Strange Swarms OF Creatures Move Through Space Caught By NASA Satellite, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: Jan 17-20, 2020

Location of sighting: Earths sun

Source: NASA/SOHO images

 

Look at the image above. You see a blued out center...with a white circle...that white circle is how big the sun is and where it is. These objects are not going too or from the sun...but they should since the gravity of the sun is so strong. What this tells me is that these objects are self propelled. They are moving in all directions, but none seem to be coming to or from the sun. That should be impossible, yet there it is. I believe these objects are living creatures moving in swarms past the NASA SOHO sun satellite lens. These swarms of creatures are not rare, rather we see them every week on the viewer if we search carefully enough. NASA of course would not talk or report such things, for fear the public will find out the truth...that we are not alone in the universe...that the universe is teaming with life that we cannot yet imagine. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan

{ https://www.etdatabase.com/ }

03-02-2020 om 12:07 geschreven door peter  

City Size UFO Caught Shooting Past Our Moon, Feb 2020, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: Feb 2020
Location of sighting: Earths moon

This is an interesting video of an unknown object shooting past our moon. The object seems large and much too fast to be a jet or bird. An object this big should have been noticed on radar in the area. Very odd that UFOs the size of cities can fly past our moon without NASA saying a single word about it. 
Scott C. Waring

{ https://www.etdatabase.com/ }

03-02-2020 om 12:03 geschreven door peter  

Commonly known as Unidentified Submerged Objects (USOs) there have been numerous reports over the last 4 decades of startling appearances of under water objects suddenly emerging from the oceans.

The infamous and embattled Julian Assange had made prior comments to the announced release of many of his controversial intelligence leaks that there would be UFO related materials.

Such was the case when Wiki Leaks revealed alleged compromised Department of Defense cable communications indicating that US armed forces may be in the midst of a secret war with UFOs.

According to ufodigest, the sources that were revealed, there was an all out alert issued by Air Force Space Command after the emergence of a large flotilla of airborne unidentified objects from the floor of the Southern Seas of the Antarctic. This armada of unknown objects headed toward Guadalajara, Mexico.

With US warplanes deployed and all radars intensified on the inbound targets, the massive UFO fleet supposedly dimensionally relocated themselves back to submerge in the antarctic oceans once again. The incident occurred 10 June 2004.

Images taken from Google Earth show a USO, with a diameter of 40 meters and a height of 15 meters, emerging from the ocean (Hudson Bay) in Antarctica and probably belonging to the flotilla of USOs that headed to Mexico in 2004.

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

03-02-2020 om 11:54 geschreven door peter  

Albert Einstein died in 1955 but his theories live on and continue to be proven correct. The latest piece of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity pie to be confirmed is his prediction that space and time can be twisted, bent and swirled by the fast rotation of a massive space object. Scientists recently discovered a dead-but-still-spinning binary star system whose gravity is causing a phenomena called frame dragging – dragging the spacetime frame surrounding it around fast enough to twist it. Is this another item to add to Einstein’s list of “This changes everything!” discoveries?

“Twenty years ago, CSIRO’s Parkes radio telescope discovered a unique stellar pair consisting of a white dwarf (about the size of Earth but about 300,000 times heavier) and a radio pulsar (just the size of a city but 400,000 times heavier).”

That unique stellar pair, according to Space.com, would be PSR J1141-6545, a binary star in the constellation Musca (the fly) near the Southern Cross constellation (for those of you playing the astrophysicist game at home). PSR J1141-6545 is a unique binary in that one half of the pair is a pulsar – a fast-orbiting, young neutron that is the corpse of star killed in a supernova, whose gravity is still strong enough to mash protons and electrons to for neutrons. The other half is a white dwarf – another dead star that merely burned out.

White dwarf (NASA)

“We observed a temporal evolution of the orbital inclination of this pulsar that we infer is caused by a combination of a Newtonian quadrupole moment and Lense–Thirring (LT) precession of the orbit resulting from rapid rotation of the WD. LT precession, an effect of relativistic frame dragging, is a prediction of general relativity.”

In a paper published in the journal Science, Vivek Venkatraman Krishnan, an astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, describes how he and his team watched PSR J1141-6545 for 20 years since its discovery and determined the binary was a pulsar flying around a white dwarf at 620,000 mph (1 million km/h), with a maximum distance between them of the size of our Sun, making the length of the orbit an unfathomable five hours … all while the white dwarf itself spins 30 times an hour.

The Lense–Thirring precession or the Lense–Thirring effect is the relativistic correction to the precession (the slow movement of the axis of a spinning body around another axis due to a torque, such as gravitational influence, acting to change the direction of the first axis) of a gyroscope near a large rotating mass such as the Earth. On an earthly scale, it’s barely discernible. On a binary star scale – it causes the halves of this binary pair to move in a warped space-time way, something Einstein predicted … the reason many suggest it should be called the Einstein–Lense–Thirring effect. In PSR J1141-6545’s the gyroscope is the white dwarf spinning fast enough to cause frame dragging and warp spacetime. The pulsar provides the beam of radio waves monitored by Krishnan that shows the warping. In this case, the warping is a movement of the orbit, which should normally be stable.

Is this a big “This changes everything!” deal? Well, Einstein thought many of his relativity theories would never be able to be seen by humans, so this would be one for him. It’s a big deal for the field of extreme astrophysics (the realm of gravitational waves and black holes) and the owners of billion-dollar radio telescopes and the networks that allow them to work together. And it’s obviously a big deal for Vivek Venkatraman Krishnan and other astrophysicists seeking to understand fast-spinning neutron stars (there are plenty more) and what gives them the spin to warp spacetime.

Is it a big deal for us? We should want to better understand the universe we live in, how it began and grows and how we got there … so yes, it’s a big deal for us.

Thank you once again, Albert!

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

02-02-2020 om 23:25 geschreven door peter  

Laser technologie heeft meer geopenbaard over de Maya’s dan wat experten eerst wisten

Men zegt dat de Maya-beschaving veel geavanceerder is dan onze moderne technologie. Wat kan deze beschaving die 1500 jaar geleden bloeide mogelijk hebben? Lasertechnologie helpt ons het antwoord te vinden.

Een van de beste architecten

De Maya-beschaving was een intrigerend geavanceerde beschaving die floreerde in Meso-Amerika, in wat nu bekend staat als het zuiden van Mexico en het noordelijke deel van Midden-Amerika. Het besloeg een groot gebied, waaronder Belize, Guatemala, het schiereiland Yucatán, Honduras en El Salvador.

Duizenden jaren nadat hun beschaving instortte, konden archeologen stenen structuren vinden met veel ingewikkelde ontwerpen. Men geloofde dat deze werden gebruikt als tempels, begraafplaatsen van woningen. Ingewikkeld ontworpen paleizen, piramides en binnenplaatsen werden ook ontdekt. Hoewel archeologen sommige structuren konden vinden, geloven ze dat er nog andere zijn. Als dat waar is, waar zijn ze dan?

Klein maar krachtig

Alle machtige rijken in de geschiedenis, zoals de Romeinen, de Spanjaarden, de Mongolen, enz. Werden krachtig gemaakt door hun territoria uit te breiden. Meestal worden soldaten, ridders en oorlogen gebruikt om hun claim in een gebied op te nemen.

Voor de Maya’s was het verbouwen van hun territorium geen prioriteit. Hoewel ze enkele van de meest indrukwekkende architecturale structuren hadden, geloven archeologen dat de Maya-bevolking relatief klein was.

Historici zijn het erover eens dat de maximale bevolking van de Maya’s slechts twee miljoen was of dat het zo laag kon zijn als een miljoen. Op basis van hun topografie is het onmogelijk om meer dan dit aantal te hebben.

Onder de jungle

Na zoveel jaren hebben archeologen letterlijk door de geschiedenis gekrast op zoek naar de waarheid achter de Maya-beschaving. Tot de moderne tijd hebben ze nauwelijks het oppervlak bekrast. Theorieën van alle vormen worden gegeven met betrekking tot de resterende structuren van de Maya-beschaving.

En omdat de onderzoekers van weleer niet over de technologie beschikten die we in het geavanceerde technologische tijdperk van vandaag hebben, speculeerden ze alleen dat er zoveel meer te ontdekken valt over de Maya-beschaving. Eerder grondonderzoek suggereert ook dat er nog veel meer te vinden is onder de jungle van Yutacan. Het lijkt erop dat de tijd is aangebroken om die mysteries te ontdekken.

Geschiedenis beveiligen

Een van de langetermijndoelen van PACUNAM is het behoud van alle plaatsen die het project vindt te waarborgen. Archeologen hebben verschillende kuilen onthuld die overvallers de afgelopen jaren hebben geproduceerd. Marianne Hernandez, president van PACUNAM, zei dat deze nieuw gevonden sites nieuw voor hen zijn, maar ze zijn niet langer nieuw voor de overvallers.

Het slechtste nieuws is dat de Guatemalteekse jungle elk jaar ten minste 10 procent wordt ontbost. Bedrijven lijken hiervoor vergunningen te krijgen. Om deze reden heeft PACUNAM, samen met zijn hele lidmaatschap, tot doel het bos van Guatemala te beschermen en te beschermen wat er nog over is van de Maya-beschaving.

Verborgen door het bos

Thomas Garrison, een archeoloog van het Ithaca College en een ontdekkingsreiziger voor de National Geographic, was een van de verrast door de bevindingen. Volgens hem was een groep archeologen, waaronder hij, in staat om een Maya-fort binnen te gaan, ver voordat het werd ontdekt via LiDAR-beeldvorming. Hoewel ze, toen ze er voor het eerst in struikelden, niet wisten dat het een fort was vanwege de dichte bosbedekking.

Garrison herinnerde zich dat ze in 2010 niet meer dan 150 voet van het fort stonden en ze het zelfs niet herkenden vanwege het gebladerte en de bomen. Het was echter niet alleen het fort dat LiDAR had ontdekt.

Overleving

H/onderden jaren geleden was de Maya-beschaving een wonder om te aanschouwen. Het Maya-volk van deze tijd had al naam gemaakt als een krachtige macht om rekening mee te houden. Ze deden dit meer dan 1000 jaar, zelfs vóór de bouw van de eerste stad die ze ooit hebben gebouwd.

De voortgang van hun beschaving zou door de kolonisatie tot stilstand komen. Spanjaarden kwamen naar hun verzwakte steden en namen hun rijkdommen en hun land over. En in 1967 werd de laatst bekende Maya-stad ingenomen door de kolonisators die het einde van een grote dynastie betekenden.

