Dit is ons nieuw hondje Kira, een kruising van een waterhond en een Podenko. Ze is sinds 7 februari 2024 bij ons en druk bezig ons hart te veroveren. Het is een lief, aanhankelijk hondje, dat zich op een week snel aan ons heeft aangepast. Ze is heel vinnig en nieuwsgierig, een heel ander hondje dan Noleke.
This is our new dog Kira, a cross between a water dog and a Podenko. She has been with us since February 7, 2024 and is busy winning our hearts. She is a sweet, affectionate dog who quickly adapted to us within a week. She is very quick and curious, a very different dog than Noleke.
DEAR VISITOR,
MY BLOG EXISTS ALREADY 12 YEARS AND 11 MONTHS.
ON 06/05/2024 MORE THAN 1.972.210
VISITORS FROM 134 DIFFERENT NATIONS ALREADY FOUND THEIR WAY TO MY BLOG.
THAT IS AN AVERAGE OF 400GUESTS PER DAY.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG AND HOPE YOU ENJOY EACH TIME.
The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
Zoeken in blog
Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
03-09-2022
Extraordinary Phenomenon in Space Captured by Spellbinding New Image
Extraordinary Phenomenon in Space Captured by Spellbinding New Image
The Universe, truly, is full of wonders, and the James Webb Space Telescope has just given us our best views of one of them yet.
The object in question is a star around 5,600 light-years away, and Webb's infrared eye has picked out an extraordinary detail: it's surrounded by what appear to be concentric rings of light radiating outward.
While Webb's characteristic diffraction spikes are not 'real', those concentric rings are – and there's a wonderful and fascinating explanation for them.
The star is actually a binary pair of rare stars in the constellation of Cygnus, and their interactions produce precise periodic eruptions of dust that are expanding out in shells into the space around the pair over time.
These shells of dust are glowing in infrared, which has allowed an instrument as sensitive as Webb's MIRI to resolve them in exquisite detail.
The full image as processed by Judy Schmidt. (JWST/MIRI/Judy Schmidt)
The star is what is known as a colliding wind binary, consisting of an extremely rare Wolf-Rayet star, called WR 140, and a hot, massive O-type star companion – another rare object.
Wolf-Rayet stars are very hot, very luminous, and very old; at the end of their main-sequence lifespan. They are significantly depleted in hydrogen, rich in nitrogen or carbon, and losing mass at a very high rate.
O-type stars are among the most massive stars known, also very hot and bright; because they are so massive, their lifespans are incredibly brief.
Both stars in the WR 140 system have fast stellar winds, blowing out into space at around 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) per second. Both are therefore losing mass at a pretty furious rate. So far so normal, for both stars.
Where it gets interesting is their orbit, which is elliptical. This means the stars don't describe nice, neat circles around each other, but ovals, with a point at which they are farthest apart from each other (apastron) and a point at which they are closest to each other (periastron).
When the two stars enter periastron – a distance about a third greater than the distance between Earth and the Sun – they become close enough that their powerful winds collide.
This produces shocks in the material around the stars, accelerating particles and generating energetic radiation, such as X-rays. These colliding winds also induce episodes of dust formation as the material in the colliding stellar wind cools.
This process can be seen in the animation below, which shows what the system would look like from the top down.
Animation showing how the WR 140 binary produces dust at periastron. (NASA, ESA, Joseph Olmsted/STScI)
The dust is a form of carbon, which absorbs ultraviolet light from the two stars. This heats the dust, causing it to re-emit thermal radiation – which is what is observed by Webb in infrared wavelengths.
The dust is then blown outward by the stellar wind, resulting in the expansion of the partial dust shells. They expand and cool as they are blown outward, losing heat and density.
What you're looking at in Webb's image is a bit like a series of bubbles; the edge of each dust shell is more visible because you're looking at a denser concentration of material due to perspective.
Because the binary star's orbit has a 7.94-year period, the wind collision and dust production occur like clockwork every 7.94 years. This means you can count the rings of the nebula around the binary, like tree rings, to determine the age of the outermost visible dust shell.
Around 20 rings are visible, which means you can see around 160 years' worth of dust shells in the Webb image. The most recent WR 140 periastron was observed in 2016.
Webb's observation of WR 140 was requested by a team led by astrophysicist Ryan Lau of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science.
They're preparing a paper on the observations, so it's possible that we're on the brink of finding out something new about this fascinating, crazy star.
Now, Webb has done it again, this time capturing an almost perfect Einstein ring whose light has traveled roughly 12 billion light-years to reach us. And we can't stop staring.
You can see the colorized image, which was shared by astronomy grad student Spaceguy44 on Reddit, below.
As Spaceguy44 explains on Reddit, an Einstein ring occurs when a distant galaxy has been magnified and wrapped into an almost-perfect ring by a massive galaxy in front of it.
The galaxy in question is called SPT-S J041839-4751.8.
Here's a more distant view of it, also processed by Spaceguy44:
According to Spaceguy44, we wouldn't be able to see this galaxy at all if it wasn't for the Einstein ring.
And the presence of Einstein rings, in addition to looking beautiful, allows us to study these otherwise almost impossible to see galaxies.
This process is known as gravitational lensing, and it's an effect predicted by Einstein – hence the name.
The effect only happens when the distant galaxy, the closer magnifying galaxy, and the observer (in this case the Webb space telescope) line up.
If you want to try it for yourself, Spaceguy44 says that the stem and base of a wine glass create a similar effect. Try doing it with a page of a book and seeing the word zoomed in.
Although catching sight of Einstein rings is rare, it's not unheard of. Hubble previously captured images of spectacular Einstein rings.
This isn't even the first time Webb has captured the Einstein ring of SPT-S J041839-4751.8.
The image uses three different filters. Red is the F1000W filter, which captures wavelengths of light at 10µm. Green is the F770W filter, for 7.7µm wavelengths. Blue is the F560W filter which picks up 5.6µm wavelengths.
The images were then aligned and colorized by Spaceguy44 using astropy, and further processing was done in GIMP.
Editor's note (29 August 2022):
This article has been updated to change reference of 'light-years away' to 'light travel time'. Due to the vast distance the light from this galaxy has traveled to reach us, it is undoubtedly now much further away due to the expansion of the Universe.
Documentary filmmaker Jeremy Corbell has stunned UFO enthusiasts with his piece of evidence on the phenomenon and information he received while studying UFOs. He is the one who shared the video footage showing the UFO as a transmedium vehicle. Additionally, he says that UFOs and aliens are just a small part of a larger reality along with other interesting and eye-opening statements in an extensive interview with Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal.
Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell is an American contemporary artist and investigative filmmaker based in Los Angeles, California. He did extensive research on nanotechnology, aerospace exploration, and exotic propulsion systems, as well as an in-depth examination into the life and discoveries of the enigmatic “Godfather of Conspiracy” John Lear.
Corbell has documented the surgical removal of alleged off-world alien implants, and has filmed NASA’s analysis of anomalous materials alleged to be physical evidence of extraterrestrial nano-technology from UFO landing sites. He has obtained deathbed confessions from former CIA and government intelligence officials who claim to expose the truth about UFOs and the worldwide coverup of the ultimate truth.
Jeremy Corbell with former Pentagon UFO official Luis Elizondo.
