“Based on the available observations, the orbit solution for this object has converged to the hyperbolic elements shown below, which would indicate an interstellar origin. A number of other orbit computers have reached similar conclusions, initially D. Farnocchia (JPL), W. Gray, and D. Tholen (UoH).”

Remember ‘Oumuamua, the first interstellar object ever discovered in our solar system? You won’t for long as another one was picked up by multiple observers and reported this week by The Minor Planet Center (MPC) at Harvard University. Unlike ‘Oumuamua, this one is definitely a comet and has been identified earlier enough in its trip through the solar system to be analyzed intensely – possibly revealing where it came from and how astronomers can locate more of them.

‘Oumuamua

“The comet’s current velocity is high, about 93,000 mph [150,000 kph], which is well above the typical velocities of objects orbiting the sun at that distance. The high velocity indicates not only that the object likely originated from outside our solar system, but also that it will leave and head back to interstellar space.”

The BBC reports that object gb00234, now known as Comet C/2019 Q4, was discovered by amateur (but experienced) astronomer Gennady Borisov on August 30th, 2019, at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Bakhchysarai. When he noticed it, C/2019 Q4 was three astronomical units (450 million km) from the Sun. Since then, other astronomers have seen its tail – confirming C/2019 Q4 is a comet – and measured its eccentricity at 3.2, based on current observations. A perfect circle has an eccentricity of 0, while a closed elliptical orbit ranges from 0 to 1. Anything greater than one indicates an arc-shaped trajectory and is likely an interstellar comet or object making a one-time visit. While not confirmed yet, together these make Comet C/2019 Q4 the first ‘true’ comet to visit use from outside our solar system.

Unless it’s a spaceship.

Good point. Anyone?

Karl Battams
@SungrazerComets
Unlike ‘Oumuamua, whose asteroid-or-comet nature still gets debated, this one is definitely a comet. If it is unequivocally interstellar, it’ll be fascinating to see how its composition (spectral properties) compare to the variety we see in comets from our own solar system.

Astrophysicist Karl Battams, from the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC, tweeted an end to that comet-asteroid-spaceship-or-what debate which has trailed ‘Oumuamua like a tail (if it had one) since it was discovered hightailing out of here. Comet C/2019 Q4 will have plenty of eyes on it as it will be visible to even low-powered professional telescopes for at least a year, including when it makes its turn around the sun (perihelion) around December 10. However, the MPC leaves an opening for the unusual:

“Absent an unexpected fading or disintegration, [C/2019 Q4] should be observable for at least a year.”

In lieu of seeing windows with aliens waving out of them, an “unexpected disintegration” would be the next coolest thing.

Selection of photos and video ( peter2011 )

© OrbitalSimulator.com

© OrbitalSimulator.com

Illustration of the Earth, Moon and Sun showing a passing comet. Cities are seen glistening, defining the edges of the Earth's continents. Comets are balls of loosely packed 'dirty ice'. As they near the Sun, their gases sublimate and form long tails blustering away from the star. The tails can stretch for tens of thousands of kilometres, dwarfing even the Earth-Moon separation.

But scientists remain cautious about C/2019 Q4's identity

© ESA/Hubble; NASA; ESO; M. Kornmesser

A very popular recurring theme within the world of Forteana and paranormal phenomena is that of what are called out of place artifacts, those anomalous objects that should not exist, defying understanding and inducing amazement and bafflement. A branch of these phenomena are those objects that seem to suggest that humans once lived side by side with dinosaurs, and as absurd as that may seem to many there is a shocking amount of supposed “evidence” put forward, which is enough to keep debate and discussion going on the matter. One such controversial collection of artifacts is a series of bizarre figurines that were allegedly found in remote wilderness, crafted by an unknown civilization and supposedly showing humans and dinosaurs living together.

In July of 1944, a German immigrant and shopkeeper named Valdemar Julsrud was allegedly out riding his horse in the wilds near Acámbaro, in Guanajuato, Mexico, when something strange caught his eye. There strewn upon the dry earth of a riverbed were several clay figurines that upon closer inspection turned out to be very bizarre indeed, depicting what seemed to be strange beasts, humans wrestling or riding atop reptilian creatures that looked very much like dinosaurs, and with others shaped like anomalous discs or people of various races. Intrigued, he called in help in the form of a local farmer to help him dig for more, of which they would find many. By the time they had finished their makeshift dig they had supposedly unearthed over 30,000 of these outlandish, out of place figures, astounding everyone who saw them.

