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...
19-10-2022
The Heaviest Element Ever Seen in an Exoplanet’s Atmosphere: Barium
The Heaviest Element Ever Seen in an Exoplanet’s Atmosphere: Barium
This artist’s impression shows an ultra-hot exoplanet as it is about to transit in front of its host star. Using the ESPRESSO instrument of ESO’s Very Large Telescope, astronomers have found the heaviest element yet in an exoplanet's atmosphere, barium, in the two ultra-hot Jupiters WASP-76 b and WASP-121 b.
Image Credit: ESO
Astronomers have spotted barium in the atmosphere of a distant exoplanet. With its 56 protons, you have to run your finger further down the periodic table than astronomers usually do to find barium. What does finding such a heavy element in an exoplanet atmosphere mean?
It means we’re still learning how strange exoplanets can be.
We’ve made a lot of progress in exoplanet science since astronomers discovered the first ones in the mid-1990s; we now know of thousands of them. In 2001, researchers using Hubble data were the first to observe an exoplanet atmosphere, identifying sodium. Some said it was lucky and wouldn’t happen again. Boy, were they wrong.
Now we have the power to characterize exoplanet atmospheres in more detail than ever. One of our most powerful telescopes is the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT.) A new study based on observations with the VLT and its ESPRESSO (Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet and Stable Spectroscopic Observations) instrument presents evidence of barium in the atmosphere of the two ultra-hot gas giants.
WASP-76b and WASP-121b are both ultra-hot Jupiters. WASP-76b has been in the news because of the reported detection of iron in its atmosphere and the possibility that this tidally-locked planet experiences iron rain. Follow-up studies presented other explanations for the data, but the planet is still of great interest to exoplanet scientists.
This illustration of WASP-76b is based on data available in May 2020. As an object of high interest, data keeps coming in. Image Credit: By Trurle – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=89954341
WASP-121b is also noteworthy. It’s the first exoplanet where researchers found water vapour in its stratosphere. Both planets are extremely close to their stars and have orbital periods of less than two days. Both planets orbit stars similar to the Sun, with surface temperatures above 1000 C (1830 F.).
Artist’s concept of the hot Jupiter WASP-121b. A new study finds barium in its atmosphere. Image generated using Engine House VFX. Credit: Bristol Science Centre/University of Exeter
Both of these planets are known for having exotic atmospheres, but the discovery of barium has intensified interest in them. There’s no ready explanation for barium in the upper atmosphere of the planets. “The puzzling and counterintuitive part is: why is there such a heavy element in the upper layers of the atmosphere of these planets?” said lead author Azevedo Silva.
Both Jupiter-sized planets have powerful gravity that should draw heavy elements like barium to their surfaces. But instead, the barium, which is even heavier than iron, is aloft in the upper atmospheres of both planets. “Given the high gravity of the planets, we would expect heavy elements like barium to quickly fall into the lower layers of the atmosphere,” explained co-author Olivier Demangeon, another researcher from the University of Porto and IA.
Barium isn’t up there by itself. These planets’ atmospheres are exotic mixtures of chemicals alien to our atmosphere. The researchers weren’t looking for barium when they found it; they were studying the strange atmospheres as part of their effort to constrain the atmospheric composition and dynamics. They also wanted to lay the “… groundwork for new research regarding their formation and evolution environments,” as they state in their paper.
“This was in a way an ‘accidental’ discovery,” says Azevedo Silva. “We were not expecting or looking for barium in particular and had to cross-check that this was actually coming from the planet since it had never been seen in any exoplanet before.” The team also found vanadium, lithium, manganese, and other elements in the atmospheres. But barium is the heaviest element ever found in an exoplanet atmosphere.
The two planets in the study lend themselves well to atmospheric research. Is finding barium in these atmospheres a signal that we can expect to find them in other ultra-hot Jupiters? Maybe. “Both WASP-76b and WASP-121b represent some of the highest S/N datasets currently available, the presence in both of the studied planets may indicate that this heavy species can be common in the atmospheres of ultra-hot Jupiters,” the paper states.
There’s no barium in Earth’s atmosphere unless we’re watching a fireworks display. How did it get into the upper atmosphere of these planets? “At the moment, we are not sure what the mechanisms are,” explained Demangeon.
The team doesn’t overextend themselves when it comes to those mechanisms. In their paper they write, “The presence of these heavy ionized species at high altitudes in the atmospheres of ultra hot Jupiters may be evidence of unexpected atmospheric dynamics.” Further research will uncover what those dynamics are. Who knows what discoveries are waiting for us in these atmospheres?
Planetary escape may play a role in the detection. Is an unknown mechanism driving heavy elements away? The observations show that the calcium detected on WASP-121b appears to extend beyond the planet’s Roche Lobe. “Finally, we also confirm the clear asymmetric absorption feature of Ca+ on WASP-121b, with an excess absorption at the bluer wavelengths and an effective planet radius beyond the Roche-Lobe, hinting that the signal may arise from planetary atmospheric escape.”
This won’t be the last team of researchers to study these planets. Giant gaseous planets close to their stars present an excellent opportunity to study their atmospheres as their starlight passes through them. And since the orbital period is less than two days, both planets are readily observed with powerful telescopes and instruments. “Being gaseous and hot, their atmospheres are very extended and are thus easier to observe and study than those of smaller or cooler planets,” said Demangeon.
There’s reason for some caution around these results, though. When researchers discovered iron at WASP-76b, and that the iron could possibly fall as rain, people noticed. It isn’t easy to envision a world so different from ours that it can rain iron. But that iron rain discovery was called into question by another study. At this time, scientists aren’t sure if there is iron rain.
Will further research question this barium detection?
While the UK and US are only just out of the 'pandemic phase' for Covid-19, scientists are already looking ahead to the next global health crisis – and say it could be sparked by a microbe locked in a Tibetan glacier.
Researchers from Lanzhou University studied 21 glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau and found evidence of 968 microbes, most of which have never been seen before.
Worryingly, the team also identified more than 25 million protein-coding genes, including some that might influence the ability to cause disease.
'Ice-entrapped modern and ancient pathogenic microbes could lead to local epidemics and even pandemics,' the researchers wrote in their study, published in Nature Biotechnology.
Researchers from Lanzhou University studied 21 glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau and found evidence of 968 microbes, most of which have never been seen before
The researchers sequenced 883 bacterial genomes from cultivated glacier bacteria and 85 metagenomes from 21 Tibetan glaciers covering diverse habitats, including snow (bottom left map), ice (top left map) and cryoconite (top right map)
The Tibetan Plateau
The Tibetan Plateau is a key source of water for some of the world's largest rivers, which means any dangerous microbes could quickly reach a large number of people.
'The Tibetan Plateau, which is known as the water tower of Asia, is the source of several of the world's largest rivers, including the Yangtze, the Yellow River, the Ganges River and Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra River),' the researchers explained.
'The release of potentially hazardous bacteria could affect the two most populated countries in the world: China and India.'
In the study, the team gathered bacteria and microscopic life forms called archaea from 21 glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau, from 2016-2020.
Using genetic sequencing, the researchers uncovered evidence of 968 microbial species.
Some of the microbes are common, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is found in soil and water.
However, the vast majority (82 per cent) were found to bear little genetic similarity to microbes found in other environments.
Eleven per cent of species were only found in one glacier, while 10 per cent were located in almost all the glaciers studied.
The team also uncovered more than 25 million protein-coding genes – including some that might influence the ability to cause disease.
'Here we present the first, to our knowledge, dedicated genome and gene catalogue for glacier ecosystems, comprising 3,241 genomes and metagenome-assembled genomes and 25 million non-redundant proteins from 85 Tibetan glacier metagenomes and 883 cultivated isolates,' the researchers wrote.
The findings suggest that many microbes have evolved to withstand extreme conditions, according to the team.
'The surfaces of glaciers support a diverse array of life, including bacteria, algae, archaea, fungi, and other microeukaryotes,' they explained.
'Microorganisms have demonstrated the ability to adapt to these extreme conditions and contribute to vital ecological processes.
Some of the microbes are common, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is found in soil and water. However, the vast majority (82 per cent) were found to bear little genetic similarity to microbes found in other environments
'Glacier ice can also act as a record of microorganisms from the past, with ancient (more than 10,000 years old) airborne microorganisms being successfully revived.
'Therefore, the glacial microbiome also constitutes an invaluable chronology of microbial life on our planet.'
The Tibetan Plateau is a key source of water for some of the world's largest rivers, which means any dangerous microbes could quickly reach a large number of people if released.
'The Tibetan Plateau, which is known as the water tower of Asia, is the source of several of the world's largest rivers, including the Yangtze, the Yellow River, the Ganges River and Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra River),' the researchers explained.
'The release of potentially hazardous bacteria could affect the two most populated countries in the world: China and India.'
Worryingly, a 2019 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that up to two-thirds of the Tibetan Plateau's remaining glaciers are on track to disappear by the end of the century.
It is expected a third of the ice will be lost in that time - even if global warming is limited 2.7F (1.5C) above pre-industrial levels.
The team hopes the project, which they're calling the 'Tibetan Glacier Genome and Gene' (TG2G) catalogue, will be useful for researchers in the future.
