Zoroastrianism: 4000 Years of Faith, Fire and the Battle Between Good and Evil

The origins of Zoroastrianism can be traced back to nearly 4,000 years ago. It was the first monotheistic faith in the world and even Persia’s official religion from 600 BC to 650 AD. And it still exists! However, while it was a powerful religion in the distant past, now Zoroastrianism is one of the smallest religions in the world. There are between 100,000 to 200,000 modern followers of Zoroastrianism worldwide.

Zoroaster – The Founder of Zoroastrianism

Zoroaster (Zarathushtra), a mysterious prophetic figure, founded Zoroastrianism in ancient Iran. While the precise date of the religion’s foundation is not known, it is believed to have been established between 1200-1500 BC, as per the archaeological evidence.

Zoroaster was born in Southwest Afghanistan or Northeast Iran. He was born into a family that followed a polytheistic religion which included the ritual use of different intoxicants and animal sacrifice. Very little information is available about the birth and early life of the prophet Zoroaster. Most of what is known about Zoroaster comes from The Gathas , which is an ancient hymn collection composed by Zarathushtra.

• Who Was Zoroaster and How Did He Gain Religious Followers?
• Emergence of Zoroastrianism and The Legacy of Zarathushtra

Life of Zoroaster, founder of Zoroastrianism.

( Public Domain )

Zoroaster rejected the Bronze Age Iranian religion that included worshipping many gods. He was also against the hallucinogenic Haoma plant use for rituals and opposed sacrificing animals. The early Zoroastrian texts reveal that the prophet used to receive answers through his prayers. Later writings state that he even ascended to heaven to speak with God directly.

As per the Zoroastrian tradition, Zoroaster had a divine vision when he was thirty years old. In the vision, he saw his Amesha Spentas (seven divine entities) and God while performing a ritual purification rite. This single vision changed his worldview, and he went on to tell others about it. He started believing that there was only one God, the creator. He also taught that the one God, called Ahura Mazda, was worthy of all worship.

Some of the deities, such as the Daevas of the old religion, seemed to delight in strife and war. According to the prophet Zoroaster, they were evil spirits who worked for Angra Mainyu, the adversary of God.

The Investiture Relief of Ardashir I, with Ardashir on the left, and Ahura Mazda on the right.

(Ginolerhino 2002/ CC BY-SA 3.0 )

Zoroastrian Religious Beliefs

The core belief system of Zoroastrianism is that Ahura Mazda is the supreme being of light and goodness, and Agra Mainyu is the spirit of evil and darkness. Ahura Mazda means ‘Wise Lord.’ Ahriman, who is equivalent to the devil, is believed to be the embodiment of Agra Mainyu.

According to this religion, everything that happens is driven by the dual forces of dark and light. Zoroastrians believe in the concept of free will. All human beings are free to make a choice whether they want to follow the path of light or darkness. The followers of this religion believe that ethical and active participation in life through good thoughts, good deeds, and good words is essential to keep chaos away and ensure happiness in life.

The religion teaches that Ahura Mazda is the creator of the whole universe and is compassionate by nature. He is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. He is unchanging and the source of all happiness and goodness. He is capable of conceiving things that are impossible for humans. Zoroastrians also believe that everything that the Wise Lord has created is pure and must be treated with respect and love.

At the age of seven, the followers are given a kusti (cord) and sudreh (shirt) as a part of a ritual initiation ceremony. The garments are considered sacred. They tie the cord around the shirt three times to remind themselves of good words, good thoughts, and good deeds. They perform this ritual along with prayers several times a day. They emphasize action over belief. Zoroastrians generously give to charities and participate in social and educational initiatives.

Fire and water are symbols of purity in the Zoroastrian religion. The followers of this religion worship in fire temples that contain an altar where flames burn 24 hours a day. Earth and air are also considered sacred elements for Zoroastrians. Traditionally, Zoroastrians placed their dead on top of special towers where the bodies were left to be eaten by birds. However, modern Zoroastrians bury the dead in stone or concrete graves.

Printed drawing of 'Towers of Silence', two circular raised structures used by Zoroastrians (parsees) to dispose of the dead.

(Wellcome Images/ CC BY 4.0 )

Zoroastrian Holidays

According to the traditional Zoroastrian calendar, each month consists of 30 days and 5 or 6 days are added to the end of the year. Zoroastrian holidays usually fall on the same day every year. One of the most widely celebrated holidays for Zoroastrians is Nowruz. It is their New Year festival that falls on the first day of spring. They spend a month preparing for this holiday. According to the followers of the religion, the concept of New Year is to start fresh. It involves cleaning both one’s house and one’s soul.

• Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu In Zoroastrianism’s Creation Mythology
• Zoroastrian Towers of Silence: Leaving the Dead for the Vultures

Moreover, if anyone has old quarrels, they need to settle them by this date. During this festival, every house is filled with sweets, fruits, and long-stemmed white flowers. Gifts are exchanged for the New Year. Nowruz is still embedded in Iranian culture and is now celebrated as the Iranian New Year.

A painting depicting Haft-sin symbols of Nowruz related to the elements of Fire, Earth, Air, and Water, and the three life forms of Humans, Animals, and Plants.

(Yousef abdinejad/ CC BY-SA 4.0 )

Khordad Sal is another significant festival Zoroastrians celebrate. It is Zoroaster’s birthday and is celebrated six days after Nowruz. On this day, the followers of this religion gather in fire temples to feast and pray together.

As you can see, along with being one of the oldest religions, Zoroastrianism is also an interesting religion to explore.

• Top Image: The fire temple of Baku, c. 1860 . Hindus, Sikhs, and Zoroastrians have worshipped here. 
• Source: Public domain

By Bipin Dimri

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net }

16-11-2021 om 21:35 geschreven door peter  

The super painful initiation rite of the Sateré-Mawé people, one of the oldest native tribes of Brazil, involved wearing gloves full of stinging Bullet Ants.

