Imagine you are out at an outdoor event, perhaps a BBQ or camping trip and a bug keeps flying by your face. You try to ignore it at first, perhaps lazily swat at it, but it keeps coming back for more. This is nothing unusual, as bugs have a habit of ruining the outdoors for people, but then it lands on your arm. Now you can see it doesn’t exactly look like a regular fly, something is off about it. You lean in, peer down at the little insect perched upon your arm, and that is when you notice that it is peering right back at you, with a camera in place of eyes. Welcome to the future of drone technology, with robotic flies and more, and it is every bit as weird as it sounds.

Everyone is familiar with drones nowadays. They seem to be everywhere, and they are getting smaller and cooler as time goes on, but how small can they really get, some may wonder. Well, looking at the trends in the technology these days, it seems that they can get very small, indeed. One private research team called Animal Dynamics has been working on tiny drones that use the concept of biomechanics, that is, mimicking the natural movements of insects and birds in nature. After all, what better designer is there than hundreds of millions of years of evolution? A prime example of this is one of their drones that aims to copy the shape and movements of a dragonfly, a drone called the “Skeeter.” The drone is launched by hand, its design allows it to maintain flight in high winds of up to more than 20 knots (23mph or 37km/h) due to its close approximation of an actual dragonfly, and its multiple wings give it deft movement control. One of the researchers who helped design it, Alex Caccia, has said of its biomechanical design:

The way to really understand how a bird or insect flies is to build a vehicle using the same principles. And that’s what we set up Animal Dynamics to do. Small drones often have problems maneuvering in heavy wind. Yet dragonflies don’t have this problem. So we used flapping wings to replicate this effect in our Skeeter. Making devices with flapping wings is very, very hard. A dragonfly is an awesome flyer. It’s just insane how beautiful they are, nothing is left to chance in that design. It has very sophisticated flight control.

In addition to its small size and sophisticated controls, the Skeeter also can be equipped with a camera and communications links, using the type of miniaturized tech found in mobile smartphones. Currently the Skeeter measures around 8 inches long, but of course the team is working on smaller, lighter versions. As impressive as it is, Skeeter is not even the smallest insect drone out there. Another model designed by a team at the Delft University of Technology is called the “Delfly,” and weighs less than 50 grams. The Delfly is meant to copy the movements of a fruit fly, and has advanced software that allows it to autonomously fly about and avoid obstacles on its four cutting edge wings, fashioned from ultra-light transparent foil. The drone has been designed for monitoring agricultural crops, and is equipped with a minuscule camera. The team behind the Delfly hope to equip it with dynamic AI that will allow it to mimic the way an insect erratically flies about and avoids objects, and it seems very likely someone could easily mistake it for an actual fly. The only problem it faces at the moment is that it is so small that it has limited battery life, only able to stay aloft for 6 to 9 minutes at a time.

Indeed, this is the challenge that any sophisticated technology faces; the limitations of battery life. There is only so small you can make a battery before its efficiency is compromised, no matter how light and small the equipment, and it is a problem we are stuck with until battery technology is seriously upgraded. In fact, many of the prototype insect drones currently rely on being tethered to an external power source for the time being. But what if your drone doesn’t need batteries at all? That is the idea behind another drone designed by engineers at the University of Washington, who have created a robotic flying insect, which they call the RoboFly, that does not rely on any battery or external power source at all. Instead, the drone, which is about the same weight as a toothpick, rides about on a laser beam. This beam is invisible, and is aimed at a photovoltaic cell on the drone, which is then amplified with a circuit and is enough to power its wings and other components. However, even with such a game changing development, the RoboFly, and indeed all insect-sized unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which are usually referred to as micro aerial vehicles (MAVs), still face some big challenges going ahead. Sawyer Fuller, leader of the team that created the RoboFly and director of the slightly ominous sounding Autonomous Insect Robotics Laboratory, has said of this:

A lot of the sensors that have been used on larger robots successfully just aren’t available at fly size. Radar, scanning lasers, range finders — these things that make the perfect maps of the world, that things like self-driving cars use. So we’re going to have to use basically the same sensor suite as a fly uses, a little camera.

However, great progress is being made, and these little drones are becoming more sophisticated in leaps and bounds, with the final aim being a fully autonomous flying insect robot that can more or less operate on its own or with only minimal human oversight. Fuller is very optimistic about the prospects, saying, “For full autonomous I would say we are about five years off probably.” Such a MAV would have all manner of applications, including surveillance, logistics, agriculture, taking measurements in hostile environments that a traditional drone can’t fit into or operating in hazardous environments, finding victims of earthquakes or other natural disasters, planetary exploration, and many others. Many readers might be thinking about now whether the military has any interest in all of this, and the answer is, of course they do.

The use of these MAVs is seen as very promising to the military, and the U.S. government has poured in over a billion dollars of funding into such research. Indeed, Animal Dynamics has been courted by the military with funding, and the creators of the RoboFly have also received generous funding for their research. The U.S. government’s own Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been pursuing the technology for years, as have other countries. On the battlefield MAVs have obvious applications, such as spying and reconnaissance, but they are also seen as having other uses, such as attaching to enemies to serve as tracking devices or very literal “bugs,” attaching tags to enemy vehicles to make targeting easier, taking DNA samples, or even administering poisons or dangerous chemical or biological agents. There are quite a few world governments who are actively pursuing these insect drones, and one New Zealand based strategic analyst, Paul Buchanan, has said of this landscape:

The work on miniaturization began decades ago during the Cold War, both in the USA and USSR, and to a lesser extent the UK and China. The idea then and now was to have an undetectable and easily expendable weapons delivery or intelligence collection system. Nano technologies in particular have seen an increase in research on miniaturized UAVs, something that is not exclusive to government scientific agencies, but which also has sparked significant private sector involvement. That is because beyond the military, security and intelligence applications of miniaturized UAVs, the commercial applications of such platforms are potentially game changing. Within a few short years the world will be divided into those who have them and those who do not, with the advantage in a wide range of human endeavor going to the former.

While so far all of this is in the prototype stages and there are no working models in the field yet as far as we know, some conspiracy theorists believe that this is not even something for down the line in the future, but that the technology is already perfected and being used against an unsuspecting populace at this very moment. For instance, there was a report in 2007 in the Washington Post of several witnesses at an anti-war rally who claimed to have seen tiny drones like dragonflies or bumblebees darting about. One of these witnesses would say:

I look up and I’m like, ‘what the hell is that?’ They looked like dragonflies or little helicopters, but I mean, those are not insects. They were large for dragonflies and I thought, ‘is that mechanical or is that alive?

Such supposed sightings of these tiny drones have increased in recent years, leading to the idea that the technology is already being used to spy on us, but of course the government and research institutes behind it all insist that working models are still a thing of the future. Yet it is still a scary thought, scary enough to instill paranoia, which is only fueled by these reports and others like them. One famous recent meme that caused a lot of panic in 2019 was a post from Facebook user in South Africa, which shows an eerily mosquito-like robot perched on a human finger, accompanied by the text:

Is this a mosquito? No. It’s an insect spy drone for urban areas, already in production, funded by the US government. It can be remotely controlled and is equipped with a camera and a microphone. It can land on you, and may have the potential to take a DNA sample or leave RFID tracking nanotechnology on your skin. It can fly through an open window, or it can attach to your clothing until you take it home.

The post went viral, with rampant speculation on whether it was true or not. The debunking site Snopes came to the conclusion that the photo was fake and it was just a fictional meme, but others are not so sure, igniting the debate again on whether this is or will be a reality, or whether it ever should be. Regardless of the ethical and privacy concerns of having insect sized spy drones flying around, with all of the money and effort being put into this technology, the question of whether we will really have mosquito sized robots buzzing about seems to be not one of if, but of when. Perhaps they are even here already. So the next time you are out at a BBQ and that annoying fly keeps buzzing past your head, you might just want to take a closer look. Just in case.

