Monster Black Hole Found Near Earth, Starlink Hacked, Early Life Killed Mars

There’s a monster black hole in our backyard (astronomically speaking). Life could survive underground on Mars for hundreds of millions of years. Starlink was hacked and now works as GPS. Bad news for Arecibo.

Enjoy the video version of all the latest space and astronomy news in our latest episode of Space Bites. Everything you need to know that happened last week in a convenient bite-size video format.

The Closest Black Hole Ever Discovered

A monster black hole was discovered relatively close to us. It’s just 1550 light years away, which is our backyard, astronomically speaking. The exciting thing is how it was discovered. Astronomers looked into Gaia’s data on stars and their motion. Among them, they found a star that looked like it was in a binary system. But there was no visible companion. Further analysis revealed that it was a 12-solar mass black hole. So, it’s an interesting new technique that can reveal more black holes in the future.

• More about the black hole in “our backyard”.

Early Life Could Have Killed All Life on Mars

There is an interesting paradox about life on Mars. New studies suggest the following scenario. If there was life on Mars in its early stages, when the planet was wet and warm, it could have wiped itself out. By producing CO2, methane and other gases, it could have weakened the greenhouse effect. So, by replacing hydrogen with those gases they made the planet colder, which eventually lead to losing its atmosphere and therefore conditions for life.

• More about Mars life paradox.

Starlink Hacked to Be Used As GPS Alternative

Researchers managed to hack Starlink and use it as a positioning system. All that without any consent from SpaceX. By analyzing the signals from the satellites they managed to reverse-engineer it and extract timing data. Combining this information with the positions of the satellites, which are well-known and opened to the general public, it effectively turned into a GPS alternative. The precision is about 30-meters. It can be improved, if SpaceX wanted to cooperate. But whether they will want to do so is yet to be determined.

Lucy Gets a Portrait of the Earth and the Moon

Whenever spacecraft make a gravity-assisted flyby of Earth, it’s the perfect opportunity to test their optics and science instruments. During its recent flyby, Trojan-bound Lucy captured this image of planet Earth when it was about 620,000 km away. It also captured a picture of both the Earth and the Moon in the same photo, showing how far away they are from each other.

• More about Lucy’s flyby.

Star Blasts Away the Atmosphere From a Planet

We know that red dwarf stars can blast out powerful flares, but in the case of one system, the results were catastrophic. Astronomers studied the earth-sized planet GJ 1252b, which orbits a red dwarf star every 12 hours. They found that the intense flares from the star scoured away the atmosphere from the planet. This could be the case for many other exoplanetary systems, but there’s some good news. If the worlds are farther away from the star, their atmosphere could hold under this barrage, protecting life until the star settles down.

• More about red dwarf’s planets.

Arecibo Won’t Be Rebuilt

It’s official. The famous Arecibo radar telescope won’t be rebuilt. It’s a sad but expected moment. But still, Arecibo has left a huge heritage both in science, as new studies are still being published with its data, as well as in popular culture.

• More about Arecibo’s future.

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The post Monster Black Hole Found Near Earth, Starlink Hacked, Early Life Killed Mars appeared first on Universe Today.

Source: 

• https://www.universetoday.com/158370/monster-black-hole-found-near-earth-starlink-hacked-early-life-killed-mars/

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29-10-2022 om 21:45 geschreven door peter  

Former Lt. U.S. Navy and F/A-18F pilot Ryan Graves was the first actives duty pilot to publicly disclose regular sightings of Unindentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP) talks about his encounter with what he describes as a solid black cube inside a translucent sphere. 

He states that despite the wind was over 120-140mph the object was completely stationary midair without moving a bit up and down, left or right as well as the object followed a so-called "racetrack" what means it was not flying a straight flight path but flew a random track where it made impossible maneuvers like a u turn without slowing down. 

After the F/A-18F got an upgraded radar system, the pilots saw these kinds of objects of unknown origin on a daily basis and not only Navy pilots, also commercial pilots have reported these extraordinary flying objects, like the pilot who captured a black cube at high altitude during a commercial flight, see second video below. 

We can speculate whether these objects without wings or visible propulsion are man-made or of extraterrestrial origin, the fact is that these objects with exceptional abilities exist and move through our skies for whatever reason.

   

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29-10-2022 om 20:40 geschreven door peter  

The Airforce UFO Cover Up That Drove a Man INSANE

Paul Bennewitz is a civilian who lived near an airforce base. When he saw strange lights in the sky, he initially thought they were experimental aircraft. He then started picking up alien language on the radio. After gathering evidence, he reported it to the authorities, and the Air Force supported his UFO research. The military denied his claims, but privately, they confirmed his findings. He later ended in a mental institution.