Klaar voor oorlog

Archeologen vonden het erg intrigerend dat de architectuur van de Maya-beschaving goed was voorbereid op oorlog. Eén ding dat ze in hun prachtige scans vonden, waren de vele hekken, loopgraven en forten. Dit bewijst dat het Maya-volk gewend was betrokken te zijn bij vele soorten oorlogen. Deze infrastructuren waren goed geschikt om zichzelf te verdedigen in tijden van strijd.

Zelfs Thomas Garrison was zich niet eens bewust van hoe goed voorbereid de Maya’s waren in de strijd. Ze kwamen er pas achter na de scans van de LiDAR-technologie. Ondanks dit nieuws was het niets vergeleken met de ongelooflijke ontdekkingen die ze onlangs hebben gedaan over de Maya-structuren.

Laserradar

Dus wat is er echt bekend over de technologie die wordt gebruikt om deze mysteries te ontdekken? Een hint komt uit de wereld “LiDAR.” Het klinkt als radar, toch? Nou, het is eigenlijk een soort radar. Dit type detector is van het type dat in een vliegtuig is ingebouwd. Wanneer het vliegtuig opstijgt en over zijn bestemming vliegt, vuurt de radar “laserpulsen”.

Volgens archeoloog Thomas Garrison van het Ithaca College is deze laserpuls honderdduizenden keren per seconde uitgestraald. Hij verklaarde ook dat elke keer dat een van de lasers een punt raakt dat weerstand geeft, het stopt. Daarna zendt het een meting terug naar het vliegtuig.

Jungle onderzoek

De nieuw gecreëerde technologie, LiDAR, werd door de onderzoekers genomen en gebruikt in het dichte bosgebied van Noord-Guatemala. De regio Noord-Guatemala is de afgelopen honderden jaren niet veel onderzocht. Het is meer dan 770 vierkante mijlen land bedekt door tropische regenwouden, moerassen en graslanden.

Thomas Garrison beschouwde de LiDAR als een game-wisselaar. Volgens hem heeft de ontwikkeling van LiDAR-technologie een revolutie teweeggebracht in het niveau van hoe onderzoekers Maya-archeologie uitvoeren. Verbazingwekkend, er was een ontdekking die ze hebben gedaan die technisch gezien iets was dat ze jaren geleden vonden.

Hoog en machtig

Een fascinerende ontdekking die de LiDAR-technologie aan het licht bracht, was dat veel Maya’s voornamelijk op hoge gronden leefden. Dit bleek uit de gegevens die de LiDAR heeft verzameld. De Maya’s bouwden verhoogde stenen platforms waar ze hun huizen bouwden.

Volgens Diane Davies, een specialist in de Maya-beschaving, was ze onder de indruk van het feit dat de Maya’s zeer bekwaam en artistiek waren. Ze dachten ook aan manieren om flash overstromingen, aanvallen van dieren in de jungle en aanvallen van vijanden te overleven. Het bewijst ook dat deze mensen ook behoorlijk milieubewust zijn.

Begraven structuren

Met behulp van de LiDAR-technologie konden archeologen minstens 60.000 Maya-structuren ontdekken! Deze ontdekkingen schokten de archeologen vanwege het grote aantal onbedekte, en verwonderen zich tegelijkertijd over hoe ingewikkeld de aard en de complexiteit van deze structuren. Het heeft ongetwijfeld zowel archeologen als historici verbaasd.

De ontdekking door de LiDAR-technologie werpt een nieuw idee op over hoe het Maya-volk zo geavanceerd was dan ooit tevoren gedacht. De bevinding suggereert dat er veel meer steden waren dan eerder werd gedacht. Het betekent ook dat de bevolking Maya’s mogelijk veel groter was dan voorheen werd vermoed.

Veel meer Mayans

Thomas Garrison was in staat om een vrij expliciete schatting te geven van hoeveel groter het aantal mensen is dat hij denkt dat de Maya-bevolking zou kunnen zijn geweest. Hij verklaarde dat de beelden van de LiDAR duidelijk maakten dat deze hele regio een hecht nederzettingssysteem was waarvan de bevolkingsconclusie totaal verkeerd was beoordeeld.

Op basis van hun bevindingen recent, heeft Garrison vertrouwen in het feit dat, anders dan de 1 of 2 miljoen die voorheen werd erkend, de bevolking van de Maya-beschaving waarschijnlijk het dichtst bij ongeveer 20 miljoen zou liggen.

Landbouwgronden

Het is zeer waarschijnlijk dat de belangrijkste reden waarom archeologen hun mening over de enorme bevolking van de Maya’s hebben veranderd, vooral was vanwege de vele structuren die ze hebben ontdekt. Deze specifieke structuren hebben alle tekenen die de onderzoekers doen geloven dat de Maya’s ze waarschijnlijk voor de landbouw hebben gebruikt. Maya’s staan bekend om de landbouw, het verzamelen en jagen op kleine dieren voor voedsel.

Er zijn perfecte suggesties die aangeven dat terrassen en irrigatiesystemen ooit in deze structuren aanwezig waren. Dit suggereert dat de Maya’s een zeer geavanceerde kennis hadden van hoe ze in grote aantallen voor hun mensen konden zorgen.

Tropisch Wonder

Gebaseerd op de verklaringen van Marcello Canuto, een archeoloog van Tulane University die ook deelnam aan het project, waren de huidige ontdekkingen inderdaad een technisch fenomeen en complete wonderen. Wat hem echter het meest verbaasde, was hoe sterk en vastberaden het Maya-volk was om al deze enorme objecten te verplaatsen om hun steden te bouwen.

Marcelo zei dat de Maya-beschaving letterlijk bergen aan het verplaatsen was. Hij voegde eraan toe dat mensen deze westerse verwaandheid hadden dat complexe beschavingen niet kunnen floreren in de tropen en dat beschavingen naar de tropen gaan om te sterven.

Het oerwoud

Canuto’s begrip van deze ontdekkingen is dat de eerste oude beschavingen misschien in de jungle zijn begonnen. Dit komt omdat archeologen de LiDAR-technologie hebben gebruikt om de oude ruïnes van Angkor Wat in Cambodja in kaart te brengen. Wat ze ontdekten, was dat het middeleeuwse Khmer-rijk uit de 13e eeuw, gebouwd door Jayavarman II, een gebied besloeg van 1.000 vierkante kilometer verborgen in de jungle van de Kulen.

Canuto voegde ook toe dat op basis van de LiDAR-gegevens veilig kan worden aangenomen dat uitgestrekte koninkrijken in de oudheid zijn gestegen. Maar deze megasteden werden ongedaan gemaakt door de complexiteit van hun waterwerken en klimaatverandering.

Veel gebruik

Omdat het succesvol was in het in kaart brengen van een deel van de verborgen Maya-ruïnes, zijn veel archeologen zoals Thomas Garrison enthousiast om deze nieuwe tool te gebruiken. Ze vermelden waarschijnlijk tonnen plaatsen die vervolgens in kaart moeten worden gebracht.

Garrison was er snel bij om andere mensen gerust te stellen dat de LiDAR veel gebruikt heeft. Hij zei dat de LiDAR-technologie die in de archeologie wordt gebruikt slechts het topje van de ijsberg is. Hij merkte op dat de gegevens die door de LiDAR-sensoren worden geproduceerd enorm zijn en op veel manieren kunnen worden gebruikt en geïnterpreteerd. Hij geeft toe dat zijn team slechts 8% van de verzamelde gegevens gebruikt om 3D-kaarten te maken. Hij zei dat andere industrieën die betrokken zijn bij de bosbouw ook gebruik kunnen maken van de andere beschikbare informatie.

Emotionele prestatie

Stephen Houston, Amerikaans antropoloog, archeoloog en Mayanistisch geleerde, wijdde jaren van zijn leven begrip aan de Maya-beschaving. Hij staat bekend om zijn onderzoek naar de Pre-Columbiaanse Maya-beschaving van Meso-Amerika. Hij werkt momenteel aan de Brown University als professor voor archeologie en antropologie.

Hij geeft toe dat de LiDAR-beelden hem in tranen brachten toen hij ze voor het eerst zag. Hij is er vast van overtuigd dat de ontdekking van de duizenden gebouwen onder de jungle van Guatemala een van de belangrijkste vooruitgang is geweest in de Maya-archeologie in de afgelopen 150 jaar.

Nog een eeuw te gaan

Vanwege de hoeveelheid gegevens die door de LiDAR-sensoren wordt verzameld, beweren onderzoekers dat het jaren, zelfs een eeuw zou duren om de gegevens volledig te verwerken. Hoewel de gegevens er zijn, is het moeilijk om deze te begrijpen en te interpreteren in bruikbare informatie.

Ze vergelijken het gebruik van de LiDAR-technologie met de archeologie met het gebruik van de Hubble-ruimtetelescoop in de astronomie. Zelfs met zijn uitgebreide gegevenscapaciteit zijn andere technologieën die worden gebruikt om deze gegevens te interpreteren niet beschikbaar. Francisco Estrada-Belli, een archeoloog van de Universiteit van Tulane, zei dat we een eeuw meer nodig hebben om de informatie die we zien echt te begrijpen. Helaas is dit niet het enige probleem waar LiDAR voor staat.

Grotere problemen

Volgens Thomas Garrison is de ontdekking van meer dan 60.000 begraven en verborgen structuren inderdaad aanzienlijk. Het vormt echter een groter probleem. Vanwege de enorme omvang van de ontdekking is het onmogelijk om er tegelijkertijd aan te werken. Onderzoekers moesten deze structuren opgraven en documenteren zonder het regenwoud zorgvuldig te vernietigen.

Een aanzienlijk deel van het ontdekte gebied is in werkelijkheid dicht begroeid met bomen. De Guatemalteekse regering moest beslissen hoe ze dit project voortzetten, of ze de structuren begraven wilden houden of de geschiedenis tot leven wilden brengen. Garrison voegde ook toe dat het lastig is omdat de vragen oneindig zijn.

Eenvoudiger of harder werken

De archeologen hebben misschien een doorbraak bereikt in de ontdekking van de verloren Maya-beschaving, maar de missie was nog lang niet voorbij. Het verzamelen en analyseren van LiDAR-gegevens was eigenlijk nog maar het begin.

De gegevens van de lasertechnologie waren slechts een kaart om hen te helpen de belangrijkste te zoeken gebieden te bepalen. Omdat de LiDar-technologie vrij nieuw is, moest een team van technici onder leiding van Albert Yu-Min Lin het harde deel van de controle van de gegevens doen. Ze liepen door kilometers bos om te bevestigen of de gegevens juist waren. Grondaudit betekent dat zijn team onderweg alle gevaarlijke dieren moest ontwijken om de LiDar-resultaten te verifiëren.