Corbell released the film “Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers” on Netflix, adding credibility to Lazar’s case. Moreover, his 2-hour interview with Curt Jaimungal discussed dozens of topics that added great information to the UAP/UFO phenomena. In 2021, he leaked a film of the US Navy photographed & filmed “spherical” shaped UFOs & advanced transmedium vehicles. In the footage shared by filmmaker and UFO enthusiast Jeremy Corbell, a flying object can be seen disappearing into the water off California.
In this interview, he covers a variety of controversial subjects including the release of the Tic-Tac videos by the government, possible government disinformation campaigns, and the claims of Bob Lazar that he once worked on backward engineering an alien craft.
UFOs and Aliens Just Small Part of ‘Larger Reality’
Corbell asserted in the interview that aliens and UFOs are a small part of a much larger reality of this mysterious and mind-boggling phenomenon.
He said:
“UFOs appear to be part of a larger phenomenon meaning UFOs are kind of an auxiliary implication of a much larger reality. So this idea that what we’re seeing are machines from other planets. I’m unconvinced what we may be seeing is an alternate reality. You know maybe it is something closer to dimensional travel.
There seems to be another version of reality that is occurring and that somehow once they pop through into our reality. And th is is not just from a cursory look at the ufo phenomenon, this is from talking with thousands of close encounter eyewitnesses who tell me that this is something bigger than just flying machines.
To give you an example at Skinwalker Ranch. The report is that a piece of the sky opened up like a tear and out of this came “Beings” came “Craft.” So, UFOs is a symptom, it’s part of this alternate reality, The phenomenon as I call it. But it’s not just about UFOs represent this phenomenon.
I know this to be true that Skinwalker ranch is the best example of this because you have UFO phenomena. But you also have cattle mutilation which is often associated with lights in the sky. So, cattle mutilation is something a concrete example.
Cattle mutilation, Is this a UFO phenomenon or a government experiment, or is this a private corporation that’s going around mutilating these cows and draining their blood in the dead of the night? Nobody has ever been caught during these cattle mutilations.
They are the same across the board. They’re drained of blood. The farmers and people that are cattle ranchers see UFOs oftentimes during these mutilations so I can’t separate them.”
Watch the full interview below
Dr. Travis Taylor’s Statement On Skinwalker Ranch
Dr. Taylor joined businessman Brandon Fugals’s team at Fugals’s infamous Skinwalker ranch three years ago and firmly believed he would be able to resolve the ranch’s assorted mysteries in short order. But the longer he stayed, the stranger things became. In his interview with investigative journalist George Knapp, he said: “You know, I had never seen a UFO until I got out there. Now, I have seen more UFOs now than you can count.” (Source)
In the surprisingly candid and wide-ranging interview, Dr. Taylor shared his opinions about the role of science in the pursuit of the unknown, his personal experiences with strange phenomena on Skinwalker Ranch, the physical effects of close encounter cases, and the mysterious “hitchhiker effect” that multiple UFO/paranormal eyewitnesses have reported.
In his opinion, this unexplained phenomenon can be different for people in regards to their brain activity. Hypothetically speaking, he said that the phenomenon can be connected with different planes in the universe. He added that he could go along with the idea of a portal but was not sure. He believes it is bizarre but there is some truth to it.
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The Black Pyramid of Ukraine & Other Lesser-Known Ancient Constructions. Zohar Stargate 9-1-2022
The Black Pyramid of Ukraine & Other Lesser-Known Ancient Constructions. Zohar Stargate 9-1-2022
The Black Pyramid of Ukraine & Other Lesser-Known Ancient Constructions. Zohar Stargate 9-1-2022
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Premiered 15 hours ago
It is claimed that the remains of an ancient pyramid structure can be found in Ukraine. Efforts to research the site, however, have allegedly been thwarted by strange entities who have forced investigators to turn back. Here we digdeeper…
Abducted By ALIENS (UFO Encounters of the 4th Kind)
Abducted By ALIENS (UFO Encounters of the 4th Kind)
Are we being taken by beings from outer space or another dimension? A troubling phenomenon has been occurring for centuries – countless individuals have very real memories of being taken secretly against their will by Alien entities, many being subjected to complex physical and psychological procedures.
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01-09-2022
A Planet has Been Found That Shifts In and Out of the Habitable Zone
A Planet has Been Found That Shifts In and Out of the Habitable Zone
A super-Earth planet has been found orbiting a red dwarf star, only 37 light-years from the Earth. Named Ross 508 b, the newly found world has an unusual elliptical orbit that causes it to shift in and out of the habitable zone. Therefore, part of the time conditions would be conducive for liquid water to exist on the planet’s surface, but other times it wouldn’t.
The relatively small size and low luminosity of red dwarf stars means the habitable zone of this exoplanet is very close to the star, Ross 508. Therefore, the ever-changing conditions and likely high radiation environment doesn’t bode well for any type of habitability on this world, especially since this planet zips around its star every 11 days. The planet is about four times the mass of the Earth.
The Subaru Telescope. Credit: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
This exoplanet is the first to be discovered by a new infrared spectrograph on the Subaru Telescope, located at the Mauna Kea Observatory on Hawaii. The Subaru Telescope is the flagship telescope of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.
Red dwarf stars, also called M dwarf or M-type stars, are the smallest and coolest kind of stars on the main sequence and they are also the most numerous, accounting for three-quarters of the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. But because of their low luminosity, individual red dwarfs cannot be easily observed. They are very faint in visible light due to their low surface temperature of less than 4000 degrees.
The astronomers who discovered Ross 508b say that exoplanet discoveries around cool M dwarfs have been limited, as well. Previous planet searches using visible light spectrometers have only discovered three planets around very nearby red dwarfs, such as Proxima Centauri b. That’s why astronomers are so excited about the new InfraRed Doppler instrument on Subaru.
“Ross 508b is the first successful detection of a super-Earth using only near-infrared spectroscopy,” said Dr. Hiroki Harakawa, the lead author of the discovery paper, in a press release. “Prior to this, in the detection of low-mass planets such as super-Earths, near-infrared observations alone were not accurate enough, and verification by high-precision line-of-sight velocity measurements in visible light was necessary. This study shows that IRD-SSP alone is capable of detecting planets, and clearly demonstrates the advantage of IRD-SSP in its ability to search with a high precision even for late-type red dwarfs that are too faint to be observed with visible light.”
In total, more than 5,000 exoplanets have been confirmed so far. Exoplanet hunters say that understanding what makes planets habitable – or not — is of keen interest to those who study astrobiology, which studies how life originated on Earth and where it might exist in the Solar System and beyond.
Astronomers say the new infrared instrument offers a better chance to find more exoplanets candidates around red dwarfs, and more opportunities to investigate the possibility of life on other varied and unusual worlds.
NASA Gives a Detailed Analysis of all the Landing Debris Perseverance Has Found on Mars
NASA Gives a Detailed Analysis of all the Landing Debris Perseverance Has Found on Mars
Arecent blog by Dr. Justin Maki, Imaging Scientist and the Deputy Principal Investigator on the Perseverance rover Mastcam-Z camera, provides a detailed account about the debris the entry, descent, and landing (EDL) system left scattered around the Martian surface while delivering the Perseverance rover to Jezero Crater. This blog highlights how much hardware goes into sending our brave, robotic explorers to the Red Planet while discussing the importance of imaging such debris.
“For example, on Sol 414 (April 19, 2022), the Ingenuity helicopter returned a detailed color image of the discarded parachute and backshell located 1 km to the northwest of the landing site.” Dr. Maki writes. But how important is it to locate and identify debris from past missions on Mars?
