, the hydrology on one side of the northern hemisphere appears to be very different from that on the other side. Why? On the eastern side, you find larger seas with low elevation, canyons and islands. But the western side is dominated by the smaller lakes perched on top of hills and mesas. Some of those lakes are more than 300 feet (100 meters) deep, a surprise given their small sizes. As noted by Cassini scientist and co-author Jonathan Lunine of Cornell University:

It is as if you looked down on the Earth’s North Pole and could see that North America had completely different geologic setting for bodies of liquid than Asia does.

Cenote Sagrado (Sacred Cenote) near Chichen Itza, one of the best known karst lakes (or sinkhole) in Yucatán. Karst lakes are thought to be similar to the deep methane lakes on Titan.

Image via Emil Kehnel/Wikipedia/CC BY 3.0.

The findings show how Titan’s alien yet earthly-ish landscape is even more unusual than first thought. They show very deep lakes sitting atop tall mesas or plateaus, suggesting that they formed when the surrounding bedrock of ice and solid organics chemically dissolved and collapsed. These Titan lakes are reminiscent of karst lakes on Earth, which form when subterranean caves collapse. In the earthly counterparts, however, water dissolves limestone, gypsum or dolomite rock.

This is a great example of how – much like the hydrologic cycle – geologic processes on Titan can also mimic those on Earth, yet be uniquely Titanian at the same time. In many ways, Titan looks a lot like Earth, but the underlying mechanisms, and composition of materials, are fundamentally different on this world in the much-colder outer solar system.

Cassini also observed another kind of lake on Titan. Radar and infrared data revealed transient lakes where the level of liquids varies significantly. These results have been published in a separate paper in Nature Astronomy. According to Shannon MacKenzie, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, those changes may be seasonal:

One possibility is that these transient features could have been shallower bodies of liquid that over the course of the season evaporated and infiltrated into the subsurface.

Images from Cassini showing new small lakes appearing in Arrakis Planitia between 2004 and 2005. Such lakes seem to be transient, where the liquids fill the lakes before evaporating or seeping into the ground again.

Image via NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.

Taken together, the results about both the deep lakes and transient lakes support the scenario where methane/ethane rain feeds the lakes, which then evaporate back into the atmosphere or drain into the subsurface, leaving reservoirs of liquid below the surface. It is a complete hydrologic cycle, but, in the colder environment than on Earth, one where methane and ethane can be liquid and water is in the form of rock-hard ice.

The presence of lakes and seas on Titan brings up another question. Might there possibly be any form of life there? Some scientists think there indeed could be at least microscopic organisms, despite the harsh conditions in contrast to Earth, that use liquid methane/ethane in a similar way that life here uses water. Such life would have to be evolved to exist in conditions unlike any on Earth, but it’s an intriguing possibility.

Bottom line: Data on Titan’s lakes, collected by the Cassini spacecraft (whose mission ended in 2017), continue to reveal insights into a hydrologic cycle that’s remarkably similar to Earth’s in some ways – but distinctly alien in others. A new finding is that lakes near Titan’s north pole are surprisingly deep and sit on the tops of hills and mesas.

• Source: Deep and methane-rich lakes on Titan
• Source: The case for seasonal surface changes at Titan’s lake district
• Via Jet Propulsion Laboratory

{ https://earthsky.org/ }

24-04-2019 om 23:38 geschreven door peter  

See the far side of the moon like never before: China releases stunning new images captured by its Yutu 2 rover as the mission hunkers down for another long lunar night

• China's moon mission has exceeded expectations, releasing new lunar images
• Yutu 2 and its lander are hibernating as the look to enter their fifth lunar day
• The mission looks to analyze layers of the moon's mantle never seen before 

By JAMES PERO FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

China's Chang’e 4 lander and Yutu 2 rover have captured new images on their successful mission to explore the far side of the moon as the duo looks to extend their study to a fifth lunar day.

On the moon, the cycle of day and night is nearly 30 Earth-days in total, with each lasting about two weeks long.

The new images captured from the rover, Yutu 2 and released this month, offer up more of the mission's journey after a first round of pictures was released after their arrival on the 115-mile wide Von Kármán Crater in January. 