Videos, selected by peter2011

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

17-05-2020 om 23:30 geschreven door peter  

Stephen Wagner, writing at liveabout.com says: “One of the most mysterious examples of paranormal phenomena is strange fog or smoke. The appearance of such an unusual cloud – especially if it is strangely colored or has no apparent natural cause – may signal the presence of something otherworldly such as a ghost or a spirit. Mysterious fog and smoke are also associated with vanishings.” He continues: “Such experiences, surprisingly, are not as uncommon as many people might think.” Wagner is not wrong. There are numerous such examples. And, it’s this issue of mysterious fog and mist that I’m taking a look at today. We’ll begin with the eerie story of Anne Owen, who I interviewed on August 11, 2000. Anne had a very strange experience while living in North Wales. It was the night of January 23, 1974. Anne told me the following:

“We had bought two, derelict, four-hundred-year-old cottages which we were converting. This was on a mountain above Trefriw and Llanrwst near the River Conwy. We’d taken a caravan up and a horse, as well, and our two children. We were in the caravan with the children, as we couldn’t move into the cottages yet. That night – January twenty-three – the horse was very restless, so we put him near our caravan. But later in the night he started rocking the caravan and was in a terrible state. Then we suddenly saw this thing outside the window. It was like a white ball, very slow-moving. It was difficult to know how far away from us it was as it was pitch black outside, but it looked about two or three feet wide. Then suddenly there was an enormous bang, absolutely colossal.”

Anne continued: “The only other person who was local to us was an old lady who was staring at it too. Well, she came up to me and said that she’d been woken by the bang. She also lived on the mountain and had gone to her bedroom window and had seen these ‘little men’ that were very small and all dressed in black – about three to four foot tall. She thought, because she’d seen the military on the mountain before that this was something to do with them. But she found it rather odd that they were so small! She described a ‘little gathering’ of them, about four or five, very, very early in the morning and near where the tree was. But she said that they didn’t look too different, only smaller.” Rather notably, Anne added that: “The day before, and the day after, this happened a weird mist came down out of nowhere. This was nothing like a normal mist and I still remember it now [italics mine].”

Howstuffworks wrote an article titled “The Rendlesham Forest Incident.” They say: “…after observers reported strange lights, the deputy base commander, Lt. Col. Charles Halt, led a larger party into Rendlesham. There, Halt measured abnormal amounts of radiation at the original landing site. Another, smaller group, off on a separate trek through the forest, spotted a dancing red light inside an eerily pulsating ‘fog’ [italics mine].” Researcher and writer Brian Dunning says of what was seen at Rendlesham Forest six years later: “Base personnel described the craft they pursued as metal and conical, with a bright red light above and a circle of blue lights below, and suspended in a yellow mist [italics mine].”

Moving away from UFOs: over the course of more than two decades, Linda Godfrey has written a number of excellent books on what many might call werewolves, but which are popularly known as Dogmen. Linda’s books include The Beast of Bray Road, Hunting the American Werewolf, The Michigan Dogman, Werewolves, and Real Wolfmen.In my opinion, Linda’s book Monsters Among Us: An Exploration of Otherworldly Bigfoots, Wolfmen, Portals, Phantoms, and Odd Phenomena is her most ambitious and thought-provoking. Section four of her book is titled “Creatures of Shadows, Mists, and Lights.” And it has that title for a very good reason. As Linda demonstrates on many occasions, where Dogmen are often seen, so are strange and usually small balls of light and mysterious mist. Attempts to photograph the man-wolves are foiled time and again by weird mists and fog that seem to envelop and cloak the locations – thus preventing anything of supernatural significance from being captured for posterity. Some of those mists are of an eerie green color and, on occasion, seem to be the cause of noticeable amounts of “missing time” on the parts of the witnesses. Or, as Ufologist Jenny Randles words it, the Oz-Factor. At times, the witnesses report being plunged into a different reality – an unreality, some might suggest. An almost dream-like world completely lacking in sound and normal surroundings, but filled to the brim with high-strangeness.

UFOs, ghosts, Dogmen, paranormal phenomena, and alien encounters: they all have connections to mysterious mist and strange fog. Does that mean all of those phenomena are somehow interconnected? Maybe. John Keel came to believe that numerous types of supernatural entities – Bigfoot, MIB, ghosts, lake-monsters, phantom black dogs, Djinn, and more – were all part of a bigger picture that we were (and still are) unable to understand or penetrate. In other words, things remain foggy (apologies for the terrible joke!).

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

17-05-2020 om 23:27 geschreven door peter  

How Newborn Stars Prepare for the Birth of Planets

An international team of astronomers used two of the most powerful radio telescopes in the world to create more than three hundred images of planet-forming disks around very young stars in the Orion Clouds. These images reveal new details about the birthplaces of planets and the earliest stages of star formation.

ALMA and the VLA observed more than 300 protostars and their young protoplanetary disks in Orion. This image shows a subset of stars, including a few binaries. The ALMA and VLA data compliment each other: ALMA sees the outer disk structure (visualized in blue), and the VLA observes the inner disks and star cores (orange).

This schematic shows a proposed pathway (top row) for the formation of protostars, based on four very young protostars (bottom row) observed by VLA (orange) and ALMA (blue). Step 1 represents the collapsing fragment of gas and dust. In step 2, an opaque region starts to form in the cloud. In step 3, a hydrostatic core starts to form due to an increase in pressure and temperature, surrounded by a disk-like structure and the beginning of an outflow. Step 4 depicts the formation of a class 0 protostar inside the opaque region, that may have a rotationally supported disk and more well-defined outflows. Step 5 is a typical class 0 protostar with outflows that have broken through the envelope (making it optically visible), an actively accreting, rotationally supported disk. In the bottom row, white contours are the protostar outflows as seen with ALMA.

Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), N. Karnath; NRAO/AUI/NSF, B. Saxton and S. Dagnello

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

17-05-2020 om 22:23 geschreven door peter  

Solar Minimum is Coming

High up in the clear blue noontime sky, the sun appears to be much the same day-in, day-out, year after year.

But astronomers have long known that this is not true. The sun does change. Properly-filtered telescopes reveal a fiery disk often speckled with dark sunspots. Sunspots are strongly magnetized, and they crackle with solar flares—magnetic explosions that illuminate Earth with flashes of X-rays and extreme ultraviolet radiation. The sun is a seething mass of activity.

Until it’s not. Every 11 years or so, sunspots fade away, bringing a period of relative calm.

“This is called solar minimum,” says Dean Pesnell of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. “And it’s a regular part of the sunspot cycle.”

The sun is heading toward solar minimum now. Sunspot counts were relatively high in 2014, and now they are sliding toward a low point expected in 2019-2020.

While intense activity such as sunspots and solar flares subside during solar minimum, that doesn’t mean the sun becomes dull. Solar activity simply changes form.

For instance, says Pesnell, “during solar minimum we can see the development of long-lived coronal holes.”

Coronal holes are vast regions in the sun’s atmosphere where the sun’s magnetic field opens up and allows streams of solar particles to escape the sun as the fast solar wind.

Pesnell says “We see these holes throughout the solar cycle, but during solar minimum, they can last for a long time - six months or more.” Streams of solar wind flowing from coronal holes can cause space weather effects near Earth when they hit Earth’s magnetic field. These effects can include temporary disturbances of the Earth’s magnetosphere, called geomagnetic storms, auroras, and disruptions to communications and navigation systems.

During solar minimum, the effects of Earth’s upper atmosphere on satellites in low Earth orbit changes too.

Normally Earth’s upper atmosphere is heated and puffed up by ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Satellites in low Earth orbit experience friction as they skim through the outskirts of our atmosphere. This friction creates drag, causing satellites to lose speed over time and eventually fall back to Earth. Drag is a good thing, for space junk; natural and man-made particles floating in orbit around Earth. Drag helps keep low Earth orbit clear of debris.

But during solar minimum, this natural heating mechanism subsides. Earth’s upper atmosphere cools and, to some degree, can collapse. Without a normal amount of drag, space junk tends to hang around.

There are unique space weather effects that get stronger during solar minimum. For example, the number of galactic cosmic rays that reach Earth’s upper atmosphere increases during solar minimum. Galactic cosmic rays are high energy particles accelerated toward the solar system by distant supernova explosions and other violent events in the galaxy.

Pesnell says that “During solar minimum, the sun’s magnetic field weakens and provides less shielding from these cosmic rays. This can pose an increased threat to astronauts traveling through space.”

Solar minimum brings about many changes to our sun, but less solar activity doesn’t make the sun and our space environment any less interesting.