Image of Perseverance’s backshell taken by the Ingenuity helicopter on Sol 414 (April 19, 2022). (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Dr. Briony Horgan, Co-Investigator of the Perseverance rover and an Associate Professor of Planetary Science in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University said, “The contamination concerns are pretty minor, but we actually do use hardware on the surface to track dust accumulation!” The parachutes are especially good for this and measuring their brightness over time can help us understand how dust deposition is changing over time due to local weather conditions.”
Dr. Maki continues in his blog, “A few weeks later, Perseverance entered the Hogwallow Flats region and acquired a high-resolution, 360-degree Mastcam-Z panorama. As those images were being downlinked to Earth, a science team member in Europe spotted the bright material (at 2:50 AM Pacific time) in a Sol 467 (June 12, 2022) Mastcam-Z image and immediately suggested that it might be a piece of debris from the Entry, Decent, and Landing (EDL) system. Later that morning it was confirmed by the EDL hardware team at JPL: Perseverance had imaged a piece of multi-layer insulation (MLI), likely from the skycrane, which flew away from Perseverance’s landing site after touchdown, ensuring it would crash safely out of range from the rover.” But with debris being scattered around the Martian surface, can it interfere with Perseverance rover operations?
Image of EDL debris taken by Perseverance’s Left Mastcam-Z camera on Sol 467 (June 13, 2022). (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU)
“Mars 2020 includes several design features to guard against this type of debris interfering with rover operations.,” said Steven Lee, who is the Deputy Project Manager for Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity. “The presence of debris on the ground in itself does not pose a risk to Perseverance’s mission. Only two rover components could touch debris on the ground. First, the mobility system is designed to be robust to a wide variety of terrain types and could easily drive right over this debris. Likewise, the sampling system is designed to operate in an environment with dust and pebbles (including dust and pebbles created during abrading or coring). We also occasionally perform a “percuss to clean chuck” operation to shake material out of the corer’s chuck.”
NASA’s Perseverance rover isn’t the first Mars rover to photograph its own debris, as Dr. Maki states in his blog, “The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity rover imaged a heatshield up close on Sol 335 (January 2, 2004) of the surface mission. Those images revealed a debris field that stretched several meters, and included charred heatshield material, metal springs, and thermal blanket material. The Curiosity images also showed a rock (“heatshield rock”) that is believed to be a meteorite – the original version of EDL debris.” Going forward, what specific steps can be taken to reduce this debris on future missions?
Image of Opportunity’s heat shield taken on Sol 335 (January 2, 2004). (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell)
“For the moment, the number of missions that we’ve landed on Mars has been so small that it’s a very minor contributor to the surface,” said Dr. Horgan. “And I like to imagine that one day future Mars inhabitants will preserve these historic spacecraft landing sites and the hardware, perhaps as the first interplanetary parks!”
Researchers Release The Most Convincing UFO Photo In History
One of the most convincing UFO images from the 20th century has been given a high-res make-over, revitalizing discussion around what has been dubbed “the finest image of a UFO ever made public”...
Floating, pulsating Red Orb UFO in Michigan, August 2022 👽
Video shared on Reddit by RareandSacred and filmed in Grand Rapids, Michigan next to Prehistoric Norton Mounds on August 27, 2022.
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Crashed UFO On The Moon Discovered By A Researcher
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Ancient Aliens: New Proof of Alien Life Found in Ice Cave (Season 18)
Ancient Astronaut Theorists conduct an experiment in the Blackcomb Glacier Ice Cave to locate signs of extraterrestrial life, in this clip from Season 18, "Ancient Aliens On Location: Evidence of Alien Life."
Watch all new episodes of Ancient Aliens, Fridays at 9/8c, and next day on The HISTORY Channel website at http://history.com/schedule.
Ancient Aliens: Reptile Sky Gods Descend to Earth (Season 18)
Ancient Astronaut Theorists investigate Nomali statues and their connection to sky stones, in this clip from Season 18, "Ancient Aliens On Location: Mysterious Artifacts."
Watch all new episodes of Ancient Aliens, Fridays at 9/8c, and next day on The HISTORY Channel website at http://history.com/schedule.
Strange UFO lights over oilfield in Kennedy, Texas – August 2022
Strange UFO lights over oilfield in Kennedy, Texas – August 2022
Thins interesting footage was filmed over the oilfield in Kennedy, Texas recently. According to the author of the video the workers have been seeing lots of crazy lights in the sky while working In the oilfield.
Strange UFO lights over oilfield in Kennedy, Texas – August 2022
Strange UFO lights over oilfield in Kennedy, Texas – August 2022
Thins interesting footage was filmed over the oilfield in Kennedy, Texas recently. According to the author of the video the workers have been seeing lots of crazy lights in the sky while working In the oilfield.
August 10 612 BC: Nineveh, the Largest City in the World, Fell
August 10 612 BC: Nineveh, the Largest City in the World, Fell
On this day, 2,632 years ago, the ancient metropolis of Nineveh fell. “ ABC 3” is a historiographical text from ancient Babyloniawhich records August 10th 612 BC as the date of this dramatic occurrence. At that time, Nineveh was the largest city in the world and the capital of Assyria. This all came to an abrupt end when Nabopolassar, the Chaldean king of Babylonia and a central figure in the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, siezed Nineveh. This marked what historians know as one of the most shocking events in ancient history: The “First” Fall of Nineveh. The “second” Fall of Nineveh occurred in 2015 with more destruction by ISIS.
The Discovery of Nineveh: A Unparalleled Archaeological Find
Ancient Mesopotamia was a cradle of civilization in the northern part of western Asia’s Fertile Crescent, corresponding to modern Iraq, Kuwait, eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and areas along the Turkish–Syrian and Iran–Iraq borders. In 1839, Paul-Émile Botta of France excavated a series of mounds in the Iraqi desert that led to the incredible discovery of Nineveh, the vast ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia located on the outskirts of modern-day Mosul in northern Iraq.
This discovery in mid-19th-century Europe was truly amazing, because it meant that at least one of the ancient cities and cultures mentioned in the Bible actually existed. This gave the Holy Bible a breath of newfound esteem at a time when scientists were demanding the empirical testing of supernatural claims, replacing time worn myths with logic and reason. The discovery of ancient Nineveh changed everything.
Ancient Nineveh: A Royal City Envied Far And Wide
The Assyrian Empire started to become unstable after the death of King Aššurbanipal in 631 BC when the Babylonians ended their independence. Around 627 AD the Babylonian general Nabopolassar defeated the Assyrians in a battle near Babylon and became king, marking the beginning of the Babylonian Empire which lasted until Nineveh was captured by the Persian Cyrus the Great in October 539 AD.
Assyrian military campaign in southern Mesopotamia, 640-620 BC, from an alabaster bas-relief located in the South-West Palace at Nineveh.
(Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin / CC BY-SA 4.0)
Although he had liberated Babylonia, Nabopolassar also wanted destroy its capital cities including the religious center at Aššur, the first Assyrian city, and the administrative center at Nineveh. To prevent this, which would have caused a major shift of power in the Near East, the Egyptians offered military support to Assyria. The Fall of Nineveh Chronicle says that on 25 July 616 AD Nabopolassar defeated an Assyrian force on the banks of the Euphrates to the south of Harran. However, soon after he retreated when an Egyptian army closed on his forces. By at the end of the following year, the Medes, a tribal federation living in modern Iran, seized the moment, amidst all the unrest, and had took control of Nineveh.