(Mongabay)

The 5 Most Terrifying Initiation Rites in History

Being a full-fledged member of any society was an important thing in many of the world’s oldest cultures. To be a part of the community, of the tribe, or the family, is one of the strongest human needs. Because those that are left ostracized and unaccepted, will suffer hardships and possibly death. But in remote corners of the world, not everyone was deemed fit to become a part of the society. That’s why complex and often brutal initiation rites were invented. These were tests of prowess, manhood, or womanhood. Those who passed these difficult initiation rites were accepted as full-fledged members of the family. But these tests were simple or peaceful. Often enough, they were straight out horrifying.

Initiation Rite #1: Surviving Stinging Ants in the Amazon

The Sateré-Mawé people are one of the oldest native tribes of Brazil . They live deep in the Amazon, and nowadays number a little over 10,000 people. Like many of the tribesmen living in the Amazon jungle, they have complex and intriguing initiation rites. And theirs is by far the most brutal one.

The Sateré-Mawé devised a complex test of manhood. Those who pass this initiation rite would become full-fledged warriors, with a fearsome reputation to boot. The rite involves surviving ant stings! The elders of the tribe catch a whole bunch of Bullet Ants ( Paraponera Clavata ), which are known for their extremely painful bite, equal to a bullet shot (hence their name).

The elders proceed to render the ants unconscious. They do so by placing them into a natural sedative they create. This allows them to handle the insects easily. Following this, each ant is woven into a pair of specially crafted gloves. Made out of palm leaves , the gloves resemble large oven mitts. Hundreds of ants are densely packed into these gloves, their stings pointed towards the inside. And then, the young boys of the tribe enter the initiation rite by wearing these gloves for more than five minutes. The ants sting his hands repeatedly, and the boy is exposed to extreme agony. It is said that such pain is unlike anything a man can experience.

• The Uncontacted Frontier: Tribes of the Amazon Want To Be Left Alone
• Pirate, Turncoat, Survivor: The Life and Times of Anthony Knivet, a Briton in 16th-Century Brazil

When the ordeal is done, the boy is in terrible agony. The ant venom courses through his body, numbing it and causing hallucinations because of the intense pain. His hands become paralyzed and violent tremors shake his body continuously, sometimes for days. But that’s just the first part of the initiation rite. To become a warrior, the boy must complete the same process twenty times over the course of several months.

A sculpture of Maasai warriors on a lion hunt, which was also an initiation rite for individual potential warriors.

( Transitions ABROAD )

Initiation Rite #2: Africa’s Maasai Lion Hunt

The Maasai are one of Africa’s best known ancient tribes. Dwelling near the African Great Lakes , these people pride themselves on their unique dress, traditions, and a very old way of life. And one of the most important parts of their culture is a complex tradition, historical practice, and an initiation rite: the lion hunt.

A very demanding rite of passage, the lion hunt was meant to initiate skilled boys into the rank of brave warriors. But the challenge was immense. Those who undertook it would show great bravery, and this would be a sign of personal achievement. In ancient times, before contact with the outside world, populations of both lions and the Maasai were very high. That’s why the elders encouraged young men to go on solo lion hunts . Without anyone’s help, a warrior would expose himself to incredible danger, facing a male lion with little more than a spear. Only the bravest “future” warriors would succeed in this task.

To make things more challenging, the rule stated that the warrior could not hunt lions that were sick, poisoned, snared, or otherwise incapacitated. What is more, the rules prohibited the hunting of lionesses. The Maasai considered them the bearers of life in every species. So, only the most dangerous male lions were hunted.

However, over the years, the lion populations shrunk considerably, and hunting them became difficult. Thus, the Maasai developed olamayio, the group hunt that ensured more success. But even so, the practice remains one of the most terrifying initiation rites in history.

Just imagine yourself facing a raging lion, armed with a spear. You’ll quickly understand why this would be a rite reserved only for the bravest.

The deadly Vanuatu land diving platform with a young boy ready to leap!

(Paul Stein / CC BY-SA 2.0 )

Initiation Rite #3: The Deadly Vanuatu Land Diving Ritual

The country of Vanuatu is an archipelago comprising 83 islands of various sizes. On one of these, Pentecost Island, the tribesmen perform a death-defying initiation rite that is listed amongst the world’s deadliest tribal practices. The rite can very easily end in death.

It is best described as the earliest form of and a precursor to bungee jumping. As an initiation rite, it is a sure way for a young man to prove his masculinity and to be initiated into the rank of the bravest warriors. As a ceremony, it is considered as a way to enhance the health and the abilities of all who jump. The ceremony is also believed to cure illnesses and physical ailments that come with the annual wet season.

The rite begins with the construction of a tall tower . It is made over the course of five weeks and can be up to 20 to 30 meters (66 to 98 feet) high when finished. Essentially, it is a series of scaffolding platforms, and the jumpers can choose a height that is suited to their age. Once they commit, they tie special vines around their ankles, which are designed to prevent them from hitting the ground and dying. As an added precaution, the ground at the bottom of the platform is tilled to soften the impact.

The men who jump are defying death. Their goal is to brush their shoulders against the ground, after plummeting down to the ground from an extreme height. The ramshackle tower creaks and bends, and the barely elastic vines tug violently on the man’s legs. In the end, their bodies stop just barely off the ground, and they are able to walk away safely. But one simple mistake, and all can end in death and disaster.

This initiation rite can be undertaken by both boys and grown men. When boys receive their ritual circumcision around age seven, they become eligible to make the jump. By completing this incredible challenge, they prove their masculinity to all the members of their tribe.

The four-stage initiation rite of the Matsë Tribe in the Brazilian jungle involves injecting the poison of the Giant Monkey Frog into a tribe member's blood.

( Xapiriground)

Initiation Rite #4: The Excruciating Trials of the Matsë Tribe

The Matsë Indians, also known as Matis, are one of Brazil’s most remote Amazonian tribes. Living deep in the isolated jungle areas of Western Brazil, the Matis were only discovered in the 1970s. Up to that point, the tribesmen believed that the passenger planes flying high above the tree canopies were the spirits of their ancestors. And the smaller two-man planes that flew lower were considered to be harmful demon spirits. Outside contact nearly wiped the tribe out, as smallpox was something their immune systems couldn’t endure. Luckily, the tribe managed to survive, although in small numbers. Their straight-out terrifying initiation rites take place in four separate stages.