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

29-10-2022 om 18:35 geschreven door peter  

NASA's InSight 'Hears' Its First Meteoroid Impacts on Mars

InSight Detects an Impact for the First Time: These craters were formed by a Sept. 5, 2021, meteoroid impact on Mars, the first to be detected by NASA’s InSight. Taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, this enhanced-color image highlights the dust and soil disturbed by the impact in blue in order to make details more visible to the human eye.

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona. Download Image ›

The Mars lander’s seismometer has picked up vibrations from four separate impacts in the past two years.

NASA’s InSight lander has detected seismic waves from four space rocks that crashed on Mars in 2020 and 2021. Not only do these represent the first impacts detected by the spacecraft’s seismometer since InSight touched down on the Red Planet in 2018, it also marks the first time seismic and acoustic waves from an impact have been detected on Mars.

A new paper published Monday in Nature Geoscience details the impacts, which ranged between 53 and 180 miles (85 and 290 kilometers) from InSight’s location, a region of Mars called Elysium Planitia.

The first of the four confirmed meteoroids – the term used for space rocks before they hit the ground – made the most dramatic entrance: It entered Mars’ atmosphere on Sept. 5, 2021, exploding into at least three shards that each left a crater behind.

InSight’s Meteoroid Impact Detection: Learn more about the first meteoroid impact NASA’s InSight lander detected on Mars in this video.

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Download video ›

Then, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter flew over the estimated impact site to confirm the location. The orbiter used its black-and-white Context Camera to reveal three darkened spots on the surface. After locating these spots, the orbiter’s team used the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, or HiRISE, to get a color close-up of the craters (the meteoroid could have left additional craters in the surface, but they would be too small to see in HiRISE’s images).

“After three years of InSight waiting to detect an impact, those craters looked beautiful,” said Ingrid Daubar of Brown University, a co-author of the paper and a specialist in Mars impacts.

Mars Crater Collage: This collage shows three other meteoroid impacts that were detected by the seismometer on NASA’s InSight lander and captured by the agency’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter using its HiRISE camera.

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona. Download Image ›

After combing through earlier data, scientists confirmed three other impacts had occurred on May 27, 2020; Feb. 18, 2021; and Aug. 31, 2021.

Researchers have puzzled over why they haven’t detected more meteoroid impacts on Mars. The Red Planet is next to the solar system’s main asteroid belt, which provides an ample supply of space rocks to scar the planet’s surface. Because Mars’ atmosphere is just 1% as thick as Earth’s, more meteoroids pass through it without disintegrating.

InSight’s seismometer has detected over 1,300 marsquakes. Provided by France’s space agency, the Centre National d’Études Spatiales, the instrument is so sensitive that it can detect seismic waves from thousands of miles away. But the Sept. 5, 2021, event marks the first time an impact was confirmed as the cause of such waves.

InSight’s team suspects that other impacts may have been obscured by noise from wind or by seasonal changes in the atmosphere. But now that the distinctive seismic signature of an impact on Mars has been discovered, scientists expect to find more hiding within InSight’s nearly four years of data.

Science Behind the Strikes

Seismic data offer various clues that will help researchers better understand the Red Planet. Most marsquakes are caused by subsurface rocks cracking from heat and pressure. Studying how the resulting seismic waves change as they move through different material provides scientists a way to study Mars’ crust, mantle, and core.

The four meteoroid impacts confirmed so far produced small quakes with a magnitude of no more than 2.0. Those smaller quakes provide scientists with only a glimpse into the Martian crust, while seismic signals from larger quakes, like the magnitude 5 event that occurred in May 2022, can also reveal details about the planet’s mantle and core.

But the impacts will be critical to refining Mars’ timeline. “Impacts are the clocks of the solar system,” said the paper’s lead author, Raphael Garcia of Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace in Toulouse, France. “We need to know the impact rate today to estimate the age of different surfaces.”

Scientists can approximate the age of a planet’s surface by counting its impact craters: The more they see, the older the surface. By calibrating their statistical models based on how often they see impacts occurring now, scientists can then estimate how many more impacts happened earlier in the solar system’s history.

InSight’s data, in combination with orbital images, can be used to rebuild a meteoroid’s trajectory and the size of its shock wave. Every meteoroid creates a shock wave as it hits the atmosphere and an explosion as it hits the ground. These events send sound waves through the atmosphere. The bigger the explosion, the more this sound wave tilts the ground when it reaches InSight. The lander’s seismometer is sensitive enough to measure how much the ground tilts from such an event and in what direction.

“We’re learning more about the impact process itself,” Garcia said. “We can match different sizes of craters to specific seismic and acoustic waves now.”