Het stap voor stap proces

De onderstaande afbeelding toont het driestappenproces dat door ingenieurs wordt gebruikt om te weten hoe de Lidar-technologie werkt. Lasersensoren zijn bevestigd aan een vliegtuig, het vliegtuig vliegt ongeveer 2000 voet boven de grond en LiDAR richt lichtpulsen naar de grond vanuit een vliegend vliegtuig. De lichtpulsen worden duizend keer per minuut afgeschoten en sommige stralen reflecteren misschien van bomen, maar sommige stralen bereiken de grond door de openingen van de bomen. Dit komt omdat de lichtstralen alleen op de hoogste punten van het oppervlak reflecteren.

Ten slotte gebruiken onderzoekers de meting van de afgelegde afstand licht om de kap digitaal te verwijderen en topografische modellen te maken. Geweldige dingen, nietwaar?

Baanbrekende technologie

Met de vooruitgang van onze technologie is het niet langer vergezocht om te denken dat opgravingen tot het verleden behoren. Het klassieke graven en zoeken zal over een paar jaar niet meer worden gebruikt. Voorlopig hebben archeologen een nieuwe vriend gevonden in LiDAR. Hiermee kunnen ze door dikke deksels van bladeren kijken en kunnen ze ook sneller meer informatie verzamelen.

Denk even na wat de LiDAR in een paar weken had bereikt. Stel je eens voor wat deze baanbrekende technologie kan doen als alle industrieën er gebruik van maken. De mogelijkheden zijn allemaal spannend en eindeloos.

Lowland Wonders

De Maya-beschaving omvat een gebied dat de noordelijke laaglanden van het schiereiland Yucatan, de Pacifische kust in het zuiden en de hooglanden van Sierra Madre omvat. In vroege ontdekkingen stonden de laaglandsteden Tikal en Calakmul bekend als grote rivalen.

Een van de dingen die de LiDAR-technologie aan het licht bracht, was het verschil in het ontwerp en de bouw van de steden. Sommige steden waren uitgebreider en groter dan de andere. Garrison gelooft dat ze misschien de ‘graanschuur’ van de oude Maya-beschaving hebben ontdekt.

Maya afstammelingen

Hoewel het Maya-rijk vele jaren geleden instortte, bleven sommige van hun nakomelingen in de moderne tijd leven. Ongeveer, er wonen momenteel 20 tot 30 miljoen Maya’s verspreid in Belize, Zuid-Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala en El Salvador.

Men gelooft dat ongeveer 42% van de 14,3 miljoen populaties in Guatemala directe afstammelingen zijn van de oude beschaving. Verschillende Maya-groepen wonen in verschillende gebieden, waaronder de Yucatan Jungle, Lacandon Jungle, Chiapas onder anderen. Sommige groepen zijn met succes geïntegreerd in mestizoculturen en sommige zijn bij hun traditionele cultuur gebleven.

Tegen alle waarschijnlijkheid in

De Maya-beschaving bloeide ondanks een uitdagende topografie. De hooglanden in het zuiden bestonden voornamelijk uit vulkanische bergen en de zuidelijke laaglanden waren bedekt met poreuze kalksteen en regenwouden. Sporadisch zie je savannes en moerassen. In het noorden zijn meestal bossen maar met een droog seizoen. Gevaarlijke dieren in overvloed hun regio met inbegrip van krokodillen, jaguars, giftige slangen en de stierhaai. Stenen uit de hooglanden worden verhandeld met de gewassen van het laagland, voornamelijk maïs.

Ondanks hun barre omgeving hielden de Maya’s vol en konden ze majestueuze structuren bouwen zonder metaal en geen modern transport.

Grote ontdekking

Er zijn veel dingen aan de Maya-cultuur die zowel intrigerend als interessant zijn. Archeologen zijn altijd verbaasd geweest over de structuren van de Maya-beschaving en hoe deze zijn gemaakt. Net als de piramides van Gizeh liet het gebruik van de Maya-piramides veel historici verbijsterd achter.

Met behulp van de nieuwe LiDAR-technologie heeft een team van archeologen iets ontdekt dat de realiteit van de Maya-beschaving zoals we die nu kennen zal veranderen. Hun ontdekking zal de informatie die door de jaren heen is verzameld volledig veranderen.

Geschiedenis wijzigen

Voor de langste tijd waren historici het erover eens dat de Maya-beschaving uit niet meer dan 2 miljoen mensen tegelijk bestond. Ze besloten dat op basis van de resterende structuren en grondonderzoeksgegevens de bevolking niet meer dan dit aantal kon zijn.

Vanwege de revolutionaire technologie LiDAR werd meer informatie gevonden. Toen boomluifels van luchtfoto’s digitaal werden verwijderd, werd ontdekt dat er meer dan 60.000 huizen, verhoogde snelwegen en paleizen met elkaar verbonden waren. De ontdekking van het complexe snelwegsysteem veranderde de manier waarop historici naar oude beschavingen keken.

Iets groters

Om het voor moderne mensen gemakkelijker te maken om te begrijpen hoe groot het Maya-koninkrijk was, gebruikten onderzoekers vergelijkingen met moderne landen. Tijdens de piek van de beschaving tussen 250AD en 900AD suggereren de nieuwe gegevens dat het rijk een gebied besloeg dat tweemaal groter was dan het middeleeuwse Engeland. De bevolking was ook veel dichter.

Het kan ook worden vergeleken met andere oude culturen zoals het oude Griekenland en het oude China. In plaats van de eerder gedachte verspreide stadstaten, is het meer onderling verbonden en verfijnd.

Cultureel behoud

De LiDAR-afbeeldingen tonen geavanceerde structuren zoals verhoogde snelwegen die steengroeven met de stedelijke gebieden verbonden. Het toont ook geavanceerde terrasvormige systemen en irrigaties die de landbouw in die tijd ondersteunden. Het was bekend dat de Maya’s geen wielen of beesten voor arbeid hadden gebruikt.

Met deze ontdekking zijn er ook veel ontwikkelingen gebeurd. De Pacunam, een Guatemalteekse organisatie, werkt aan het behoud van het culturele erfgoed van het land. Het doel is om meer te ontdekken uit de Guatemalteekse grond met behulp van de LiDAR-wetenschappers. Beiden hopen meer paleizen en structuren te ontdekken om het Maya-mysterie te verlichten.

LiDAR-technologie

De uitvinding van de Light Detection and Ranging, beter bekend als LiDAR, was de beste hulp die archeologie nodig had. De LiDAR-technologie is een externe meetmethode die licht van een gepulste laser gebruikt om afstanden of variabele afstanden te meten. De verschillen in laserteruglooptijden kunnen vervolgens worden gebruikt met golflengten om een 3D-beeld in kaart te brengen.

Gebaseerd op het succes van de LiDar-technologie met de Maya-ruïnes, is het mogelijk om alles te ontdekken dat onder de grond is begraven. Wie weet wat de Amazone en het Congobekken onder de bomen verstoppen?

Mysterieus einde

Zonder twijfel was het Maya-rijk vóór 900 na Christus de meest geavanceerde en meest dominante cultuur in Zuid- en Midden-Amerika. De eerste Maya-stad die nu op het schiereiland Yucatan werd ontdekt, was in 1 000 voor Christus. Dus wat gebeurde er met deze majestueuze megastad?

Tegen het einde van de achtste eeuw tot de negende eeuw werden steden in de zuidelijke laaglanden na elkaar verlaten. Geleerden hebben verschillende theorieën doorgestuurd, maar de reden voor het uiteenvallen van deze beschaving is nog onbekend.

Sommige geleerden geloven dat de middelen niet langer in staat waren om de behoeften van de inwoner te ondersteunen. Anderen beweren dat het kwam door constante oorlogvoering. Anderen geloven ook dat een langdurige droogte de oorzaak kan zijn geweest.

Bossen helpen

Naast het helpen van archeologen om verloren beschavingen te ontdekken, heeft LiDAR een ander doel. Deze technologie kan worden gebruikt bij het beoordelen van de omstandigheden in bossen. Afgezien van andere voordelen voor het milieu, zou LiDAR uiteindelijk kunnen helpen bij het voorkomen van bosbranden en de huidige boombedekking laten zien.

Thomas Garrison, een van de LiDAR-wetenschappers, zei dat ze zich vanaf nu richten op het gebruik van LiDAR voor archeologie, maar de voordelen houden daar niet op. Hij zei dat er een miljoen andere manieren zijn om deze technologie te gebruiken. Een daarvan is om de gegevens van LiDAR-afbeeldingen te gebruiken om te begrijpen hoe regenwouden herstellen van branden en wat de CO2-voetafdruk is.

Cultureel erfgoed behouden

Het doel van het LiDAR-project is om samen met de Guatemalteekse organisatie Pacunam alleen al in Guatemala meer dan 5000 vierkante kilometer regenwoud in kaart te brengen. Er wordt aangenomen dat het Maya-rijk dit uitgestrekte stuk land besloeg dat lange tijd onontdekt was gebleven.

Het hele project zal waarschijnlijk drie jaar duren vanwege het intensieve onderzoek dat nodig is. De eerste ontdekking is fascinerende en gemotiveerde wetenschappers om meer te doen. Pacunam streeft naar behoud van het rijke culturele erfgoed en alle ontwikkelingen die zij in deze onderneming zouden kunnen tegenkomen.

Nog steeds een mysterie

Hoewel de ontdekkingen met de LiDAR-technologie enorm zijn, is de Maya-puzzel verre van compleet. Hoe meer ontdekkingen er worden gedaan, hoe meer vragen worden gesteld. Pas nadat alle stukken zijn gevonden en aan elkaar zijn gekoppeld, kunnen wetenschappers concluderen over de reden voor het overlijden van de Maya-beschaving.

Tijd en meer technologieën zoals LiDAR zullen helpen de mysteries van de oude beschavingen bloot te leggen. De natuur heeft het Maya-rijk al teruggevorderd en is nu verloren onder de groei van bossen. Hopelijk helpt de LiDAR over drie jaar meer geheimen die helpen de reden voor de achteruitgang te beantwoorden.

Jungle mapping

Hoewel de ontdekkingen met de LiDAR-technologie enorm zijn, is de Maya-puzzel verre van compleet. Hoe meer ontdekkingen er worden gedaan, hoe meer vragen worden gesteld. Pas nadat alle stukken zijn gevonden en aan elkaar zijn gekoppeld, kunnen wetenschappers concluderen over de reden voor het overlijden van de Maya-beschaving.

Tijd en meer technologieën zoals LiDAR zullen helpen de mysteries van de oude beschavingen bloot te leggen. De natuur heeft het Maya-rijk al teruggevorderd en is nu verloren onder de groei van bossen. Hopelijk helpt de LiDAR over drie jaar meer geheimen die helpen de reden voor de achteruitgang te beantwoorden.