• Land Diving in Vanuatu: Would You Take the Leap of Faith?
• The Maasai Legend Behind Ancient Hominin Footprints in Tanzania

Before reaching manhood, a boy of the Matis tribe needs to prove himself worthy of hunting alongside other men. To do so, he needs to pass their initiation rites, a complex four-stage trial that places him in great danger and great pain.

The first part of the trial consists of temporary self-blinding. The boy puts a concoction of bitter and dangerous poison straight into his eyes. The elders believe that once the sight returns (if at all) it is enhanced and will make the boy a better hunter, enhancing the senses and improving vision.

Next, the boy endures a series of brutal whippings and beatings by the other men. These are done with the stems of the rattan plant . The whipping is supposed to help remove laziness.

The next step of the four-stage trial is even more extreme. The young man is injected with the poison of Phyllomedusa Bicolor (Giant Monkey Frog) , a small poisonous frog native to the jungles of Brazil. The poison is placed directly into the bloodstream, and its effects are brutal. If the boy proves his courage and does not vomit at once, he is injected again. What follows is light-headedness, violent vomiting, and uncontrolled bowel movements. In the end, it is believed that the frog poison will greatly increase the man’s strength and endurance.

Finally, in the fourth stage, the initiate is body rubbed with the leaves of a poisonous plant. This causes a heavy painful rash that lasts for hours and is believed to help the man with patience.

Only after completing these demanding initiation rites are the men deemed worthy of accompanying others in the hunt. The only catch is that these trials are repeated many times before every important hunting trip.

The Mandan Okipa Spirit Ceremony, depicted in this painting by George Catlin, involved hanging initiates by their muscles and beating them.

( George Catlin / Public domain )

Initiation Rite #5: The Mandan Okipa Spirit Ceremony

The Mandan tribe of the Great Plains region of America is one of the best known and best documented tribes of the continent. They lived in the area of what is now North Dakota and were one of the great trading tribes and excelled in corn production. They also had a complex set of traditions and beliefs, all of which were well documented by European explorers in the late 1700s and early 1800s. One of these was the Okipa or Sun Dance ceremony. It was a religious ceremony that was of the highest priority for the tribe, but it was also an initiation rite, offering a chance for young warriors to become respected and admired members of the tribe.

There were at least three purposes to the Okipa: the annual commemoration of the tribe’s salvation from the primordial flood (according to their myths), to communicate with ancient spirits and summon buffalos, and to give the chance for individuals (usually men) to complete vows given to the almighty spirit to prove their bravery and dedication. But not everyone could endure this brutal ceremony. Only the bravest of warriors could get through this violent rite of passage.

Before the ordeal, chosen warriors would not eat, drink, or sleep for four days. Afterwards, they were led to the great hut where the ordeal began. They were required to sit smiling, while elders pierced their shoulders and chest, thrusting skewers behind the muscles. Next, ropes were tied to the skewers, and the warriors suspended in mid-air, hanging there until they fainted.

Elders would add more weight to their legs, in order to increase agony and tension on their muscles. Next, they were removed from the skewers, and upon awakening the approval of the great spirits was confirmed. In gratitude, the warriors would offer their left little finger, which was cut off as a sacrifice with a hatchet.

In the last step of the ordeal, the men would race around the village, dragging their weights behind them, until they ripped out of the skin alongside the skewers. This marked the end of a grueling ordeal. Men who completed the rite twice in their life would gain everlasting fame in their tribe.

The Hamar people of southwestern Ethiopia are famous for their bull jumping initiation rite, which is also dangerous and sometimes deadly! This photo shows them preparing for this rite.

( veleknez / Adobe Stock)

What Would You Do to Become a Part of Your Community?

In primitive societies, young braves and would-be warriors were ready to complete anything just so they could become a proven member of the community. It was the adventure of a lifetime, the annual event that everyone spoke of in hushed voices. Men and women who didn’t complete these tests would be looked down upon, lacking bravery and the attributes of their sex.

• An Ambiguous Amphibian: The Everchanging Frog Symbol in World Myth
• Invisible Killers - Poisons may have been used by Palaeolithic society 30,000 years ago, new testing shows

There’s no doubt that these initiation rites required great courage and endurance, and that they left the initiates tougher and bolder for the rest of their lives. But they were also foolish and dangerous, and put the young people at great risk. Sometimes, these rites of initiation would end in death. But for the people who practiced these rites, death was the will of the great spirits.

• Top image: The super painful initiation rite of the Sateré-Mawé people, one of the oldest native tribes of Brazil, involved wearing gloves full of stinging Bullet Ants.             
• Source: Mongabay

By Aleksa Vučković

{  https://www.ancient-origins.net/general }

16-11-2021 om 21:11 geschreven door peter  

Pharaoh Akhenaten in the center and his family worshiping Aten personified as the rays of a solar disk; later such imagery was prohibited.

Source: Egyptian Museum / Public domain

Explaining the Weirdly Alien Looking Statues of Pharaoh Akhenaten

In the history of Ancient Egypt, Akhenaten occupies a very special place. Of all the pharaohs over the many centuries, he was by far the most controversial one. His radical policies, major religious reforms, and social changes, all caused a lot of instability in the Ancient Egyptian state. His reign and the changes he put through were one of the major turbulences in the entire timeline of this ancient civilization, and arguably caused a spiraling and slow downfall that could not be remedied by his successors. One of the major changes Akhenaten introduced was in art. Sculptures, carvings, and paintings from his reign are all markedly different from the usual Egyptian fare. Human features were accentuated to impossible and odd proportions, and some pieces look outright alien. This has caused a lot of unique theories to spring up over time. But what was the actual reason the odd art pieces propagated by Akhenaten?

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

16-11-2021 om 20:14 geschreven door peter  

LATEST UFO SIGHTINGS AND VIDEOS - 16 - 11 - 2021

Cylindrical Shaped UFO Spotted Over Nevada & A Triangular Shaped UFO Seen Over Rome?