This image, taken in April 2017 during a UNESCO mission to Nineveh, which was heavily destroyed and excavated by ISIS in the "second" Fall of Nineveh in 2015.
Nabopolassar tactfully signed a treaty with the Medes king Umakištar (Cyaxares). The Babylonian crown prince Nabû-kudurru-usur (Nebuchadnezzar) is said to have married Amytis, who many historians hold to have been the daughter of Cyaxares' son Astyages. The joint Medes-Babylonian army invaded Nineveh in May 612 AD the city finally fell in July. According to an article on Livius after the suicide of King Sin-šar-iškun, “the looting of Nineveh continued until 10 August, when the Medes finally went home,” and that the fall of Nineveh “shocked the ancient world.” From distant Greece, the poet Phocylides of Miletus reported of the destruction of this ancient city.
ISIS soldiers in the Museum of Mosul destroying ancient Nineveh artifacts with sledgehammers in 2015.
2015: The “Second” Fall of Nineveh By ISIS Destruction
While Nineveh fell for the first time over 2500 years ago, destruction of the ancient city continued in 2015 when a priceless Assyrian winged bull was demolished at the Nineveh site. An article in The Guardian discussing the destruction of cultural heritage in Iraq by the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) described the destruction as a “war crime.” At the same time, the terrorist organization attempted to attract a sympathetic audience to gain new recruits in their homeland, while provoking reactions in the West.
A 2015 Aljazeera video shows the destruction of several 7th century artifacts from Nineveh on February 26 2015, when ISIS publicly destroyed the Mosul Museum. Many other artifacts were stolen and put up for sale in foreign markets. However in 2019, the BBC announced that since Iraqi troops recaptured Mosul in 2017, part of the Mosul Museum has been restored and reopened to exhibit contemporary art, while the rest of the museum remains closed “to protect what is left,” said the museum director. If the first Fall of Nineveh was incredible, the second fall of Nineveh was both tragic and disturbing.
Top image: Assyrian soldiers carry beheaded heads of their prisoners as depicted on a wall in the South-West Palace at Nineveh, during the “First” Fall of Neneveh.
Newly Discovered Super-Earth ‘Ross 508b’, Located Just 37 Light-Years Away, May Possess Potential to Support Life
Newly Discovered Super-Earth ‘Ross 508b’, Located Just 37 Light-Years Away, May Possess Potential to Support Life
Many of us have asked themselves, "Are we alone in this universe?" While humanity does not yet have definitive answers to this question, scientists are continuously on the search for indicators that could hint to the existence of extraterrestrial life.
And what better way to begin than by looking for other Earth-like planets that may be capable of supporting life?
There has recently been a considerable influx of study into exoplanets, albeit the reason for these investigations varies across organisations. Some are simply looking for an answer to the alien life mystery, while others are looking for a second home for us Earthlings.
We may have some good news for all you exoplanet fans now. The Subaru Strategic Program, launched in 2007 to deliver remarkable scientific results utilising Japan's Subaru Telescope, has assisted in the discovery of a super-Earth skimming the outskirts of a red dwarf star's habitable zone, just 37 light-years from our home planet!
Home away from home?
The recently discovered Ross 508 planetary system is depicted schematically. The green region indicates the habitable zone (HZ), which is a region on the planet's surface where liquid water can exist. A blue line represents the planetary orbit. The planet is expected to be closer than the HZ (solid line) during more than half of its orbit and within the HZ (dashed line) for the remainder.
(Astrobiology Institute)
Named Ross 508b, this 'super-Earth' is a rocky world with a mass around four times that of our Earth.
And a year on Ross 508b lasts for just 11 Earth-days! This, of course, means that its orbit is not very large — which is understandable because red dwarfs are a lot smaller than the Sun that centres our solar system.
But their smaller sizes mean that their gravitational fields are also not as expansive as the Sun's. Therefore, Ross 508b revolves around it at a distance of just 5 million kilometres. Considering Mercury, for comparison, the planet is about 60 million kilometres from the Sun. The short distance between this super-Earth and its red dwarf begs the question: how could it possibly be deemed habitable? Well, the Ross 508b's orbit is elliptical, meaning it isn't always as close to the star, and pretty much dips in and out of the habitable zone.
A planet like this may be able to retain water on its surface. Whether or not water or life actually thrives there is still up for debate and some serious research.
The relationship between red dwarfs and habitable planets
Three-quarters of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy are red dwarfs smaller than the Sun and such stars are abundant in the solar neighbourhood. Because of this, they are crucial targets in humanity’s hunt for neighbouring extrasolar planets and extraterrestrial life.
However, red dwarfs are cooler than other types of stars and emit less visible light, which makes studying them challenging.
What makes this find even more special is that it is the first exoplanet to be found by the Subaru Strategic Program using the infrared spectrograph IRD on the Subaru Telescope (IRD-SSP).The team at Astrobiology Center in Japan developed IRD specifically to search for red dwarf-orbiting exoplanets like Ross 508b. It relies on a planet-hunting technique that looks for minute deviations in the velocity of a star to infer a planet orbiting it.
It wouldn't be a stretch to assume that the Subaru Telescope could bestow us even better candidates for habitable planets around red dwarfs.
"It has been 14 years since the start of IRD's development. We have continued our development and research with the hope of finding a planet exactly like Ross 508b,"said Tokyo Institute of Technology's Professor Bun'ei Sato, the principal investigator of IRD-SSP.
This study has opened doors for future observations to confirm the possibility of life around low-mass stars.
Problem Solved! Voyager 1 is no Longer Sending Home Garbled Data!
Problem Solved! Voyager 1 is no Longer Sending Home Garbled Data!
Earlier this year, the teams attached to the Voyager 1 mission noticed that the venerable spacecraft was sending weird readouts about its attitude articulation and control system (called AACS, for short). The data it’s providing didn’t really reflect what was actually happening onboard. That was the bad news. The good news was that it didn’t affect science data-gathering and transmission. And, the best news came this week: team engineers have fixed the issue with the AACS and the data are flowing normally again.
The AACS is an important part of Voyager 1. It’s the machinery that keeps the spacecraft’s antenna pointed at Earth. Without it, all that valuable science data would get lost in space. The issue was really with the AACS’s data—it was garbled, and that left the team in the dark (so to speak) about the exact nature of the spacecraft’s health and activities.
Sussing out the Voyager 1 Problem
It turns out that it was a “networking problem” similar in spirit to something IT professionals might face here on Earth. Essentially, the AACS was sending telemetry data all right, but it was routing it to the wrong computer. Worse, it was a computer that had failed years ago. That actually corrupted the data, which led to the strangely garbled messages the ground-based crew received. It took a while for the team to figure out the problem, and it wasn’t clear why AACS suddenly began routing data to the wrong computer. Chances are, it received a faulty command from another computer. That implies there’s a problem somewhere else that they’ll have to solve. But, so far, the issues are not a threat to the spacecraft.
According to Suzanne Dodd, Voyager’s current project manager, once the engineers figured out that the old, dead computer might have been part of the problem, they had a way forward. They simply told the AACS to switch over sending to the correct computer system. “We’re happy to have the telemetry back,” said Dodd. “We’ll do a full memory readout of the AACS and look at everything it’s been doing. That will help us try to diagnose the problem that caused the telemetry issue in the first place. So we’re cautiously optimistic, but we still have more investigating to do.”