'The TG2G catalog offers a database and a platform for archiving, analysis and comparison of glacier microbiomes at the genome and gene levels. It is particularly timely as the glacier ecosystem is threatened by global warming, and glaciers are retreating at an unprecedented rate,' they concluded.
'We envisage that the catalog will form the basis of a comprehensive global repository for glacial microbiome data.'
A virus particle, or virion, is made up of three parts: a set of genetic instructions, either DNA or RNA; coat of protein that surrounds the DNA or RNA to protect it; a lipid membrane, which surrounds the protein coat.
Unlike human cells or bacteria, viruses don't contain the chemical machinery, called enzymes, needed to carry out the chemical reactions to divide and spread.
They carry only one or two enzymes that decode their genetic instructions, and need a host cell, like bacteria, a plant or animal, in which to live and make more viruses.
When a virus infects a living cell, it hijacks and reprograms the cell to turn it into a virus-producing factory.
Proteins on the virus interact with specific receptors on the target cell.
The virus then inserts its genetic code into the target cell, while the cell's own DNA is degraded.
The target cell is then 'hijacked', it begins using the virus' genetic code as a blueprint to produce more viruses.
The cell eventually bursts open to release the new, intact viruses that then infect other cells and begin the process again.
Once free from the host cell, the new viruses can attack other cells.
Because one virus can reproduce thousands of new viruses, viral infections can spread quickly throughout the body.
Glaciers that are melting amid rising global temperatures could be the cause of the next deathly pandemic, a new study claims.
Scientists investigated how climate change may affect the risk of 'spillover' – a virus jumping to another species – by examining samples from Lake Hazen in the Arctic.
They found that the chance of a spillover event increases with the melting of glaciers, as the meltwater can transport pathogens to new hosts.
Killer viruses that have been frozen in glaciers for hundreds of years could reawaken as temperatures rise and the ice melts and flows to new locations.
Viruses need hosts like humans, animals, plants or fungi to replicate and spread, and occasionally they can jump to a new one that lacks immunity, as seen during the Covid pandemic.
A warming climate could bring viruses in the Arctic into contact with new environments and hosts, increasing the risk of this 'viral spillover', the experts warn.
Researchers in Canada wanted to investigate how climate change might affect the risk of 'viral spillover' by examining samples from the Arctic landscape of Lake Hazen. The experts are pictured at Lake Hazen drilling holes to collect sediment
Lake Hazen, seen from above in this NASA image, is the largest High Arctic freshwater lake in the world
WHAT IS A VIRAL SPILLOVER?
A 'spillover' event describes a virus's jump from one species to another.
An example is the spillover of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid, from a bat or pangolin to a human.
A spillover contrasts with a 'spillback' - a virus going from humans back into wild animals.
The new study was led by researchers at Department of Biology, University of Ottawa in Canada and published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
'Spillover risk increases with runoff from glacier melt, a proxy for climate change,' say the researchers in their paper.
'Should climate change also shift species range of potential viral vectors and reservoirs northwards, the High Arctic could become fertile ground for emerging pandemics.'
In the past years, many viruses such as Influenza A, Ebola and SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes Covid) spilled over to humans and caused 'significant diseases', the study says.
Evidence already suggests SARS-CoV-2 originated in horseshoe bats, although it's likely the virus passed to humans through pangolins, a scaly mammal often confused for a reptile.
Likewise, it's thought the lethal outbreak of the Ebola virus in Western Africa between 2013 and 2016 stemmed from bats.
The researchers focused their study on soil and lake sediments from Lake Hazen, the largest High Arctic freshwater lake in the world.
The team sampled soil that becomes a riverbed for melted glacier water in the summer, as well as the lakebed itself, which required clearing snow and drilling through more than six feet of ice.
They used ropes and a snowmobile to lift the lake sediment through almost 980 feet (300 metres) of water, and samples were then sequenced for DNA and RNA, the genetic blueprints and messengers of life.
'This enabled us to know what viruses are in a given environment, and what potential hosts are also present,' said study leader Stephane Aris-Brosou, an associate professor in the University of Ottawa.
In the past years, many viruses such as Influenza A, Ebola and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid, spilled over to humans and caused 'significant diseases', the study says. Pictured is a rendering of SARS-CoV-2
WHAT IS GLACIAL RUNOFF?
Glaciers are slowly moving rivers of ice, formed by the accumulation and compaction of snow on mountains or near the poles.
Glacier runoff means all melt and rain water that runs off the glacierized area without refreezing.
Global warming is expected to increase runoff at Lake Hazen in the Arctic, researchers say.
But to find out how likely they were to jump hosts, the team needed to examine the equivalent of each virus and host's family tree.
'Basically what we tried to do is measure how similar these [family] trees are,' said study author Audree Lemieux.
Similar genealogies suggest a virus has evolved along with its host, but differences suggest spillover, and if a virus has jumped hosts once, it is more likely to do so again.
The analysis found pronounced differences between viruses and hosts in the lake bed, which is directly correlated to the risk of spillover.
The difference was less stark in the riverbeds, which the researchers theorise is because water erodes the topsoil, removing organisms and limiting interactions between viruses and potential new hosts.
Those instead wash into the lake, which has seen 'dramatic change' in recent years, as increased water from melting glaciers deposits more sediment.
'That's going to bring together hosts and viruses that would not normally encounter each other,' Lemieux said.
Also, animals and protists were found to be the most susceptible to spillovers, while plants and fungi showed a lower susceptibility to spillovers.
The experts stress that they are neither forecasting an actual spillover nor a pandemic, and that the likelihood of such an event 'remains very low'.
They also warn more work is needed to clarify how big the difference between viruses and hosts needs to be to create serious spillover risk.
Animals and protists are the most susceptible to spillover, while plants and fungi showed a lower susceptibility to spillovers
But they argue that warming weather could increase risks further if new potential hosts move into previously inhospitable regions.
'It could be anything from ticks to mosquitoes to certain animals, to bacteria and viruses themselves,' said Lemieux.
'It's really unpredictable... and the effect of spillover itself is very unpredictable, it can range from benign to an actual pandemic.'
The team now wants more research and surveillance work in the Arctic region to 'mitigate the impact of spillovers' on humans and other species.
'Obviously we've seen in the past two years what the effects of spillover can be,' said Lemieux.
HUMANS HAVE HAVE GIVEN WILD ANIMALS DISEASES NEARLY 100 TIMES IN A REVERSAL OF THE ANIMAL-TO-HUMAN TRANSMISSION OF KILLER DISEASES LIKE COVID AND EBOLA
It's widely believed that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid, was spread from wild animals to humans.
But a 2022 study claims that humans might give viruses to animals more often than previously understood.
Researchers reviewed published evidence of human-to-wildlife transmission events, with a focus on how such events could threaten animal and human health.
They found a total of 97 examples of human-to-wildlife transmissions involving a wide range of pathogens, from M. tuberculosis, measles, influenzas and hepatitis B.
These pathogens likely spread from humans to wild animals in multiple ways, such as wild animals' contact with human sewage.
Affected animals range from the Asian elephant, European hedgehog, rhesus monkey, gibbon, giant panda, harbor seal and many more.
The study refers to 'spillovers' (a virus's jump from another species) and a spillback (a virus going from humans back into wild animals).
Volgende pandemie wordt mogelijk veroorzaakt door smeltende gletsjers, zo waarschuwen wetenschappers
De volgende pandemie zal wellicht niet voortvloeien uit een virus dat afkomstig is van vleermuizen of vogels. Vermoedelijk zullen smeltende gletsjers de grote boosdoener zijn, zo schrijven wetenschappers in het vaktijdschrift Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Het nieuws over ijskappen en gletsjers die zienderogen verdwijnen door de klimaatverandering overspoelt ons. Hoe dat komt kan je hieronder bekijken (zie video). De Zwitserse gletsjers smolten nooit zo snel als in 2022, de smeltende Groenlandse ijskap zal leiden tot een grote zeespiegelstijging en er vielen doden na een gletsjerbreuk in de Dolomieten. Een ander mogelijk gevolg van de smeltende gletsjers zou een nieuwe pandemie kunnen zijn.
Dat zit zo: tal van virussen en bacteriën zitten momenteel ingekapseld in gletsjers en permafrost - bevroren ondergrond die (normaal) nooit helemaal ontdooit. Wetenschappers vermoedden dat, zodra deze toch ontdooien, de oude virussen en bacteriën opnieuw kunnen ‘ontwaken’ en fauna infecteren. Om deze hypothese uit te testen, verzamelden onderzoekers van de University of Ottowa bodemmonsters in de buurt van Lake Hazen in Canada, een zoetwatermeer dat omringd wordt door gletsjers.
Uit deze monsters identificeerden de onderzoekers virussen die sterk gelijken op reeds bekende virussen. Vervolgens bestudeerden ze de lokale fauna en gingen ze op zoek naar potentiële gastheren. Tot slot ging een algoritme aan de slag met de gegevens en berekende het de kans op een echte infectie met een van deze virussen. Wat bleek? De kans dat virussen een nieuwe gastheer infecteren, bleek daadwerkelijk groter te zijn op plaatsen met veel gesmolten gletsjerijs of permafrost.