The lander still has time to study Mars. Dust buildup on the lander’s solar panels is reducing its power and will eventually lead to the spacecraft shutting down. Predicting precisely when is difficult, but based on the latest power readings, engineers now believe the lander could shut down between October of this year and January 2023.

More About the Missions

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages InSight for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. InSight is part of NASA’s Discovery Program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the InSight spacecraft, including its cruise stage and lander, and supports spacecraft operations for the mission.

A number of European partners, including France’s Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), are supporting the InSight mission. CNES provided the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument to NASA, with the principal investigator at IPGP (Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris). Significant contributions for SEIS came from IPGP; the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany; the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) in Switzerland; Imperial College London and Oxford University in the United Kingdom; and JPL. DLR provided the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP³) instrument, with significant contributions from the Space Research Center (CBK) of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Astronika in Poland. Spain’s Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) supplied the temperature and wind sensors.

News Media Contacts

• Andrew Good
  Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
  818-393-2433
  andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov
• Karen Fox / Alana Johnson
  NASA Headquarters, Washington
  301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501
  karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov

{ http://www.nasa.gov/ }

28-10-2022 om 23:57 geschreven door peter  

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28-10-2022 om 23:44 geschreven door peter  

JWST Sees the Same Galaxy From Three Different Angles Thanks to a Gravitational Lens

One of the great tragedies of the night sky is that we will never travel to much of what we see. We may eventually travel to nearby stars, and even distant reaches of our galaxy, but the limits of light speed and cosmic expansion make it impossible for us to travel beyond our local group. So we can only observe distant galaxies, and we can only observe them from our home in the universe. You might think that means we can only see one face of those galaxies, but thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope that isn’t entirely true.

As light from distant galaxies traverses the cosmos to reach us, its path can be deflected gravitationally along the way, known as gravitational lensing. For very distant galaxies their light is often lensed through galactic clusters closer to us and can produce multiple images. Each of these images comes from a different path of light.

You can see this in a recent set of images released by the Space Telescope Science Institute. It shows a comparison of the galactic cluster MACS0647 captured by Hubble in 2012 and as seen by Webb in 2022. In the faint background of this cluster are three images of a more distant galaxy known as MACS0647-JD. It’s the same galaxy, but gravitational lensing lets us see it from slightly different paths. In the Hubble image, the galaxy images are just blurry clusters of pixels, but Webb can resolve these galaxies in some detail. Each image seems to have two smudges of light, and that means JD could be an early colliding galaxy. If it is the merger of two galaxies, it will be the most distant galactic merger we’ve observed.

One of the side effects of gravitational lensing is that it can magnify light from these far galaxies. This means the galaxy appears closer and brighter than it actually is. In the case of MACS0647-JD, the three images are magnified by different amounts. The images known as JD1, JD2, and JD3 are magnified by factors of 8, 5, and 2. Additionally, since the light path of each image is different, we also see the galaxy from three slightly different times.

This image is a great example of the power of JWST. It not only allows us to study the earliest galaxies in detail, but it also allows us to see some galaxies from more than one point of view.

Reference: 

• Tiger Yu-Yang Hsiao, et al. “JWST reveals a possible z?11 galaxy merger in triply-lensed MACS0647?JD.” arXiv preprint arXiv:2210.14123 (2022).

The post JWST Sees the Same Galaxy From Three Different Angles Thanks to a Gravitational Lens appeared first on Universe Today.

Source: 

• https://www.universetoday.com/158360/jwst-sees-the-same-galaxy-from-three-different-angles-thanks-to-a-gravitational-lens/

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

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28-10-2022 om 23:15 geschreven door peter  

Dwarf Planet Haumea is one of the Stranger Objects in the Solar System. How did it get That way?

There’s still a raging debate in some circles as to whether Pluto should be a planet or not. Ask an astronomer, and their typical answer would be something like – if Pluto is a planet, then there are plenty of other bodies out there in the solar system that should be considered one too. One of those is Haumea, a little explored rock in the Kuiper belt that is one of the strangest large objects out there. Now, a team from NASA has a new idea as to how it got that way.

Since Haumea is so far away, there isn’t much hard data on it. A probe has never visited it, and it is too small and distant to be properly measured by an Earth-based telescope. So the researchers interested in it turned to that favorite tool of most astrophysicists – computer models.

Computer models need inputs to make predictions, however, and there are a few bizarre things that we already know about Haumea. One is how fast it spins – a day lasts only four hours on its surface, much shorter than the day of any similar-sized object in the solar system. In addition, it is elongated, looking a bit like an American football rather than the spherical shape that most bodies of its size take on.

It also has some attending “family” – little balls of what appears to be water ice that float in a similar orbit around the main body of Haumea. Kind of like moons, but not considered to be such. So how did all of this strangeness come to be? To understand, the researchers had to look back in time – and make some estimates, of course.