Objectives of the lander and rover mission -- the first-ever to target exploration of the moon's far side -- include analyzing chemical differences between the Earth-facing side of the moon and the mission's target area.

Scroll down for video 

China's Chang’e 4 mission has been a smashing success with its lander and rover greatly exceeding their expected lifespan. The new images captured from the rover, Yutu 2 and released this month, offer up more of the mission's journey

As reported by the Planetary Society, no hard science regarding the Chang’e 4's mission has emerged yet, but scientists involved with the project said the surveyed area shows 'potential evidence of excavated deep mafic material, which could reveal the mineralogy of the lunar mantle.'

The far side of the moon, which is the hemisphere that always faces away from Earth, has yet to be explored by any such missions before and like its Earth-visible counterpart, the location experiences intervals of two weeks of sunlight and two weeks of darkness.

According to a report by Space.com, Chang’e 4's mission has already greatly exceeded expectations. 

The spacecraft were only initially designed to last about three lunar days in total. 

Both the lander and rover are currently in hibernation mode, resting during a lunar night, but on April 28, when another two-week day dawns on the far side of the moon, both would be going on their fifth lunar day, given they're still fully intact. 

With their ample data, scientists hope to reveal facts about our early solar system. The far side of the moon, which is the hemisphere that always faces away from Earth, has yet to be explored by any such missions before

The mission's rover, Yutu 2, has outpaced its predecessor traveling an extra 60 meters so far

Because of the daytime's brutal temperatures which soar to 390 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius), the rover is also required to take intermittent 'naps' -- brief periods of hibernation -- until it's able to move again.

Even despite the hazards and obstacles of exploring the far side of the moon, the Yutu 2 has managed to travel just under 180 meters during its one-month stay.

With what data scientists already have already collected and whatever bonus material the rover is able to glean on potential endeavors later this month, researchers plan to analyze and then publish results in about a month, according to the Planetary Society. 

In addition to satisfying humans' curiosity regarding the far side of the moon, the mission will also help to illuminate scientists understanding about the makeup of our early solar system. 

Craters studied by the rover were created by an ancient impact where layers of the moon's mantle are exposed, where they can be studied to determine its contents and more.

Read more:

• Chang’e-4 Updates: Yutu-2 Roves into Overtime, Returns More Images | The Planetary Society
• China's Chang'e 4 Moon Lander, Yutu 2 Rover Awake for 4th Lunar Workday | Space

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

24-04-2019 om 23:15 geschreven door peter  

Chinese lunar rover shows dark side of the Moon like you’ve never seen it before

 BY MIHAI ANDREI 

China quietly released a new set of images provided by its Chang’e 4 lunar exploration mission. The rover, which became the first mission to ever land on the far side of the moon, shows some features of the lunar surface in unprecedented detail.

Image credits: CLEP/CNSA.

China’s mission has already gone as well as you could hope for — if not better. It became the first mission to perform a soft landing on the dark side of the moon, it carried geophysical studies of its landing surface, and it successfully grew potatoes and a few other plants on the moon — marking another impressive first.

The Yutu 2 rover has now traveled a total of 178.9 meters (587.9 feet), which far exceeds the record by its predecessor, Yutu 1, during the Chang’e 3 mission, which managed to travel 114 meters. Durings its latest travels, the rover also snapped a few photographs which it beamed back to Earth, and some of those images have now been released by China’s National Space Administration (CNSA).

The lunar surface, as seen by the Yutu 2 rover.

Image: CLEP/CNSA.

The Von Kármán crater, close to where the rover landed, is believed to contain an intriguing mixture of chemical elements, including thorium, iron oxide, and titanium dioxide, which could provide important clues about the origin and evolution of the lunar surface. Researchers hope that the mission will help answer questions about the crater’s surface features and test whether plants could grow in lunar soil.

The mission is also observing low-frequency radio light coming from the Sun or beyond that’s impossible to detect on Earth because there is so much radio noise interfering with it.

Early tracks from Yutu-2 after its descent from the Chang’e-4 lander, visible in the top-left.

Image: CLEP/CNSA.

More recent tracks.

Image: CLEP/CNSA.