Uit eerder onderzoek was al gebleken dat gletsjerijs virussen kan bevatten. Opvallend, deze virussen overleven niet ondanks, maar juist dankzij het ijs.
Uitbraak van miltvuur
In 2016 is er in Siberië overigens al sprake geweest van een uitbraak van miltvuur - een ziekte die een steenpuistachtige huidinfectie, longontsteking en een vergrote en ontstoken milt kan veroorzaken. De bacterie die verantwoordelijk is voor deze ziekte zou afkomstig zijn geweest van bevroren permafrost dat via een rendier bij de mens is terechtgekomen. Vermoedelijk heeft het rendier besmet water gedronken, is het dier ziek geworden en heeft het daarna een eerste persoon rechtstreeks of via dierlijke producten besmet.
Bacteriën en virussen
Bacteriën en virussen zijn eigenlijk overal: in de lucht, in voedsel en in water. Bacteriën planten zich daar op zelfstandige basis voort, maar virussen hebben een gastheer nodig. Sommige virussen komen bij deze gastheer terecht via voedsel, water of knaagdieren. Andere virussen doen dat via muggen, de lucht, seks of een aanraking.
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The Next Great “Mass Extinction” Is Already Here
The Next Great “Mass Extinction” Is Already Here
Death is all around us, but most of us are so focused on our own little worlds that we can’t even see it. There have been other mass extinctions throughout history, but the one that is happening right now is much different from all those that have come before. That is because it is happening very gradually. Over the past 50 years, billions of creatures have been wiped off the face of our planet, but it didn’t happen all at once. It has been a slow, steady process, and the mainstream media hardly ever talks about it. So most people don’t pay any attention to this crisis, even though it truly is an existential threat to our existence.
If all other creatures were suddenly eliminated, humanity would not survive for very long at all.
But for some reason we don’t seem to understand this.
Even though we are at the top of the food chain, we can’t afford to ignore what is going on below us. And right now what is happening to much of the food chain is absolutely horrific.
The Living Planet Index tracks the populations of 32,000 different species, and we are being told that those 32,000 different populations have declined by an average of 69 percent since 1970…
The Living Planet Index (LPI)—which tracks populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians—reveals an average 69% decrease in monitored wildlife populations since 1970. The 2022 LPI analyzed almost 32,000 species populations. It provides the most comprehensive measure of how they are responding to pressures in their environment.
69 percent!
If that doesn’t meet the definition of “mass extinction”, what does?
We have been entrusted with the care of this planet, and just about everything on it is dying. In fact, at this point countless species of plants and animals are literally “on the verge of extinction”…
In Africa, two thirds of animal populations have been lost. In Europe, there has been an animal population decline of 18 percent. In Asia, the damage is 55 percent, and in North America, animal populations have fallen by 20 percent. The greatest losses are occurring in Latin America and throughout the Caribbean; animal populations have plummeted by 94% in these areas. Millions of species of plants and animals are now on the verge of extinction.
Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International, said the entire organization is “extremely worried” by the new data. The data shows “a devastating fall in wildlife populations, in particular in tropical regions that are home to some of the most biodiverse landscapes in the world,” he said. This includes warm water coral reefs, which have been cut in half over the past 50 years.
Why aren’t more people concerned about this?
If we stay on the path that we are currently on, it is just a matter of time before most species are gone.
Do you think that we will be able to survive once there are thousands of giant gaps in the food chain?
Of course not.
The clock is ticking for humanity, and most people are in a deep state of sleep.
Speaking of sleep, I remember often waking up to the sound of birds when I was very young.
But now in many communities around America the birds are missing. In fact, a report that was recently released found that birds are being wiped out in the United States at a rate that is absolutely staggering…
The Rufous Hummingbird, Greater Sage-Grouse, Pinyon Jay, and 67 other birds in the United States are teetering on the edge of disaster, having lost at least half of their populations in the past 50 years. A report released today by North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) calls these birds “Tipping Point” species, on track to lose another 50 percent of their populations in the same time frame if conservation efforts do not improve.
Given enough time, eventually they will all be gone.
What would we do then?
We have also just learned that the crab population in Alaska has suffered a decline that is truly catastrophic…
According to an annual survey of the Bering Sea floor carried out by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, estimates for the crustaceans’ total numbers fell to about 1.9 billion in 2022, down from 11.7 billion in 2018, or a reduction of about 84 percent.
For the first time ever, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced the Bering Sea snow crab season will remain closed for 2022-23, saying in a statement efforts must turn to “conservation and rebuilding given the condition of the stock.”
There are countless other examples just like this.
But very few people seem to care.
Meanwhile, our scientists continue to conduct experiments which could ultimately result in even more mass extinctions. In fact, just this week it was being reported that taxpayer-funded researchers at Boston University have created a hybrid COVID virus that has “an 80 percent lethality rate”…
A senior US health official today admitted that controversial Covid manipulation research carried out in a laboratory in Boston was not authorized — despite being funded by taxpayer money.
DailyMail.com exclusively revealed yesterday that a team from Boston University had developed a hybrid Covid virus — combining the Omicron and original Wuhan strains — which had an 80 percent lethality rate.
Public records indicate it was partly paid for using a grant awarded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the federal government’s main research agencies.
Only people that are completely and utterly insane would purposely create something like this.
What if it gets out somehow?
What will they do then?
The stupidity that we are witnessing is off the charts.
But unless the mainstream media makes a really big deal out of this, most of the population is simply not going to care.
And that is because most of the population does not even bother to think for themselves any longer.
Humanity just keeps making self-destructive decision after self-destructive decision, and the global elite seem quite satisfied with how things are going.
Thanks to them, we live on a dirty, filthy poisoned planet, and the clock just keeps on ticking.
***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***
About the Author:
My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available on Amazon.com. In addition to my new book I have written five other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, “Get Prepared Now”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned) When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending digital copies as gifts through Amazon to family and friends. Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible. I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help. These are such troubled times, and people need hope. John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you have not already done so, I strongly urge you to ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior today.
Mysterious Orb Fleet Over Brooklyn, New York July 6, 2022, -video- UFO Sighting News.
Mysterious Orb Fleet Over Brooklyn, New York July 6, 2022, - video - UFO Sighting News.
Date of sighting: July 6, 2022 Location of sighting: Brooklyn, New York USA Source: MUFON
This report just in today at MUFON. The video shows a fleet of glowing white craft in the sky over Brooklyn. From my personal close up experience in the past I can tell you these objects are not really white, but appear white when far away, but when close up will look pearlescent mother of pearl surface that is liquid-like and slowly rotates around the craft as its colors and patterns on its surface change. One person asked me in the chat below the video on my channel..."Why do you think they are allowing themselves to be seen so much lately?" Well, I responded, "Either they figure we are ready, or the end of life as we know it is on the horizon."
Scott C. Waring - Taiwan
Eyewitness states:
For clarity I'm going to label these lights A, B, C, and D. My apologies in advance that I am directionally challenged, so I'm using right/left/vertical/horizontal/diagonal instead of the cardinal points, so I don't get myself mixed up. I didn't know what to put for the elevation degree, either. However, I know that we were facing SE to where our street crosses with Myrtle avenue, if that helps to make sense of the flight directions. I am out watching the sunset on my balcony almost every night, so I know the skyline well. There are often planes taking off from JFK, and there is are several low towers with red and white glowing lights. Occasionally there are helicopters. I don't know what this was, but it was not like anything my partner or I have seen before. He called me outside and I saw that one of the lights in the sky (Light A), which I had originally thought was a white light from a tower, was moving slowly, in a horizontal direction, from left to right towards another, brighter, stationary white light Light B). It then started to ascend towards another brighter, higher stationary light (light C). Its flight path formed a diagonal line between Light B and C. Light A came close to the higher light, C, and then changed direction a third time to ascend diagonally to the right. As Light A started to diagonally ascend, Light C, and another bright light (Light D), previously stationary to its left, started to move horizontally towards each other. Light C passed Light D and then continued moving quickly on, in the same direction.
Meanwhile, Light A is continuing to ascend diagonally. At this point I was concerned I wouldn't be able to capture all of the lights onscreen, so I flipped my phone camera vertically. Light C seemed to have grown dimmer and was flickering. After a few moments continuing past Light D to the left, Light C stopped and reversed its direction, heading back towards Light D again. Only light B and D remained stationary at that time, and Light B was the only light that appeared not to move at all. At this point, about two minutes into filming, I stopped because my boyfriend (completely uninterested and unfazed by this phenomenon) made me feel like I was being a nut. However, there continued to be movement for another few minutes at least, and some movement had happened shortly before I remembered to start filming. I grew up on a farm looking at the constellations, satellites, etc. and love to watch the sky in Brooklyn as well. I've never seen any objects move in a coordinated way like this, especially changing directions multiple times. I would love if someone had an explanation for this. I'm including the video I shot on my phone (iphone 11).
Hey I found this last night and just wanted to share it with you all. Two strange alien created artifacts that exist on the surface of Mars in a NASA photo. The first is a grandfather face at the top of the hill looking outward to the horizon. It has a thick beard and mustache and a forehead, cheeks, eyes, and nose which make me think the species that created it was related to humanity. The other artifact is a dragon head sticking upward, its face, eye, nose and mouth all visible, as well as its sharp ridges on the back of its neck. Check out the video I made today below and tell me your thoughts.