The ongoing issue with AACS didn’t set off any fault protection systems onboard the spacecraft. If it had, Voyager 1 would have gone into “safe mode” while engineers tried to figure out what happened. During the period of garbled signals, AACS continued working, which indicated that the problem was either upstream or downstream of the unit. The fact that data were garbled provided a good clue to related computer issues.
Solar System Explorations
This aging and still-valuable spacecraft has been exploring the outer parts of the solar system since its launch in 1977, along with its twin sibling, Voyager 2. They each traveled slightly different trajectories. Both went past Jupiter and Saturn, but Voyager 2 continued on to Uranus and Neptune. They’re both now outside the solar system, sending back data about the regions of space they’re exploring.
Where is Voyager 1? As of August 30, 2022, it is well outside of and above the plane of the Solar System. It will cross the Oort Cloud and head out to the stars. Courtesy NASA/JPL.
Voyager 1 flew past Jupiter in March 1979, and Saturn in November 1980. After its close approaches to those two gas giants, it started a trajectory out of the solar system and entered interstellar space in 2013. That’s when it ceased to detect the solar wind and scientists began to see an increase in particles consistent with those in interstellar space.
These days, Voyager 1 is more than 157.3 astronomical units from Earth and moving out at well over 61,000 km/hour. It’s busy collecting data about the interstellar medium and radiation from distant objects. If all goes well and it doesn’t whack into anything that could destroy it, the spacecraft should continue sending back data for nearly a decade. After that, it should fall silent as it travels beyond the Oort Cloud and out to the stars.
Ancient Aliens: Irish Myth Exposes Extraterrestrial Technology
Ancient Aliens: Irish Myth Exposes Extraterrestrial Technology
Ancient Astronaut Theorists believe “The Shining Ones” used magical powers stemming from extraterrestrials, in this clip from Season 18, “The Shining Ones.”
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Nuns Reveal Hidden Truth About Roswell ‘UFO Crash’
Nuns Reveal Hidden Truth About Roswell ‘UFO Crash’
A contemplative religious community in New Mexico compares the 1947 incident to ‘something far more compelling and amazing’ that occurred 2,000 years ago.
The Roswell Poor Clares live a Eucharistic life in New Mexico. (photo: Courtesy of the Roswell Poor Clares)
ROSWELL, N.M. — It was 75 years ago, in July 1947, when press reports surfaced that a crashed “flying saucer” had been recovered near Roswell, New Mexico.
The ‘Roswell Daily Record’ reports on the unusual incident. | Public domain(Photo: Public domain)
Days later, an official denial came from the same source that had initially confirmed the capture, namely, the U.S. military.
In those few days the template was set for the modern unidentified flying object (UFO) phenomenon — reports followed by counter-reports, sightings by official explanations, cries of disinformation, talk of alleged cover-ups accompanied by the insistence on various “proofs” that “we are not alone.”
What are Catholics to make of all this?
Jimmy Akin is a convert to the Catholic faith and a Register contributor. He is also a popular apologist for the Catholic faith and host of the podcast Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World. Speaking to the Register, he was clear that, based on his research, “the most likely explanation of the Roswell incident is that a Project Mogul balloon chain crashed.”
Akin explains that Project Mogul was a top-secret U.S. Army Air Forces effort to monitor Soviet nuclear testing. He says that since the project was classified, “there was a cover-up that initially included a story about the U.S. military recovering one of the ‘flying discs’ that had just been in the news a couple of weeks earlier due to the Kenneth Arnold sighting (one of the first post-war alleged encounters with ‘flying saucers’) which launched the UFO craze. When this story backfired, they — the U.S. military — quickly walked it back, but they couldn’t tell anyone what had really happened due to the classified nature of the project.”
“The seed was planted,” he said, “and after the case was rediscovered in the 1980s, people have been fascinated with it ever since.”
And people continue to be.
“With UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena,aka UFOs), we may actually be dealing with extraordinary phenomena of various origins despite similar characteristics,” said Paul Thigpen, author of Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the Catholic Faith: Are We Alone in the Universe With God and the Angels? (TAN Books). Speaking to the Register, he said that “the extra-terrestrial hypothesis — the notion that we are encountering non-human intelligences from locations in this universe beyond Earth — best accounts for many UAP. The diabolical hypothesis (that they are demons) best accounts for some UAP reports, especially some of the so-called ‘alien abductions’ that demonstrate clear parallels with what the Church knows as demonic encounters.”
Thigpen posits other possibilities for the origins of UFOs: ultra-terrestrials. These, he says, are “non-human intelligences that share our planet as their home, largely hidden from us. This would include entities that have presented themselves in various forms throughout history, such as ancient mythological creatures, faerie folk …” He also alluded to two other possible explanations for certain kinds of UFOs/UAPs: ultra-dimensional beings. He says that these “originate from other dimensions of existence altogether that at times intersect with our own; or time-traveling humans from our future. Such realities would not lie beyond the creative wisdom and power of our omniscient, omnipotent Creator. If they do exist, he has made them and he sustains them in existence.”
In 1947, Roswell started a modern mania with its reports of crashed “aliens” and has been the global center of attention for such matters ever since. What is less well known is that, one year after the incident, and with much less publicity but much greater significance, that same city welcomed its first contemplative community, namely, the Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
They are the true center of an ongoing Roswell “incident.
It was in November 1948 that a small group of Chicago-based Poor Clares set out for New Mexico. They were responding to the urgent invitation of Archbishop Edwin Byrne of Santa Fe, who desired to found a new monastery in his archdiocese. He wanted “praying nuns” to encircle his vast archdiocese with their lives of prayer and penitence. No doubt, since its founding, the Roswell community has blessed the local community. The monastery has also founded or restored six “daughter” monasteries: five in the United States (two in Virginia; one in Los Altos Hills, California; one in Belleville, Illinois; and the latest in Chicago) and one in the Netherlands.
The 1947 Roswell incident, and the endless books, movies and fevered speculation it spawned, have brought few closer to Christ. By contrast, the 1948 founding of the Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe, without fanfare, without media, has done more to bring souls to Our Lord than we or the sisters shall know this side of eternity. One wonders what, if anything, do these contemplative nuns make of Roswell’s ongoing notoriety?
Speaking to the Register, the monastery superior, Mother Mary Angela, has a certain reluctance in sharing thoughts on the events of July 1947. She feels, perhaps wisely, “not fully informed about the events, nor on the results of the investigations that have taken place.” She added that the community have never really sought “to be informed, although we are naturally interested in what is said to have taken place in our locality.”
However, Mother Mary Angela goes on to add that “something happened” — but like the rest of the world, the community has no idea what exactly that was.
“We don’t know if there was a cover-up or a withholding of information, or for what reason information might have been withheld. We do understand that there has been serious scientific investigation as well as a great deal of lightweight commercialization of whatever event occurred.”
She pointed out that the truth of what happened may never be known now that the primary participants in the events are likely dead. “Much will remain uncertain and murky,” she said, “but it makes no difference in the way we are called to live our lives today. We don’t need to know. Through natural law and divine Revelation, we already have all we need to know in order to make good decisions today, to live a good life — a great life — right now.”