{ https://www.soolide.com/nl }

02-02-2020 om 23:06 geschreven door peter  

02-02-2020 om 18:56 geschreven door peter  

Commercial Pilot Posts UFO Cube Sighting Online

During a commercial flight over Medellin, Colombia, a pilot of Viva Air noticed a strange object flying towards the plane on which he decided to record it.

The UFO that looks like a cube then passes the aircraft at a safe distance.

What are these objects flying at hypersonic speed and the ability to fly with no obvious wings, tail or exhaust.

 

https://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com

other sightings  of UFOs by pilots - peter2011

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

02-02-2020 om 18:38 geschreven door peter  

Baffling Video of a "UFO" Landing On Another Really Bizarre Stationary Big Cluster of Lights in Sky!

A video uploaded by Mrmb333 on February 1, 2020 shows besides two strange clusters of light that fly through the sky and come very close together, several rare sky phenomena from around the world.
 

But the most amazing image captured by a citizen from Tulsa shows a pyramid shaped cloud in the sky.

Lenticular clouds are often comparable in appearance to a flying saucer and even there are pyramid shaped lenticular clouds looking like the one depicted in the image below. But after checking various sources I could not find a cloud similar to the pyramid cloud.
 

Image left: Pyramid shaped lenticular cloud – Image right: Pyramid cloud/craft Tulsa, Oklahoma.

I can be wrong, but in my opinion the strange looking cloud over Tulsa is not a normal cloud but more likely a cloaked pyramid shaped craft equipped with advanced technology, whether it is military or extraterrestrial.

The strange pyramid cloud comes days after a witness captured a giant metallic disc with portholes in the sky over Tulsa, Oklahoma on January 20, 2020.

https://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

02-02-2020 om 18:18 geschreven door peter  

Avideo uploaded by Mrmb333 on February 1, 2020 shows besides two strange clusters of light that fly through the sky and come very close together, several rare sky phenomena from around the world.

But the most amazing image captured by a citizen from Tulsa shows a pyramid shaped cloud in the sky.

Lenticular clouds are often comparable in appearance to a flying saucer and even there are pyramid shaped lenticular clouds looking like the one depicted in the image below. But after checking various sources I could not find a cloud similar to the pyramid cloud.

Image left: Pyramid shaped lenticular cloud - Image right: Pyramid cloud/craft Tulsa, Oklahoma.

I can be wrong, but in my opinion the strange looking cloud over Tulsa is not a normal cloud but more likely a cloaked pyramid shaped craft equipped with advanced technology, whether it is military or extraterrestrial.

The strange pyramid cloud comes days after a witness captured a giant metallic disc with portholes in the sky over Tulsa, Oklahoma on January 20, 2020.

  

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

02-02-2020 om 18:06 geschreven door peter  

Daytime UFO video filmed in Fruita, Colorado

New footage of a bright unidentified flying object or orbs in the sky above Colorado town. This was filmed on 23rd June 2019 and just this weekend submitted to MUFON website.

Witness report: 

Stationary UFO with multiple other UFOs flying around it. Large white orb shaped object in the south western sky. About 2pm June 23 2019. Object was far away but was stationary for over 1 hour. Once I began filming it I noticed several other orbs flying around it in different directions. At times forming shapes. There was no clouds. I couldn’t zoom in enough to get a clear picture.

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

02-02-2020 om 17:16 geschreven door peter  

Richard Dolan Interviews James Fox

James Fox is a longtime filmmaker who has created several excellent documentary treatments of the UFO subject. Now, he is about to release his latest treatment of the subject, simply named The Phenomenon. It is due for release later in 2020. Richard Dolan recently was able to view a screener of the documentary, and he interviews James about it.

Richard Dolan is one of the world’s leading researchers and writers on the subject of UFOs and believes that they constitute the greatest mystery of our time. He is the author of two volumes of history, UFOs and the National Security State, both ground-breaking works which together provide the most factually complete and accessible narrative of the UFO subject available anywhere. He also co-authored a speculative book about the future, A.D. After Disclosure, the first-ever analysis not only of how UFO secrecy might end but of the all-important question: what happens next?

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

02-02-2020 om 17:12 geschreven door peter  

Observational astronomy and astrophysics work together to further our understanding of the cosmos. Astrophysicists apply the laws of physics and physical theories to interpret the light gathered by observational astronomers.

Artist’s concept of a black hole. Astronomers use telescopes, both on Earth and in space, to gather radiation from space objects. Astrophysicists wield the laws of physics and physical theories to interpret that radiation. Ultimately, from the observations of astronomers, the minds and labor of astrophysicists – and the imaginations of space artists – we have images like this one.

Image via Dana Berry/ NASA/ Wikimedia Commons.

Astrophysics is the science of physical processes in the cosmos. It uses data gathered by astronomers using telescopes on Earth and in space – combined with the laws and theories of physics – in order to interpret the universe around us. If astronomy asks what and where, astrophysics asks how and why. A sister science – planetary science – studies the planets in our solar system and distant solar systems in our Milky Way galaxy. Another sister science – cosmology – studies external galaxies and voids, and the large-scale structure and history of the universe.

For example, an astronomer might spend nights at the telescope gathering data on a star. Putting on his or her astrophysicist hat – and depending on which instruments were used in conjunction with the telescope (photometers or spectrometers, for example) – that scientist would then turn to the laws of physics to understand how that star produces its energy, whether it has a companion (or perhaps planets, or perhaps an encircling disk), and how the star moves through space.

Galactic astrophysicists would then ask how that star fits with what’s known about our Milky Way galaxy.

Cosmologists would then ask how the knowledge of the stars fits with that of the universe as a whole.

And by the way all of these labels – astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, for example – might describe a single person whose job is to study and understand the universe.

Plus this description is just a very, very simplistic view of what astronomers/astrophysicists/cosmologists actually do. They might, for example, bring many other sciences into their studies: chemistry, geology, biology and more. They’ll bring all of this knowledge into focus using a powerful and complex arsenal of theories, instruments and computational power that would have been unthinkable just a few decades ago. All of the tools of astronomy, all its various devices, data, theories and pathways of study, are seeking to answer humanity’s biggest questions. How did our universe get here? What’s its history? Where did we come from? Are there others like us, elsewhere in the cosmos?

Ultimately, astrophysics is a tool that helps humanity understand its place in the cosmos.

The history of astrophysics really begins in Europe with the Renaissance, when astronomy threw off the shackles of eons-old myths and became a true science. In Florence, in 1610, Galileo Galilei became one of the first to turn the telescope to the sky, revealing a universe at odds with the restrictive teachings of the Church. By 1633, this dangerous contradiction saw Galileo tried by the Roman Inquisition and confined to house arrest for the rest of his life until his death in 1642.

A painting by Giuseppe Bertini (1858), depicting Galileo (standing) showing the Doge or Duke of Venice (seated) how to use a telescope. Galileo is remembered as one of the first great observational astronomers.

Image via Wikimedia Commons.

In England in 1665, Isaac Newton, having fled Cambridge University to escape the Great Plague, settled back in the town of his birth, the rural community of Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire. Over the next several years, he developed calculus and revolutionary ideas about light. In 1687, he published his Law of Universal Gravitation, stating that every particle attracts every other particle in the universe with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. For the first time, scientists could calculate the force of attraction between objects in space. This was a giant step forward in scientists’ ability to understand the heavens.

Isaac Newton (1642-1726). He famously said in the year 1675: “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.”

Image via teachertech.rice.edu.

It can therefore be argued that Newton was the first astrophysicist, using the mathematical and physical tools he himself developed to ask questions about the nature of physical processes in the cosmos.

But the most important realization to emerge from Newton’s era was simply that the universe is governed by physical processes. Given the right tools, these processes can be understood by humans. No longer did the universe obey the whims of mystical and unfathomable powers: what was out there was just physics.

In the 20th century, Albert Einstein initiated a new revolution in our understanding of gravity with his general theory of relativity.

Now it’s estimated that what we know about the cosmos is doubling every 10 years.

A large part of that knowledge comes from the continued contribution of astrophysicists to our understanding of the laws of nature at work in the universe.

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Einstein in 1947, at the age of 68. His special and general theories of relativity altered the way astrophysicists think about space, matter and time.

• Bottom line: Observational astronomy and astrophysics work together to further our understanding of the cosmos. Astrophysicists apply the laws of physics and physical theories to interpret the light gathered by observational astronomers.

{ https://earthsky.org/ }

02-02-2020 om 01:24 geschreven door peter  

A burst of gravitational waves hit our planet. Astronomers have no clue where it's from.

(Image: © Shutterstock)

But gravitational waves from collisions of such massive objects typically last longer and manifest in the data as a series of waves that change in frequency over time as the two orbiting objects move closer to each other, said Andy Howell, a staff scientist at Los Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network and an adjunct faculty member in physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was not part of the LIGO research.

The new signal was not a series of waves but a burst, Howell said. One more likely possibility is that this short-lived burst of gravitational waves comes from a more transient event, such as a supernova explosion, the catastrophic ending to a star's life. 

Indeed, some astronomers have hypothesized that this could have been a signal from the Betelgeuse star, which mysteriously dimmed recently and is expected to undergo a supernova explosion. But the Betelgeuse star is still there so it's not that scenario, Howell said. It's also unlikely to be another supernova because they happen in our galaxy only about once every 100 years, he added. 

What's more, the burst still "seems a little too short for what we expect from the collapse of a massive star," he said. "On the other hand, we've never seen a star blowing up in gravitational waves before, so we don't really know what it would look like." In addition, the astronomers didn't detect any neutrinos, tiny subatomic particles that carry no charge, which supernovas are known to release.

Another possibility is that the merging of two intermediate-mass black holes caused the signal, Howell said. Merging neutron stars produce waves that last longer (around 30 seconds) than this new signal, while merging black holes might more closely resemble bursts (that last around a couple of seconds). However, intermediate black hole mergers might also release a series of waves that change in frequency. 

LIGO came across this signal while specifically looking for such bursts. But "that doesn't mean that what it found is an intermediate-mass black hole merger," Howell told Live Science. "We don't know what they found," especially since LIGO hasn't yet released the exact structure of the signal, he added.

It's also possible that this signal was just noise in the data from the detector, Howell said. But this burst of gravitational waves was found by all three LIGO detectors: one in Washington state, one in Louisiana and one in Italy. So the probability of the LIGO detectors finding this signal by chance (meaning it's a false alarm) is once every 25.84 years, which "gives us some indication that this is a pretty good signal," Howell said.