Dark Cylindrical shape object recorded over Las Vegas also a Triangular shaped UFO spotted over Rome.

Source of First video MUFON case # 119181

Source of second video SCOTT C WARING UFO Sightings Daily

• https://www.youtube.com/user/TaiwanSCW

{ https://www.youtube.com/ }

16-11-2021 om 18:11 geschreven door peter  

The mysterious cigar-shaped interstellar object named ‘Oumuamua has baffled experts since it was first seen speeding through our Solar System back in October of 2017. There are numerous theories as to what it is, such as a comet, asteroid, dust bunny, alien technology, a hydrogen iceberg, and part of a Pluto-like planet.

In regards to the Pluto-like planet theory, researchers claimed that the mysterious object may have contained solid nitrogen because its body was shiny and reflective. Since Pluto and Saturn’s moon Titan both have some nitrogen ice, the experts theorized that ‘Oumuamua may have been a broken piece of a Pluto-like planet from a different solar system. But a new study by two astrophysicists seems to debunk that hypothesis.

According to Harvard astrophysicists Amir Siraj and Avi Loeb, based on the size of ‘Oumuamua, it couldn’t be a nitrogen iceberg as there isn’t enough nitrogen to make an object that large – it has an estimated length of between 1,300 and 2,600 feet (400 to 800 meters), and between 115 and 548 feet in width (35 to 167 meters).

In fact, they claim that there isn’t enough nitrogen ice in the entire universe to create an object the size of ‘Oumuamua. The astrophysicists even went a step further and calculated how much mass Pluto-like exoplanets would need to have in order to make a nitrogen iceberg the same size as ‘Oumuamua and they found that the planets would need to have a mass greater than their stars and over twice the mass that would be required to create all of the planets in our own Solar System. “But that’s crazy,” Siraj noted, adding, “It’s preposterous.”

Siraj and Loeb’s study was published in the journal New Astronomy where it can be read in full.

But Steven Desch and Alan Jackson, who are the two astrophysicists from Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration who conducted the original study about the ‘Oumuamua coming from a piece of a Pluto-like planet, are not convinced that Siraj and Loeb debunked their theory.

‘Oumuamua (the dot in the middle) photographed on 28 October 2017 by the 4.2 meter William Herschel Telescope in the Canary Islands.

(Via Wikipedia)

In an email to Live Science, Desch stated, “Siraj and Loeb did not find that we made a mistake, and so they should have accepted the numbers we got.” “Instead, they attempted their own back-of-the-envelope calculation and made a great number of approximations and estimates, and came up with different numbers that they say aren’t favorable.” “They are attempting to manufacture controversy when none exists.”

So, what exactly is ‘Oumuamua? The mystery regarding the unexplained interstellar object continues…

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

16-11-2021 om 17:53 geschreven door peter  

Het ISS. 

© AFP

16-11-2021 om 17:13 geschreven door peter  

LATEST UFO SIGHTINGS AND VIDEOS  - unknown objects on MARS

Perseverance rover recently sees an attempts takeoff from mars surface.

NASA's Perseverance rover sees an unknown object behind the rover on mars.

The Ancient Angle Structure with Planet on MARS Surface unknown object behind the rover on mars

Curiosity went into hibernation for a few weeks, executing only routine environmental and radiation monitoring activities, while the Sun was positioned between us and Mars . Curiosity is healthy after her rest, and we wasted no time planning a multitude of science activities. Prior to conjunction, Curiosity drove away from the Maria Gordon drill site to an area nearby that contained large resistant nodules . We deliberately drove over the nodules to crush them and expose their fresh interiors for examination by a number of the science instruments.

The team is interested in determining the chemistry of the nodules relative to the flat bedrock. The workspace imaging that came down confirmed that we had successfully broken some of the nodules, such that we were able to make several observations just before conjunction. Today, we took advantage of pre-planning prior to conjunction to acquire APXS chemistry and MAHLI images on the crushed «Helmsdale Boulder Beds.» MAHLI will also image another fresh-looking nodule, «Goose Stone.» These observations will be complemented with ChemCam LIBS measurements and Mastcam images on the same crushed «Helmsdale Boulder Beds» target and the «Crovie» bedrock target. Looking further afield, Curiosity will image resistant, pediment-capping rock in the distance with ChemCam RMI and Mastcam.

These blog updates are provided by self-selected Mars Science Laboratory mission team members who love to share what Curiosity is doing with the public.

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Perseverance mars rover sees an unknown object is roaming around it.

Perseverance rover sees an unknown flying object hiding behind the rover on mars.

{  https://www.youtube.com/ }

16-11-2021 om 16:20 geschreven door peter  

The only qualified person that can really explain what we see in this video from 1991 is of course Bob Lazar. Why do UFO move so goofy? What is this glow? 

Bob gives us the answers in easy to understand terms. 

Just for clarification: This VHS video was shot from Mailbox Road on public land. This is an unedited original 720x40p VHS recording and not a night vision recording. 

As background I have used a photo showing the mountain range. The mountains have been carefully placed in the right position with an accuracy of 5-10 meters. The camera is looking South West towards a mountain range called White Sides. 

Some "expert debunkers" claim that this is a test of a laser induced plasma ball. When you look at the position of the UFO when it dives in front of the mountain. 

The laser would have been standing outside of Area 51 on public land and quite near the location of the person who filmed it. So the plasma balls theory can be thrown in the bin, just like the planet theory that this is Mars, Venus, Jupiter, our Moon or the landing light of an airplane. Sorry debunkers but you either have to think of a new theory or you can accept that you cannot explain what it is and therefore an unknown flying object.

  

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

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

16-11-2021 om 16:05 geschreven door peter  

Aliens in Alaska – Nightmare Below Zero S01E05

Ancient Aliens – Nightmare Below Zero

Season 1, Episode 5

26th April 2021, Discovery+

A man finds a mysterious implant in his leg after a nighttime snowmobile ride. Four friends witness the same eerie light show miles away from each other. An otherworldly beast stalks a family for three generations. A woman hears an unholy chorus.