What would come to be called the Acámbaro figures depict all manner of strange things, including the aforementioned “dinosaurs,” as well as odd structures and people dressed in clothing that seems to be from several far flung places and time periods, including what appears to be ancient Egyptian and Sumerian, as well as some that appear to be some sort of humanoid entities. That these things should be out there in the wilds of Mexico was bizarre to say the least, and so the figures began generating international attention and great interest among archeologists and researchers, most of whom immediately assumed that they must be fakes. Investigations were carried out, and these would only muddy the waters further and divide opinions.

Acámbaro figures

One of the first to investigate the claims was Los Angeles Times writer Lowell Harmer, who in 1951 ventured to Julsrud’s home to find it absolutely stuffed from floor to ceiling with thousands of the figures. Harmer was impressed by the odd figurines and believed them to be real, but he did admit that he was not an expert in his article on the matter, sensationally entitled Mexico Finds Give Hint of Lost World: Dinosaur Statues Point to Men Who Lived in Age of Reptiles. In 1953 all of the coverage the figures were getting convinced the Mexican government to send in four archeologists to investigate the site where they had allegedly been dug up. Over the course of a few days they claimed they had found more of the figurines, even a couple of dinosaurs, about 2 meters underground. They estimated that the figures dated to around as early as 800 BC, but dismissed the actual ones that featured dinosaurs as being a hoax. The excavation ended and the government rather ominously closed the area down to further digs from then on.

At around the same time, American anthropologist Charles Di Peso was sent to Mexico by the Amerind Foundation to analyze the figures. Di Peso had been skeptical of the claims from the beginning, and was not surprised to find that, in his opinion, they were most definitely faked. He cited the lack of any physical signs of wear and tear or discoloration due to centuries of the elements or dirt packed within the cracks and crevices, as well as the fact that they seemed to have been haphazardly inserted into the surrounding archaeological layers as evidence of this, and he further stated:

None of the specimens were marred by patination nor did they possess the surface coating of soluble salts. The figures were broken, in most cases, where the appendages attached themselves to the body of the figurines. No parts were missing. Furthermore, none of the broken surfaces were worn smooth. In the entire collection of 32,000 specimens no shovel, mattock, or pick marks were noted. Thus the investigation ended:  it seems almost superfluous to state that the Acámbaro figurines are not prehistoric nor were they made by a prehistoric race who lived in association with Mesozoic reptiles.

Acámbaro figures in 1971

Di Peso suspected that the figures had been crafted by local farmers in modern times and then planted as a hoax and publicity stunt. Yet, as damning as this verdict was, there were others that were less convinced that it was all a sham. Archeologist Charles Hapgood was intrigued by Di Peso’s dismissal of the figures, and decided to launch his own expedition in 1954. Hapgood would disagree that the figures had been made by locals, partly because there were just too many of them, and also because these were poor, uneducated people who had no frame of reference for what dinosaurs should look like, with many of them not even aware of what a dinosaur was. Hapgood came away under the impression that the figures were genuine, a sentiment that would be echoed in 1969 by his friend, author Erle Stanley Gardner, who also examined the collection and wrote:

I don’t believe that it would have been at all possible for any group of people to have made these figures, to have paid for the burro-load of wood necessary to ‘fire’ them, take them out and bury them, wait for the ground to resume its natural hardness which would take from one to ten years, and then ‘discover’ these figures and dig them up—all for a gross price of twelve cents per figure. It is absolutely, positively out of the question to think that these artifacts which we saw could have been planted.

Hapgood was so sure that the figures must be the real deal that he sent some samples to be tested by radiocarbon dating, which showed a range of ages from 3,500 to 6,500 years old. The figures were later subjected to a more accurate dating method called “thermoluminescent dating,” which put their origins at around 2,500 BC, and a follow-up analysis by a Dr. Froelich Rainey produced the same results, but at the time this technique was not yet refined, and so could not be considered completely reliable. These findings were dashed when scientists Gary Carriveau and Mark Han used thermoluminescent dating on 20 of the figures in 1976, but were unable to get useful readings and came to the conclusion that the figures had been made as recently as the 1940s. In the end, there has been no reliable, agreed upon dating of the figurines.