Carina Nebula: Amazing Photos of a Colorful Cosmic Cloud
(c) NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Carina Nebula: Amazing Photos of a Colorful Cosmic Cloud
Pillars of Destruction
ESO/A. McLeod
The Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) is a stellar nursery 7,500 light-years from Earth. These images show several pillars of gas and dust protruding from the nebula. Dubbed the "Pillars of Destruction," these regions are being destroyed by radiation from new stars. The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile created these images with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument.
Region R18 in the Carina Nebula
ESO/A. McLeod
The MUSE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope captured the R18 region inside the Carina Nebula. The pillars of dust and gas which produce gigantic stars are eventually consumed by the stars themselves.
Region R37 in the Carina Nebula
ESO/A. McLeod
Massive newborn stars inside the Carina Nebula's R37 region, which is 7500 light-years away, destroy the clouds of dust and gas that created them. This image was taken by the MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope.
Region R45 in the Carina Nebula
ESO/A. McLeod
In the R45 Region of the Carina Nebula, the massive stars that spawn from the cosmic gas and dust slowly devour the clouds that birthed them.
Star Cluster Trumpler 14
ESO/A. McLeod
Inside the Carina Nebula, this pillar from the Trumpler 14 star cluster was captured by the MUSE instrument on the ESO's Very Large Telescope.
R44 Region in the Carina Nebula
ESO/A. McLeod
This photo shows a region of the Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) called R44. The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile created the image with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument.
Mystic Mountain
ESO/A. McLeod
This majestic pillar of the Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) is a 3-light-year-tall cloud of gas and dust that is being eaten away by the brilliant light from stars both in its surroundings and inside the cloud itself. The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile created the image with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument.
Bok Globules
ESO/A. McLeod
Dark patches seen in this region of the Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) are called "Bok globules." These small, dark nebulas are dense with gas and dust, so not much light can get through. The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile created this image with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument.
Violent Carina Nebula Seen in Detail
ESO
Several well known astronomical objects in and near the Carina Nebula can be seen in this wide field image: to the bottom left of the image is one of the most impressive binary stars in the Universe, Eta Carinae, with the famous Keyhole Nebula just adjacent to the star. The collection of very bright, young stars above and to the right of Eta Carinae is the open star cluster Trumpler 14. A second open star cluster, Collinder 228 is also seen in the image, just below Eta Carinae. North is up and East is to the left.
Eta Carina Nebula
ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2; Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin
The Digitized Sky Survey 2 created this color composite of the Eta Carina Nebula from multiple exposures.
Remembering the Gutsy and Hilarious Apollo Astronaut Jim McDivitt
Remembering the Gutsy and Hilarious Apollo Astronaut Jim McDivitt
Former NASA astronaut Jim McDivitt, who commanded the important Gemini IV and Apollo 9 missions – both crucial for NASA’s ability to reach the Moon — has died at age 93. His family said he passed away peacefully in his sleep on October 13, 2022.
A gag photo of Jim McDivitt, Gemini IV commander. McDivitt signed the photo, “I really take space to heart!”
As an Air Force Pilot, McDivitt flew 145 combat missions during the Korean War; he then became a test pilot. He was selected as an astronaut by NASA in September 1962 as part of the second astronaut class.
McDivitt was known for his sense of teamwork and gutsy leadership, as well as his sense of humor. In an oral history interview, McDivitt recalled deciding to wait for the right moment to tell his young children he was chosen to fly on Gemini IV, the mission which included the first US spacewalk, by McDivitt’s crewmate, Ed While.
“So, one Saturday morning we were sitting at our breakfast table,” McDivitt recalled. “We finally got to this dramatic moment and I said, ‘Kids, I’m going to tell you something really important. You know that dad’s an astronaut and the astronauts fly in space. I just want to let you know that I’m going to fly in space soon.’ And my older boy, Mike, who was probably seven or eight, says, ‘Oh yeah, dad, I heard that at school. And then my daughter Ann said, “Oh yeah, dad, I heard that at school, too.” And my son Patrick said, ‘Dad, there’s a fly in the milk bottle.’”
While McDivitt feelings of importance may have taken a hit that day — thanks to his children — his self-confidence was later apparent when asked why NASA chose him to fly two such important space flights.
“Well, I was the best-looking astronaut there was, and so they picked me on looks there,” McDivitt jested. “Or maybe it was personality!”
Close-up view of astronauts James A. McDivitt (foreground) and Edward H. White II inside their Gemini-4 spacecraft.Credit: NASA
When NASA selected McDivitt as commander of the Gemini IV mission in June 1965, he became the first-ever NASA rookie to command a mission. Gemini IV was considered NASA’s most ambitious flight at the time, with White’s historic spacewalk and the longest U.S. spaceflight at the time, 4 days.
While White’s spacewalk is remembered for its historic nature and how White appeared to be having such a wonderful experience that he didn’t want to come back inside the Gemini spacecraft, McDivitt shared a little-known story of how the spacewalk almost didn’t happen because the hatch to the capsule wouldn’t open initially.
The Gemini-4 crew, astronauts Edward H. White II (left), pilot; and James A. McDivitt, command pilot, listen to the voice of President Lyndon B. Johnson as he congratulated them by telephone on their successful four-day, 62-revolution Gemini-4 mission. Credit: NASA.
“There was a handle and a bunch of little gears with teeth on them,” McDivitt recalled, “and the teeth had to engage some of the other little gears. It was a fairly complex mechanism. And those gears weren’t really going together properly. I said, ‘Oh my God, it’s not opening!’”
McDivitt said he and White decided not to tell Mission Control about it. “I mean, there was nothing they could do. They would’ve said, ‘No,’ I’m sure. Anyway, we went ahead and opened it up; and Ed went out and did his thing. And that was one of the reasons I was kind of anxious to have him get back inside the spacecraft, because I’d like to do this [close the hatch] in the daylight, not in the dark. But by the time he got back in, it was dark. So, when we went to close the hatch, it wouldn’t close. It wouldn’t lock. And so, in the dark I was trying to fiddle around over on the side where I couldn’t see anything, trying to get my glove down in this little slot to push the gears together. And finally, we got that done and got it latched.”
McDivitt and White had a long history, as they both attended the University of Michigan, were both in the Air Force, and had gone through the astronaut selection together. When White died tragically in the Apollo 1 fire, McDivitt said that Ed White “was the best friend I ever had.”
While the Gemini missions often get overlooked in the run-up to the Apollo missions, McDivitt emphasized their importance.
“I think if it hadn’t been for Gemini, flying Apollo would’ve been nigh on to impossible,” he said. “Apollo could’ve been a 30-flight program with a lot of accidents if we started going to the Moon very early, if we didn’t have the coordination of skills and the reliability …in the ground or the space-borne part of it. So, it was very important.”
Four years later, in March of 1969, McDivitt commanded Apollo 9, which also sometimes gets overlooked as being a rather mundane flight. But it was a 10-day test flight in Earth orbit of the new lunar module, a “shakeout” first flight of the complete set of Apollo hardware that ultimately paved the way for NASA to successfully land humans on the Moon four months later in July 1969.
The crew of Apollo 9: Commander James McDivitt, Command Module Pilot Dave Scott and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart. Credit: NASA
For Apollo 9, McDivitt was joined by Command Module Pilot David Scott and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart. The crew spent 10 days in low Earth orbit, with the top priority of testing the LM and performing multiple dockings with the two spacecraft, the LM and Command Modules, simulating the maneuvers that would be performed during subsequent missions at the Moon. At one point, McDivitt and Schweickart flew the Lunar Module 160 kilometers (100 miles) away from the Command Module. The crew also configured the lunar module to support a spacewalk by McDivitt and Schweickart, the first EVA of the Apollo program.
But early on, the mission was in jeopardy. Schweickart’s bout with space sickness in the first days of the flight caused NASA to consider bringing the crew home early and cancelling the rest of the mission.
“That would mean we might not be able to test the rendezvous and docking, meaning we might not be able to make JFK’s commitment for the US to land on the Moon by the end of the decade,” Schweickart told me back in 2018.
But Schweickart credits the great relationship between McDivitt and himself, where the crewmates had complete sense of trust with each other, where each of them knew innately the spacewalk was going to work, with Schweickart up to the task.
“To this day, I give Jim credit for having the incredible courage to have looked at me, to trust me, to have the relationship between us where he had confidence in his judgement and mine to make that critical of a decision,” Schweickart said.
And ultimately, all went well and the mission was considered a huge success. Just before the end of Apollo 9, McDivitt called down to thank the Mission Control team for all their great work, praising the performance of the team and the spacecraft. “Might give you the impression that it might work, huh?” McDivitt joked.
But of his crewmates, McDivitt said, “We were good friends, and our lives depended on each other.”
The Apollo 9 aboard the recovery ship USS Guadalcanal on March 13, 1969. From left: Rusty Schweickart (lunar module pilot), Dave Scott (command module pilot) and Jim McDivitt (commander). Credit: NASA
After Apollo 9, McDivitt decided to trade the challenging job of flying the Apollo missions to the equally challenging job of supervising them, and became manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office in Houston. As part of that role, it was usually his decision whether or not to continue missions after an emergency. For example, McDivitt made the recommendation to leave earth orbit after the lightning strike during Apollo 12’s launch; he was involved on multiple decisions during Apollo 13 and made recommendations to continue Apollo 16 after two significant problems with the propulsion system on the Command and Service Module.