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

16-11-2021 om 15:03 geschreven door peter  

SpaceX's Endeavor capsule appears like a shooting star or 'donut UFO' over Louisiana and Alabama during the return trip to Earth that brought four astronauts home from the ISS

• SpaceX's Endeavor capsule brought four astronauts home last night

• The craft was spotted streaking across the night Monday evening 

• Reports of light show came from Alabama and Louisiana

• The capsule was traveling at least 17,000mph at the time 

By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

A bright light streaked across the sky over parts of the southern U.S. on Monday evening that had some bystanders questioning if they saw a UFO.

Instead, it was the SpaceX return capsule.

The cosmic light show was a result of the Endeavour craft soaring through Earth’s atmosphere as it headed towards its designated splashdown zone in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Florida.

Carrying four astronauts, the capsule splashed down on time at 10:33pm ET, bring the, Crew-2 mission back to Earth after spending the last 200 days aboard the International Space Station.

The astronauts – NASA’s Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, along with the European Space Agency's Thomas Pesquet and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's astronaut Akihiko Hoshide – not only made headlines for coming home, but for having to complete the journey in diapers due to a faulty toilet in the capsule.  

Sightings of the SpaceX capsule were reported in Louisiana, Alabama and several other states along the gulf.

Scroll down for video 

The light show was a result of the Endeavour craft soaring through Earth’s atmosphere as it headed towards its designated splashdown zone in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida

Matt Kroschel, an anchor for a local news outlet in Huntsville, Alabama, urged residents to not call the newsroom with UFO reports if they spotted a streak of light in the night sky.

Twitter user Christopher of Mandeville, Louisiana shared a great image of the event on Twitter.  

‘Holy cr** that was awesome,’ he included with the tweet.

The capsule traveled at least 17,000 miles per hour during deorbit as it fell towards the ocean. 

It eventually slowed down and released parachutes to help stop it from crashing.

At 10:38pm ET on Monday, the green light was given for the rescue crews to approach the capsule that had just landed in the Gulf of Mexico.

'We were on the helipad watching the crew members streak through the atmosphere, and it looked like a meteor - it was truly incredible,' said Leah Cheshier, a NASA spokesman.

'We couldn't ask for better conditions and things are moving really smoothly here and happening as planned.'

At 11:14pm ET, the side hatch was opened, and the crew disembarked. 

Carrying four astronauts, the capsule splashed down on time at 10:33pm, bring the Crew-2 mission back to Earth after spending the last 200 days aboard the International Space Station

The astronauts – NASA’s Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, along with the European Space Agency's Thomas Pesquet and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's astronaut Akihiko Hoshide – not only made headlines for coming home, but for having to complete the journey in diapers due to a faulty toilet in the capsule

McArthur, the captain, was the first to leave, at 11:26pm ET.

She was followed by Commander Kimbrough, beaming as he was carried out of the capsule and put on the stretcher to be wheeled away. He waved for the cameras and made a V for Victory sign.

All four were out of the capsule by 11:33pm, with smiles and fist-bumps all round.

Their return was initially set for Sunday afternoon, but high winds delayed the trip by a day.

Matt Kroschel, an anchor for a local news outlet in Huntsville, Alabama urged residents to not call the newsroom with UFO reports if they spot a streak of light in the night sky

Another sighting was reported over Gulf Shores, Alabama. The capsule traveled at least 17,000 miles per hour during deorbit as it free-falls toward the ocean, all the while slowing its speed before releasing parachutes to help stop it from crashing before splashing down

The SpaceX capsule, named Endeavour, was without a bathroom, due to a faulty toilet design, forcing the crew to wear diapers for the trip back to Earth.

However, the rescheduled mission cut the trip from space by 12 hours - it was only eight hours long instead of the expected 20 hours - due to the path from the ship to Earth, so the team did not have to sport the protective undergarments for as long as previously expected.

The Endeavour capsule is not the first SpaceX craft to spark UFO reports upon returning to Earth.

In September, SpaceX's Cargo Dragon C208-2 was spotted streaking through the night sky over parts of Georgia and Florida.

The Cargo Dragon C208-2 undocked from the ISS at 9:12am Thursday, following a supply run to the ship, and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean around 11pm ET on September 30.

In September, Cargo Dragon C208-2 was spotted streaking through the night sky over parts of Georgia and Florida

The Cargo Dragon C208-2 undocked from the ISS at 9:12am Thursday, following a supply run to the ship, and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean around 11pm ET on September 30

SpaceX tweeted that the capsule may be visible in parts of Georgia and Florida – and the firm was correct.

Many residents shared the event on Twitter, showing images of the glowing craft with a long, illuminated tail as it soared over highways and neighborhoods.

Local news stations in Florida received numerous reports of a loud boom on Thursday night, which was heard by residents in the Jacksonville area and all the way down to St. Augustine.

Residents said the loud boom rattled dishes and windows, along with entire homes.

The loud noise was a sonic boom released from the capsule, Newsweek reports.

According to NASA, a sonic boom is the thunder-like noise that someone on the ground hears when an aircraft or spacecraft overhead flies faster than the speed of sound.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

16-11-2021 om 01:47 geschreven door peter  

Bizarre Doughnut UFO Spotted Over Switzerland Could be Mistaken for SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour Capsule

H/t: Live Science

A photographer from Zurich, Switzerland captured a bizarre sight in the night sky on Monday, November 8th, and it resembles a doughnut. This unidentified flying object could have been mistaken for the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour capsule, which returned from a 200-day trip to the International Space Station, but only spectators in Alabama, Louisiana, and other Gulf states were able to get clear views of the capsule. 

Read more for another picture and a screenshot of the now deleted Tweet

Since the doughnut UFO can be ruled out as a SpaceX capsule, amateur satellite tracker Marco Langbroek said that there is a possibility of it being just a distant star. Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts, claims the object could also be an upper stage of a rocket burning up.