For more news about the changes ahead, stay tuned to science.nasa.gov

{ https://science.nasa.gov/ }

17-05-2020 om 18:46 geschreven door peter  

17-05-2020 om 18:40 geschreven door peter  

Metal Orb UFO Seen In Two Shuttle Atlantis Missions! UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: February 15, 2008

Location of discovery: Space Station

Mission: STS-122 Shuttle Atlantis at ISS

Photo: 

• http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-122/html/s122e008922.html

These photos were taken during the STS-122 mission back in February of 2008. This is an alien orb and similar orbs have been seen around the shuttle Atlantis before and broadcasted on live CNN around the world a few years ago. Notice the mist around this orb. If this was the moon it would be in total focus like the Earth, but you need to click on the large photo to see this fact. This is the exact same type of UFO seen back in 2006 Atlantis mission!

 

On Sept 20, 2006 the world had a treat...CNN announced live that the Shuttle Atlantis would be delayed for its landing due to a UFO following it...Unidentified Flying Object, which does not necessarily mean alien object. When CNN showed the live feed from the shuttle...the world saw not one, but 5-7 grey metallic orbs floating around behind and around the shuttle. I will put the video of a close up of an orb from that mission at the intro of my video below. Its the same footage I saw on CNN years ago. The orbs are the same, 100% identical. The same UFOs seen at the same shuttle on two different missions! 

Scott C. Waring

 

{ https://www.etdatabase.com/ }

17-05-2020 om 18:05 geschreven door peter  

UFO filmed over Denver, Colorado 16-May-2020

In another bizarre UFO sighting that came only yesterday from Colorado, USA, a black coloured and grotesquely shaped object was seen hovering in the sky. In the first glance, it looked like some bird or maybe a hot air balloon stuck in the wind current. However, it remained stuck there for more than 3 minutes, and this feat couldn’t haven’t been performed by a hot air balloon or bird, which change their direction of flight or lower their altitude almost immediately when faced with such a problem. Whatever it was, it stayed hovering in the same location until the cloud in the backdrop passed it completely.

There are two theories which can be used define this event:

1. The object belonged to some another world and was awestruck at the magnificence of the cloud, and it hovered at the same spot as it gasped at the lofty cloud passing by it.
2. The cloud was maybe blocking its path and in the three minutes it hovered there, it was trying to push the cloud of its way. This fact can be corroborated by the video evidence, which shows that the cloud immediately started moving a few seconds after the object stopped in its flight.

There are many explanations, apart from the above two, that can explain this sighting, but almost all of those are based on the assumption that the object was not from this side of the cosmos

Witness report:

Dark object moving steadily across the sky. Object started in the East of the sky, high but below clouds. Seemed to either change color from black to white/white to black or the sun seemed to change color. Moved steady across the sky at a slow pace in a straight line, seemed Ike it was following a direct path. At one point it seemed to completely stop in the sky and not move for several minutes. No sound, no trail, seemed to have an aura. 3 witnesses, all saw the same thing.

Don’t forget to follow us on Youtube for the latest UFO videos.

Link: youtube.com/c/LUFOS-UFO

Other videos, selected by peter2011

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

17-05-2020 om 17:55 geschreven door peter  

Did Secret Space Expert Say Too Much When an Interviewer Asked About Our Moon?... Very Shocking!

Our moon is one of the biggest mysteries we know. As to how it got there, why it is seemingly hollow, mysterious constructions and an E.T presence there are the hottest topics, but how much truth is there too them. Expert and genius rocket engineer speaks out in regards what he believes the moon constitutes.

Did Expert David Adair Say Too Much When An Interviewer Asked About Our Moon?… SHOCKING!

All content on this channel is licensed, and or produced by Zohar Entertainment Group/Awakening Expo/Phenomena Magazine.

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

17-05-2020 om 11:09 geschreven door peter  

The cloud bands on brown dwarf Luhman 16A were found via instruments known as polarimeters. An astronomer said they’re like “… an astronomer’s polarized sunglasses. But instead of trying to block out that glare, we’re trying to measure it.”

The quality of mass is what separates planets from brown dwarfs from stars. Here’s a general comparison of the masses of each.

Image via NASA/ Caltech/ R. Hurt (IPAC).

Scientists studying the closest-known brown dwarf – an object much heavier than a planet but lighter than a star – have found that it has bands of clouds reminiscent of those on our solar system’s largest planet, Jupiter. As reported by Caltech, while evidence for cloud bands on brown dwarfs has been seen before, this discovery represents the first time that these features have been inferred using an observing technique known as polarimetry. The researchers used the NaCo instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile to make the discovery.

• The peer-reviewed findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal on May 5, 2020.

Polarimetry works in a way related to the way polarized sunglasses block out bright sunlight. Maxwell Millar-Blanchaer, a scientist at Caltech and lead author of the new study, said in a statement:

I often think of polarimetric instruments as an astronomer’s polarized sunglasses. But instead of trying to block out that glare we’re trying to measure it.

Of course, we don’t really know what brown dwarfs look like. They’re far away, and we’ve never seen one up close. But here’s an artist’s concept of the brown dwarf called Luhman 16A, basd on recent evidence of Jupiter-like bands on its surface.

Image via Caltech/ R. Hurt (IPAC).

Astronomer Dimitri Mawet, also of Caltech, described the use of polarimetry this way:

Polarimetry is receiving renewed attention in astronomy. Polarimetry is a very difficult art, but new techniques and data analysis methods make it more precise and sensitive than ever before, enabling groundbreaking studies on everything from distant supermassive black holes, newborn and dying stars, brown dwarfs, and exoplanets, all the way down to objects in our own solar system.

The brown dwarf Luhman 16A is actually one of a pair of brown dwarfs in a binary system, similar to a system of binary stars. It is the closest such system known, only 6.5 light-years away from Earth. Each brown dwarf in this system is similar in size to Jupiter, but 30 times more massive. Both have similar temperatures of about 1,900 degrees Fahrenheit (1,000 degrees Celsius).

Scientists had previously found evidence for patchy clouds on the other brown dwarf of the pair, Luhman 16B, but not bands. How and why the other brown dwarf may be different is as yet unknown. Study co-author Julien Girard of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, said:

Like Earth and Venus, these objects are twins with very different weather.

The researchers ruled out other possibilities before determining that Luhman 16A really did have a banded atmosphere. Theodora Karalidi of the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida, said:

To determine what the light encountered on its way [from the brown dwarf to Earth], we compared observations against models with different properties: brown dwarf atmospheres with solid cloud decks, striped cloud bands, and even brown dwarfs that are oblate due to their fast rotation. We found that only models of atmospheres with cloud bands could match our observations of Luhman 16A.

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope previously found banding on three other brown dwarfs. The difference between all the previous observations and the new one is that the old measured changing brightness but not polarized light.

This time, though, NaCo observed polarized light from both of the Luhman brown dwarfs. Millar-Blanchaer said:

Polarimetry is the only technique that is currently able to detect bands that don’t fluctuate in brightness over time. This was key to finding the bands of clouds on Luhman 16A, on which the bands do not appear to be varying.

Jupiter as seen by NASA’s Juno spacecraft on April 1, 2018. How much more detail would we see in Luhman 16A, if we could see it up close like this?

Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ SwRI/ MSSS/ Gerald Eichstäd/ Seán Doran © CC NC SA.

Polarimetry doesn’t image the brown dwarfs per se, but rather simply measures the amount of polarized light they emit. Scientists then use atmospheric modeling to infer the presence of the cloud bands.

Right now, scientists don’t know how many bands there are on Luhman 16A, but the data suggest at least two.

On Luhman 16A’s brother brown dwarf – Luhman 16B – the study shows that the cloud patches are probably very active and stormy, similar to storms on Jupiter. According to Girard:

We think these storms can rain things like silicates or ammonia. It’s pretty awful weather, actually.

Brown dwarfs are enigmatic objects; they are often referred to as failed stars, since they don’t have enough mass to ignite and shine as full-fledged stars. But they are also more massive than any known planets. They’re sometimes referred to as hybrid objects, between large planets and small stars.

Brown dwarfs are not the only objects that can be studied with polarimetry. The technique is also useful for observing exoplanets – planets orbiting other stars – especially giant, hot planets like hot Jupiters. It’s not easy, though, since hot Jupiters orbit very close to their stars, and so are relatively faint. Other planets are even fainter.

Maxwell Millar-Blanchaer at Caltech, lead author of the new study.

Image via Caltech.