“I think it was quite fortuitous that I had a chance to fly on Apollo 9,” McDivitt said later, “because the things I did on 9, which was really an engineering test flight, that stuff came into play so much more for me as the Program Manager when we were running into difficulties. So, when I had to make decisions on those later Apollo missions, it made me more confident that the decision I was making to go forward was really right.”
McDivitt received numerous awards during his career, including two NASA Distinguished Service Medals and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal. For his service in the U.S. Air Force, he also was awarded two Air Force Distinguished Service Medals, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, five Air Medals, and U.S. Air Force Astronaut Wings. McDivitt also received the Chong Moo Medal from South Korea, the U.S. Air Force Systems Command Aerospace Primus Award, the Arnold Air Society JFK Trophy, the Sword of Loyola, and the Michigan Wolverine Frontiersman Award.
McDivitt’s passing leaves the Apollo 8 crew as the last Apollo crew with all crew members still living.
NASA Is Hoping They Can Break the Sound Barrier… Quietly
NASA Is Hoping They Can Break the Sound Barrier… Quietly
Seventy-five years is a long time for a technology to mature. In the case of supersonic flight, the technology has matured dramatically since Chuck Yaeger first broke the sound barrier on October 14th, 1947. However, you might notice that currently, you can’t hop on a commercial supersonic jet. The reason is simple, close to seventy-five years after the technology was first developed, NASA thinks it might have a solution for its biggest hurdle.
That hurdle, of course, is the sonic “boom.” The observers of Chuck Yaeger’s inaugural flight were the first people ever to experience it. But when test planes started consistently breaking the barrier, the booms started to annoy people.
OK, that might be putting it mildly. They also shattered windows, including a notorious instance of doing so over Richard Nixon’s house in California, which caused him to complain to the Air Force about it. Interesting then that the FAA banned sonic booms over land in 1973, during Nixon’s presidency.
Banning a physical phenomenon associated with your flight style definitely puts a crimp on the commercial development of supersonic engines. While they were still usable over the ocean, commercial development dried up as there weren’t enough routes serving destinations only over oceans where having such a fast plane might be profitable. One exception is the famous Concorde, which stopped operations in 2003, though there are plenty of potential successors to it, such as the Overture Jet.
Those successors might become obsolete before they even launch if NASA has anything to do with it. Their researchers found that sonic booms aren’t necessary to break the sound barrier – they just happen when the aerodynamics around the object going that fast aren’t optimized.
Enter the Quiet SuperSonic Technology (QueSST). Though its name might be slightly confusing, its intention is straightforward enough – develop a jet that can go supersonic without creating a sonic boom.
Sonic Booms explained by NASA – Credit – NASA YouTube Channel
Quesst’s current prototype, the X-59, is a successor of the X-1 that Yeager used in his first supersonic flight. NASA’s so confident in their new design lowering the impact of sonic booms that one of Quesst’s mission goals is to fly the X-59 over populated areas and see if people living in them even care.
While that might just seem like a public relation stunt, it’s arguably an effective way to get a regulatory agency (i.e., the FAA) to agree that your new technology is citizen-friendly, thereby unlocking the pathway to future commercial supersonic jet trips.
It remains to be seen if airlines, or aircraft manufacturers for that matter, would take up the challenge of creating another commercial supersonic jet. Still, after 75 years, it’s good to know that humans can still take time to improve a technology if there’s enough incentive to.
Shortly Before They Collided, two Black Holes Tangled Spacetime up Into Knots
Shortly Before They Collided, two Black Holes Tangled Spacetime up Into Knots
In February 2016, scientists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) announced the first-ever detection of gravitational waves (GWs). Originally predicted by Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, these waves are ripples in spacetime that occur whenever massive objects (like black holes and neutron stars) merge. Since then, countless GW events have been detected by observatories across the globe – to the point where they have become an almost daily occurrence. This has allowed astronomers to gain insight into some of the most extreme objects in the Universe.
In a recent study, an international team of researchers led by Cardiff University observed a binary black hole system originally detected in 2020 by the Advanced LIGO, Virgo, and Kamioki Gravitational Wave Observatory (KAGRA). In the process, the team noticed a peculiar twisting motion (aka. a precession) in the orbits of the two colliding black holes that was 10 billion times faster than what was noted with other precessing objects. This is the first time a precession has been observed with binary black holes, which confirms yet another phenomenon predicted by General Relativity (GR).
Binary black holes (BBHs) are considered a prime candidate for researching GWs since astronomers expect some will consist of precessing binaries. In this scenario, black holes will circle each other in ever-tightening orbits, generating an increasingly strong GW signal until they merge. However, no definitive evidence of orbital precession has been observed from the 84 BBH systems detected by Advanced LIGO and Virgo so far. However, the team noticed something different when examining the GW200129 event detected by LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA collaboration during its third operational run (O3).
One of the black holes in this system (~40 solar masses) is considered the fastest-spinning black hole ever detected through gravitational waves. Unlike all previous observations of BBHs, the system’s rapid rotation has such a profound effect on spacetime that the entire system wobbles back and forth. This form of precession is known as Frame Dragging (aka. the Lense–Thirring effect), an interpretation of GR where gravitational forces are so strong that they “drag” the very fabric of spacetime with them.
This same phenomenon is seen when observing Mercury’s orbit, which periodically precesses as it orbits the Sun. In short, Mercury’s path around the Sun is highly eccentric, and the most distant point in its orbit (perihelion) also moves over time, rotating about the Sun like a spinning top. These observations are one of the ways GR was tested (and confirmed) after Einstein formalized it in 1916. In general, precession in general relativity is usually such a weak effect that it is almost imperceptible. As Dr. Thompson explained in a recent Cardiff University press release:
“It’s a very tricky effect to identify. Gravitational waves are extremely weak and to detect them requires the most sensitive measurement apparatus in history. The precession is an even weaker effect buried inside the already weak signal, so we had to do a careful analysis to uncover it.”
Previously, the fastest-known example was a binary pulsar that took over 75 years for the orbit to process. In this case, the BBH known as GW200129 (observed on January 29th, 2020) processes several times a second, an effect 10 billion times as strong as the binary pulsar. Even so, confirming that the black holes in this system were precessing was a significant challenge. Said Dr. Hoy, who is now a researcher at the University of Portsmouth:
“So far, most black holes we’ve found with gravitational waves have been spinning fairly slowly. The larger black hole in this binary, which was about 40 times more massive than the Sun, was spinning almost as fast as physically possible. Our current models of how binaries form suggest this one was extremely rare, maybe a one-in-a-thousand event. Or it could be a sign that our models need to change.”
These results confirm that before black holes merge – the most extreme gravitational event astronomers have ever observed – BBHs can experience an orbital precession. It is also the latest in a long line of examples that demonstrate how GW astronomy allows astronomers to probe the laws of physics under the most extreme conditions imaginable. With a network consisting of Advanced LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA detectors in the US, Europe, and Japan, it is also one of the most vibrant fields of astronomical research.
This network is currently being upgraded to enhance its sensitivity to GW events and will commence its fourth round of observations (O4) in 2023. When this happens, it is hoped that several hundred black hole collisions will be detected and added to the GW catalog. This will allow astronomers to gain greater insight into the most extreme gravitational phenomenon in the Universe and let them know if GW200129 was an outlier or if such extreme events are a common occurrence.
Dark journalist Daniel Liszt interviews John W. Warner IV, the son of Mellon Heiress Catherine Mellon and Senator Warner of Virginia.
SECRET NAVY UFO FILE TIMELINE and the AUTEC TUAOI STONE UFO CONNECTION.
John W. Warner IV goes deep on his family connections to the The Cosmos Club known as the UFO Bilderberg. He also explains how his father, Secretary of the Navy John Warner had knowledge of Secret Navy AUTEC experiments in the HotZone to extract the Atlantean Tuaoi Stone (Also called the Fire Stone) from the Ocean Floor and classified Top Secret UFO Salvaging Operations.
AUTEC (Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center - Navys Area 51)
Since its construction in 1959 there are many strange reports of USO and UFO activity all around AUTEC. Stories of Aliens working with NAVY personnel in a deep underwater base just of the Bahamas at the tip of the Bermuda Triangle in one of the deepest trenches in the ocean.
The Atlantean Tuaoi Stone: The most prominent factor in Cayce's predictions is the Tuaoi Stone, or the Fire Crystal. It was a source of rejuvenation of the Atlanteans' bodies and a power source for their technology. Cayce's description of this six sided, cylindrical quartz and its abilities resembles that of a present day laser beam, using a type of ultraviolent light energy to power
03. Increasing mental capacity and clarity of thought
04. Science and technology
05. Dematerialization
06. Teleportation
07. Telekinesis
08. Magnetic force fields
09. Libraries
10. Storing records and other knowledge, much like a computer
11. Botany and agriculture
12. Weather Control
13. Huge crystal tower power generators
14. Communication
Crystals have the ability to transfer energy, to retain it, to maintain its intensity, to focus and transmit it over great distance to similar receivers as are equal or comparable to the transmitter. The larger stones, called Fire Crystals, were the central receiving and broadcasting stations, while others acted as receivers for individual cities, buildings, vehicles and homes.