Acámbaro figures

The Acámbaro figures have gone on to be discussed and debated to this day, with both sides of the debate offering up heated arguments. Skeptics point out that the more recent dating is undeniable, that Di Peso’s arguments still stand, and that it is simply impossible for two species separated by millions of years in the geological record to have ever co-existed. Proponents of the figures as being real point out that the locals had no way to depict dinosaurs and that the manufacture of them was on too large a scale for them to pull off, with no one really seeming to make any money off it all, including Julsrud himself. If they are real, then it has been suggested that they represent depictions of surviving dinosaurs or some other large undiscovered reptiles, or perhaps just fantastical creatures of myth. Of course young Earth creationists have jumped on it all as evidence of their literal interpretation of the Bible’s record of human history. What do these figures mean and who made them? As of now the mystery of these strange figures has not totally been solved, and until it is there is bound to be plenty of discussion on the matter, with their true meaning and history shrouded in enigmas, whether they are real or not.

The U.S. Navy has disclosed further details about a controversial series of videos which appear to depict unexplained aerial phenomena, offering new information about the objects in the footage.

The videos, which first came to public attention more than a year ago, were released by the To The Stars Academy, an independent UFO advocacy group formed by Tom Delonge. Each piece of the footage appears to show unusual aircraft or objects being tracked by Navy pilots, with the help of Raytheon’s Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared pod, or ATFLIR system (it should be noted, however, that one of the videos, known popularly as the “Gimbal” film, is known to have existed online for several years already).

John Greenwald of The Black Vault website, which showcases an impressive trove of documents mostly obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests, recently shared a statement provided to him by Joseph Gradisher, official spokesperson for the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare, in response to his ongoing queries about the nature of the videos.

The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, which became associated with one of the most widely-reported UAP incidents of the New Millennium

(US Navy/public domain).

Key aspects pertaining to the videos that Greenwald sought clarification about included whether the objects could be identified by the Navy’s estimates, as well as whether the videos had been cleared for public release through proper channels.

According to the response provided to Greenwald from Gradisher, “The Navy designates the objects contained in these videos as unidentified aerial phenomena,” acknowledging the apparent fact that the Navy has no knowledge as to the origins of the apparent technology displayed in the videos.

The significance of this statement should not be overlooked, as it represents an instance unique within UAP studies where references to specific objects–appearing on film in at least three separate instances–have been acknowledged by the Navy as unidentified. Although this has been implied many times in recent months regarding this series of videos, this may arguably be the most specific and detailed statement by the Navy on the subject to-date.

Greenwald also reports that “the Navy also asserts that the three videos were never cleared for public release, thus confirming the official stance of the Pentagon originally issued to The Black Vault in May of 2019, and contradicting TTSA’s widespread claims the U.S. government ‘declassified’ the footage for public consumption.”

Gradisher also commented on the Navy’s choice in using the term “Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon” (UAP) in relation to the objects appearing in the videos.  “The ‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomena’ terminology is used because it provides the basic descriptor for the sightings/observations of unauthorized/unidentified aircraft/objects that have been observed,” Gradisher stated, “[which are seen] entering/operating in the airspace of various military-controlled training ranges.”

John Greenwald’s complete report on the Navy’s latest statement, along with his analysis and other details he provides, can be read at The Black Vault website.

Despite the implications of these statements, remarkably this latest information was largely overlooked by the majority of the media, along with many of the most vocal proponents for the study of this phenomenon within the UFO community. The weight of such statements–implying that controlled aircraft or objects of an unknown origin are operating in military airspace–is potentially profound, and even groundbreaking.

The Navy’s latest statement does not, however, rule out manmade technologies, possibly those produced by a foreign government, or even by some other group, domestic or abroad. Whatever their origin may be, it is nonetheless an intriguing addition to the ongoing revelations about unique technologies that appear to be operating in our skies, and even in military airspace.

“You will not be allowed to land on the moon unless ‘they’ decide to allow you. The Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO) researchers around the world believe that the extra terrestrials have sent a message to the Indian government to ‘get rid of your nukes before you explore other worlds’.”

Well, that didn’t take long. Less than a day after the Indian Space and Research Organization (ISRO) lost contact with its Chandrayaan-2 lunar lander as it descended to the moon’s surface and was presumed to have crashed, Indian UFO researcher Sabir Hussain, the director of the Indian Society for UFO Studies (INSUFOS), issued a statement blaming the malfunction on extraterrestrials who used it to warn the Indian government against increasing its already large nuclear weapons arsenal.