“We strive to live in the present moment,” she continued, “rooted in reality and the possibilities of response that can only be achieved in the present moment, not an unknown past (the Roswell ‘incident’) or an unknown future. For us as contemplatives, there is no compelling reason to fix our attention on the matter for very long. Something far more compelling and amazing occurred in a desert land very like Roswell some two millennia ago. Simple shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem were easily able to identify the flying objects in the sky as heralds of the most significant ‘incident’in the history of mankind: The Hope of the World lay in a manger — and now at this moment is really present on our altar in the Blessed Sacrament. We want with all our hearts to keep our gaze fixed on him, on Jesus, the Firstborn of All Creation!”
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Greek Goddess Rhea: Mother of the Gods & Queen of the Titans
Woman and lion drawing, representative of Rhea.
Source: jozefklopacka/ Adobe Stock
Greek Goddess Rhea: Mother of the Gods & Queen of the Titans
Rhea is one of the most important ancient Greek gods. Although a Titan, she was responsible for both the birth and survival of the most famous Greek Gods such as Zeus and Hera. However, today while people with even a passing knowledge of Greek mythology know many Greek gods’ names, Rhea rarely gets the respect she deserves. Learn more about Rhea, Mother of the Gods, and Queen of the Titans.
Rhea in Mythology
Most major Greek gods have long and complicated histories. Most of the Titans on the other hand do not; they’re usually little more than narrative devices used to introduce more important gods. Rhea is interesting because she sits somewhere in between. She plays an important enough role to receive more characterization than the other Titans, but she doesn’t appear in many myths.
The family tree of the gods is a complicated and incredibly incestuous one. Greek mythology begins with the two primordial parents, Uranus and Gaia. Uranus represented the sky while Gaia represented the Earth. Greek mythology gets incredibly complicated, with different ancient historians and poets giving different takes on the same old tales. For the sake of simplicity, we will focus on Hesiod’s telling, naming other versions where and when applicable.
Uranus and Gaia (depending on the version) had quite a few children together. The most important were the 12 (or 13) Titans: Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Cronus and the Titanides- Theia, Rhea, Thermos, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Tethys.
In addition to the Titans, they had various monsters together, such as the Cyclopes, the Hecatoncheires (three massive 50-headed, hundred-handed giants), giants, Meliae (nymphs), and the Erinyes (also known as the Furies, female gods of vengeance).
In the most common versions of the myth, such as Hesiod’s, Uranus feared his children would rise up against him, and so he imprisoned them. Uranus was right to be worried. As soon as he came of age, his youngest son, Cronus, rebelled, and overthrew Uranus with the help of his mother.
In doing so, he became king of Titans and freed his siblings. To celebrate, Cronus married his sister, Rhea. Rhea and Cronus would go on to have an infamously antagonistic marriage.
Thus followed the age of the Titans. The Titans were the gods prior to the Olympians, and ruled over land, sea, and sky together. Of all the Titans, Cronus and Rhea were the most important. Despite being brother and sister, they had children, and Rhea gave birth to the first Olympians: Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Hestia, Demeter, and Hera.
This was not a happy coupling though. Both Gaia and Uranus warned Cronus that history would repeat itself. He would be overthrown by his children, like his father before him. Knowing from his own history that simply imprisoning his children was no guarantee of safety, Cronus opted for eating his offspring instead.
Perhaps unsurprisingly Rhea did not take well to Cronus devouring her babies. Rhea teamed up with both Gaia and Uranus to hatch a plan to save the youngest child, Zeus. Rhea fled and gave birth to Zeus in a cave on the island of Crete. She then tricked Cronus with a rock wrapped in swaddling, which he quickly gobbled up.
Rhea hid her favorite son in a cave on Mount Ida, one of the two Greek sacred mountains. There, he was protected by the Kouretes and the Dactyls, two warrior races who worshipped the Titans. Zeus would later grow up and start the Titanomachy, the ten-year war between the Olympian gods and the Titans.
Aside from her role in raising Zeus, there are two other pre-Titanomachy myths that involve Cronus and Rhea. The first takes part while Zeus was still hidden away in Crete.
In this story, Rhea caught Cronus enjoying some time with his mistress Philyra (an Oceanid). Upon being discovered, Cronus panicked, transformed into a horse, and fled. His transformation into a horse in mid-coitus caused Philya to give birth to Chiron, usually mentioned as the first and greatest centaur.
The second myth focused on Rhea and Cronus is a story of married Greek gods actually working together for a change. In this story, the children of Oceanus take control of Mount Olympus at an early age and start to rule as the first gods. Cronus and Rhea can’t abide by this and decide to fight them. Ultimately, they throw them back into the ocean they came from. In this myth, Rhea is portrayed as a skilled wrestler.
Rhea after the Titanomachy
The Titanomachy ends with Zeus hurling his mighty lightning bolt at the Titans, defeating them and sending them plummeting into Tartarus (the part of the underworld saved for the wicked). However, it has never been clear exactly which Titans ended up in Tartarus besides Cronus.
Of the male Titans, it seems Oceanus remained free because he had helped the Olympians in their fight. It also seems apparent that the female Titans were allowed to remain free.
Rhea certainly remained free following the Titanomachy, since she crops up in several different myths. She is usually portrayed as having a somewhat antagonistic relationship with Zeus’ wife, her daughter Hera. Rhea had a habit of turning up to save her grandchildren.
Apollo was the bastard son of Zeus and Leto (Zeus’s previous wife and/or mistress). Hera, the goddess of childbirth, refused to attend Apollo’s birth out of jealousy/ spite, leaving Leto in agony. Rhea chose to attend the birth in Hera’s stead. As the original goddess of motherhood, Rhea’s presence eased Leto’s suffering.
Later, Dionysus (another bastard son of Zeus) was inflicted with madness by the spiteful Hera. When Dionysus’s mother died, Rhea took him under her wing and raised him. She later cured his madness and gifted him an amethyst that prevented drunkenness.
Rhea also made an important appearance in the story of Hades and Persephone. In most versions of the story, such as the Homeric Hymns, it is Rhea who visited Demeter after Persephone's kidnapping and persuaded her to meet with the Olympians to find a solution.
However, in one Orphic version of the myth, Rhea’s role was much more unpleasant. In this version, Zeus wished to marry his mother. Rhea refused his incestuous advances and transformed into a snake to escape him. This did little to deter Zeus, who responded by also taking the form of a serpent and raping his mother. Persephone is the result of this rape.
According to the Orphic myth, after Persephone’s birth, Rhea transformed and became Demeter. It could be that this version of the myth is an attempt to explain Rhea’s decreased prominence in Greek mythology after a certain point.
Etymology of the name Rhea
No one is entirely sure where the name Rhea comes from, but there are several popular theories. Some ancient etymologists believed Rhea came from the old Greek words for ground or earth. Some modern scholars have also supported this theory, pointing to the traditional connection between the portrayal of mother gods and the earth.
Other Greeks, such as Plato, pointed towards a different origin word for Rhea. Plato claimed Rhea was the feminine version of the Greek word rheō, for flow, discharge, or stream. The thought process here was that women sustain their babies through the flow of breast milk and experience the flow of blood during the menstrual cycle.
We will likely never know for certain the true etymology. Most modern etymologists support the flow theory, which is the one put forward in A Greek-English Lexicon .
Rhea and her Historical Twin Cybele
Ancient civilizations had a habit of adopting and/or bastardizing each other’s’ gods and mythology. As these civilizations interacted, they would take aspects of the religions they liked and incorporate them into their own.