Millar-Blanchaer said:

Polarimetry is very sensitive to cloud properties, both in brown dwarfs and exoplanets. This is the first time that it’s really been exploited to understand cloud properties outside of the solar system.

According to Millar-Blanchaer, polarimetry is sensitive enough that it might even be able to detect surface liquid water on exoplanets. Now that would be exciting!

NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) will also be able to observe brown dwarfs like Luhman 16A and look for signs of clouds. WFIRST will be equipped with a coronagraph instrument to conduct polarimetry, and may even be able to detect giant exoplanets in reflected light, as well as evidence of clouds in their atmospheres. With missions like these in the near future, scientists will be able to learn much more about brown dwarfs and their variously decorated atmospheres.

• Bottom line: Scientists have found evidence of banded clouds on one of the two closest brown dwarfs.
• Source: Detection of Polarization due to Cloud Bands in the Nearby Luhman 16 Brown Dwarf Binary
• Via Caltech
• Via Hubblesite

{ https://earthsky.org/ }

17-05-2020 om 02:00 geschreven door peter  

Mars is wetter than initially thought (but still not wet enough for life)

Pockets of salty water can appear on the surface of Mars more often and across more of the planet than previously expected.

 by Tibi Puiu

In 2015, NASA made a breathtaking announcement: Mars had liquid water flowing on its surface. But there’s a catch — this is water mixed with brine. This composition allowed the liquid to flow as dark streaks seen by overhead satellites despite the frigid temperatures experienced on the Red Planet.

Now, researchers say that these briny dark streaks may be much more common than initially thought.

Using measurements recorded by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, researchers affiliated with the Southwest Research Institute, Universities Space Research Association (USRA), and the University of Arkansas devised a model that predicts where liquid brine can form on the surface of Mars.

They were stoked to find that up to 40% of the Martian surface could support liquid water on its surface for perhaps six hours at a time.

However, conditions that can enable the dark streaks to form are pretty strict. As such, brine flows in each location are possible during just 2% or so of the year, highlighting their seasonal nature.

Surprisingly, the subsurface is likely much wetter than the surface itself. The model suggests that brines could exist during 10% of the Martian year at a depth of just 3 inches (8 centimeters).

These findings seem to be in accordance with news from 2018 of a massive 20-km-wide underground lake beneath Mars’ south pole.

Although Mars seems to be wetter than originally thought, there are many caveats for those of you bristling with excitement at the thought that some Martian microbes might be lurking inside the brines.

Aside from the fact that carbon-based life — the kind we’re accustomed to here on Earth — doesn’t enjoy living in hydrated salt systems, the temperature is also far too cold.

Measurements performed by satellites orbiting Mars suggest that the brines have a maximum temperature of around -44°C (-55°F).

“Our results indicate that (meta)stable brines on the Martian surface and its shallow subsurface (a few centimetres deep) are not habitable because their water activities and temperatures fall outside the known tolerances for terrestrial life. Furthermore, (meta)stable brines do not meet the Special Region requirements, reducing the risk of forward contamination and easing threats related to the exploration of the Martian surface,” the authors wrote in the journal Nature Astronomy.

On the upside, the fact that it seems virtually impossible for these brines to sustain life gives NASA the green light to plan missions meant to investigate them without fear of contamination.

“These new results reduce some of the risk of exploring the Red Planet while also contributing to future work on the potential for habitable conditions on Mars,” co-author Alejandro Soto, a senior research scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado,

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

17-05-2020 om 01:43 geschreven door peter  

Pluto's wispy atmosphere may be surprisingly robust

By Mike Wall  

The dwarf planet's blue-tinged air may punch far above its weight.

Pluto’s haze layer displays a blue color in this image obtained by the New Horizons spacecraft's Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera. Image released Oct. 8, 2015.

(Image: © NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI)

The thin atmosphere of Pluto may be far more resilient than scientists thought

The dwarf planet's thin shell of air is generated by the vaporization of surface ices, which leads to the lofting of nitrogen and small amounts of methane and other gases. That vaporization is driven by sunlight, the intensity of which varies greatly during Pluto's highly elliptical, 248-year-long trek around the sun.

Many scientists have thought that Pluto's atmosphere waxes and wanes dramatically as a result, probably even collapsing completely when the dwarf planet is at its farthest from the sun. However, recently published results based on observations by NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) may force scientists to rethink such notions.

• Related: Photos of Pluto and its moons

"Now, we're questioning if Pluto's atmosphere is going to collapse in the coming years — it may be more resilient than we thought," study lead author Michael Person, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Wallace Astrophysical Observatory, said in a statement this week. 

Most of what we know about that atmosphere, and Pluto itself, comes courtesy of NASA's New Horizons mission, which flew by the dwarf planet in July 2015. 

Two weeks before that epic flyby, SOFIA got a much longer-range look at Pluto's air, studying the dwarf planet as it passed in front of a distant star. SOFIA, a modified Boeing 747 jet outfitted with a nearly 9-foot-wide (2.7 meters) telescope, stared as starlight streamed through Pluto's atmosphere. 

This "occultation" was visible for just 2 minutes, and only from a small patch of the Pacific Ocean near New Zealand. SOFIA got into position in plenty of time initially, but the plane had to course-correct just two hours before the event when updated predictions revealed that the faint shadow would actually settle onto the waves 200 miles (320 kilometers) farther north than previously thought.

"Capturing that shadow required a bit of scramble. SOFIA has the benefit of being mobile, but the revised flight plan had to be cleared by air traffic control," William Reach, SOFIA’s associate director for science operations, said in the same statement. 

"There were a few tense moments, but the team worked together, and we got clearance," Reach said. "We reached Pluto’s shadow at exactly the right time and were very happy to have made it!"

• Related: Destination Pluto: NASA's New Horizons mission in pictures

SOFIA was able to peer into the middle layers of the dwarf planet's atmosphere, gathering data in infrared and visible-light wavelengths. Two weeks later, during its flyby, New Horizons collected information about the upper and lower layers, in radio and ultraviolet frequencies. 

"These combined observations, taken so close in time, have provided the most complete picture yet of Pluto’s atmosphere," NASA officials wrote in the same statement.

For example, New Horizons' imagery revealed that the atmosphere has a distinct blue tint, like the air of Earth. The color is thought to come courtesy of tiny haze particles, which reflect short-wavelength blue light preferentially. 

SOFIA's observations confirmed the existence of those particles and characterized them, revealing that each fleck is just 0.06 to 0.10 microns wide, study team members said — about 1,000 times thinner than a human hair.

After analyzing these and other results — including information gathered by SOFIA's predecessor, the Kuiper Airborne Observatory, which operated from 1975 to 1995 — Person and his colleagues determined that Pluto's haze likely evolves on short timescales, fading and thickening over the course of just a few years.

This brief cycle suggests that something other than Pluto's distance from the sun is driving the abundance of haze particles. For example, periods of thick haze may result when particularly ice-rich regions of Pluto's surface get their time in the sun, the researchers said.

"There’s still a lot we don’t understand, but we’re forced now to reconsider earlier predictions," Person said. "Pluto’s atmosphere may collapse more slowly than previously predicted, or perhaps not at all. We have to keep monitoring it to find out."

The study was published online in November 2019 in the journal Icarus.

It's unclear how many more occultations SOFIA will be able to chase down: President Donald Trump's proposed budget for 2021 would eliminate funding for the program. But that's not necessarily a death sentence. No budget is final until Congress passes it, and SOFIA — a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center, known by its German acronym DLR — has escaped proposed termination before.

• Pluto flyby anniversary: The most amazing photos from NASA's New Horizons
• Photos from SOFIA, NASA's flying telescope (gallery)
• New Horizons probe's July 14 Pluto flyby: Complete coverage

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life.

Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall.

Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook. 

{ https://www.space.com/ }

17-05-2020 om 00:46 geschreven door peter  

“The Search for Techno-Artifacts” From an Earlier Civilization in the Solar System

Image credit: With thanks to Pixabay.com

One of the primary open questions of astrobiology is whether there is extant or extinct life elsewhere the Solar System. Astrophysicists Avi Loeb at Harvard and Penn State’s Jason Wright have both explored the question, with Loeb suggesting that ancient technological artifacts from beyond the Solar System may exist on Earth’s Moon amounting to a letter from an alien civilization saying, “We exist.”