Any passes [of Endeavour] over Switzerland prior to landing that night would have been completely in Earth’s shadow, i.e. it would not be illuminated by the sun and hence not visible. Reentry itself was over Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico, and would not have been visible from Switzerland. The deorbit burn, prior to reentry, was over the Indian Ocean, so also not visible from Switzerland,” said Marco Langbroek, an academic researcher at Leiden University in the Netherlands, to LiveScience.

{ https://www.techeblog.com/ }

16-11-2021 om 01:37 geschreven door peter  

NASA astronaut 'told to hide' in Russian spacecraft as ISS facing 'concerning' threat

A NASA astronaut has been "told to hide" inside a Russian spacecraft as the International Space Station (ISS) is facing the threat of being struck by space debris.

16-11-2021 om 01:06 geschreven door peter  

Tread lightly! Bizarre 'eggshell planets' with an ultra-thin outer brittle layer and little to no topography may exist around other stars, study finds

• 'Rare' exoplanets have brittle outer layers only a few miles thick, scientists claim

• Their surface could resemble the lowlands on Venus, with vast expanses of lavas 

• They're likely larger and younger than other planets with thicker outer layers

By JONATHAN CHADWICK FOR MAILONLINE 

'Eggshell planets' with an ultra-thin outer brittle layer and little to no topography may orbit around other stars in the universe, a new study reveals. 

Researchers say at least three of these unusual eggshell 'exoplanets' – planets outside our solar system – may already be known, but even more could exist.  

Such rare worlds likely have an outer layer only a few miles thick, are unlikely to have plate tectonics, and may or may not be habitable. 

They're also likely larger and younger than other exoplanets with much thicker outer layers, with which they potentially share the same solar system.  

The surface of eggshell planets could resemble the lowlands on Venus, with vast expanses of lavas, searingly hot surface temperatures and hardly any high terrain.  

'Eggshell planets’ are rocky worlds that have an ultra-thin outer brittle layer and little to no topography. Pictured is an artist’s rendering of such an exoplanet

Strange planets with outer layers like eggshells are among the rich variety of exoplanets possible, according to the study 

The new study was led by Paul Byrne, a planetary geologist at Washington University in St. Louis.

Byrne and his international team of collaborators wanted to see which cosmic factors play the most important role in determining the thickness of a planet's outer brittle layer, known as the lithosphere.

This thickness helps determine whether, for example, a planet can support high topography such as mountains, or has the right balance between rigidity and flexibility for one part to subduct beneath another – the hallmark of plate tectonics. 

On Earth, this process helps our planet regulate its temperature over geological timescales, and is the reason why plate tectonics is thought to be a key factor for whether a planet is habitable or not.

'Understanding whether you've got the possibility of plate tectonics is a really important thing to know about a world, because plate tectonics may be required for a large rocky planet to be habitable,' Professor Byrne said. 

'It's therefore especially important when we're talking about looking for Earth-like worlds around other stars and when we're characterising planetary habitability generally.'

So far, astronomers have discovered more than 4,000 of exoplanets confirmed to be orbiting other stars in our galaxy.

However, it's difficult to know what exactly exoplanets are made of, or whether any resemble Earth. 

The thickness of the lithosphere – the outermost shell of a planet – plays a key role in geological processes that determine their characteristics, the team say.  

The surface of eggshell planets could resemble the lowlands on Venus (pictured here in a false-colour radar image mosaic). The brighter, fine peach lines are tectonic structures and the darker, purple areas are relatively smooth volcanic plains. Some small volcanoes appear near the bottom centre. This image was made with radar data returned by NASA’s Magellan mission, which operated between 1990 and 1994, and shows an area about 1,400 km (870 miles) across

To understand how planetary and stellar factors influence a lithosphere's thickness generally, the team modelled multiple combinations of planetary mass, surface and mantle temperature, energy flow and more. 

For their modelling effort, the scientists chose a generic 'kind of Earth sized' rocky planet as a starting point.  

'And then we spun the dials,' Byrne said. 'We literally ran thousands of models.' 

According to the results, surface temperature is the dominant factor governing the thickness of the brittle layer although planetary mass, distance to its star and even a planet's age all play a role.

Smaller and older planets generally have thick brittle lithospheres, akin to those of Mercury and Mars, whereas larger, younger planets have thinner brittle lithospheres that may be comparable to the Venus lowlands. 

However, it's possible that certain combinations of these parameters also yield worlds with 'exceedingly thin brittle layers', the team say. 

Researchers are a long way from directly imaging the surfaces of these eggshell planets and so don't know what they look like, apart from speculating that they're similar to that of Venus. 

'We have imaged a few exoplanets, but they are splotches of light orbiting a star,' Byrne said. 'We have no technical ability to actually see the surface of exoplanets yet. 

The scientists could use planned and future space telescopes to examine exoplanets in greater detail and confirm their geological characteristics. 

So far, astronomers have discovered more than 4,000 of exoplanets confirmed to be orbiting other stars in our galaxy. Pictured is an artist's rendering of an exoplanet and its moon 

'We know from published work that there are exoplanets that experience conditions in a more extreme way than what we see in our solar system,' Byrne said. 

'They might be closer to their star, or they might be much larger, or have hotter surfaces, than the planets we see in our own system.'

'Ultimately we want to help contribute to identifying the properties that make a world habitable.

'And not just temporarily, but habitable for a long time, because we think life probably needs a while to get going and become sustainable.' 

The study has been published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. 

Scientists study the atmosphere of distant exoplanets using enormous space satellites like Hubble

Distant stars and their orbiting planets often have conditions unlike anything we see in our atmosphere. 

To understand these new world's, and what they are made of, scientists need to be able to detect what their atmospheres consist of.  

They often do this by using a telescope similar to Nasa's Hubble Telescope.

These enormous satellites scan the sky and lock on to exoplanets that Nasa think may be of interest. 

Here, the sensors on board perform different forms of analysis. 

One of the most important and useful is called absorption spectroscopy. 

This form of analysis measures the light that is coming out of a planet's atmosphere. 

Every gas absorbs a slightly different wavelength of light, and when this happens a black line appears on a complete spectrum. 

These lines correspond to a very specific molecule, which indicates it's presence on the planet. 