There could be other explanations for this mysterious burst, too. For example, a supernova could have directly collapsed into a black hole without producing neutrinos, though such an occurrence is very speculative, Howell said. Astronomers are now pointing their telescopes to that region to try to pinpoint the source of the waves.

"The universe always surprises us," he added. "There could be totally new astronomical events out there that produce gravitational waves that we haven't really thought about." 

• Historic First Images of a Black Hole Show Einstein Was Right (Again)
• These Mesmerizing Images Show 'Invisible Gravity Waves' Rippling Over Australia
• 26 Cosmic Photos from the Hubble Space Telescope's Ultra Deep Field
• Editor's Note: This story was updated to clarify that the signal was not a series of waves, but a burst. Originally published on Live Science.

{ https://www.space.com/ }

02-02-2020 om 00:55 geschreven door peter  

In a rare sighting, astronomers observe burst of activity as a massive star forms

by James Okwe Chibueze, The Conversation

Here on Earth, we pay quite a lot of attention to the sun. It's visible to us, after all, and central to our lives. But it is only one of the billions of stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way. It's also quite small compared to other stars—many are at least eight times more massive.

These massive stars influence the structure, shape and chemical content of a galaxy. And when they have exhausted their hydrogen gas fuel and die, they do so in an explosive event called a supernova. This explosion is sometimes so strong that it triggers the formation of new stars out of materials in the dead star’s surroundings.

But there’s an important gap in our knowledge: astronomers don’t yet fully understand how those original massive stars themselves are initially formed. So far, observations have only yielded some pieces of the puzzle. This is because nearly all the known massive stars in our galaxy are located very far away from our solar system. They also form in close proximity to other massive stars, making it difficult to study the environment where they take shape.

One theory, though, is that a rotating disc of gas and dust funnels materials into the growing star.

Astronomers have recently found that the funnelling of matter into a forming star happens at different rates over time. Sometimes the forming star swallows up a huge amount of matter, resulting in a burst of activities in the massive star. This is called an accretion burst event. It is incredibly rare: only three such events have been observed, out of all the billions of massive stars in the Milky Way.

This is why astronomers are so excited about a recent observation of the phenomenon. I was part of the team that recorded this observation. Now, our team and other astronomers will be able to develop and test theories to explain how high-mass stars gain their mass.

A global collaboration

After the first detection of an accretion burst, in 2016, astronomers from around the world agreed in 2017 to coordinate their efforts to observe more. Reported bursts have to be validated and followed up with more observations, and this takes a joint, global effort – which led to the formation of the Maser Monitoring Organisation (M2O).

A maser is the microwave (radio frequency) equivalent of laser. The word stands for “microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation”. Masers are observed using radio telescopes and most of them are observed at centimetre wavelength: they are very compact.

A maser flare can be a sign of an extraordinary event such as the formation of a star. Since 2017 radio telescopes in Japan, Poland, Italy, China, Russia, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa (HartRAO, in the country’s Gauteng province) have been working together to detect a flare stimulated by a burst in the funnelling of materials into a massive star.

In January 2019, astronomers at Ibaraki University in Japan noticed that one such massive protostar, G358-MM1, showed signs of new activity. The masers associated with the object brightened significantly over a short period of time. The theory is that masers brighten when excited by an accretion burst.

Follow-up observations with the Australian Long Baseline Array revealed something astronomers are witnessing for the first time – a blast of heat-wave coming from the source and travelling through the surroundings of the forming big star. Blasts can last for about two weeks to a few months.

Burst of energy

Blasts like this were not observed in the previous two accretion bursts in massive stars. This may imply that it’s a different kind of accretion burst. There may even be a “zoo” of accretion burst types – a whole range of different types which act in different ways that may depend on the mass and evolutionary stage of the young star.

Although the burst activity has died down, the masers are still a lot brighter than they were before the burst. Astronomers are watching with interest to see whether a similar burst will occur again, and at what scale.

This experience shows how valuable it is to have lots of eyes on the sky, from different corners of the globe. Collaboration is astronomy is crucial for new, important discoveries.

{ https://theconversation.com/uk }

02-02-2020 om 00:18 geschreven door peter  

OHIO UNIVERSITY HAS YET TO DENY PROFESSOR’S ‘BUGS ON MARS!’ CLAIM. SO.

IMAGES VIA PIXABAY/VICTOR TANGERMANN

{ https://futurism.com/the-byte }

01-02-2020 om 23:09 geschreven door peter  

Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our sun, may have a second planet, according to researchers from the National Institute of Astrophysics. If confirmed, it would be an ideal candidate for direct imaging by new upcoming space telescopes.

Artist’s concept of Proxima Centauri b, an Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting the nearest star to our sun, Proxima Centauri. Now researchers think there is a second, larger planet also orbiting the star.

Image via ESO/ M. Kornmesser/ Wikipedia.

In 2016, astronomers announced the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting the closest star to our solar system, Proxima Centauri. Exciting, since the planet appeared to be close to the same size as Earth and not too far away, cosmically-speaking, at 4.2 light-years. Could there be other planets in this nearby system? On January 15, 2020, another research team published its evidence for a second, larger planet orbiting Proxima Centauri. At this point, this second object is still considered a candidate. It is not confirmed. But researchers do make a compelling case for its existence.

The potential discovery was announced by Mario Damasso of the National Institute of Astrophysics and his colleagues on January 15. The new peer-reviewed paper appeared in Science Advances on the same day.

The planet – dubbed Proxima Centauri c – is a fair bit larger than the first planet, Proxima Centauri b, and is about six times more massive than Earth. This would make it a super-Earth, planets that are significantly larger and more massive than Earth but smaller and less massive than Neptune. It is estimated to orbit its star every 5.2 years. Proxima Centauri b, by comparison, is only about 1.3 times Earth’s mass.

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Proxima Centauri as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2013.

Image via ESA/ Hubble/ Wikipedia.

Even though Proxima Centauri is the closest star, part of the Alpha Centauri three-star system, it has been difficult to detect planets orbiting it. That’s because most exoplanets discovered so far have been glimpsed via the transit method; that is, they’re detected because they lie edge-on to our line-of-sight to their host stars, and astronomers can detect a minute dip in the host star’s light when the planet crosses in front of it. No such dip in brightness has been seen for Proxima Centauri.

Instead, to find this star’s planets, astronomers have had to use a second planet-hunting technique, called the radial velocity method. Radial velocity refers to a slight wobble in the star’s motion as seen from Earth, caused by the gravity of unseen planets tugging on it. This is how Proxima Centauri b was found, and now, seemingly, Proxima Centauri c.

Two European Southern Observatory (ESO) telescope instruments, the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) and the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES), were used to obtain the data from Proxima Centauri.

Damasso and his team analyzed the star’s light spectrum data, going back 17.5 years, to see if a previously reported light spectrum signal really was from a second planet. If the spectrum oscillates between the red and blue radial velocity, that typically means the star is moving slightly closer to and then farther away from Earth, due to the gravitational pull of a planet or planets. The researchers did find such a signal, occurring over a 1,900-day period. That would mean it is unlikely to be due only to other cyclical shifts in the star’s magnetic field. It would be more consistent with a second planet orbiting the star.

Our sun’s closest neighbors among the stars, including Proxima Centauri.

Image via NASA PhotoJournal.

So, could either of these planets be habitable?

At this point, we just don’t know enough about them to answer that question. Proxima Centauri b is almost the same size as Earth, and is thought to have similar temperatures, but it orbits very close to its star, which is a red dwarf. Red dwarfs are known for being very active, emitting powerful solar flares. The radiation from those flares could strip away the atmosphere of any close-in planets. Proxima Centauri c is farther out, but may be too cold for life as we know it. It also may be more like Neptune, with a deep gaseous atmosphere and no real solid surface, rather than a super-Earth, which is rocky like Earth, but larger. We just don’t know yet.

Another exciting aspect of Proxima Centauri c, however, is that it is far enough from the glare of its star that it should be able to be photographed directly by upcoming space telescopes. So far, only a handful of planets that are much larger than this have been successfully photographed, and even then, they are still just blobs of light.

Mario Damasso of the National Institute of Astrophysics, whose team found the possible new planet.

Image via Breakthrough/ YouTube.

From the paper:

Proxima c could become a prime target for follow-up and characterization with next-generation direct imaging instrumentation due to the large maximum angular separation of ~1 arc second from the parent star. The candidate planet represents a challenge for the models of super-Earth formation and evolution.

If scientists can learn more about both Proxima Centauri c and b, including direct imaging for at least c (b would be a lot more difficult), then that should give them a better idea of what both Earth-sized and super-Earth exoplanets are actually like, in particular ones that orbit red dwarf stars. That would then help them figure how many could be potentially habitable, and what conditions would make that possible, an exciting endeavor.

• Bottom line: Researchers from the National Institute of Astrophysics have found new evidence for a second planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our sun.
• Source: A low-mass planet candidate orbiting Proxima Centauri at a distance of 1.5 AU
• Via EurekAlert!

{ https://earthsky.org/ }

01-02-2020 om 22:32 geschreven door peter  

The clarity of these images from the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii is thanks to the telescope’s 4-meter mirror, the world’s largest for a solar telescope. “It’s the biggest jump in our ability to study the sun since Galileo’s time,” a scientist said.

The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope – near the summit of Mount Haleakala on the Hawaiian island of Maui – released its first images of the sun this week. They’re said to be the highest-resolution images of the solar surface ever taken, and who can argue? We’ve never seen images of the sun that look like this. The imagery – released January 29, 2020 – shows cell-like structures roiling on the sun’s surface. We knew this structure existed. These cells are called granules, and they’re caused by convective currents of plasma on the sun. But these images are like nothing we’ve seen previously. Each one of these cells is the size of Texas!

Scientists say the Texas-sized granules are the result of heat carried from inside the sun outward to its surface. It’s as if we’re seeing the sun boil.

The clarity of the image is due to the telescope’s 4-meter (13-foot) mirror, which is the world’s largest for a solar telescope.

Thomas Rimmele is the director of the Inouye solar telescope project. He said:

These are the highest resolution images of the solar surface ever taken.

Image via NSO/ AURA/ NSF.

Image via NSO/ AURA/ NSF.

The U.S. National Science Foundation built the Inouye Solar Telescope, which has more than twice the resolution – double the ability to see clearly – of the next-best solar observatories. Construction of the telescope began in January 2013, and the primary mirror was delivered to the site in August 2017. The completed telescope has now provided its first images of the sun. From an NSF statement about the telescopes first images:

The images show a pattern of turbulent ‘boiling’ plasma that covers the entire sun. The cell-like structures – each about the size of Texas – are the signature of violent motions that transport heat from the inside of the sun to its surface. That hot solar plasma rises in the bright centers of ‘cells,’ cools, then sinks below the surface in dark lanes in a process known as convection.