Cybele is a prime example of this. Once her own entity, originating from Anatolia, by the 4th century BC, Rhea and Cybele's names were being used interchangeably in Greek literature and worship. As such, the attributes and depictions of the two goddesses became almost completely indistinguishable.
Both are usually depicted as wearing a tall crown or veil and sitting on a throne, surrounded by lions. When not sitting on a throne they are usually either riding a lion or on a chariot drawn by lions. Although both are depicted as mother gods, there are two important differences.
First, in her own mythology, Cybele was the Phrygian Great Mother, a universal mother. Rhea, on the other hand, was only ever portrayed as the mother of gods, not a universal mother. The Greeks had other mother deities on top of Rhea, like Gaia, Hera, and Demeter.
Second, their origins are very different. Cybele started her life as a hermaphrodite god called Agdistis. The other Phrygian gods feared Agdistis and cut off their male genitalia, creating the female mother god Cybele. The severed genitalia then grows into a beautiful young man from Phrygia named Agdistis. Cybele fell in love with Agdistis, but he was unfaithful so she drove him mad, causing him to castrate himself.
Although Cybele and Rhea are often closely linked, no part of Cybele’s hermaphrodite origin or love story with Agdistis ever made it into Rhea’s mythology. As time went on people simply tended to forget Cybele’s unique history, and she became synonymous with Rhea.
The Cult of Rhea
In general, the Titans didn’t get their own cults in ancient Greece and were not worshipped. They simply functioned as a genealogical origin story for the Olympian gods, whom the Greeks did worship. Rhea, however, is slightly different. Although she does not appear to have had a strong cult of her own, she does appear to have been worshipped, especially early on.
Rhea was first worshipped in Crete, the site of Zeus’ birth. Her worship here was loud, raucous, and rhythmic. Worshippers would dance to the sound of the tympanon (a large drum) to provoke religious ecstasy. The loud and energetic worship of Rhea is often connected to her role in raising Dionysus, whose worshippers were similarly enthusiastic.
The Greeks often called Rhea the “Mother of Gods” or Meter Theon . Several temples in ancient Greece appear to have been dedicated to Meter Theon . A Greek traveler and geographer from the second century AD named Pausanias mentioned temples located in Attika, Arkadia, Corinth, Olympia, and Athens dedicated to her. Besides her own temples, her role in birthing and then protecting the Olympians meant that statues of her often stood in the sanctuaries of other gods.
Conclusion
Rhea’s importance to Greek mythology cannot be underestimated. She played a major role not just in the birthing of the Olympian gods but also in the Titanomachy and the overthrow of the old gods. Next to Cronus, she is also one of the very few Titans who actually received any characterization and appears to have been the only Titan with her own loyal worshippers.
Rhea is also a rare example of positive female representation in Greek mythology. She is portrayed as the ultimate mother, betraying her cruel spouse to ensure the survival of her children. Hera the Olympian mother god is often portrayed as being cruel and jealous; however, Rhea is never portrayed in that way. Rhea repeatedly comes to the aid of the grandchildren that Hera seeks to punish.
Rhea truly deserved her name Meter Theo , Mother of the Gods.
Top image: Woman and lion drawing, representative of Rhea.
Study Shows Humans and Neanderthals Interbred Primarily in the Near East
Study Shows Humans and Neanderthals Interbred Primarily in the Near East
Study Shows Humans and Neanderthals Interbred Primarily in the Near East
Multiple research projects have proven that Neanderthal DNA can be found in the genome of modern humans. This likely happened as a result of many interbreeding events that took place in the various locations where Neanderthals and early modern humans shared resources and living space. But researchers tracing the twisting pathways of human evolution don’t have to rely exclusively on genetic studies to learn about interbreeding between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals. Anatomical studies of prehistoric skeletal remains can also disclose valuable information about this fascinating aspect of human genetic history, as has now been demonstrated by a new study just published in the journal Biology.
In this innovative research project, a team of geneticists and anthropologists from North Carolina State and Duke Universities in the United States and the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa analyzed the facial structure of more than 300 modern human and Neanderthal skulls, which had been recovered from different locations in Asia, Europe, and Africa. The purpose of the analysis was to search for signs of Neanderthal influence on human facial anatomy, which would result from interbreeding events.
Some of the ancient skulls did in fact show evidence of human and Neanderthal interbreeding. The cumulative results of this anatomical comparative analysis suggest that much of the interbreeding took place in the Near East, a region ranging from North Africa eastward to Iraq. This sharing of genetic material would have occurred between approximately 50,000 and 40,000 years ago, when Paleolithic-era (Old Stone Age) modern humans lived at the same time as and in some of the same regions as the Neanderthals.
How Interbreeding Evolution is Reflected in the Face
"Ancient DNA caused a revolution in how we think about human evolution," Steven Churchill, co-author of the new study and a professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University, explained in a North Carolina State University press release announcing the results of the comparative facial structure study. "We often think of evolution as branches on a tree, and researchers have spent a lot of time trying to trace back the path that led to us, Homo sapiens . But we're now beginning to understand that it isn't a tree—it's more like a series of streams that converge and diverge at multiple points."
In this instance, the “multiple points” referenced would be marked by both place and time. The migratory movements of both early modern humans and Neanderthals would have determined when and where the convergences took place, and consequently when and where the possibilities for interbreeding were most abundant.
"The picture is really complicated,"Churchill explained."Modern Asian populations seem to have more Neanderthal DNA than modern European populations, which is weird because Neanderthals lived in what is now Europe. That has suggested that Neanderthals interbred with what are now modern humans as our prehistoric ancestors left Africa, but before spreading to Asia. Our goal with this study was to see what additional light we could shed on this by assessing the facial structure of prehistoric humans and Neanderthals."
At the species level, changes in facial morphology (facial shape and development) can be a reflection of changes in genetic makeup. Both types of changes occurred as a result of early modern humans and Neanderthals interbreeding .
Map of western Eurasia showing areas and estimated dates of possible Neandertal–modern human hybridization (in red) based on fossil samples from indicated sites.
"By evaluating facial morphology, we can trace how populations moved and interacted over time,"noted Ann Ross, a professor of biology from North Carolina State University and another co-author of the new study."And the evidence shows us that the Near East was an important crossroads, both geographically and in the context of human evolution ."
The scientists used data on cranial and facial morphology obtained from the recovered remains of 233 prehistoric (early modern) humans, 83 modern humans, and 13 Neanderthals. They compared measurements taken from similar facial structural features, to see if signs of interbreeding were evident. Other factors that might have caused changes in facial features were accounted for, to make sure that any revealing features identified could be definitively linked to Paleolithic-era interbreeding.
"We found that the facial characteristics we focused on were not strongly influenced by climate, which made it easier to identify likely genetic influences,"Ross said. "We also found that facial shape was a more useful variable for tracking the influence of Neanderthal interbreeding in human populations over time. Neanderthals were just bigger than humans. Over time, the size of human faces became smaller, generations after they had bred with Neanderthals. But the actual shape of some facial features retained evidence of interbreeding with Neanderthals."
The researchers weren’t sure if their anatomical comparisons would produce significant results. But their study revealed many clear links, which were especially notable in skeletons that had been collected in the Near East region where Asia, Africa, and Europe converge. This would have been a crossroads for early modern humans leaving Africa, regardless of what direction they were heading. If they bred with Neanderthals in the region, they could have later carried Neanderthal DNA to other parts of the world, such as Asia, where humans carrying Neanderthal genetic materials have been found.