The rover is currently in hibernation mode until April 28. It has already survived for four lunar days and nights, or about 29.5 days on Earth. It’s still going strong, preparing for its fifth lunar night — despite being designed to last for three lunar nights only. Everything that happens now is just a bonus on this already excellent mission. The rover is also turning intermittent naps when it is facing the sun directly, as temperatures soar to 200 degrees Celsius.

Much of the scientific data gathered hasn’t been relayed back to Earth yet. It will take several more weeks before it is all sent back, and a bit more time to analyze it after that. In the meantime, we can all enjoy these crisp images.

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

24-04-2019 om 22:52 geschreven door peter  

RUSSIA UNVEILS NEW NUCLEAR POWERED SPACECRAFT DESTINED FOR MARS

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Many countries have tried to develop miniaturised nuclear reactors for space flight applications, but Russia’s by far the closest.

Elon Musk wants to travel to Mars using SpaceX’s planned monolithic rocket booster, the Big Falcon Rocket. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world in Russia, Vladimir Putin is planning on getting to the Red Plant with a nuclear powered spaceship that looks like something out of James Cameron’s Avatar.

The Russian state sponsored space agency, Roscosmos, unveiled plans to build a spacecraft that would be powered by an onboard nuclear reactor and fly using nuclear thermal engines. This proposed vessel has been touted with the ability to sustain a crew in space without the need of harnessing solar energy, which has often been posed as a possible solution for interstellar travel. Dan Kotlyar, an assistant professor of nuclear radiological engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology says that “nuclear powered engines could bring about a new era of solar system exploration.”

“Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) systems offer the greatest versatility for near-term deep space missions such as NASA’s planned Mars and near Earth asteroid missions,” he explains. “Due to their superior energy density, these systems have nearly twice the efficiency of the best chemical engines paired with comparable thrust levels.”

Based on the brief video, it appears that the proposed vessel would power its life-support systems using a nuclear reactor and also make use of nuclear engines.

Simply put, nuclear engines may simply be better than the traditional chemical engines used by SpaceX rockets. They use a nuclear reactor to heat up a propellant, like liquid hydrogen before blasting it through a nozzle, and space agencies have been working on using one for decades.

NASA’s Project Rover program started in 1955 and lasted until 1973, which led to the development of 20 different reactors. Most recently the American space agency has revived the Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application (NERVA) with help from BWX Technologies in an attempt to cut down future travel times between Earth and Mars.

Russia is no stranger to this research either. Aside from Tuesday’s announcement by Roscosmos’ nuclear propulsion team, the former Soviet Union was found to have been testing an engine similar to NERVA up until right before it fell in 1991.

“Nuclear thermal propulsion systems have a long and prolific history of research and development,” said Kotlyar. “Despite the major advancements made in the Rover program, much work is yet to be done to create a working nuclear thermal rocket for NASA’s current planned Mars missions.”

Space is, as you may have heard, is a sub-optimal environment for the human body. It can kill us instantly if we don’t protect ourselves, and can also wear us down slowly, even if we’re safely aboard the International Space Station (ISS). To live in the great unknown we need a constant supply of electrical energy to maintain the devices that keep us alive up there.

Aside from regular resupply missions, the ISS has acres of solar panels that soak up the Sun’s beams to produce 84 to 120 kilowatts of electrical power, which it stores in batteries. Roscosmos wants to replace all of that with a nuclear reactor, which might be possible but could, obviously, be dangerous.

Meanwhile NASA has already developed miniature nuclear reactors, named KRUSTY, that it envisions powering its eventual space outposts. Each is capable of providing 10 kilowatts of power, enough to run several average households. So roughly ten of these small reactors could produce the same energy as the ISS’s massive solar panels. That’s great, but safety is still a concern.

While the process of creating nuclear energy on Earth has become mostly safe, cramming a crew onto a spaceship that’s powered by radioactive materials is obviously untested. That said, Roscosmos’ render presents an alternative vision for long distance space travel that is far more plausible than the Avatar like aesthetic would have you believe.

{ https://www.311institute.com/ }

24-04-2019 om 22:41 geschreven door peter  

UFO SIGHTINGS

24-04-2019 om 22:06 geschreven door peter