That was a two-step process. First, Jessica Noviello, now a postdoc researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, developed a model requiring only three distinct inputs – Haumea’s size, mass, and spin rate. The outputs of that first model, such as the size and density of the body’s core, were then fed into another model that was used as the iterative basis for finding a creation process that reflected what Haumea looks like now.

Introducing small changes to those input parameters of the final simulation resulted in a set of expected outcomes, which could be compared to the measured reality. But it also highlighted a few interesting features that likely happened when Haumea was being formed.

First, it was likely smacked by a massive object early in its history. Hence, the dramatic spin. But, while the impact would have knocked parts of Haumea off, it likely would have been too violent to simply form the small balls of ice now known as its “family.”

Creating those tiny ice balls required a second process, which took much longer, but arguably had as big of an impact. The fast spinning caused denser rocks to slide down into the core of the dwarf planet, and those rocks started to do something unexpected. Since they, like all rocks, were radioactive, they started to melt the water ice that was coagulating on Haumea’s outer shell.

Some of that water then flooded into the core, creating a clay-like substance, which the fast centripetal force then spun out like a potter, creating the elongated shape we see today. In addition, some of the balls of ice lost their grip on the main body and broke off gently to form the smaller icy bodies that still rotate in the same orbit as the parent dwarf planet.

These outcomes are all from simulations at this point, but they make sense both from a logical and scientific standpoint. However, it will still be a while before we collect any more concrete data about Haumea or its Kuiper belt cousins. Until then, astrophysicists will have to be content with papers like the one from Dr. Noviello and her team that was recently published in the Planetary Science Journal.

Learn More:

• NASA – NASA Studies Origins of ‘Weird’ Solar System Object: Dwarf Planet Haumea
• Noviello et al. – Let It Go: Geophysically Driven Ejection of the Haumea Family Members
  
• UT – The Dwarf Planet Haumea
  
• UT – Dwarf Planet Haumea Has a Ring

Lead Image:

• Screenshot of an interactive 3D model of Haumea.
  Credit – NASA Visualization Technology Applications and Development

The post Dwarf Planet Haumea is one of the Stranger Objects in the Solar System. How did it get That way? appeared first on Universe Today.

Source: 

• https://www.universetoday.com/158346/dwarf-planet-haumea-is-one-of-the-stranger-objects-in-the-solar-system-how-did-it-get-that-way/

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28-10-2022 om 22:51 geschreven door peter  

A FLIR camera captures a strange UFO with an uncanny resemblance to a rubber duck. 

A US surveillance aircraft being flown by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) captured by using their thermal optics system (FLIR) at around 9pm on November 23, 2019 a very strange "rubber duck" shaped UFO flying at a speed between 90 and 200mph.not far from the US's southern border with Mexico. 

The so-called "rubber duck' UFO is comparable with a unknown object also caught by the FLIR system of another Homeland Security aircraft while flying over Puerto Rico on April 25, 2013. 

This UFO like object also moves just above the surface at speeds of up to 120mph before reaching the ocean whereupon it splits into two objects before diving into the ocean with very little splash and then proceeds to move at times on the water surface and just below the surface. 

Since no known aircraft or drone has the capacity to perform the maneuvers as these UFOs did, we have to conclude that these objects of unknown origin are equipped with an advanced technology which is unknown to the public. 

It is questionable whether these objects are of extraterrestrial origin, it is very possible that these objects were developed by the military and being part of a secret project. 

Both UFOs were unintentionally captured on film, but it gives us a glimpse of the capabilities of these possible man-made objects whereby the object that plunged into the ocean may refer to an underwater base which may be under the control of the Navy/military.

   

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

28-10-2022 om 20:53 geschreven door peter  

This Navajo park ranger revealed that something big is happening right now in National Parks. Today, we take a look at what this Navajo park ranger found inside this National Park. 

The police do incredible work, and they are usually the first ones on the scene when something goes wrong. Every so often though they will encounter something that even they can't explain. 

One of the places where officers are seeing strange things is that of the Navajo Reservation of the American southwest. This location is known for mysterious and legendary stories and the police here have encountered some strange things.

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

28-10-2022 om 20:25 geschreven door peter  

UFO with 6 lights hovering above Hallandale Beach, Florida

These UFO lights were seen and recorded in the night sky above Hallandale Beach, a city in southern Broward County, Florida. This event happened back on June 1st, 2021 but it was just today published online through MUFON’s website.

Witness report: 

I was sitting outside with my cousin when we noticed an object with panels of lights slowly ascending in the sky. As the object got higher it dissipated and disappeared into the clouds.

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

28-10-2022 om 20:10 geschreven door peter  

Will the monumental moment of first contact fuel division among war-hungry humanity, or will it inspire our better angels and unite us?