John W. Warner IV said that clandestine intelligence structures have kept dramatic leaps in exotic ancient UFO technology behind a lethal Wall of Secrecy (X-Protect). Warner asks the question: Can the X-Technology inside the UFO File be made accessible to the world?
Check out this short but really fascinating UFO footage of a solid unidentified flying object flying across the sky above Mexico City. This happened on 16th October 2022.
Witness report:
At 19:29 hrs. I spotted something coming my way, grabbed the phone and started taping. It wasn’t making any noises neither had it any lights. Could had been a balloon, what do you think?
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for the latest UFO videos & photos.
On the night of December 6, 1978, a security guard named Pier Fortunato Zanfretta was found in a terror-stricken state near the country house known as Casa Nostra in Marzano of Torriglia, which is in Genoa, Italy.
Upon waking up, Zanfretta said he saw a massive alien that looked like a flabby suit. He then said he saw an alien ship that looked like a massive triangular shaped object. After a few minutes, the alien flew away. During a recurring hypnosis session, the man said he was dragged inside the alien ship and subjected to an intense examination.
An investigation by the military police, known as the Carabinieri, revealed that 52 people saw a large flying saucer in the sky that evening. They also found a three-meter-long mark in the meadow where the security guards found Zanfretta. The incident has left the people of Torriglia still thinking about the third kind.
Less Ice and Low Water Levels Reveal Hidden Treasures – At A Price
Less Ice and Low Water Levels Reveal Hidden Treasures – At A Price
For the world of archaeology, climate change is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, receding ice and falling water levels are bringing to the surface entire villages and ruins of civilizations. On the other hand, climate change is also causing erratic weather cycles, including wetter winters, and unseasonal humidity is wreaking havoc on ancient artifacts, causing widespread disintegration and erosion.
Once an item like wood, for example, is freed from ice, it runs the risk of rapidly crumbling unless stored immediately in a freezer. Nevertheless, as droughts, wildfires, and melting glaciers have become the norm, shipwrecks, corpses, ghost villages, bridges, monuments, have come to the fore.
Ancient Origins has been reporting on global warming related discoveries for the last ten years and here are just a few climate change changes related to archaeology.
A few of the ancient artifacts revealed by climate change on the melting Lendbreen ice patch in Norway.
Climate Change Gifts From The Melting Lendbreen Ice Patch
In Norway’s Jotunheim mountains, the Lendbreen ice patch was once a vital pass for Viking Age traffic, extensively used by the Vikings and medieval travelers from as far away as Rome. In 2011, the year of “The Great Melt,” the famously hidden pass revealed itself, and has since then provided the most archaeological finds from any ice patch in the world (though a Swiss Alps site is also worth noting). This includes hundreds of pre-historic cairns, a beeswax candle box, a 1,300 year-old-ski, an iron horseshoe, and an ancient Roman sandal .
"It's like a time machine... the ice has not been this small for many, many centuries," said Lars Piloe, the Dane heading a team of "snow patch archaeologists," in an interview with The Guardian .
In 2016, ancient reindeer hunting arrowheads were discovered in the southern Jotunheim range.
Permafrost places like Alaska and Siberia have also yielded these types of finds, including the famous Otzi “the Iceman,” found in the Italian Alps.
In February of 2022, Antarctica sea ice cover shrank to a record low, which helped solve a great maritime mystery. A research vessel from South Africa used this opportunity to explore the Weddell Sea off the Antarctica coastline, where they finally found Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship, lost to the ice in 1915.
The sunken village of Baitings and its famous packhorse bridge, pictured below the modern car bridge, have been exposed by record drought and heat for the first time since the mid-1950s.
The UK Heatwave: Secret Gardens and a Sunken Village
As the UK comes to terms with its unprecedented heatwave, where temperatures in some places have shot up to over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), emergency measures are being undertaken. These include hosepipe bans and rationing of fresh water.
A secret Derbyshire garden , hidden for 300 years, was revealed by a heatwave. This florid 17th-century landscape is being called the Great Parterre and boasts an intricate display of flower beds and paths. This is after temperatures in the region crossed 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit), the highest on record for over 100 years.
Over the weekend, Ancient Origins reported on the reappearance of a sunken Yorkshire village . The reason? The water levels of the reservoir had sunken to such a low that the erstwhile village of Baitings, which had been submerged in the 1950s, was suddenly visible again. Along with the village, the famous centuries-old packhorse bridge was also exposed due to massively diminished water levels.
Aerial view of the excavations revealing the Mitani Empire settlement of Kemune,, which was revealed by huge drops in the level of the Tigris River in Iraq.
The region of Mesopotamia, one where Neolithic civilization began, has been witnessing devastating droughts for the past 20 years. The major Euphrates and Tigris rivers have been sucked dry by illegal irrigation, damming policies, and human overuse.
This year, the same story repeated itself. Extreme drought like conditions in Iraq caused the water levels of the Tigris to drop rapidly, revealing a 3,400 year old Mitani Empire settlement .
Back in 2018-19, a palace from this ancient urban center had emerged from the waters for the same reason: drought. Due to large amounts of water being drawn from the Mosul reservoir over the winter, along with the sustained drought, this year the entire city in the Kurdistan region was visible and explorable.
16th century Church Emerges From Mexican Reservoir
A 400-year-old Spanish colonial church, the Temple of Santiago, emerged in 2015 from the depths of the Nezahualcoyotl reservoir in Chiapas, Mexico. A massive drought that year caused the water level to drop by 82 feet (25 meters), revealing the colonial church which had disappeared under the reservoir water back in 1966. Also known as the Temple of Quechula, it was first built in the mid-1600s by a group of Dominican monks headed by Friar Bartolome de la Casas.
Top image: Dried up lake with boat, a scene now more common due to climate change.
The “space ball” found recently in Namibia, now in the possession of that country’s National Forensic Science Institute.
(Credit: AFP Photo)
The recent story of a mysterious “space ball” found in Namibia, Africa last November, which baffled for a while that country’s National Forensic Science Institute, has now been identified as a type of space debris known as a Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel (COPV), according to a story posted by Discovery News. The metallic ball discovered in a Namibian grassland is 1.1 meter in diameter and weighs 13 pounds.
One of the space spheres on display at the UFO Vision Museum in Victoria, Argentina; photo of George Adamski in the background.
(Credit: Open Minds Production)
I am, in fact, quite familiar with these objects since I published a short article about them as a sidebar to my feature story, “3 International UFO Crashes” in Open Minds magazine Issue 8 (June/July 2011). The gist of that article dealt with three mysterious incidents involving possible UFO crashes in Shag Harbour, Canada (1967), Tarija, Bolivia (1978) and Dalnegorsk, Russia (1986), all of which were officially investigated at the time and still remain unexplained.
The sidebar, “The Metallic Spheres – a case of mistaken identity,” however, did not remain unidentified, and was put there as an example of so-called space mysteries that can be successfully explained, although some ufologists prefer to keep the mystery alive and suggest they may be of alien origin. These metallic balls have been falling to different parts of the Earth—mostly in Africa and Latin America—for a number of years, causing sometimes a bit of stir in the local press. They are on exhibit in at least two museums in Argentina. Hoping to discourage further confusion with real UFO-related stuff, we post below my article from Open Minds magazine, adding several photos that were not used in the original print copy.
THE METALLIC SPHERES – A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY
Two space spheres on display in the patio of the Firmat Museum in Santa Fe, Argentina.
(Credit: Open Minds Production)
Some of the Project Moon Dust documents declassified by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) include reports of mysterious metallic spheres found scattered in many countries around the world like Bolivia, Chad, and New Zealand. Other similar cases not in the DIA documents were reported in Argentina and Mexico. Usually these cases were readily identified as some kind of space junk, but occasionally they were treated as fragments from crashed UFOs. A couple of these spheres are even on display at the “Visión OVNI” (UFO Vision) Museum in Victoria in the province of Entre Ríos, Argentina. Among the Mexican cases, one was found in Chiapas in 1996, two in Tamaulipas in 1994 and 1996, and another obtained by famous TV journalist Jaime Maussán in 2008, all of which were claimed as possibly UFO-related fragments. Yet there can be little doubt that all these “space balls” are mundane parts of the Russian or American space programs and not real UFO artifacts.
Here is a representative Moon Dust memo from the Republic of Chad in Africa, dated October 10, 1970:
This report forwards photographs of object believed to come under Project ‘MOON DUST’. The object was seen falling in an area 30 kms N.E. of LAI (0924N-1618E) on 1 August 1970. It produced three loud explosions on landing and was said to have burned for five days. The sphere weighs 30 pounds and has a circumference of four feet. A second object was found in the same general area. It however, resembles an automobile shaft. Photographs of this object are forwarded.
A longer Moon Dust document, dated August 17, 1979, concerns “an unidentified object having been found on a farm near Santa Cruz” in Bolivia, described as “about three times the size of a basketball.” The document quoted the director of the Air Force Academy, Col. Ariel Coca, as stating, “The sphere is made of special light alloy but very resistant, possibly a fuel tank or a part of a satellite! The object does not have any signs or marks that could identify its origin nor the country to which it belongs.”