Wright, a member of  the Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds, has considered the possibility that a technological species could have existed in the Solar System prior to humanity’s rise on Earth in his study, Prior Indigenous Technological Species.

In 2016, Wright authored a paper that discussed possible origins and locations for “technosignatures” of such a civilization while other astronomers have suggested looking for lights on Kuiper Belt Objects that “may serve as a lamppost which signals the existence of extraterrestrial technologies and thus civilizations.”

“Milky Way’s Higher Probability to Harbor Advanced Technological Civilizations”

The Daily Galaxy

 0Comments 

The origins and possible locations for technosignatures of such a prior indigenous technological species might have arisen on ancient Earth or another body, such as a pre-greenhouse Venus or a wet Mars. In the case of Venus, the arrival of its global greenhouse and potential resurfacing might have erased all evidence of its existence on the Venusian surface. In the case of Earth, erosion and, ultimately, plate tectonics may have erased most such evidence if the species lived a billion years ago. Remaining indigenous technosignatures, observes Wright, might be expected to be extremely old, limiting the places they might still be found to beneath the surfaces of Mars and the Moon, or in the outer Solar System.

“The most obvious answer is a cataclysm, whether a natural event, such as an extinction-level asteroid impact, or self-inflicted, such as a global climate catastrophe,” Wright asserts. “In the case of a prior space-faring species that had settled the Solar System, such an event would only permanently extinguish the species if there were many cataclysms across the Solar System closely spaced in time (a swarm of comets, or interplanetary warfare perhaps), or if the settlements were not completely self-sufficient. Alternatively, an unexpected nearby gamma ray burst or supernova might produce a Solar-System-wide cataclysm.”

From a purely scientific standpoint, observes Wright, it’s a perfectly reasonable question to ask whether life may have existed elsewhere in the Solar System, or does today.

Remaining indigenous technosignatures might be expected to be extremely old, suggests Wright, limiting the places they might still be found to beneath the surfaces of Mars and the Moon, or in the outer Solar System.

“Technological Civilizations in the Cosmos May Collapse from the Climate Change They Trigger”

  Astronomers have inventoried a sizable share of the universe’s stars, galaxies, comets, and black holes. But are planets with sustainable civilizations also something the universe contains? Or does every civilization that may have arisen in the Cosmos last only a few centuries before it falls to the climate change it triggers?   In the … 

Continue reading“Technological Civilizations in the Cosmos May Collapse from the Climate Change They Trigger”

The Daily Galaxy

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In a later, 2019 study, Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, suggested that Earth’s Moon might yield traces of technological equipment that crashed on the lunar surface a billion years ago, amounting to a letter from an alien civilization saying, “We exist.”

A 2019 paper Loeb wrote with Manasvi Lingam answers this question with a resounding “yes”, suggesting to consider the moon’s surface for interstellar objects collected over time and potentially deliver building blocks of life from the habitable environments around other stars.

“The absence of a lunar atmosphere,” writes Loeb in “The Moon as a Fishing Net for Extraterrestrial Life”, “guarantees that these messengers would reach the lunar surface without burning up. In addition, the geological inactivity of the moon implies that the record deposited on its surface will be preserved and not mixed with the deep lunar interior. Serving as a natural mailbox, the lunar surface collected all impacting objects during the past few billions of years. Most of this “mail” comes from within the solar system.”

• The Daily Galaxy, Max Golberg, via Arxiv.org. Scientific American Blog, and Cambridge University
  

Videos, selected by peter2011

{ https://dailygalaxy.com/ }

17-05-2020 om 00:27 geschreven door peter  

Researchers in Spain have published a new study revealing details of a multi-layered, sandwich-like haze that hangs above the famous hexagon at Saturn’s north pole.

A view of Saturn, its rings and its north polar hexagon, as captured by Cassini on November 27, 2013.

Image via NASA/ JPL/ SSI/ Lights in the Dark.

Did you know that Saturn has a huge, persistent, hexagonal (six-sided) cloud formation at its north pole? Saturn’s hexagon is one of the most unusual and easily recognized features in the solar system. Now, a new study from researchers at the University of the Basque Country in Spain has revealed details about a multi-layered, sandwich-like haze that hangs above the hexagon itself. The findings come from an examination of images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope as well as those sent back by the Cassini spacecraft, which orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017.

• The results were published in a new peer-reviewed paper in Nature Communications on May 8, 2020.

An enormous six-sided storm circling Saturn's north pole (shown in false colour pictured) has a strange geometric shape that may be formed by winds deep in the atmosphere jostling a jet stream at cloud level into shape, according to new research based on computer simulations of the baffling structure on the gas giant

The hazes above Saturn’s hexagon were first seen by Cassini in June 2015 in high-resolution images of the planet’s limb taken by the spacecraft’s main camera. Those images captured details as small as 0.6 to 1.2 miles (1-2 km) in size. Cassini was able to see the hazes as well as analyze their composition, using color filters from ultraviolet to near-infrared.

The hazes are above the clouds that form the hexagon. The scientists identified at least seven distinct haze layers.

A closer look at Saturn’s north polar hexagon, captured by Cassini; the inset shows a closeup of the haze layers above the hexagon.

Image via UPV/ EHU/ EurekAlert!.

Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, who led the study, stated:

The Cassini images have enabled us to discover that, just as if a sandwich had been formed, the hexagon has a multi-layered system of at least seven mists that extend from the summit of its clouds to an altitude of more than 300 km (186 miles) above them. Other cold worlds, such as Saturn’s satellite Titan or the dwarf planet Pluto, also have layers of hazes, but not in such numbers nor as regularly spaced out.

From the paper:

In June 2015, Cassini high-resolution images of Saturn’s limb southwards of the planet’s hexagonal wave revealed a system of at least six stacked haze layers above the upper cloud deck. Here, we characterize those haze layers and discuss their nature. Vertical thickness of layers ranged from 7 to 18 km [4-11 mi], and they extended in altitude about 130 km [80 mi], from pressure level 0.5 bar to 0.01 bar. Above them, a thin but extended aerosol layer reached altitude about 340 km [211 mi] (0.4 mbar). Radiative transfer modeling of spectral reflectivity shows that haze properties are consistent with particles of diameter 0.07–1.4 um and number density 100–500 cm-3. The nature of the hazes is compatible with their formation by condensation of hydrocarbon ices, including acetylene and benzene at higher altitudes. Their vertical distribution could be due to upward propagating gravity waves generated by dynamical forcing by the hexagon and its associated eastward jet.

Illustration of the layers in Saturn’s atmosphere, including haze on top.

Image via KHadley.com.

Hubble was also able to see the hexagon from above, not just on the limb of Saturn, as with Cassini.

The new study of the hexagon and its hazes shows just how complex this weather system and other meteorological phenomena are in Saturn’s deep and turbulent hydrogen atmosphere.

Each haze layer is between 4.3 to 11 miles (seven to 18 kilometers) thick and composed of very tiny particles about one micrometer (one-millionth of a meter) in size. Based on the Cassini data, the particles are composed of hydrocarbon ice crystallites, such as acetylene, propyne, propane, diacetylene and perhaps butane. This is like nothing found on Earth, but that isn’t too surprising, since Saturn’s atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and is much colder than Earth’s, between minus 184 and minus 292 Fahrenheit (minus 120 and minus 180 degrees Celsius).

The researchers also found that the hazes have a regular vertical distribution, thought to be caused by the vertical propagation of gravity waves that produce oscillations in the density and temperature of the atmosphere. This is common, and has been observed on other planets as well, including Earth. According to the researchers, the gravity waves may be caused by the hexagon itself and the powerful jet stream that races around it. Even on Earth, such gravity waves have been seen, produced by jet streams that travel at 62 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour), from west to east in the mid-latitudes. On giant Saturn, though, the gravity waves and jet streams are much faster and more powerful.

High-resolution overhead view from Cassini of Saturn’s hexagon in motion. A massive hurricane is in the center of the hexagon and many other smaller storms can also be seen. The colors are from different wavelengths, from ultraviolet to visible light, combined to make the movie.

Image via NASA Science.

The hexagon was a surprising and fascinating discovery by Cassini. When viewed directly from above, it looks almost perfect, like a giant piece of artwork floating over Saturn’s north pole. At the center of the hexagon is a massive churning hurricane, with an eye 50 times larger than the average hurricane’s eye on Earth. Many other smaller vortices are also seen within the hexagon, some of which are swept along with the jet stream.