 By Becky Ferreira

 

IMAGE: HAITONG YU VIA GETTY IMAGES

Do intelligent aliens exist somewhere out there in the universe? It is a grand mystery that has captivated humans for generations, fueling ever-more sophisticated searches of the skies for signs of advanced civilizations. But while aliens have taken many forms in our imaginations—from hostile invaders to inscrutable ciphers—we have absolutely no idea what extraterrestrial life-forms might look like, how they would communicate, or even if they exist at all.

We can, however, make some assumptions about the only intelligent space-faring species that we know of—humans—and how we might react to contact with an alien civilization. Indeed, people have spent decades developing protocols that attempt to anticipate this momentous event and all of the extraordinary potential consequences it could have on our civilization. It’s an especially important question now, as the world appears more strongly divided than at any time in recent memory, with major powers taking on increasingly antagonistic stances toward each other. 

In 2020, a pair of researchers dug into this question in an article in Space Policy by suggesting that humans might pose as big a risk to ourselves in the aftermath of alien contact as any extraterrestrial species. The study views the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) through the lens of “realpolitik,” a term that describes the kind of gritty power plays and practical maneuvers that nations pull to enhance their own positions. 

Authors Kenneth Wisian and John Traphagan, a geophysicist and cultural anthropologist, respectively, at the University of Texas at Austin, envision nations monopolizing contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence, a move that could spark escalating conflicts, including possible attacks on astronomical facilities. For this reason, the team said scientists might need to enlist personal security to protect them and their families from state actors, or even terrorists, in the wake of a such a momentous event, among other concerns raised in the study.

“What might we do to ourselves? Let's not just think about what they might do to us, or vice versa, but what are the threads internally?”

“The SETI academic field is focused on looking out, and the main issues and concerns that have been brought up throughout the history of SETI development have been: what threats could the aliens present to us, if any?” said Wisian, who is a retired Major General in the U.S. Air Force, in a call with Motherboard. “I hadn't seen any thought about, well, what might we do to ourselves?” 

“From a grounding in military and international affairs history, it seems pretty obvious to me that a lot of times people act on perceived interest and perceived threats,” he continued. “That's what germinated the idea—what might we do to ourselves? Let's not just think about what they might do to us, or vice versa, but what are the threads internally?”

When the study came out two years ago, it caught the attention of Jason Wright, an astronomer and SETI researcher at Penn State University. Wright disagreed with many of Wisian and Traphagan’s conclusions, and published a blog post at the time expressing his thoughts on what he called the “very dubious assumptions” underlying the study. 

Tech

• A Scientist Just Mathematically Proved That Alien Life In the Universe Is Likely to Exist

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09.30.22

“I felt like it was misguided,” Wright said in a call with Motherboard, referring to the 2020 study. “I understood why they were writing what they wrote, but I thought it really would have benefited from a better understanding of how SETI and radio astronomy works, because it was based on a lot of misunderstandings about that.”

“Then, taking my own medicine, I said I’d love to write a rebuttal, but I'm not an expert on philosophy, ethics, geopolitics, and space law,” he added. 

For this reason, Wright connected with Chelsea Haramia, a philosopher at Spring Hill College, and Gabriel Swiney, a senior policy advisor in NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy. 

The team has now presented a comprehensive rebuttal to Wisian and Traphagan’s article, arguing that some of the study’s suggestions could backfire by sowing distrust and confusion, among many other scientific and ethical critiques presented in their new work, which was published this month in Space Policy.  

The disagreements between the teams are a microcosm of the kaleidoscopic diversity of views about the possible outcomes of a successful contact event with aliens, especially what it would mean for humans here on Earth. So, what do these perspectives reveal about what might happen if humanity finally makes the ultimate discovery? 

Could a nation monopolize communication with aliens?

Imagine an intelligent alien species sends a decipherable message to Earth that is received by a sophisticated astronomical observatory. In another scenario, a piece of alien technology could actually fall to Earth and be recovered by people on the ground. Though this is a far-fetched possibility, Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb believes that alien artifacts may have already reached Earth; he is currently planning an expedition to search for any surviving fragments of what was likely an interstellar meteor that hit our planet in 2014, which he thinks could be artificial in origin (Loeb’s views about alien artifacts have received substantial pushback from other scientists).

Regardless of the odds of such an event, Wisian and Traphagan argue that state officials who receive a message or artifact of this kind might conclude that they could exert a geopolitical advantage by monopolizing communication with the extraterrestrials, or by siloing information about alien technologies. To support their case, the team presents many historical examples of nations using this type of realpolitik approach.