Reconstruction of a Neanderthal woman’s face but reconstructions are not enough; we need more skulls from prehistory to determine more about primary Neanderthal-Sapiens’ interbreeding sites.
The researchers do acknowledge some limitations in the scope of their study. Their comparison included just six variables, reflecting the overall size and shape of the face and the shape of the eye socket and nasal openings. Also, only a relatively small number of the skulls studied showed obvious indications of a Neanderthal genetic influence, and many that did were from individuals who’d lived long after the proposed Neanderthal-modern human breeding events.
Nevertheless, the researchers believe their study “shows the utility of analyzing facial morphology for the information it may contain about population relationships and potential Neanderthal–modern human interbreeding.”
In two cases it was clear the samples they examined were either intermediate between Neanderthals and modern humans or emerged from an evolutionary branch that included both early modern humans and Neanderthals. One of these represented Middle Paleolithic early modern humans from the Near East, while the other represented early modern humans who lived in the Upper Paleolithic period in the Near East and Northeast Africa.
“While caution should be used in interpreting the results of analyses based on small sample sizes, these results could be considered consistent with the Near East being a substantial locus of Neanderthal–modern human hybridization,” the authors stated in their Biology journal study.
The scientists hope to address the small sample size issue in subsequent research. "To build on this, we'd like to incorporate measurements from more human populations, such as the Natufians, who lived more than 11,000 years ago on the Mediterranean in what is now Israel, Jordan and Syria," Churchill said.
Additional research certainly won’t disprove the new findings that identify the Paleolithic Near East as a key early modern human-Neanderthal interaction point. But they could provide additional evidence that will reveal more detailed information about the specifics of various interbreeding events.
Top image: Neanderthals or Homo Sapiens or both cooking animal meat over a bonfire, and the latest study shows the greatest Neanderthal and Homo sapiens interbreeding occurred in the Paleolithic Near East.
On Scene, UFO Crash Site, Verified by Military Documents & Secondary Reports, We Get Footage!
On Scene, UFO Crash Site, Verified by Military Documents & Secondary Reports, We Get Footage!
Small town in New Mexico outside Roswell about 100 miles that most people haven’t heard of. Its called Corona New Mexico and in 1946 a Flying Saucer crashed with Occupants in the middle of the desert. Roswell gets all the publicity but this location has a Verified UFO crash site with Miltary documents an secondary reporting to back it up. Seven witnesses saw a fireball fall from the sky also and this isn’t too far from White Sands either. Billy the Kid got into a gun fight here also and there is a lot of rich history in this town. We fly over the site with an Aerial Camera in 4K HDTV and on scene with a gopro, EMF detector and geiger counter.
NASA has scrubbed the first attempted launch of its Space Launch System (SLS) Moon rocket after running into multiple issues, one of which could not be solved in time.
The delay is bad news for the tens to hundreds of thousands of tourists who traveled to Cape Canaveral, Florida to witness the launch in person. Worse, by NASA’s own implicit admission, there’s a good chance the main problem SLS encountered could have already been dealt with and rectified in advance of the launch attempt if the space agency had finished testing the rocket earlier this summer.
Ultimately, that omission turned the first SLS launch attempt into more of a continuation of the rocket’s first four wet dress rehearsal (WDR) attempts, none of which ended as expected. NASA engineers will now have to decide how to proceed and whether the SLS rocket can be made ready in time for another launch attempt on September 2nd or 5th. If not, the next opportunity could be weeks away.
As far as SLS test operations go, the August 28/29th launch attempt was fairly ordinary, with the rocket running into multiple issues – a few minor, a few significant, and one identical to a previous problem. The first problem – a hydrogen leak near the SLS rocket’s base – came after a risk of lightning delayed the start of propellant loading by more than an hour. A very similar, if not identical, hydrogen fuel leak had already occurred during official wet dress rehearsal testing in April and July.
That leak was fixed on the fly by properly chilling all related systems, and propellant loading was eventually completed – albeit a few hours late thanks to inclement weather. Shortly after, there were reports of a crack that needed careful analysis. Only later did NASA specify that the suspected crack was in the rocket’s foam insulation rather than its structures, the latter of which could have been a catastrophic problem.
Around the same time, the true showstopper of the day occurred when NASA attempted to chill the SLS Core Stage’s four RS-25 engines, all of which flew several times aboard reusable Space Shuttle orbiters. Three engines performed (mostly) as expected, flowing a bit of liquid hydrogen fuel to cool themselves down, but one – engine #3 – was never able to make progress toward the optimal temperature needed for ignition (~5°C/~41°F). After hours of remote troubleshooting attempts, no progress had been made, and NASA ultimately decided to scrub the launch attempt at T-40 minutes to liftoff.
Over the course of four separate wet dress rehearsal attempts in April and June 2022, NASA was never able to test the core stage’s engine chill capabilities. In a post-scrub press conference, Jim Free – NASA’s Associate Administrator of the Exploration Systems Development Division – revealed that all four engines were warmer than intended, further confirming that skipping a fully nominal wet dress rehearsal was likely a mistake. Clear and present evidence aside, Free stated that he and other executives still believed skipping that test was the right decision, claiming that ending explicit WDR testing reduced the number of times the rocket needed to be moved on its transporter.
Making the situation even harder to explain, Artemis I Mission Manager Mike Sarafin revealed in the conference Q&A that Boeing had changed the design of parts of the SLS engine chill (bleed) system after the Core Stage finally conducted a nominal static fire test at Mississippi’s Stennis Space Center. Completed in March 2021, the SLS rocket then sat inside NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for a full year before attempting its first wet dress rehearsal tests at the launch pad.
The first round of three WDRs were not as smooth as NASA expected and instead uncovered three relatively small issues: a hydrogen leak, a single faulty upper stage valve, and problems with a ground supply of nitrogen gas. Those small issues led NASA to roll SLS back to the VAB for repairs, incurring a minimum multi-week delay that stretched into two months. SLS also failed to complete a fourth WDR attempt in July 2022, but NASA decided to overlook the rocket parts and phases of preflight operations that were never actually tested as planned, one of which was the engine chill system.
If NASA cannot fix the RS-25 chill system within the next few days, it will be forced to roll the entire rocket and mobile launch platform back to the VAB to – at a minimum – replace its flight termination system (FTS). The US Eastern Range requires that all rocket FTS systems be tested no more than 15 days before launch, and NASA was able to secure special permission for a gap of up to 25 days. However, because Boeing’s Core Stage design places the FTS system in a location that is reportedly inaccessible at the pad, the entire SLS rocket will need to roll back to the VAB to have its FTS systems “retested” after that period.
As a result, NASA’s SLS launch debut will be delayed by several weeks (at best) if it can’t recycle for another attempt on September 2nd or 5th. The next window runs from September 20th to October 4th, but the SLS rocket took 10 days to go from its latest rollout to first launch attempt – a figure that doesn’t include the time required to remove the rocket from the pad, roll it back to the VAB, and conduct any necessary repairs or tests while back in the bay. If NASA can’t fix the engine problem at the pad by September 3rd or 4th, the true delay could be more like 4-6 weeks.
With any luck, that won’t happen, but it’s clear that a lot of stress and discomfort could have been avoided if NASA had gone into its first launch attempt knowing that its SLS rocket was truly ready.
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Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 73 jaar jong.
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