You can see the movement of the features within the hexagon in this high-resolution movie. While hurricanes on Earth generally last about a week or so, this hexagon and central hurricane are thought to have been there for at least decades, if not centuries. As Andrew Ingersoll from the former Cassini imaging team said:

The hexagon is just a current of air, and weather features out there that share similarities to this are notoriously turbulent and unstable. A hurricane on Earth typically lasts a week, but this has been here for decades – and who knows – maybe centuries.

Santiago Pérez-Hoyos, Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, Teresa del Río-Gaztelurrutia and Ricardo Hueso, who were involved in the new study.

Image via UPV/ EHU/ Campusa.

The stunning beauty of the hexagon, and the intricacy of the layers above it, show how complex Saturn’s atmosphere and weather systems are. In some ways they are reminiscent of storms and weather on Earth, but on a much larger scale, and manifesting in ways unlike anything seen on our own planet.

SATURN'S HEXAGONAL VORTEX

The mysterious six-sided hexagon on Saturn's North Pole has long captivated astronomers is thought to be is nearly 20,000 miles (32,190 km).

The hexagon is made of a band of upper-atmospheric winds which creates its shape.

A polar cyclone can be seen at its centre.

First seen by Voyagers 1 and 2 more than 30 years ago, the hexagon it thought to be fixed with Saturn's rotation.

Last year, the Cassini spacecraft provided scientists with the first close-up, visible-light views of a behemoth hurricane swirling within the hexagon.

Thin, bright clouds at the outer edge of the hurricane were estimated to be travelling at around 330mph (150 metres per second).

Scientists have been baffled by the strange hexagonal shape encircling Saturn's north pole (pictured) for almost 30 years, but the Cassini spacecraft revealed it extended deep into the planet's atmosphere

Cassini provided scientists with the first close-up views of the huge storm at the north pole of Saturn and allowed them to see the planet in its true colours (pictured)

Scientists have put forward many theories for what might be causing the vortex to take a hexagonal shape, but the new findings may help researchers understand what is going on beneath Saturn's dense outer clouds

• Bottom line: A new study reveals details of a multi-layered, sandwich-like haze that hangs above the huge hexagon cloud pattern at Saturn’s north pole.
• Source: Multilayer hazes over Saturn’s hexagon from Cassini ISS limb images
• Via Campusa

{ https://earthsky.org/ }

16-05-2020 om 23:51 geschreven door peter  

Over the last 20 years, more and more people who have worked with NASA have come forward to reveal the shocking truth, that our moon is occupied and has been for a very very long time. 

Our strange natural satellite orbiting Earth is a monitoring facility and is far from natural. 

They’re hiding from us because they know we’d end up getting free energy and there technologies that would be bad for the big corporations that run the world.

  

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

16-05-2020 om 22:55 geschreven door peter  

Now the sun has gone into lockdown! Reduced activity on the solar surface has sparked fears of a doomsday mini ice age. So is it time we saw the light, asks JANE FRYER

By JANE FRYER FOR THE DAILY MAIL

Big news this week about the giant, burning, boiling, spinning thermonuclear reactor which lies 93 million miles away from Earth but is our primary source of life-­giving heat and light. 

And one might be forgiven for hoping — after weeks of lockdown, far too many deaths, a largely hobbled workforce and an economy spiralling deep into recession — that it might be good news. 

Forecasts of a lovely, long, blueskied barbecue summer to perk up our enforced staycations, perhaps? 

Or, at the very least, a spot of predictable, settled weather to keep our battered spirits afloat. Sadly, not. 

The activity on the Sun's surface has fallen dramatically, and its magnetic field has become weaker prompting a period of 'solar minimum' 

Because it turns out that even the Sun has gone into a lockdown '­recession'. Or, more accurately, a deep period of 'solar minimum'. 

Which means that the activity on the Sun's surface has fallen dramatically, and its magnetic field has become weaker, letting into the environment more of the sort of cosmic rays that cause dramatic lightning storms and interfere with astronauts and space hardware. 

They can also can lead to the explosion of 'sprites' — clusters of orange and red lights that shoot out of the top of thunderstorms like 60-mile-high palm trees in the sky. 

Oh yes, and on top of all that, theoretically it could cause the temperature on Earth to drop to potentially catastrophic new lows. 

While the Met Office and members of the Royal Astronomical Society are urging us not to panic and reminding us that this is just nature, nothing to worry about and the sort of thing that happens every 11 years or so as the Sun passes through its activity cycle, some doom-and-gloomers are much less optimistic. 

Perhape they're haunted by the extreme 'solar minimum' thought to have contributed to the so-called Little Ice Age in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, when the temperatures fell so low the River Thames froze over, crops failed, lightning storms lit up the skies, and — in 1816 — the weather was so crazy that it snowed in July. 

As we all know, the Sun — which is 4.5 billion years old and more than a million times bigger than the Earth — is not only a source of cheer when it finally pops out from behind the clouds, it also keeps us all alive. 

Which means that the teeniest change in its activity levels can have extraordinary consequences — triggering lightning storms, the appearance or disappearance of the Northern Lights and those amazing sprites. 

An extreme 'solar minimum' is thought to have contributed to the so-called Little Ice Age in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, when the temperatures fell so low the River Thames froze over 

But the Sun's activity is changing constantly as it passes through its regular cycle, from solar maximum (hottest and most active) to solar minimum (quieter and cooler). 

Since the 17th century, scientists have been measuring the depth of a solar minimum by counting the 'sunspots' — areas of m­agnetic activity on the solar surface which show up as relatively dark spots — and solar flares, large explosions that hurl charged particles into space. 

The general rule is the fewer the sunspots, the more severe the minimum and the higher the chances of lightning storms, sprites and disruption on Earth. 

So far this year, the Sun has been 'blank' — with no sunspots — 76 per cent of the time. A figure surpassed just once since the Fifties, last year, when it was 77 per cent blank. 

So could we be heading for a grand solar minimum, a sustained period — decades, even centuries — of particularly weak solar cycles? Are we now — on top of everything else — facing another mini ice age? 

While it might all sound terribly dramatic and end-of-the-world-ish, history does tell a salutary lesson. 

Two hundred years ago, we were deep in the midst of the Dalton Minimum, which occurred between 1790 and 1830 and was marked by periods of brutal cold. 

Temperatures fell by 2c over 20 years, which may not sound much, but had the effect of devastating the world's food production and causing widespread famine. 

The misery was then exacerbated by (unrelated) powerful volcanic eruptions. 

On April 10, 1815, the secondlargest volcanic eruption in 2,000 years happened at Mount Tambora in Indonesia, killing more than 71,000 people and plunging the temperature still lower, as giant ash clouds blocked the solar rays. 

The following year became known as the 'year without a summer' or '­eighteen hundred and froze to death', after snow fell in July and thousands died in the famine, food riots and starvation which spread across Europe. 

A typhus epidemic made things worse. Before all that came the Maunder Minimum (named after astronomer WalterMaunder), a grand solar minimum which started in 1645, took in the ice fairs on the River Thames during the reign of Charles II and dragged on for 70 years. 

During this time scientists observed only 50 sunspots — compared to the 40,000 to 50,000 that we would expect during an equivalent period of 'normal' activity. So it's a relief to hear from Mathew Owens, professor of space physics at Reading University, that history is not about to repeat itself. 

While he admits today's solar minimum is 'fairly deep', he insists we don't need to worry about finding ourselves in a mini ice age any time soon. 'We get a solar minimum every 11 years, so it's a fairly regular occurrence,' he says. 

He also insists it needs putting in context, because any fall in temperature would be minuscule. 

'After all, the last solar minimum, which we had in 2009/10, was the deepest for 100 years, and we didn't die then!' 

Meanwhile, Met Office scientist Jeff Knight insists that, while a solar minimum does have an effect — contributing to very slightly colder winters (the last minimum between 2008 and 2010 coincided with some colder than usual winters in the UK) — it is very small. 

'A solar minimum is likely to affect the global mean temperature, making it cooler, but by barely a 20th of a degree,' he says. 

Which also means this is no get-out-of-jail-free card for global warming. 'Just because we're in a minimum, it doesn't mean global warming is going to be arrested or reversed — it has a far more subtle effect than that,' he insists. 