View larger. | The Inouye Solar Telescope images the sun in more detail than we’ve ever seen before. The telescope can image a region of the sun 24,000 miles (38,000 km) wide. Close up, these images show large cell-like structures hundreds of kilometers across and, for the first time, the smallest features ever seen on the solar surface, some as small as 19 miles (30 km).

Image via NSF.

The motions of the sun’s plasma constantly twist and tangle the magnetic fields on the sun. Twisted magnetic fields can lead to solar storms that can affect systems on Earth. Magnetic eruptions on the sun can affect air travel, disrupt satellite communications, bring down power grids and disable technologies such as GPS.

Thomas Rimmele is director of the Inouye Solar Telescope. He said:

It’s all about the magnetic field. To unravel the sun’s biggest mysteries, we have to not only be able to clearly see these tiny structures from 93 million miles [150 million km] away but very precisely measure their magnetic field strength and direction near the surface and trace the field as it extends out into the million-degree corona, the outer atmosphere of the sun.

Finally resolving these tiny magnetic features is central to what makes the Inouye Solar Telescope unique, says NFS. The telescope can measure and characterize the sun’s magnetic field in more detail than ever seen before and determine the causes of potentially harmful solar activity.

• Bottom line: The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope has produced the highest resolution images of the sun’s surface ever taken.
• Via NSF
• Read more about the new sun images from NSF

{ https://earthsky.org/ }

01-02-2020 om 21:53 geschreven door peter  

Inside Skinwalker Ranch, a Paranormal Hotbed of UFO Research

The long red mesas of Utah’s Uintah Basin greet us as my driver, an American real estate mogul and tech investor, pulls us into Fort Duchesne. Looking out my window, we are finally out of the mountains and in the valley. My mind is lost in thought about the legends here, the supposed curse that now haunts this land, and the men and women who have experienced that curse head on. I have monsters on my mind. Well, actually just one: the Skinwalker.

A quick right turn shakes me from my daze.

“We are almost there,” my driver tells me. “Are you excited?”

He has a childlike grin on his face. We had travelled for nearly three hours from Salt Lake City. A snow storm had interrupted our journey through the mountains, blinding us and covering the highway in a sheet of ice.

Safe in the valley, the sky is blue, a sharp contrast from the grey storm skies at higher altitudes. The sun bounced off the mesa that made the area famous for paranormal junkies and UFO enthusiasts alike. Local lore has always told that strange lights hover over this area and that strange creatures roam the wilderness here. One tale tells of the Ute, an Indigenous tribe from this valley and their uneasy alliance with the Navajo. Siding with American military forces in the late 19th century, the Ute helped force the Navajo people out of the area. Local lore suggests that the Navajo unleashed a Skinwalker, a shapeshifter who can possess animals' skin.

Two massive concrete blockades dotted with “No Trespassing” signs and a massive “STOP” sign loom at the end of the road. As we roll past, a 20-foot-tall black steel gate greets us. Standing on the other side is a guard carrying a black rifle. He gives us a friendly nod and the gate slowly opens.

My host gives me a smile: “Welcome to Skinwalker Ranch.”

IMAGE: MJ BANIAS

We hadn’t originally planned on driving. My host, who bought the ranch from hotel and aerospace magnate Robert Bigelow in 2016, planned to fly me there in his private helicopter.

Since he bought the ranch, he hasn't opened it up to too many people, but that’s slowly changing. A crew from the History Channel has been filming a new documentary series that will air this year. He agreed to let me visit on the condition that I not reveal his identity as part of this article. Few journalists have ever been on the ranch, and as a reporter who typically covers anomalies and weird news, it’s long been a place I wanted to visit. I decided to go.

As we took off in his helicopter, the owner of the ranch got philosophical about why he bought it.

“You know, facing the reality of our mortality is sobering. The anomalies at Skinwalker Ranch, the things that have been reported there over decades, if not hundreds of years. They seem to attest to the fact that we live in a strange universe. Perhaps we are not alone,” he said. Salt Lake City disappeared into the distance as we made our way into the narrow mountain passes.

“Perhaps there is more than meets the eye. The nature of our existence, our physical reality. It is much more complex. The nature of our consciousness and our place in the cosmos. It is funny to think that people are still asking the same questions that our species has been asking for thousands of years,” he told me.

“I think the opportunity to take a living laboratory like the ranch, a place that seems to be the center of gravity of so much of the unexplained, it is a unique experience,” he said. “I manage and lead an effort that I believe is the greatest science project of all time.”

Upon entering the mountains, the storm made it unsafe. We had to turn around and drive.

IMAGE: MJ BANIAS

Skinwalker Ranch has a long and sordid history well catalogued by researcher Ryan Skinner. It’s hard to make sense of what’s real and what’s not.

The Uintah Basin has always been home to strange tales of odd lights, sounds and visions. In the 1950’s, Joseph “Junior” Hicks, a local high school science teacher, began cataloging people’s stories of their experiences in the basin. With Dr. Frank Salisbury, Hicks published a book on the subject in 1974. Sightings of strange creatures and UFOs continued in the area and the mythology became entrenched.

Decades later, things came to a head when ranchers Terry and Gwen Sherman bought the property in 1994. Documented in the book Hunt for the Skinwalker, the Shermans alleged that their cows were mutilated with surgical precision in broad daylight and that their family was hunted by strange aerial objects and floating orbs of light. They heard disembodied voices, experienced poltergeist activity, witnessed horrible monsters emerging from portals, and claimed they encountered a wolf that, when shot several times by a high powered rifle at point blank range, did not die.

Their story became public in the summer of 1996, and the Sherman Ranch was launched into the paranormal spotlight. Weeks later, Las Vegas aerospace billionaire and paranormal aficionado Robert Bigelow bought the ranch from the Shermans. Bigelow’s National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) and Bigelow Advanced Aerospace Space Studies (BAASS) spent more than two decades studying the strange anomalies that apparently occurred on the property.

In 2017, the New York Times broke the story of a secretive government UFO program run by Pentagon counter-intelligence staffer Luis Elizondo. According to the article, in 2007, a Defense Intelligence Agency official visited the ranch, and a short time later, met with Senator Harry Reid of Nevada. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Reid said he met with [DIA] agency officials shortly after his meeting with Mr. Bigelow and learned that they wanted to start a research program on UFOs.” That program, the Advanced Aerospace Weapons Systems Application Program, was given to Bigelow under government contract. His company received $22 million dollars to study and generate reports on exotic science, UFOs, and other anomalous phenomena. The strange events on the ranch, as well as other locations bearing purported paranormal anomalies, were involved in the study, according to the New York Times. AAWSAP was cancelled after two years and, in 2011, Bigelow’s government funding ran out. Attempts to secure more money for research was denied. Meanwhile, the Pentagon’s UFO investigation program, the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, or AATIP, continued looking into unknown aerial encounters by the US military.

Bigelow has been silent as to what occurred on the ranch during his tenure as owner, and wild rumors have ranged from the ranch being a site of secret government weapons testing to hiding underground alien bases. Stories about shapeshifting monsters, interdimensional portals, UFO sightings, and poltergeists continue to this day. In 2016, Bigelow sold the ranch to a company called Adamantium Real Estate Holdings. In 2018, Las Vegas reporter and long time UFO researcher George Knapp and filmmaker Jeremy Corbell released a documentary film about the ranch which only added more to the enigma which surrounds it.

That documentary called it "the most scientifically studied site in paranormal history."

Just because it’s an infamous place for UFO and paranormal hunters doesn’t mean that everyone feels that way, or even knows what it is.

Louise Tsinijinnie, a spokesperson for the Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation Service, told me that Skinwalkers were not something that many Navajo will discuss. I asked her about her thoughts regarding Skinwalker Ranch and the curse allegedly placed there centuries ago.

“It is within the realm of possibility,” she said. “In times of great desperation or wrong doing, the oral storytelling does point to such events occurring.”

Tsinijinnie said that, mythologically and within oral tradition, the Navajo do have stories about Skinwalkers, and Skinwalker Ranch could fit into those narratives. She has heard of the ranch, but was unable to confirm with absolute certainty that such a curse was placed directly on the land.

Betsy Chapoose, the Cultural Rights and Protection Director for the Ute tribe, explained that in her 30 years of working in tribal administration, she had never had anyone come into her office to talk about the ranch. She said people who live near the ranch may have their own stories and traditions regarding the Skinwalker legend, and those were something that ought to be respected. But when I first asked her about the legend and alleged Navajo curse, she didn't know what to make of it:

“That is the first time I have ever heard that story,” her voice breaking into laughter. “It’s true that the Ute and the Navajo have had a strained relationship over land ownership, but I’ve never heard any stories about a curse.”

As I hop out of the SUV the next day on the ranch, a black dog bounds towards me.

“Hey pup,” I put out my hand. The dog eagerly accepts a scratch behind the ears.

“That’s William,” the owner says. “He came with the ranch. He knows all its secrets.”

“Seen it all have you pup pup?” I ask. “You must be that big bad monster everyone keeps talking about. You don’t seem so scary.”

The dog accompanies me as I look around the main buildings. The first is a farmhouse, occupied by the live-in caretakers of Skinwalker Ranch, Kandus Linde, a published anthropologist, and her partner Tom Lewis, a freelance graphic artist.

“You hear a lot of stories about what goes on, but most of it is just stories. Do weird things happen? Yeah,” Linde explained to me. “The best way to describe it is that the ranch has a personality. It sounds crazy, I know.”

“It’s over 500 acres,” Linde explained. “It’s a beautiful place. It’s quiet. We literally live in the middle of nowhere, but it’s home. It does have ‘a feeling’ though, and every once in a while, we know we need to get away for a bit.”

More interesting is the second building, only a few steps away. This is the nerve centre of the ranch’s scientific project, known as the Command Center. This hub is the brainchild of Erik Bard, a plasma physicist and partner in a small company that designs and manufactures components for x-ray analytic systems that are used in U.S. national labs.

The new owner has heard all the bizarre stories and rumors, of course. He admits many are far-fetched, but if the ranch does hold strange secrets, he’s out to try his best to confirm them. Over the past several years, he and his staff have completely revamped the ranch, installing surveillance systems and scientific equipment all over in order to try to detect UFOs, paranormal activity, or otherwise explain some of the strange happenings that occur on Skinwalker Ranch.

The Command Center is the core of that effort.

Behind a locked door, accessible only by code, is a room about the size of a large bedroom. The Command Center, though designed by Bard, was built by the ranch’s superintendent, Thomas Winterton after it was purchased by the current owner. The Command Center has five 55-inch flat screen monitors showing live feeds from nearly a dozen cameras, workbenches, computer systems, microscopes, and just for a touch of fun, embedded green LED rope lights that give the room a cool sci-fi vibe.