“Pretty much by definition, if we make contact with some other intelligence, they're going to have a time advantage on us and therefore, probably, a significant technological lead,” Wisian said. “That is the driver. It's the information, and what it could provide as far as an advantage in international affairs and power and diplomacy, that would drive countries to take strong action to try to monopolize that channel.”

“I could definitely see world leaders acting on that perceived reward,” he added.

Wisian and Traphagan speculate that these perceived rewards could make radio telescopes targets for espionage or cyberattacks—or perhaps even real physical attacks with air strikes or weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). Morever, extremist groups that might be threatened by the reality of alien contact “would have the ability to launch small-scale raids (i.e., terrorist attacks) or possibly WMD attacks…aimed at destroying the critical infrastructure for [extraterrestrial intelligence] communication or the key personnel involved,” Wisian and Traphagan said in the study. 

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• An Interstellar Meteor Crashed to Earth. This Astronomer Wants to See If It’s Aliens.

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With that in mind, the researchers suggested that astronomical facilities and personnel might need to be defended by military or other security forces, citing the kind of protection often seen around nuclear power plants, biowarfare research institutions, or American abortion services providers.

Wright and his colleagues raised several objections with these arguments in their new study. On a practical technical level, the team said that it is very unlikely that any nation or group would be able to monopolize communication with an alien species. While an initial detection of an extraterrestrial message might be captured by a premiere observatory, such as China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) or the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, other facilities—and potentially even amateur sky watchers—could quickly start listening in, as well.

“If there are alien signals landing on Earth that contain this kind of information, then anyone can pick it up,” Wright said. “Once you know the frequency and the location on the sky, you could use satellite dishes and no one would know you were doing it because satellite dishes are pointed at the sky for all kinds of reasons. So, sending a bunch of troops to Green Bank isn't going to accomplish anything.”

In fact, Wright and his colleagues propose that hardening security around astronomical facilities might actually backfire and exacerbate the very tensions that Wisian and Traphagan sound alarms about in their study.  

“If we start locking down all the SETI facilities and getting all the SETI people personal security to protect them against state-level actors, it's going to look like something happened,” Wright said. “It's going to look like you need to do that; that it was necessary for some reason. That's what we're trying to avoid. We're trying to avoid that escalation.” 

“So, we were worried that their recommendations would take something that's a remote possibility to be guarded against, and make it happen, basically, by treating it as a foregone conclusion that we just go ahead and start protecting against. Our argument is that you have to fight that misperception by explaining what's going on.”

Both teams agree that this type of contact scenario—which involves a clear intelligible message with some kind of advantageous information—is extremely unlikely. It stands to reason that our first experience with extraterrestrial life in the universe would be much murkier in content and interpretation. For instance, Wright pointed out that humans cannot even speak the languages of other intelligent animals on Earth, such as dolphins or elephants, which casts doubt on our ability to decode any message from another civilization. 

Wisian and Traphagan, however, note that it is worth thinking about dangerous situations even if the odds of them materializing are astronomically low.

“I hope for the best, but as a military guy, you look at the range of possibilities and you may not focus on the worst, but you have to at least take into account those potential options,” Wisian said. “If something has severe consequences, you can't just dismiss it. Neither one of us said that this is likely—it's just that it's a possibility that needs to be considered.”

Would alien contact promote conflict or cooperation among nations?

Given that monopolizing access to aliens is unlikely, it’s worth widening the aperture to consider some of the general concerns raised by Wisian and Traphagan under their realpolitik analysis of an alien contact event. 

The researchers were partly inspired to write the 2020 study because they believe the protocols surrounding first contact are “limited in scope to aspirational thinking” and are not yet equipped to address the “thorny political ramifications of a discovery,” according to the study. By weaving in historical examples of power plays that span the Peloponnesian War, the Renaissance era, and the Cold War, among others, the team argue that governments are often unconstrained by international laws and deaf to the calls of scientists to adhere to existing protocols and treaties. 

“The scientists may think they are in charge, but as soon as something like this happens, the governmental bodies are going to take charge, and it will go outside of scientists’ hands,” Wisian said, though he added that “scientists have a pretty good network and an ability to subvert controls, which gives me cause for some optimism here.”

While Wright and his colleagues said that there is value in viewing SETI through a realpolitik lens, they note that this is one of many possible geopolitical perspectives that need to be considered when developing post-detection protocols. For instance, if a nation were the first to receive an alien signal, it might want to shout the news from the rooftops—as opposed to shroud the discovery in secrecy—due to the “incalculable prestige that would accrue to the state that made arguably the most significant scientific finding of the modern era,” Wright’s team said in their study.

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06.28.22

In much the same way, Wright and his colleagues suggest that even if nations are primarily motivated by self-interest, their realpolitik posture to an alien message could very well be collaborative rather than combative. 