Of course, our prime concern is that the Sun continues to shine. But happily, given we have so much on our plates at the moment, we can park that worry for another five billion years. 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

16-05-2020 om 22:40 geschreven door peter  

Here comes the sun
Ddoo-doo-doo-doo
Here comes the sun
And I say it’s all right
— “Here Comes The Sun” The Beatles

You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who disagrees with George Harrison’s musical response to seeing the Sun. We know our star has been around for a few billion years and will be around for a few billion more, so it gives us nothing to be concerned about in these days when we have so many worries here on Earth … right? RIGHT?

“Solar minimum is underway. The sun’s magnetic field is weak, allowing extra cosmic rays into the solar system. Neutron counts from the University of Oulu’s Sodankyla Geophysical Observatory show that cosmic rays reaching Earth in 2020 are near a Space Age peak.”

That bad news about the Sun comes from Spaceweather.com, a great resource for “News and information about the Sun-Earth environment.” While its normal bad news concerns geomagnetic storms caused by sunspot, this is ironically bad news about the opposite – the Sun has been in a prolonged (over 100 days straight and counting) period of no sunspots. Even worse, this continues a trend started last year when 2019 set a record for the least number of sunspots in a year. It’s so bad, Forbes sees it as a case of the Sun being in a “lockdown” – not exactly a pleasant term these days.

Wait a minute, you say. Aren’t sunspots linked to coronas and sun flares that can cause serious damage to the Earth’s magnetic field, not to mention our electronic grid?

Solar flares bad, right?

Right you are, junior Solar Scientist. They’re also linked to the auroras, so the Northern and Southern Lights aren’t too bright these days. However, a lack of sunspots is also linked to an Earhtly condition known as the solar minimum, when many scientists believe can cause dramatic drops in Earth’s temperature. The big example of this is the ‘Little Ice Age’ or Maunder Minimum period from 1645 to 1715 when sunspots disappeared and so did the heat. Cause or coincidence?

“The earthquakes analyzed during two grand solar minima, the Maunder (1645-1720) and the Dalton (1790-1820) showed a decrease in the number of earthquakes and the solar activity. After the last [grand] minima (Dalton) the earthquakes pattern increased with solar maxima.”

A 2011 paper titled “Influence of Solar Cycles on Earthquakes” by Marilia Tavares also linked the lack of sunspots to a drop in earthquakes. But that sounds more like a good thing, right? And most people don’t really care that there are fewer auroras, right? And not all scientists buy into the solar minimum theory, right? So, what’s the big deal?

“Sunspot counts suggest it is one of the deepest of the past century. The sun’s magnetic field has become weak, allowing extra cosmic rays into the solar system. Excess cosmic rays pose a health hazard to astronauts and polar air travellers, affect the electro-chemistry of Earth’s upper atmosphere, and may help trigger lightning.”

OK, more lightning is bad and we all care about the ISS crew. But we care more about our own health on the ground. NASA agrees that, although we’re definitely heading into a solar minimum, it won’t be an ice age and may not even knock a few degrees off of global warming.

“The warming caused by the greenhouse gas emissions from the human burning of fossil fuels is six times greater than the possible decades-long cooling from a prolonged Grand Solar Minimum. Even if a Grand Solar Minimum were to last a century, global temperatures would continue to warm. Because more factors than just variations in the Sun’s output change global temperatures on Earth, the most dominant of those today being the warming coming from human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.”

A perfect good news/bad news report from NASA. We don’t have to worry about the lack of sunspots because we’re doing a fine job burning ourselves up with the climate change caused by fossil fuels.

Staying inside away from whatever it is the Sun is throwing at us these days sounds like good thing to continue to do for a while.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

16-05-2020 om 22:32 geschreven door peter  

The little piece of rock called “Allan Hills 84001” began its long journey many millennia ago on the planet Mars, where it crystallized from molten rock 4.091 billion years ago, a time when liquid water is thought to have existed here. There it lay for millions of years, just another rock on the surface of the red planet, until around 17 million years ago, when a meteor impacted with the surface to propel it out into the sea of stars. One in space, it was inexorably drawn into orbit around our sun, where it floated through the void for eons, before having its orbit slowly change, gravity and perhaps other asteroids smashing into it all conspiring to move it inexorably closer to Earth and farther away from its place of birth. Then, 13,000 years ago it was grabbed by our gravity and fell from the sky to land in the frozen badlands of Antarctica, upon the Allan Hills Far Western Icefield, from which it gets its name. This was the end of its epic journey to our world, but only the beginning of the mysteries it posed.

During the 1984-1985 Antarctic summer, Roberta Score, Lab Manager of the Antarctic Meteorite Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center and part of an Antarctic expedition of meteorite hunters, found the rock while out on his snowmobile in the frigid wasteland and brought it in. It wasn’t much to look at, about 6 inches long by 4 inches by 3 inches in dimension, 4.3 pounds, and looking like a big potato dipped in tar, but through its chemical composition it was ascertained to have originally come from Mars. This was very exciting, as there were only 11 other such meteorites, called the shergottite–nakhlite–chassignite (SNC) class of meteorites, ever found, and this one was by far the oldest of them all. This was exceptional, because its estimated age would make it the only known Martian meteorite to have formed on a “wet Mars,” meaning at a period in its natural history when liquid water was thought to have been present on the planet surface. Of course, this meant that if there had ever been some sort of microbial life on Mars, then this would be our best chance of proving it, and this is where the story gets interesting.

Allan Hills 84001

In 1996, a team of scientists led by David McKay, Everett Gibson and Kathie Thomas-Keprta from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, came forward with a rather sensational and earth shattering announcement. According to their findings, they had uncovered evidence of what appeared to be fossilized microbial life deep within Allan Hills 84001. The team claimed that they had observed within the meteorite myriad microscopic structures, extremely tiny at only 20–100 nanometres in diameter, but which were more similar to some sort of fossilized nanobacteria that any known natural process. Indeed, the structures superficially resembled terrestrial bacteria, although on an even smaller scale. Some of these structures almost seemed to be making up a colony of organisms the way they were interwoven with each other. In addition, there were found traces of organized magnetite crystals, which are significant as on Earth these are only known to be formed through biological processes and could be seen as a very strong biosignature. At the time the announcement was sensational, covered by news agencies all over the world, and then U.S. president Bill Clinton even made a formal televised announcement on these amazing findings. For many this was it, the final proof we needed that we are not alone in the universe, but controversy and skepticism were brewing even from the beginning.

One of the main arguments against this being evidence of alien life was that it was seen as more likely that this was terrestrial contamination of some sort, as this had been found in other Martian meteorites as well. Another strike against them was that over the years it would be found that non organic processes could produce results extremely similar to what is seen in Allan Hills 84001, some of which have been recreated in lab settings. In the opinion of skeptics, there was nothing present in the meteorite that could not be explained by explanations other than alien life. On top of this was the idea that the structures were simply way too small to feasibly contain what is needed to support life, and if real they would be by far the smallest lifeforms ever seen. However, the team defended their research, saying that the structures were too melded to the rock itself to have been contaminants, and that the magnetite crystals, when taken with the observable morphology of the structures, were more likely to have been made by biological processes than through the theorized natural methods through which they could be theoretically produced. As for the laboratory reproductions of some of the processes, McKay argued that they had used unrealistically pure raw materials as a starting point and could not adequately explain all of the features. Indeed, there has still been no demonstrable way to explain simultaneously all of the properties that have been suggested as possible biogenic properties in the Allan Hills meteorite or how it could all be produced by nonorganic processes in the combination they show, and so the debate has raged on.