"I've made consumer and scientific products in my career, but this ranch and the whole story connected with it are where I find a different and potentially important kind of meaning," Bard tells me.

The first screen that catches my eye monitors air traffic over the ranch. Bard is very clear that their aircraft transponder data feed was not relying on online services like FlightRadar24, an online flight tracking website.

“This data that we are receiving at the ranch is tracked by the equipment that we have here,” Bard explains. “We have receivers on the ranch that track both 1090 MHz ADS-B and 978 MHz UAT signals.” The vast majority of aircraft are required to use either ADS-B or UAT transponders to tell air traffic controllers who they are and where they are. The ranch system provides a live feed, but also stores historical data, so if several witnesses saw something strange in the sky, they could cross reference it with all known flights in the area. Bard explains that the system also creates a secondary historical log as a redundancy.

“The local historical log gets compared against independent sources of what are supposed to be the same data, the latter being the secondary witness. In turn, these get compared against such things as our readings and surveillance footage. A secondary witness is helpful in the event that we have interference with our local equipment during some episode,” Bard says. “We have a lot of equipment problems here because of some strange electromagnetic interference.”

Over the last year, several strange cases of extreme electromagnetic fields have been logged on the ranch. According to Bard, these EM fields are transient, they come and go, move around and at times have reached levels dangerous to humans.

According to the ranch team, several times in the last few years, people on the ranch have become ill and some even required hospitalization. Thomas Winterton was hospitalized with a life threatening subgaleal fluid collection with associated subcalvarial inflammation, or in layman’s terms, swelling in the brain and the collection of fluid between the skull and the scalp, which the team believes occurred when he attempted to dig on the ranch.

I was able to confirm with medical records that some of the medical tests resulted in inconclusive results for common causes of such an injury. It seems the jury is still out and Winterton is currently being monitored by his doctors. Over the summer, three guests on the ranch reported strange skin inflammation, nausea, and extreme lassitude within a close period of time and several went to the local emergency room, according to the owner. I was unable to independently verify why they needed medical attention.

Another screen monitors the radio frequencies at which electromagnetic signals are detected on the ranch. Due to the ranch’s significant distance from radio and cellular towers, the radio signals typically remain at a very low level. On occasion, there are several anomalous occurrences of sudden bursts across a wide range of the RF spectrum, which is not typical of a single signal source or station.

“We have not been able to determine the origin of these,” Bard tells me as the screen suddenly became erratic with activity. A cell phone or walkie-talkie will only elevate the levels in one area of the RF spectrum, and would create a small peak on the band, he says. “It doesn't make sense when you see a very wide portion of the spectrum jumping up and down like this. My best guess, if I had to come up with a plausible explanation, these could be signals broadcast by automation on some of the oil and gas drilling equipment that’s around the ranch.” Bard has not yet been able to determine the actual cause.

The ranch is also equipped with a weather monitoring station, dozens of stationary and mobile HD camera systems, as well as infrared, night vision, and thermal imaging cameras. Large portions of the 512-acre ranch are under 24/7 surveillance. Bard can view all this remotely, with enough server space to store all those video feeds. Bard often jokingly refers to the ranch as Eden, and much like God, he has eyes everywhere.

Bard explains that any strange events require significant amounts of data to be considered actual anomalies by him and his team. If a strange event does occur, such as the sighting of an aerial anomaly or a sudden surge of electromagnetic frequency, the team examines data across all the monitoring systems to see if and how each device recorded the phenomenon.

Major events, the ones “that count,” not only end up getting picked up on video, but usually correlate to multiple readings on the various sensor platforms. Bard’s favorite system is something he designed and built himself. SATAN, or Sentinel Assignment Telemetry And Notification is a four-legged metal unit with a built in computer and screen. SATAN is equipped to detect vibrations in the ground and air at very low frequencies, transient magnetic fields, as well as infrasonic and seismic activity.

“Now this unit is inside because I am doing some upgrades, but normally, it sits way out on the ranch in a pit. We call it the SATAN pit.” Bard chuckles at his odd Biblical sense of humor, “I know.”

Typically, Bard considers an event anomalous when multiple sensors detect activity simultaneously, and, as yet, defies a straightforward explanation. While Bard is not prepared to say paranormal interdimensional entities or aliens are visiting the ranch, he does believe it’s strange when random electromagnetic frequencies bombard a localized area of the ranch, get logged by all the equipment, and then, a few minutes later, vanish.

“More has occurred on the property in the last two years than the two decades Bigelow’s group was here,” Bryant ‘Dragon’ Arnold, the ranch’s head of security, tells me rather gruffly as we leave the Command Centre. While that’s impossible to verify, many people on the ranch seem to believe it. “People talk about Bigelow Aerospace and NIDS and BAASS and the Pentagon’s $22 million. I’ll tell you right now, people would be surprised if they knew what we have seen and the money that has been spent since we took over.”

"I take my truck up the road, and as I start to get closer, I start to get really scared. Just this feeling that takes over. Then I hear this voice, as clear as you and me talking right now, that says, ‘Stop, turn around.’"

Arnold, Winterton, and I are touring the property in a black Jeep. The melting snow has turned the usually red dusty trails into a rough brown muck. As our vehicle is getting knocked around by the bumpy road, the two men explain that the ranch was in a state of disrepair in 2016, and significant time and money was spent into upgrading the facilities. Winterton says the septic tank was improperly installed, and the toilets barely worked. He did many of the repairs himself. The surveillance and data collection platforms have also been modernized and improved.

“Whatever the thing on this ranch is, it can drain your phone battery in a second, give people radiation burns, and generate insane levels of electromagnetic frequencies. When we first got here in 2016 after buying the ranch,” Arnold laughs shaking his head. “Shit, some of the gear and tests they left behind, well, let’s just say we’ve taken a more scientific approach.”

A licensed private security expert with significant experience as an outdoorsman, Arnold has known the ranch’s new owner since they were 19. They are basically brothers. He tells me that people show up at the gates all the time wanting to come onto the property. Some people can be belligerent, but most people just stand at the gate and leave when they are asked to.

“One time this guy pulls up to the gate and asks if he can see the ranch. He tells me he that he is from Australia and the ranch was on his Bucket List,” Winterton tells me. “I can’t believe that guy would fly all that way just to come here.”

As we slowly traverse the pothole-strewn roads, I ask Arnold if he has ever had any paranormal experiences on the ranch. He laughs.

“Nothing at first. I thought it was all a bunch of crap. Then, one night, I’m in one of the bedrooms in the ranch house. I’m lying down trying to get to sleep, and then all of a sudden, BAM, something slams into my bed. It’s like when your kids jump into bed with you or someone big kneed the bed. I sit up and turn on the lights. Nothing’s there.”

Something else happened to Arnold this summer, he says. He explains that there was a large film crew on the ranch during the summer. They were filming the first season of the History Channel TV series.

“We all saw it. We were looking at the West field, and then there it was. I thought it was a drone for a second because I try to rationalize everything. It was just hovering there,” Arnold looks at me. “I don’t think I can talk about this. It sounds insane. All the sensors we have went crazy.”

“We get a lot of weird events at these old homesteads,” Winterton tells me as I return to the Jeep.

“When we first took over the ranch, Bigelow had an older couple here who were the caretakers. They liked living on the ranch, so they stayed here until about a year and a half ago when they decided to leave for health reasons,” Winterton continues. “One night in 2016, they called me, it was probably 2 a.m, and said someone was on the ranch. There was this old basketball they kept by the front porch, anyway, they said someone was bouncing it against the house.”

Kids looking for kicks, overzealous paranormal enthusiasts, and UFO investigators occasionally try to trespass onto the ranch. Winterton, who only lives about 15 minutes from the ranch, jumped in his truck, pistol in hand, and sped to the property.

“When I got there, I made sure they were OK and I just walked through the house making sure no one else was there. I told them to stay inside and went out to see if anyone was walking around,” he says.

Using one of the thermal cameras they kept on the ranch, Winterton began going to all the sheds and outbuildings, scanning the fields and the mesa. Nothing.

“I had this feeling I was being watched, but no one was there. I get my shotgun from my truck and, just for good measure, I go to the front yard there, and blast a few shots into the air and yell a few obscenities. Just to scare them,” Winterton tells me with a chuckle.

He decided to search the old homesteads, since a lot of trespassers go to those buildings.

“I take my truck up the road, and as I start to get closer, I start to get really scared. Just this feeling that takes over. Then I hear this voice, as clear as you and me talking right now, that says, ‘Stop, turn around.’ I lean out the window with my spotlight out and start searching around. Nothing. So I get out and blast a few more shots and yell some more.”

The ranch’s bizarre history tends to get into people’s heads. Knowing the history of the ranch, I let my mind run wild. I feel like some invisible presence is watching me. Walking through these old homes, knowing the myths, my logical and rational brain are wrestling with the possibility that something may haunt this ranch like the stories say.

Thinking it was all in his head, Winterton told the couple everything was fine and went home. He had a similar experience six months later while he was plowing snow at the ranch. The same voice. The same feelings of fear and anxiety. He thought he was losing his mind.

One evening, Winterton and his wife went to the ranch because Bard told him that he wanted a hard backup of the video files due to some cameras failing. He asked Winterton to use one of the external hard drives to download the videos from that night. As Winterton began the backup, he and his wife heard a banging sound coming from one of the back bedrooms.

“It sounded like someone had an electrical cord and they were smacking it against a wall. So I jump up and run back there. Nobody was in there. I’ve spent tons of time in the Command Centre. I know the usual sounds that it makes, what the water heater sounds like when it turns on. This was different,” Winterton says. “So we are freaking out at this point. I sit down back at the computer and the download is taking forever. Then, all of a sudden, like someone was standing between us, I hear, ‘Leave now.’ I look at Melissa, she looks at me. Then it happens again, ‘You need to leave now.’”

Tom and Melissa Winterton both jumped up and did as they were told.

“We get into the truck and we got the hell out of there. I am trying to text and call Erik but my phone won’t respond. It’s all frozen. My wife is trying to get it to work. I try. It’s like 10 minutes goes by, and eventually, the phone responds then it just dies. It started to work for a second or two then the batteries are totally dead.”

Melissa Winterton later recounted the story to me in much the same way.

We continue down the road to another decaying house, ‘Homestead 3.’ Surrounded by a circle of old trees, this house is the end of the line. As I explore, the two men point to the west and the property line which separates the ranch from reservation land owned by the Ute.