They are often called Fraunhofer lines after the German astronomer and physicist that first discovered them in 1814.

By combining all the different wavelengths of lights, scientists can determine all the chemicals that make up the atmosphere of a planet. 

The key is that what is missing, provides the clues to find out what is present.  

It is vitally important that this is done by space telescopes, as the atmosphere of Earth would then interfere. 

Absorption from chemicals in our atmosphere would skew the sample, which is why it is important to study the light before it has had chance to reach Earth. 

This is often used to look for helium, sodium and even oxygen in alien atmospheres.  

This diagram shows how light passing from a star and through the atmosphere of an exoplanet produces Fraunhofer lines indicating the presence of key compounds such as sodium or helium 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

16-11-2021 om 00:39 geschreven door peter  

As telescopes get stronger and detection techniques get more sophisticated, especially with the assistance of artificial intelligence, astronomers are finding more exoplanets every day – including the first to be seen orbiting a star in another galaxy. However, contrary to other fields, it seems the more exoplanets we find, the less we know about them. Astronomers assumed other stars would have planets like those in our own solar system – especially the rocky ones with thick outer layers. Instead, a new study shows that many should be called “eggshell” exoplanets because their outer layers are so thin and brittle. Will future astronauts need to practice walking on eggshells?

“Understanding whether you’ve got the possibility of plate tectonics is a really important thing to know about a world, because plate tectonics may be required for a large rocky planet to be habitable. It’s therefore especially important when we’re talking about looking for Earth-like worlds around other stars and when we’re characterizing planetary habitability generally.”

Botched landing on an eggshell planet?

Planetary geologist Paul Byrne, an associate professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, is the first author of the study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, led the development of the model used to prove the existence of these so-called “eggshell” planets. As he explains in the press release, Byrne and his collaborators focused on the outer layer – called the lithosphere – of exoplanets to determine their topography (do they have mountains?), thickness (can they be excavated?), temperature (are they habitable) and other features not visible to telescopes.

“This thickness helps determine whether, for example, a planet can support high topography such as mountains, or has the right balance between rigidity and flexibility for one part of the surface to dive down, or subduct, beneath another — the hallmark of plate tectonics. It is this process that helps Earth regulate its temperature over geological timescales, and the reason why plate tectonics is thought to be an important component of planetary habitability. By adjusting an exoplanet’s size, distance from its star, age and other factors, the researchers found that extremes created unusual planets … including three predicted to have eggshell-like lithospheres.”

They discovered the biggest factor in creating eggshells is surface temperature. (Isn’t that the same with chicken eggs?) Manipulating size, age and distance from their star had less effect in creating these brittle eggshell layers which Byrne says may be only a few kilometers thick. The only planet in our solar system with a similar topography is Venus, although it may not be eggshell thin across its entire surface.

Eggshell planets solar system model?

“Ultimately we want to help contribute to identifying the properties that make a world habitable. And not just temporarily, but habitable for a long time, because we think life probably needs a while to get going and become sustainable.”

Are eggshell planets habitable? Byrne isn’t sure – his goal is to figure out how Earth formed and then search for stars and exoplanets with similar circumstances or histories.

Is he looking for a new place to live? Does he knows something we don’t? Now WE’RE walking on eggshells.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

16-11-2021 om 00:21 geschreven door peter  

With the latest and unequivocally best movie version of “Dune” in the theaters, most reviews make note that novelist Frenk Herbert was a fan of psilocybin ‘magic’ mushrooms and may have been inspired by the psychedelic ‘shrooms when he came up with the idea for mélange or ‘spice’ – the key reason for the fight over the planet Arrakis. Interest in real space travel has been stimulated by the progress of private space companies and the desire of SpaceX founder Elon Musk and NASA to travel to Mars and eventually colonize Mars, progress has been severely restricted by the challenge of protecting astronauts from cosmic radiation. While the mushrooms used may not be ‘magic’, researchers recently discovered a fungus that not only thrives in high cosmic radiation in space but feeds on it and could be used to grow radiation shields in space. Magic or science?

Future Mars base?

“Certain fungi thrive in high-radiation environments on Earth, such as the contamination radius of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Analogous to photosynthesis, these organisms appear to perform radiosynthesis, utilizing ionizing radiation to generate chemical energy. It has been postulated that the absorption of radiation is attributable to the pigment melanin. It is further hypothesized that this phenomenon translates to radiation-shielding properties.”

Cladosporium sphaerospermum, a radiotrophic fungus, could act as a radiation shield on deep space missions.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons, Medmyco.

Something good has finally come from the Chernobyl disaster – a study published in the preprint journal bioRxiv announces the discovery that Cladosporium sphaerospermum, found thriving in the contamination zone, also enjoy space radiation. A shipment of them was sent to the International Space Station in 2019 where they spent 30 days next to a control bed with no fungus. When returned to Earth, it was found that the radiation levels underneath the fungus were 2.17% lower than the control bed. Even more exciting, the fungi grew 21% faster than on Earth. In other words, when it comes to cosmic radiation … they like it! Are Cladosporium sphaerospermum the ‘spice’ of real space travel?

“To increase density and thus the LAC, fungal biomass or melanin itself could be integrated with in-situ resources that are abundant at destination, such as regolith. In a case study we estimated that a ~ 2.3 m layer of melanized fungal biomass (8.6% [wmelanin/wCWW] melanin-content) would be needed to lower Martian radiation levels to those on Earth (from 234 mSv/a to 6.2 mSv/a, whereas an equimolar composite of melanin and Martian regolith would only require a layer of ~ 1 m for the same reduction of radiation.”

In simple terms, the thicker the fungus, the better the radiation protection. To grow a suitable radiation shield (LAC is linear attenuation coefficient — a measure for the fungus’ capacity to shield against ionizing radiation) on the surface of Mars to protect astronauts underneath it would require a layer 2.3 meters (7.5 feet) thick. For comparison, the same protection could be achieved by building structures under 3 meters of regolith (Martian surface dirt and rocks). The benefits to growing a renewable shield on the surface versus living underground are obvious – the problem is that the fungi shield hasn’t been tested yet.