Image of the suspected fossilized Martian microbes

Over the years the discussion has continued, and the mystery of the Allan Hills meteorite has still not been totally solved. Indeed, there have been occasional new discoveries made with the rock that further point to the presence of fossilized organisms. For instance, in 2010 it was announced that more data had been found to support the fossil theory, and in 2020 the meteorite was found to possess what appear to be nitrogen-bearing organics. Adding to it all is that there has been similar evidence for life found in other Martian meteorites since. In 2019, a team of scientists in Hungary found what appear to be the biosignature of filamentous iron-oxidizing bacteria, the mineralized remains of ancient microbes and their alteration of minerals in the rock, in another Martian meteorite from Allan Hills, called ALH-77005. So, is any of this true proof that life exists, or at least existed, on Mars? At the moment, no, but it has still generated much debate, and the legacy of Allan Hills 84001 is that it really pushed to the forefront the study of astrobiology, which is the theoretical science of life on other worlds. Everett Gibson, one of the scientists from the original team that studied the meteorite has said of this:

The interest resulted in the Mars Exploration Program being reinstated. The Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Phoenix lander, Curiosity rover, Mars Express mission with its Beagle 2 Mars lander — all can be traced to the ALH 84001 research. The excitement of the possibility of potential past or present life on Mars is too important for humans to ignore. The ALH 84001 announcement, despite whether you are a believer of the hypothesis or not, has clearly been the guiding idea for the development of the new interdisciplinary field of astrobiology. This must be viewed as positive for the field of scientific discoveries.

What is there locked in this piece of rock? Is the answer to the ultimate question of if we are alone to be found here? Or is it just wishful thinking and misidentification? As we push further into the reaches of space, we will undoubtedly continue to make new, groundbreaking discoveries, perhaps even finding life. In the meantime we have that meteorite, which has held its secrets for millions of years and might still do so for some time to come.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

16-05-2020 om 18:56 geschreven door peter  

Komeet Swan wordt stilaan zichtbaar (maar u zal een verrekijker nodig hebben) - HLN.be

Sven Van Malderen 

Bron: Forbes

Liefhebbers van de ruimte kunnen wel een telescoop bovenhalen. De komeet was al een tijdje te bewonderen in het zuidelijke halfrond, vanaf nu zou het verschijnsel ook in onze contreien zichtbaar moeten worden.

Voorlopig lukt dat enkel vroeg in de ochtend. U moet dan tussen het noordoosten en noordwesten kijken, naar de sterrenbeelden Perseus en Driehoek. De komeet zal niet heel hoog aan de hemel komen, dus zorg voor een plek met een lage bebouwing. Vanaf 21 mei wordt Swan ook ’s nachts zichtbaar, met een piek rond 1.30 uur. De afstand tot de aarde wordt nooit kleiner dan 83 miljoen kilometer.

Tot 100 miljoen kilometer

De kern van een komeet bestaat uit ijs en stof dat samenklontert tot een soort van gruis. Wanneer zo’n ‘vuile sneeuwbal’ dichter bij de zon komt, start de opwarming. Het ijs begint te sublimeren, waardoor een gaswolk en verschillende staarten ontstaan. De stofstaart is meestal 1 tot 10 miljoen kilometer lang, de plasmastaart kan wel 100 miljoen kilometer lang worden.

Kometen zijn over het algemeen het helderst wanneer ze dicht bij de zon staan. Maar daar schuilt ook net het gevaar: als de gassen te hard opwarmen, kan de materie in verschillende fragmenten losbarsten en wordt de stofstaart onzichtbaar. Dat lot was vorige maand nog komeet Atlas beschoren.

Magnitudecontrast

De mate van zichtbaarheid is heel moeilijk te voorspellen. Uiteraard speelt de bewolking een rol, maar een komeet kan ook zomaar in de schittering van de zon ‘verdwijnen’. Het magnitudecontrast - het cijfer dat aan die zichtbaarheid gegeven wordt - schommelt voor 24 mei rond +3,2. Pas als die waarde onder de 0 gaat, wordt een object met het blote oog zichtbaar. Een verrekijker zou in deze omstandigheden wel nog volstaan.

“Als we een waarde van +4 halen, zullen we ons gelukkig mogen prijzen”, tempert de Britse komeetexpert Nick James echter de verwachtingen. “De komeet lijkt voorlopig niet meer helderder te worden, maar dat kan ineens wel weer opflakkeren. Misschien heeft Swan nog wel een verrassing voor ons in petto, we blijven het sowieso in de gaten houden.”

In realiteit zal Swan ook niet zo fel schitteren als op de foto’s. “Die plaatjes zijn genomen terwijl de komeet aan het uitbarsten was, met een pikdonkere hemel op de achtergrond. Meer ideale omstandigheden bestaan er niet”, klinkt het. Drie weken geleden werden onze avonden nog opgevrolijkt door de spectaculaire Starlink-trein van Elon Musk.

Video's, gekozen door peter2011

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

16-05-2020 om 18:27 geschreven door peter  

VIDEO: Glowing ORB over Austria 2-May-2020

A recent appearance of an unidentified object sailing through the blue skies of the Austria caught a lot of media coverage. It could have been easily misconstrued as a white bird flying through the sky if it weren’t for its luminescence. The object could clearly be seen as glowing and radiating light as it hovered across the blue skyline.

The viewers initially did not see anything weird in it, but their skepticism on the mystical origin of the object turned into conviction when the object suddenly vanished right in front of their eyes and a short while after appeared again.

This, spectators thought, was only possible by some kind of very high tech device that could make an object invisible by reflecting all the light falling on it. This suspicion of spectators was corroborated by many scientists, who claimed that this kind of technology is still unknown in the realm of this planet. Clearly, whatever the object was, it did not belong to earth.

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

16-05-2020 om 15:58 geschreven door peter  

Alien Craft Buzzes A Nuclear Submarine Off Florida Coast

OCTOBER 24 1989…OFF THE COAST FO FLORIDA

October 24, 1989 – A sailor reports about the UFO sighting he had while in the Navy. “I was assigned to USS Memphis (SSN-698), Homeport – Titusville, FL. (Cape Canaveral.)

Our mission was Special Assignments which meant we protected the Space Program. We would go to sea and patrol while the shuttle was on the pad.

On October 24 and 25, 1989, my ship was on patrol about 150 miles of the Florida coast. We were cruising at about 500 feet when the submarine started experiencing electronics problems.

The ship was malfunctioning, our tanks were blowing out of control, we were losing navigation ability and the communications area was totally lost.

We went to all stop and tried to access what was happening. The controls in the reactor area started to malfunction. This presented a serious danger to our safety, so the captain ordered us to shut down the reactor, surface and go to diesel motors.

When the ship surfaced I went to my watch station. The ship was still experiencing electronic difficulties but the mechanical devices such as diesel engines, cook stoves, and turbines were fine.

It was raining and the entire sky was red like a red neon sign.

I saw a large inverted V-shaped UFO off the port side. The executive officer told me to stand fast and he would speak to the captain. In a minute, the captain appeared on the tower and asked me for a distance to the craft.

The laser range finder determined the closest point was 200 meters, and the farthest point was 1,000 meters off the port. The UFO was not perpendicular to our ship but at about a 45′ angle.

This huge vessel was over a half mile across. The UFO made a half circle around our ship then passed across the stern causing our electronics systems to go crazy.

We had permanent damage in communications and the sonar room. As the craft flew over the stern, I could see the rain stop under its red glow.

The water seemed to rise almost a foot as the UFO passed over silently. When the UFO finished its swing across the stern it paused – the sky got brighter red and it simply moved off at tremendous speed inside 15 seconds.

When the UFO left, our boat returned to normal with the exception of the radio and sonar. We did a quick system check and the captain ordered us to return to reactor power and get underway.

The captain took two petty officers, the executive officer, and myself into the wardroom. He told us to not spread any rumors until we had a chance to talk to Commander Submarine Fleet – Atlantic.

We reached port in about 7 hours where I was taken into “protective custody.”

Two enlisted men and myself agreed we had witnessed a real UFO. I was the one who shot it with a laser range finder, so I was the only one that had its exact sizes. I shot that vessel as it hovered and I got solid readings, not spotty like I would on debris.

We were in holding for about three hours when an officer from the Air Force arrived and gave us a line of bull about an exploding weather satellite.

The Navy then transferred virtually everyone on the crew to new assignments.

This included the captain, the executive officer and the entire crew. They were split up which almost never happens unless one of them gets a promotion or a new command, neither of which happened.

The military just split up a 4 year team. I was watching a program tonight that gave me the courage to share it.

NOTE: The above image is CGI.

KEN PFEIFER WORLD UFO PHOTOS AND NEWS

HTTP://WWW.WORLDUFOPHOTOS.ORG

HTTP://WWW.WORLDUFOPHOTOSANDNEWS.ORG

HTTP://WWW.UFOCASEBOOK.COM

Source: 

• http://worldufophotosandnews.org/?p=26201

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

16-05-2020 om 12:32 geschreven door peter