“Both India and Pakistan have been openly threatening each other with nuclear attacks. But what the leadership of both these nations do not realize is that they can use their nuclear weapons only if the UFOs decide to allow them. In my opinion, this Vikram episode is just a warning to the Indian leadership from UFOs, that if you can’t take care of your own world then don’t come to ours.”

That’s good advice, Sabir Hussain, but how do you know for sure it was aliens and not a human-caused engineering malfunction? He answers by bringing in one of the most-repeated stories of possible alien interference with humans using nuclear weapons.

“More messages are likely to follow. US Air Force Missile Launch Officer, Robert Salas, who witnessed an UFO switching off 10 nuclear missiles under his command in 1967, also concurs with this.”

He’s referring to the famous incident in 1967 reported by then Air Force Captain Robert Salas where 16 nuclear missiles became non-operational at two different launch facilities immediately after guards saw UFOs hovering 30 feet (10 meters) above them, yet the Air Force personnel could not identify them. An official investigation could not find a definitive cause for this incident nor for a similar one that occurred at a base in North Dakota in 1966 and was recounted by eyewitness David Schindele, a retired Air Force captain. Both men have repeatedly stated that there’s more to these incidents that is being withheld by the US military and government. In addition, there have been many reports of UFOs seen over nuclear plants, often related to leaks and other accidents. These have also been linked by some to benevolent extraterrestrials attempting to keep humans from destroying themselves … at least with nuclear weapons or reactors.

Hussain then makes references to reported sightings by astronauts Edgar Mitchell, Gordon Cooper and Donald Slayton, and cosmonauts Yevegni Khrunov, Vladimir Kovalyonok and Pavel Popovich. He also asks if this might be the reason why the US and NASA haven’t sent humans back to the Moon before pointing out an often-overlooked connection to some recent military-UFO encounters.

“UFOs are very concerned about humans playing with nuclear weapons. In 2014-15, they were toying with American nuclear aircraft carriers, Theodore Roosevelt and Nimitz as recounted by some American Naval officers to the New York Times in May 2019.”

Case closed. Done deal. ETs knocked the Chandrayaan-2 lunar lander out of commission as a warning to nuke-loving Indian leaders. Do you agree with Hussain’s logic and connections of some wide-apart dots?

Wait!  This just in …

“ISRO is continuing its efforts to restore a link with Chandrayaan 2’s lander ‘Vikram’ … with “right orientation” it can still generate power and recharge batteries with solar panels.”

Indian media reports that ISRO has located the lander and holds hopes that it’s just mis-oriented, not disoriented, and might still have at least a portion of its solar panels leaning in the direction of the sun – enough to eventually charge the batteries and send a signal. If that happens, what will they find out from Chandrayaan 2 about the last moments of its descent? Will it confirm what Sabir Hussain claimed? Will it explain why the ETs didn’t finish it off? Did they give it a final message for humanity? A solution to our chaos? Or will Chandrayaan 2 relay a movie-worthy warning to humans worried about what to do when the nuclear holocaust finally hits – a warning that will make the perfect dystopian ending for a story that should already be on its way to a Hollywood screenwriter?

We’re gonna need a bigger spaceship.

It used to be that writing angry letters accusing the Navy of covering-up UFO encounters precluded you from getting any job, let alone one in the government. Now there’s a sitting US congressman doing just that. Not only is Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.) a congressman, but he’s a member of the House Homeland Security Committee and the ranking member of the Intelligence and Counterterrorism Subcommittee. My how times change.

Back in July, North Carolina Republican congressman Mark Walker wrote a letter to Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer asking if the Navy is investigating Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (the military’s preferred terminology), and if they had any knowledge of foreign or private technological advances that could explain the UFO—sorry, UAP—sightings. In the letter (which you can read here), Walker specifically asked about “UAPs” and, despite the Navy’s assertion that most sightings can be explained by drones, pointed out that many pilots’ stories involved witnessing behavior that would “require extreme advancements in quantum mechanics, nuclear science, electromagnetics, and thermodynamics.”