Winterton and Arnold take me up to the southern side of the ranch which has us climb up a hill that overlooks the entire property. This high up, I can see the entire ranch, the mesas, and the snow covered mountains in the far distance and it truly is a majestic place.

“For all the weird shit that happens here, this is my favorite place in the world,” Arnold tells me as we stand there. “Some of the people here say the ranch is alive. Maybe. I don’t know. But when I’m not here, all I want to do is come back.”

“All I want to do is grab a tent and my camping bag. I could stay here for a week,” I say. “I just want to go exploring.”

“It’s like the ranch calls to you, you know,” Winterton gives me knowing smile.

I eventually have to leave the ranch, and as our SUV gets back on the highway, I can’t help but think that Skinwalker Ranch is so much more than the paranormal mythology that has been crafted around it. Perhaps it is too late to separate the ranch from the lore that has made it famous, but from my short time there, the ranch does seem to have an aura.

For the Defense Intelligence Agency, it was a national security and defense project. For the owner and his science team, it is a place for scientific research into questions that humanity has been grappling with since time immemorial. For the live-in caretakers, for Winterton and Arnold, the ranch is home. For locals, it is a place not spoken of and avoided. For me, a journalist, it is a story I will someday tell my kids around a campfire. For paranormal researchers and UFO enthusiasts, it is a place of myths and legends where unspeakable entities roam and unknown objects travel.

Whatever the truth is behind the strange events which plague Skinwalker Ranch, it is fundamentally a place one ought to respect. As our SUV enters the snow-covered mountain passes on the way back to Salt Lake City, I can’t help but smile. I avoided the curse of the Skinwalker, at least for now.

{ https://www.vice.com/en_us }

01-02-2020 om 21:26 geschreven door peter  

#METEOR TRENDS AS MYSTERIOUS OBJECT FROM OUTER SPACE IS SPOTTED IN LOS ANGELES

01-02-2020 om 20:35 geschreven door peter  

The lonely expanses of the world’s deserts seem to be devoid of much of anything. They are forbidding, arid wastelands where few tread and where even fewer care to spend much time. Yet, from these expanses of rugged, withered wilderness there have sprung some very weird accounts within the world of the weird, these remote locales and their bleak atmosphere seemingly a perfect recipe for tales of the truly outlandish. Here we will look at some accounts of very weird supposed encounters with what seem to be alien entities, which have occurred out in these moonscape deserts and which serve to perplex.

One of the most bizarre desert alien encounters I have ever seen comes from Timothy Green Beckley’s Strange effects of flying saucers, and supposedly happened in the summer of 1967 somewhere out in the moonscape of an unspecified California desert in the very dark early morning hours. According to the report, 18-year old Jerry James, his father, mother and younger sister were all driving through these badlands on their way from Colorado to a vacation home they kept in California, and the mood at the time was one of excitement and merriment. The drive had been an arduous, 18-hour-long ordeal, but despite their weariness they were in high spirits. They pulled their Chevrolet pickup and house trailer into a service area to get some rest and relax in their trailer before the last leg of their journey, and this is where their vacation would take a turn for the increasingly bizarre.

It began when one of them noticed an object in the sky that was pointed out to the others. Whatever it was soon proved to be no normal aircraft, about the size of a car, somewhat spherical, and sort of resembling a top in that that it was continuously spinning as it wandered about the area, and it suddenly emitted a bright beam like a searchlight down to the parched earth below, much to the family’s surprise. The craft and its inscrutable piercing, searching beam then circled around the area and they had the distinct feeling that it was looking for something down in the dust and scrub below it. They looked on in awe and bewilderment for a few minutes, but this turned to fear when that beam suddenly trained right upon them. The UFO then approached to hover directly above them, that blinding light making it as if it were broad daylight outside and the whole time completely silent. Just as they thought that they were perhaps in big trouble they were bathed in darkness again like a curtain coming down as the craft shot off into the night, leaving them quite shaken. But things were about to get even weirder still.

The next day the family was only a few miles from the service station when they stopped and got out to stretch their legs and noticed a silver-looking vessel or craft of some type come towards them to approach to such a close distance that they said they could even see the little rivets in its metallic surface. It was all rather terrifying, to the point that the mother fainted to crumple to the ground and had to be revived with smelling salts. They then retreated into their trailer and found a strange sight awaiting them there. Whereas moments before the trailer had been rather a mess, with unmade beds and dirty dishes in the sink, now everything was completely in order, cleaned up, and the entire trailer was pristine and spotless. Everything had been put away and it was as if someone had come in and cleaned it all, which was very odd considering they had all left the mess it has been in just minutes before. Just about the only thing out of place was a single kitchen dish lying on the counter, which held something weird within.

Sitting in the dish was what looked like a sprouting carrot, but it started to transform before their startled eyes, sprouting roots that were almost like tentacles in their mobility and the speed in which they fell down over the counter to spill to the floor below and writhe about. The family stared in puzzlement as the plant further bloomed outwards, taking steps back to avoid the ever expanding tangle of quivering roots at their feet. It was also noticed that the plant, the dish, and the cabinet it sat upon were covered with a slimy green-colored substance, of which Jerry would say:

It was a vile smelling substance, and other than that I can’t tell you much about it. One thing strange though. When I touched it with a pencil it ‘ate up’ the wood and lead in a matter of seconds.

The family continued their surreal odyssey when they took the truck out on the road again and found that the vehicle would accelerate and slow against their will as if it had a mind of its own. When they reached a service station and tried to put gasoline in, the cap was removed to belch forth a horrific stench and hissing noise. Making it all even more absurdly weird is that they would later find that the seat where the driver sat had inexplicably rotted away, and the ignition key had become malleable like rubber and now glowed in the dark. What in the world?

This is one of those cases that seems to transcend bizarre and firmly lodge itself into the realm of the truly fringe. Also from 1967 comes an odd report from the Vizcaino Desert of Baja California in Mexico. On the evening of July 2 of that year military intelligence units were reportedly called out to an isolated area of the desert to investigate an alleged UFO crash, and when they arrived at the scene they supposedly found what they were looking for in an unearthly oblong metal craft that had apparently broken in half and was surrounded by a “pungent odor.” Strangest of all were the four bodies of what could only have been the occupants, described as being very odd indeed.

Each of the enormous creatures was said to measure around 9-feet in height, covered with hair and with squashed, hairless ape-like faces with flat wide noses, and mouths twisted open in grimaces of agony that exposed smallish fangs, for the most part more or less looking every bit like what one imagines a Bigfoot would look like. The only thing they wore were a kind of sandals with very thick soles and a copper colored belts with huge buckles lined with small buttons, but other than that they were completely naked and carried no tools. Weirdly, one of the creatures was supposedly found to still be alive, but died soon after. According to the report, the U.S. military moved in and whisked away all of it to Yuma Air Base in Arizona. What happened then? Well, your guess is as good as anyone’s.

Moving into later years in May of 1980 there was a strange encounter described in Linda Moulton Howe’s book An Alien Harvest, and supposedly occurred in the remote desert near Cimarron, New Mexico. The witnesses were a woman and her 8-year old son, who were driving through the desert and spotted three odd lights out in the open landscape near a cattle ranch. They could see that one of the objects was larger than the others, with what looked like lit windows embedded within it. After that they apparently fainted, and it was only when the woman was hypnotically regressed that she would remember what had happened to her out there in that remote place.

According to the witness, she had been gripped by a stifling fear when she heard the cows “screaming in agony,” after which she was purportedly approached and captured by four inhuman entities, three of them troll-like and greenish in color and another, taller hairless pale being with a high forehead and large beautiful eyes and wearing a flowing white cape, which seemed to be the leader. The taller one apparently telepathically scolded the witness for being out there, and she claimed that his touch caused a tingling, burning pain as if it were a hot iron. She was then dragged kicking and screaming to their ship, where she would see her son fast asleep. The aliens then allegedly began a medical examination of her and brought her past a room where greenish shuffling creatures wearing brown clothing were dissecting a cow, horrifically as it was still alive and gurgling in pain, eventually bringing her to another room where there were more of the pale white entities. Her memory then jumps to standing in the desert again, and this time she was brought down to an underground facility populated by more of the ethereal pale beings and where she spies a vat of gelatinous liquid holding a horrific collection of animal and human body parts suspended within. The next thing she would remember after this would be sitting safely back in her car with her son, who would not remember any of it as he had peacefully slept through it all. Weird to say the least.

Another report from Phantoms and Monsters also apparently happened in 1980 in the desert wilds near Tucson, Arizona, where two friends were out exploring on a chilly October evening. They were making their way along a dry riverbed, the darkness pushed away by miner’s lights on their heads, when they came across a large, thick Palo Verde tree that appeared out of the night in the light of their lamps. As they approached, the branches of the tree allegedly started shaking violently, but they could not tell what was causing it. They at first thought it might be wild pigs, but then the shaking stopped and began again higher up in the tree. As they shone their lights and peered into the thick foliage they say they were startled to see two bright blue eyes spaced around a foot apart staring down at them, after which they withdrew and some heavy footfalls could be heard thumping off into the night. The witnesses claim that they would find enormous footprints there the next day, and that the area would have intense UFO activity for several weeks after.

Another strange case involving some sort of humanoid creature comes from the deserts of the Mexican State of Chihuahua. At the end of 1989 and the beginning of 1990, a group of teenagers were on a mission to explore the caves of a place called Cerro Pajarito when they came across something that would haunt them for the rest of their lives. As the group was exploring one of the caves, they came upon the discovery of a dead deer and a doe that were freshly killed and exhibited three odd perforations on their necks that formed a triangular pattern. In the surrounding area, there were footprints that looked like those of a puma, but it soon became apparent that no puma had done this. The group suddenly heard blood curdling squealing sounds and the air became pervaded by a stench described as smelling like burning wood. The terrified group of teenagers looked and saw a hunched over, humanoid figure crouched upon a rock outcropping about 15 meters away from them. The creature apparently started bounding towards them and one of the groups emptied his pistol at it, although the bullets seemed to have no effect. As the panicked group turned tail and ran for dear life, they reported passing yet another humanoid creature that was described as being metallic green in color and standing only 80 cm high. What could this have possibly been? Who knows?

It certainly seems that the isolated, inhospitable wilds of the desert are prime locations for some very strange encounters, and it leaves us to wonder what could be going on here. Are these genuine alien encounters with creatures from another world, interdimensional phenomena, or what? How can we comfortably fit the utter, sheer bizarreness of such reports into what we know? There is no way to be sure of the answer to these questions, but if you are ever out in the sun scorched desert wilderness, be sure to keep an eye out. You never know what you might find.

A special thanks to intrepid researcher and friend Albert S. Rosales for providing these accounts and sources.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

01-02-2020 om 16:57 geschreven door peter