Future Martians?

The study researchers, led by Graham K. Shunk of the Physics Department at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, tip their hats to nature for providing what may be an excellent and elegant solution to the problem of space travel radiation.

“Often nature has already developed surprisingly effective solutions to engineering and design problems faced as humankind evolves – biotechnology could thus prove to be an invaluable asset for life support and protection of explorers on future missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.”

Cladosporium sphaerospermum may not be ‘spice’ but it could be just as beneficial to space travel … and it’s right here on Earth. However, leaving Earth means leaving one of our best sources of innovation — nature — behind. Would we be better off staying here?

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

15-11-2021 om 22:11 geschreven door peter  

Green Meteor Seen Over Entire US East Coast, Timed With Space X Launch!! 

Green Meteor Seen Over Entire US East Coast, Timed With Space X Launch!!  This Is Huge And I’m Going To Tell You What This Means, And You Must Listen With Your Full Attention!!

Green meteor seen over 13 states… and get this… TIMED WITH SPACE X LAUNCH!

Now follow along and slow down and reread if you lose the enormity of what is taking place.  Green meteors are Ashtar Command spacecraft “pretending” to be meteors and fireballs. 3.  Green meteors are sent to send a message to the earthlings below that particular area, to pay attention… something is going to happen. 4. A green meteor seen over the entire east coast is extraordinary, and that it was timed for Space X launch for extra exposure, is sending an even louder message… watch out east coast. 5. You’ve heard of the La Palma volcano in Canary Islands? It’s been a known scenario for quite some time, that if it fractures and part of it falls into the ocean, it would set off a chain reaction. They are trying to set this off right now… earthquakes forming in grid pattern… this is simply unheard of… 

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

15-11-2021 om 21:48 geschreven door peter  

Unknown Things Happening Underground - Top U.S. Spy Breaks Silence On Alien Phenomenon! Giant UFO Passes Moon..

Unknown Things Happening Underground – Top U.S. Spy Breaks Silence On Alien Phenomenon! Giant UFO Passes Moon..

From it’s humble beginnings as a mere idea, to the establishment of the channel you see today – Secureteam has become the information source to which millions of answer-seeking individuals have come. Secureteam is the #1 channel for breaking reports on the many mysteries of our universe, so stay tuned and prepare to discover the truth, one puzzle piece at a time!

Much more to come. Stay tuned for more at BIN news. Thanks for stopping by and keep up to date with more important news! 

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

15-11-2021 om 21:34 geschreven door peter  

A Black Hole has been Found Lurking Just Outside the Milky Way

Astronomers have found a smaller, stellar-mass black hole lurking in a nearby satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way.  The black hole has been hiding in a star cluster named NGC 1850, which is one of the brightest star clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The black hole is 160,000 light-years away from Earth, and is estimated to be about 11 times the mass of our Sun.

Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile, astronomers found the black hole when they noticed a star with a peculiar motion among the star cluster, where other stars weren’t behaving the same way. Further investigation revealed the gravitational influence came from a stellar mass black hole.

This is the first time astronomers have used this detection method to reveal the presence of a black hole outside of our galaxy. Astronomers say this method could be helpful in locating other hidden black holes in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, and it can also help shed light on how these mysterious objects form and evolve.

Usually, black holes can be detected by the X-ray glow they emitted as they swallow matter, or from the gravitational waves generated as black holes collide with one another or with neutron stars.

But most smaller stellar-mass black holes don’t give away their presence through X-rays or gravitational waves.

“The vast majority can only be unveiled dynamically,” says Stefan Dreizler, one of the team members who contributed to the new paper, published in the Monthly Noticed of the Royal Astronomical Society. “When they form a system with a star, they will affect its motion in a subtle but detectable way, so we can find them with sophisticated instruments.”

The team said they have been acting as detectives, trying to track down a criminal gang from their missteps.

“We are looking at every single star in this cluster with a magnifying glass in one hand trying to find some evidence for the presence of black holes but without seeing them directly,” said Sara Saracino from the Astrophysics Research Institute of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK, who led the research. “The result shown here represents just one of the wanted criminals, but when you have found one, you are well on your way to discovering many others, in different clusters.”

NGC 1850 is an unusual double star cluster that lies in the bar of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighbor galaxy of our own Milky Way.  NGC 1850 is the second brightest star cluster in the LMC, and contains thousands of stars.

A specialized instrument on the VLT, the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) allowed the researchers to observe the very crowded star cluster and analyze the light of every single star in the vicinity.

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

15-11-2021 om 21:22 geschreven door peter  

Three UFOs Caught On Door Cam Over England, Oct 23, 2021, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: October 23, 2021

Location of sighting: St Albans, England

 

A person in England was watching TV when a his phone alerted him to a movement recorded by his door cam. Three glowing objects flew past his home, but when he asked his flight experienced father about it, the father said no flights were there at that time. Which means its highly likely its UFOs. The craft are flying in triangle formation, but then at the end of the video, they turn and line up one by one. Fantastic catch, and 100% proof that UFOs fly low over England and night. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan 

 

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

15-11-2021 om 20:58 geschreven door peter  

UFO Uncloaks Over Mount Fuji, Japan On Live Cam! Nov 2021, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: November 11, 2021
Location of sighting: Mount Fuji, Japan

 

This UFO was caught on live cam approving suddenly out of thin air. Clearly it uncloaked slowly trying to appear as a cloud, but there is nothing cloud like about this at all. The UFO has six sides and a glowing square bottom area. The glowing square may be a window area, or it could be the propulsion system. Its not unusual to see UFOs around volcanos. I have been recording them on live cams for over two decades. Its nice to see others finally using the same tools. Live cams allow a UFO researcher to be everywhere at once. This way you can explore dozens of volcanos daily to see if you can catch something. Thousands of years ago, aliens decided to make bases in inaccessible locations to keep humans from stumbling upon them. 

 

This UFO is nearly half a mile across! Absolutely fantastic catch! Is undeniable proof that aliens are already here. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan 

 

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

15-11-2021 om 20:53 geschreven door peter