“Most interactions between nations are not driven by the threat of force,” Wright said. “There are so many other, probably more likely, outcomes that we can see, and so many other successful ways that nations manage sensitive science and technology in a peaceful cooperative way—even among rivals—that it's clear that we have a framework other than just hardening security for managing that sort of thing.” 

“We're having this discussion because we don't really have a good post-detection protocol yet”

“The example we give is fusion research,” he continued, referring to the international effort to derive power from nuclear fusion reactions. “It’s a sensitive topic that involves nuclear materials and nuclear technologies, but it's primarily driven towards trying to develop peaceful civilian uses for nuclear power generation. We have these international agreements that rivals sign onto and, basically, obey, that allows for constrained international collaboration.” 

For his part, Wisian does not dispute that outcomes beyond the realpolitik mold are possible. Indeed, he hopes that any first contact scenarios inspire our better angels and promote more scientific curiosity to counter ascendant anti-science attitudes and distrust in research institutions. 

Moreover, while Wisian said that many of the points raised by Wright’s team seem valid, he objected to what he saw as “straw man” arguments in their new study that misrepresented his original work with Traphagan. Wisian also acknowledged that the SETI field is not his academic specialty—he is an expert on geothermal energy—but suggested that interdisciplinary input will be essential to a robust post-detection plan.

“I've worked and served in multiple wars,” Wisian said. “I've seen how humanity actually behaves—not how it theoretically should.” 

How should we prepare for first contact?

To that end, both teams also agree on another important point: As the search for life elsewhere in the universe continues to mature, people from all walks of life should be involved in the preparations for a successful detection of alien life, and what it might mean for all Earthlings.

There should be “a ‘big tent’ approach to this, not just a few disciplines and academics—and not just the academic world,” said Wisian. “There's a whole bunch of areas that are ripe for exploration here that could move from the science fiction world into the practical planning world, like SETI has moved, over the last 50 or 60 years, from science fiction to a major scientific discipline now.”

Wright also pointed to the need to enlist diverse perspectives in the conversation about alien contact, and our own human reaction to it, though he emphasized that these efforts should involve researchers who are steeped in SETI history and technologies.

To that point, the basic post-detection protocol, as it stands today, is centered on making sure a detection is accurate, disseminating the news to the public as soon as it has been unambiguously confirmed, and refraining from responding to the alien civilization—not necessarily because of any inherent danger, but because a reply would need to emerge on behalf of our entire civilization, which is no simple task. 

Both teams think that there are many nuances and gaps within, and around, the existing guidelines that will need to be addressed by future discussions between people with different views and backgrounds. To that end, the United Nations, the International Academy of Astronautics, and other organizations have been working for years to harness the talents of people with a wide range of expertise—including sociologists, philosophers, policy makers, and scientists—to game out the various ways in which we might first encounter alien life. 

That work will have to keep pace with the exciting pace of the search for aliens in the skies, as well as the dizzying geopolitical and cultural shifts that we are experiencing right here on Earth.

“Our paper is not supposed to close the book on this topic,” said Wright. “We're having this discussion because we don't really have a good post-detection protocol yet. We have protocols that are old and they're probably insufficient, given all of the ways that we can do SETI these days.” 

“The response has to represent humanity and we don't know how to do that,” he concluded. “It should not be the purview of the people who make the discovery to be the ones to respond. That's a bigger decision that needs to be made at a larger collective level. That’s the essence of the protocol.”

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28-10-2022 om 00:36 geschreven door peter  

Modern Humans and Neanderthals Lived Together in Europe for 2,000 Years!

When Homo sapiens first arrived on the European continent about 42,500 years ago, the Neanderthals were still living there, and would remain there for another 1,400 to 2,900 years before finally disappearing from the face of the Earth. When the anatomically modern humans moved in, the Neanderthals did not move out, but stayed where they were and apparently lived peacefully alongside their Homo sapiens cousins for approximately 2,000 years, give or take a few centuries.

This is the conclusion of a trio of scientists from Leiden University in the Netherlands and Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, who used a unique and sophisticated modeling method known as optimal linear estimation to pin down more exactly when the Neanderthals actually lived in western Europe. The evidence the archaeologists examined was collected from multiple excavation sites in France and northern Spain, where modern human and Neanderthal artifacts have proven relatively easy to find.

Speleofacts ring structure built by Neanderthal people in Bruniquel cave, France.

(Luc-Henri Fage/SSAC / CC BY-SA 3.0 )

The results of this study, which have just been published in the journal Scientific Reports , offer no evidence to demonstrate that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals merged their genetic materials with each other 42,500 ago. But past research has proven that the modern human genome contains portions of Neanderthal DNA , which could have only gotten there if the two species of hominin had interbred at some point. People of European descent are among those who carry Neanderthal genetic material, so at least some of that interbreeding must have occurred on European soil.