Two views of the space sphere that fell in Mexico in 2008, now in the possession of Jaime Maussán. Notice the extensive damage inflicted due to reentry.
(Credit: Open Minds Production)
The argument in favor of the extraterrestrial origin of these spheres made by some ufologists in Mexico and Argentina is that they are extremely hard, almost impossible to burn or cut.
Cover of the Mexican magazine Contacto Ovni in the 1990s with the headline, 'The Mystery of the Spheres.'
(Credit: Contacto Ovni)
But this is what you would expect of a fuel tank for a spacecraft, designed to be ejected for earth reentry once the fuel is used; it has to be made of metals able to withstand the space launch or the satellite or spacecraft could be in danger. Mexican engineer Luis Ruiz Noguez, a well-known UFO skeptic, explained that the alloy, which is composed of titanium, vanadium, and aluminum, shown in the 1994 and 1996 Mexican spheres “is chiefly utilized in the manufacture of fuel tanks for artificial satellites due to their high resistance to corrosion and temperature.” While the spheres at Argentina’s Visión OVNI Museum are exhibited as true UFO artifacts, the local Firmat Museum in Santa Fe, Argentina has a couple of similar spheres that the Russian space program has acknowledged as part of a Russian space probe.
If you still have any doubt about the provenance of these objects, checkout Paul Maley’s Space Debris website, to see images of a number of these “space balls” of varying sizes and conditions found around the world. These spheres provide a useful cautionary tale in learning how to distinguish prosaic man-made space objects from true unknown devices. There is a good possibility that many so-called UFO crashes have a terrestrial origin, but others are still enigmatic and so far unexplained.
‘Clearest Photo Ever’ of a Huge UFO, Advanced Military Tech, Or Just A Rock In Water?
‘Clearest Photo Ever’ of a Huge UFO, Advanced Military Tech, Or Just A Rock In Water?
A team of British UFO researchers has released the “clearest UFO photograph ever”. However, sceptics say it’s a triangular rock reflected in water.
For many, this photograph is the smoking-gun of alien visitation and for others it reveals an advanced U.S. spy plane. However, for sceptics, it’s a diamond-shaped rock being reflected in water.
The original Calvine photograph now released to the public, showing the ‘apparently’ diamond-shaped object.
(Reproduced with permission of Sheffield Hallam University/Craig Lindsay).
Traditionally, Unidentified Flying Objects ( UFOs) are presented in out-of-focus photographs and shaky videos taken at night. Sceptics say they “have to be blurry” otherwise they would be revealed as birds, balloons, drones and distant aircraft.
Last Friday, however, a UK professor and a team of British UFO investigators released what they are calling the “'Best' UFO Picture Ever”. And it's causing something of a stir. Not because it is definitive proof of extra-terrestrials, but because many believe the huge diamond shape might be advanced American technology being tested in Scotland.
Until the release of the new Calvine photograph, the UFO community had only this crude line-drawing reproduction of one of the six images, which was created by the British air-force for imagery analysis.
(Crown Copyright).
After Ten Minutes “It Shot Straight Up Into The Air”
Back in August 1990, about 35 miles northwest of Perth in the Highlands of Scotland, at around 9pm at night, two walkers took 6 photographs of what appears to be a huge diamond-shaped UFO “hovering” in the sky. A supposed military aircraft is seen beside the object. The two-witnesses estimated the “craft” was around 30 meters (100 feet) in length and they said it “shot straight up into the air” and vanished.
Dr David Clarke is an associate professor at Sheffield Hallam University in England who formerly worked at Britain's National Archives. Clarke, who is now a bona fide investigative-journalist, spent several years researching the story and he eventually found former Royal Air Force (RAF) press officer, Craig Lindsay, who had a photocopy of one of the 6 photographs. David Clarke is also a member of the UAP Media UK , the team of UFO/UAP researchers who released the Calvine photograph. Just in case you don’t already know, of late, the popular term UFO has been challenged by the more scientific and less ‘green’ term, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).
Large triangular UFOs/UAP were recorded in the 1561 AD celestial event over Nuremberg. Believers of extraterrestrial visitors say the image depicts an aerial UFO battle and sceptics lean towards the sun dog phenomenon.
For any readers already leaning towards the image being a modern CGI fake, you should know that Andrew Russell, a Senior Lecturer in Photography at Sheffield Hallam University has confirmed its age and authenticity.
The Advanced American Tech Angle
When the six photos were taken back in 1990 they were given to Scotland's Daily Record newspaper and also to the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Until now, none of the six images have ever been seen by the public. Currently, the most popular skeptical opinion on #UFOTwitter is that the object is a triangular rock in a lake or pond being reflected to form the ‘apparent’ diamond shape. And the “military aircraft” is either a boat sailing around an island or an actual plane in the sky, also being reflected in the water.
In an effort to contextualize the photograph I asked Vinnie Adams from UAP Media UK if “any other such craft were reported in the UK around this time.” Vinnie said:
“While the Calvin image represents the only photograph, other reports of advanced American technology in the UK exist around that time ".
Calvine Was One Part Of A Greater UFO Flap
The Calvine event occurred in August, 1990. Only two and a half years later, on 13th December 1992, the Scottish Herald announced that a “huge UFO scudded through the sky at supersonic speed over Sullom Voe oil terminal in Shetland, glowing white, red and orange.” One of the 19 eyewitnesses, Mr John Winchester, the Coastguard officer at Sullom Voe said “it was moving faster than a jet fighter aircraft but slower than a shooting star''.
Sullom Voe oil terminal in Shetland, the site of the 1990 UFO sighting.
(Mike Pennington / Sullom Voe Terminal / CC BY-SA 2.0 )
Lerwick Observatory was “unaware of any natural phenomena such as ball lightning” and Britain's most northerly air defense radar station reported that “nothing unusual had been spotted on radar”. Furthermore, air traffic controllers told coastguards there was “no military or civilian aircraft in the area at the time of the sightings.”
Back To The Advanced American Tech Angle
Researching deeper into the Shetland UFO sighting I entered the CIAs reading room database and discovered a fascinating document dated 14 December 1992, which was only 2 days after the incident in Shetland. The CIA recorded a London journalist, Simon Tisdal’s, report on the 19 eyewitness accounts: “The large white fast-moving UFO took off at 5,500 MPH” said one Shetlander. Furthermore, Tisdal reported that this UFO event “coincided with reports of an ultra-top-secret American plane with a top speed of 5,500 MPH (Mach 8 or eight times the speed of sound)”.
Tisdal wrote, and the CIA recorded, that the UFO was a replacement for the Lockheed “SR-71 spy plane,” better known as the “ Blackbird,” and that the new craft could “get to the other side of the globe in 3 hours.” By the time the craft had warmed up in the US “it could be over Scotland, taking three countries to come to a stop” and this great speed is why “testing could not be restricted to US Airspace,” according to Tisdal in the CIA report.
In 1992, the US Pentagon imposed a “no-comment zone” over the Shetland UFO story until May 2000 when it was declassified. And in the UK last year the government slapped a classified restriction on releasing the names of the two Calvine photographers until 2076.
With all this classification, it is of little wonder that so many people think the US and British militaries are covering something up. And why would 6 photo negatives showing a ‘reflected rock in a pond’ just disappear from the MOD?
Probing The Most Probable
It is not uncommon for the MOD to protect the names of their staff and civilians for their “lifetimes”, which is estimated at the upper-age of 100. This reasoning accounts for why the Calvine case files have been embargoed until 2076. But what still remains a mystery, and a really fascinating one too, is the fact that a team of MOD photographic experts and several independent experts have inspected the photographs and none of them have yet suggested the object is a reflected island in a loch, or a rock.
Maybe this last observation, that so many supposed pros all missed something so mundane, is the reason the case has been classified. The MOD can’t really claim to protect a nation from foreign warcrafts if they can’t determine fighter planes from rocks. If this is the case, then what we have here is an MOD operational (slip-up) cover-up.
Top image: Close up portion of the newly released ‘best UFO photo’.
Source: Reproduced with permission of Sheffield Hallam University/Craig Lindsay
The space agency refers to the strange entity as item STS088-724-66 in its catalogue of space junk floating in low-Earth orbit (within 1,200 miles). Jerry Ross, an astronaut who took part in that mission, says that the object is a wayward thermal blanket that broke loose while his team tried to attach an American module to a Russian module on the ISS. But for a small, devoted following, it’s a 13,000-year-old, artificially made satellite known as the Black Knight satellite. So, could this peculiar object really have come from ancient aliens? Or is it just an innocuous piece of space debris?
Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), Serbian-American physicist, sitting in his Colorado Springs laboratory with his “Magnifying transmitter” in 1899.
Mondadori Portfolio//Getty Images
The facts surrounding the Black Knight are cobbled together from a number of tales. It begins with Nikola Tesla, who said that he had received radio signals from space during his 1899 radio experiments in Colorado Springs. Martians, he believed, were attempting to communicate with humans through numbers, since they’re a universal language.