The so-called “tic-tac” UFO encountered by the USS Nimitz in 2004

Navy Under Secretary Thomas Modly responded to Walker’s inquiries, stating that “the Department of the Navy takes these reports very seriously and continues to log sightings and fully investigate the accounts.” While Walker says he appreciates that the Navy is investigating these events, he says he still has concerns. Walker spoke to Politico in an article published Friday:

“While I am encouraged the Under Secretary of the Navy confirmed that UAP encounters are fully investigated, there is frustration with the lack of answers to specific questions about the threat that superior aircraft flying in United States airspace may pose.”

In particular, Walker wants to know about the shadowy Advanced Aerial Threat Identification Program (AATIP), the Pentagon program founded under the direction of former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, which investigated UFO sightings as well as poured millions of dollars into research on topics like “Warp Drive, Dark Energy, and the Manipulation of Extra Dimensions.” AATIP was formally ended in 2012, but there is evidence to suggest it never actually shut down and operates invisibly to this day. Walker says:

“Has it ended? If it has ended are we documenting anything? Where are the resources coming from? That’s a fair question that constituents and the American people would like to know.”

Mark Walker says his main concern is that these “UAP” are tech belonging to Russia or China and represent a national security threat. He says that if they do represent such a security threat, than the American people have the right to know about it.

But it seems he hasn’t ruled out the possibility that whatever people are seeing up there come from somewhere else. Walker says:

“The way I look at this: What if [U.S. government agencies] already do know about it but the rest of us don’t? I certainly have an open mind to see where this leads us. We are going to stay on the issue and follow through like we said we wanted to do.”

We live in weird times, folks, and it’s probably only getting weirder.

When you place an environmental observatory weighing 770 pounds on the floor of the Baltic Sea  you don’t expect your employees to bring you this kind of news:

“On August 21st at 8:15 pm it stopped the data transmission. At first we thought of a transmission error. {But} the devices were gone, the divers could not find them anymore.”

According to the BBC, the Boknis Eck Observatory was installed in December 2016 by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel and the Helmholtz Center Geesthacht in the outlet of Eckernförde Bay, which is located north of Kiel, Germany and south of Denmark. It was 1.8 kilometers (1.1 miles) offshore at a depth of 22 meters (72 feet) in waters prohibited to all boats. The $331,902 (£270,000) device consisted of two desk-sized components – sensors and a power supply connected by cable to the coast.

“When the divers reached the bottom of the sea last week at the observatory’s location, they found only the torn off land cable. It was completely shredded”

Shredded! Boknis Eck coordinator Prof. Dr. Hermann Bange had to give his bosses at GEOMAR the bad news that they could no longer measure environmental data such as temperature, salinity, nutrients, oxygen, chlorophyll, flow velocities, methane concentrations and other critical information from the floor of the Baltic Sea because something absconded with their observatory. But what?

“Since the racks each weigh around 520 and 220 kilograms and the cable connections are extremely massive, storms, currents or marine animals are the culprits.”

If the 770-pound observatory was knocked off of its moorings by a storm, wouldn’t there be a trench leading up to where it was eventually deposited? And if it was an animal, what kind of creature living in the Baltic Sea is large enough to detach and carry away something weighing that much? While there are some whales, none are large enough to carry out this task. What else could it be?

“I am one hundred percent convinced and confident that we have found something that is very, very, very unique. Then if it is a meteorite or an asteroid, or a volcano, or a base from, say, a U-boat from the Cold War which has manufactured and placed there – or if it is a UFO… Well honestly it has to be something.”

“It” is the so-called Baltic Sea anomaly – an object discovered on the floor of the Baltic Sea in 2012 which has defied identification and spawned countless theories – geological, conspiracy, paranormal, scientific and otherwise. Dennis Åsberg, part of the diving team that found it and reported that it messed with their compasses and equipment, had no idea what it could be. While the prevailing opinion is that it’s a disc-shaped rock distorted by murky waters, another alleged compass-interfering anomaly was discovered nearby earlier this year. Could something otherworldly have removed the observatory? A secret military operation?

That’s the Baltic Sea but a different anomaly

Or was it just regular humans looking for scrap metal? If that was the case, GEOMAR is hoping someone notices and notifies them. In fact, if anyone knows anything about the mysterious disappearance of their observatory, GEOMAR would like them to report it.

“Or maybe someone will find parts of the apparatus somewhere on the beach.”

If there’s a huge mysterious creature with the apparatus in its jaws, get help first.