In a February 1901 Collier’s Weeklyarticle, Tesla recounted his experience: “The changes I noted were taking place periodically and with such a clear suggestion of number and order that they were not traceable to any cause then known to me… The feeling is constantly growing on me that I had been the first to hear the greeting of one planet to another.”
Black Knight truthers cite this as the first sign of their satellite, which sent the radio pulses. Scientists have since determined that those radio pulses were most likely naturally occurring signals that space objects emit while in orbit. The prevailing theory, while still unlikely, is that Tesla heard a pulsar, or a faraway celestial body that emits regular pulses of radio waves. Sure, the Black Knight could have emitted such pulses, but that still doesn’t make it alien in nature.
Rocky debris (brown) surrounding a pulsar (center).
JPL-CALTECH/NASA/SPL//Getty Images
Still, the theory that aliens were communicating with Earth through radio pulses propagated even further in 1927 when civil engineer and ham radio operator Jørgen Hals stumbled upon an unusual quality to his radio signals. As he transmitted from his home in Oslo, the signals would unexpectedly return to him moments later. Hals perceived this as an alien phenomenon.
Nearly 50 years later, an article in Analog Science Fiction and Fact tried to make sense of Hals’s radio echoes. The author, Duncan Lunan, posited that a 13,000-year-old object orbiting the moon could have led to the long-delayed echoes (the 13,000 figure having to do with the positioning of the North Pole star, Polaris). “I tried plotting the delay times against the order in which the echoes were received...and at only the second attempt I found what looked like a star map,” Lunan said in 1998. However, we now recognize those signals as “long-delayed echoes” that you can hear about 2.7 seconds or more after a radio transmission. And Lunan has since distanced himself from the Black Knight theory.
One more bit of disjointed speculation: In 1960, TIME published a story noting that the U.S. Navy had detected an unidentified satellite that may have been a piece of Soviet spy technology. It turned out to be a broken-off piece of the Discoverer 5—an early U.S. photo reconnaissance (spy) satellite—but believers still point to this as definitive proof.
Like any good conspiracy theory, the Black Knight satellite has a few fun hooks, plus some high-profile boosts that add a sheen of credibility to the story. In 1963, for instance, Project Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper supposedly reported seeing a UFO during his 15th orbit while aboard the Faith 7 spacecraft, according to the U.K.’s Armagh Observatory and Planetarium. Never mind that Cooper has since produced transcripts to the contrary, stating that he never saw an alien spacecraft during that particular mission—Black Knight devotees still include this history in the conspiracy theory origin story.
“It’s astonishing that there aren’t more conspiracy theories about stuff in space.”
But the Black Knight satellite is almost certainly the series of discrete events that explain it away: Tesla hearing pulsars or some other natural signal, Hals receiving an echo, TIME reporting on a secret U.S. government satellite in good faith, and the astronauts of the ISS seeing a lost blanket in orbit.
From a psychological perspective, it makes sense that people want to believe in the Black Knight satellite, says Alice Gorman, Ph.D., an associate professor at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, who studies space archaeology.
“It’s astonishing that there aren’t more conspiracy theories about stuff in space,” she says. “It’s really difficult to see details on stuff in Earth’s orbit, even through really high-powered telescopes. So when you can’t see it, then you can imagine anything about it.”
While NASA and other space organizations keep catalogs of the space debris that they encounter, these lists are still incomplete and dependent on nations sharing sometimes sensitive data.
“There’s stuff that might have a catalog number, but we don’t actually know what it is,” she says. “That makes it a bit easier to say, ‘Well, here’s this mysterious object that comes from somewhere else.’”
As for the photo that supposedly depicts the Black Knight? Gorman says that because the image shows a large cross-section of the thermal blanket in orbit, it looks to the human eye like a large, solid object. That means the image could be nothing more than an optical illusion, which isn’t too shocking when you consider that people also commonly mistake birds and airplanes for UFOs, she says.
And there’s still this glaring hole in the Black Knight satellite conspiracy theory: How exactly does an object stay in orbit for 13,000 years? “You have to use fuel and have rocket engines and stuff to just stay up there... Is this some amazing new propulsion system that we don’t know anything about yet on Earth?” Gorman wonders.
NASA captured this image during the STS-88 Space Shuttle mission while 246 miles above the coast of Namibia and looking north.
🛸 How the Black Knight Could Exist
Let’s pretend for a moment that the Black Knight satellite really does exist. How could it slip by unnoticed for 13,000 years? Gorman has a few ideas. The first: mimic one of the small pieces of space junk that are no larger than 10 centimeters in size—space organizations exercise more scrutiny over larger objects. “We’re going to assume that aliens have much more advanced technology than us, so something [that size] could be just as advanced as something the size of a house.”
To avoid collisions with other scraps of space junk, aliens could develop miniaturized force field technology to keep their probe from getting hit, Gorman says. And thinking long-term, there’s the possibility that Earth could eventually have its own ring system—made up entirely of space junk in the “graveyard orbit,” about 190 miles above most working satellites. If and when that day comes, the Black Knight will have a decision to make, Gorman says: “Will it join this ring and risk detection, or run away and hide?”
The Arecibo Observatory’s 305-metre-wide telescope dish was destroyed in late 2020, after supporting cables snapped.
Credit: Ricardo Arduengo/AFP via Getty
After a world-famous radio telescope at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico collapsed two years ago, many scientists hoped that the US National Science Foundation (NSF), which runs the facility, would eventually build a new one to replace it. Instead, the agency has announced that it will establish an educational centre for science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) at the site. The revised plan might ramp down or dramatically alter the remaining research being done at Arecibo.
“It’s heartbreaking,” says Héctor Arce, an astronomer at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, who is from Puerto Rico and has worked on Arecibo advocacy efforts. “To many it seems like yet another unjust way of treating the colonial territory of Puerto Rico.”
The NSF says that it is following community recommendations in not planning to rebuild the large telescope and instead establishing the new educational centre. “We are not closing Arecibo,” says Sean Jones, head of the NSF’s directorate of mathematical and physical sciences. “We think this new approach and new centre will be catalytic in many areas.”
The agency announced its plans in a call for proposals on 13 October. It requests ideas for setting up and running an educational centre at Arecibo, at a cost of US$1 million to $3 million per year over five years starting in 2023. That money might or might not include funds to operate research facilities at Arecibo still in use, such as a 12-metre radio antenna and a lidar system that uses lasers to study Earth’s atmosphere.
The situation “could be worse,” says Abel Méndez, a planetary astronomer at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo who uses the 12-metre antenna for research and teaching. But “it could be much, much better”.
“It is devastating to know that that’s their ultimate decision,” says Desirée Cotto-Figueroa, an astronomer at the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao. “Especially despite all the efforts made by the staff and scientists of the Arecibo Observatory and by the general scientific community to keep it working as the research centre of excellence that it has always been with the observing facilities that are left.”
A powerhouse of education
One major question is how the Arecibo site will draw students and teachers if there is little active research to participate in. “Yet the NSF calls for proposals for a world-class educational institution,” says Anne Virkki, a planetary scientist at the University of Helsinki in Finland. “How does anyone do that without the world-class scientists, engineers, and instruments?”
The NSF says that it is asking for precisely those sorts of ideas. The new centre could support ongoing work in astronomy and planetary science, or it could focus on other areas such as the biological sciences, says James L. Moore III, the head of the NSF’s education and human resources directorate. “Here’s an opportunity to reimagine what the possibilities could be,” he says.
Arecibo Observatory has long been a powerhouse of STEM education in Puerto Rico because of its renowned telescope and place in astronomical history. Students trained there have gone on to become professional astronomers and planetary scientists in many countries.
The 305-metre-wide radio telescope that collapsed in 2020 played a key role in many scientific fields for more than half a century, including the search for extraterrestrial life, the discovery of the first extrasolar planets and of gravitational waves, and the study of near-Earth asteroids and of fast radio bursts.
The NSF has run the observatory since the 1970s, working with a series of contractors. It has been trying to wind down investment at Arecibo since 2006, to shift funding to newer astronomical facilities. Advocates rallied and research continued, but the observatory faced fresh challenges in 2017, when Hurricane Maria damaged much of the facility, and in early 2020 when a series of earthquakes caused more damage.
Then came the collapse of the 305-metre dish. One of its crucial supporting cables failed in August 2020, then another in November of that year, and the NSF decided it was too structurally unsound to repair. An engineering investigation revealed five factors that contributed to the collapse, including the design of the cable system, deferred maintenance, and damage from hurricanes and earthquakes.
An observatory no more
Research has continued at the smaller facilities at Arecibo Observatory. Currently funded projects using those facilities will be able to finish up, Jones says, and scientists can propose to continue their use under the scope of the new educational centre.
The lidar facilities include a potassium laser that studies the temperature of layers in Earth’s atmosphere, and a planned new instrument to probe aerosols such as atmospheric dust. The 12-metre antenna serves as a node in a long-distance astronomical network operated by European astronomers. Other research projects that use it include Méndez’s studies of red dwarf stars and the habitability of planets around them.
Many who work with Arecibo instruments are now scrambling to figure out how to ramp down their research projects. Under the new plan, the site will no longer be called Arecibo Observatory — becoming instead the Arecibo Center for STEM Education and Research.
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Over mijzelf
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.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
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