• Top Ten Myths about Neanderthals
• Research Confirms That 20% of the Neanderthal Genome Can Be Found In Modern Humans

The Stunning Convergence of Modern Humans and Neanderthals

Igor Djakovic, an archaeological PhD candidate at Leiden University and lead author of the Scientific Reports paper, acknowledges in an interview with the French press agency AFP that humans and Neanderthals “met and integrated in Europe,” at some point in the distant past, before adding that “we have no idea in which specific regions this actually happened.”

Scientists have also struggled to identify the precise years when modern humans and Neanderthals would have lived in Europe simultaneously, and this was what the scientists in the Leiden University-led study were trying to discover.

To apply their sophisticated modeling techniques to the question, the scientists gathered radiocarbon dating results connected to 56 artifacts taken from 17 archaeological sites across France and northern Spain. Half of these artifacts had been linked to Neanderthals, while the other half had been left by humans. The artifacts in question included skeletal remains of both species, plus different types of tools including distinctive stone knives believe to have been made by Neanderthals.

Distinctive stone knives thought to have been produced by the last Neanderthals in France and northern Spain. This specific and standardized technology is unknown in the preceding Neanderthal record, and may indicate a diffusion of technological behaviors between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals immediately prior to their disappearance from the region.

( Igor Djakovic)

The idea was to cross-reference all of these dated materials, first through Bayesian statistical modeling and then through optimal linear estimation modeling, to search for signs of overlapping activity. Optimal linear estimation modeling is a technique originally developed for use in biology that has now been repurposed for examining and dating human remains and artifacts (and in this case, Neanderthal remains and artifacts as well) to relatively narrow periods of time.

In this study Baynesian modeling could only narrow the potential date ranges down so far, but optimal linear estimation allowed the scientists to achieve much further refinement.

When the final numbers were crunched, the data showed that Neanderthals went extinct in the region of France and northern Spain between 40,870 and 40,547 years ago, a range covering just over three hundred years of time. Meanwhile, it was confirmed that modern humans first migrated into this part of Europe approximately 42,500 years ago. With some variations in the approximate time frame for when the modern humans arrived, the researchers concluded that modern humans and Neanderthals would have occupied the same geographical region for between 1,400 and 2,900 years, after which Neanderthals disappeared forever.

Geographic appearance of dated occurrences for the Châtelperronian (grey circles – Neanderthal stone tools), Protoaurignacian (white squares – Homo sapiens stone tools), and directly-dated Neandertals (black skulls) in the study region between 43,400 (a) and 39,400 (f) years cal BP.

(Djakovic, I., Key, A. & M. Soressi / Nature 2022 )

Sharing Knowledge

While there is no proof, it is reasonable to conclude that interbreeding between the two genetically compatible species would have occurred at this time and at this place. Perhaps just as significantly, there are signs that an extensive “diffusion of ideas” occurred, according to Djakovic, meaning there was a meeting of the cultures and a meeting of the minds that accompanied the physical encounters.

This period of time is "associated with substantial transformations in the way that people are producing material culture," including the way they made tools and ornaments, Djakovic explained. He and his colleagues also noted a dramatic change in the types of physical artifacts being produced by Neanderthals, which started to closely resemble tools and utensils made by the modern humans.

• Study Shows Neanderthals Had Capacity To Produce And Understand Speech
• The Hominids of Hiberia: Neanderthals, Dolmens and Myths Entwined

The Death of the Neanderthals Has Been Greatly Exaggerated

The latest research reveals that the DNA of humans of European and Asian descent is between one and two percent Neanderthal. In Africans Neanderthal DNA is not found except in trace amounts , since Africans and Neanderthals did not come into contact before the latter went extinct.

"When you combine that with what we know now—that most people living on Earth have Neanderthal DNA—you could make the argument that they never really went extinct, in a certain sense," Djakovic said. Instead, he hypothesized, they were “effectively swallowed into our gene pool,” where they continue to exert a small but real influence over human genetic development to this very day.

It remains a mystery why Neanderthals weren’t able to breed and produce enough offspring among themselves to preserve their viability as a distinct species after modern human contact . Many different theories have been offered, but none are universally accepted.

Nevertheless, through genetic exchanges with anatomically modern humans they were able to guarantee their survival in a different form. They are like a shadow inside us, still preserved and never to be completely forgotten.

• Top image: A new study shows that modern humans and Neanderthals lived together in Europe for 2000 years. 
• Source: athree23 / CC BY-SA 4.0

By Nathan Falde

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

27-10-2022 om 23:10 geschreven door peter  

LATEST UFO SIGHTINGS AND VIDEOS

UFOs: Hard Evidence Vol. 3 UFO Documentary Series

This episode of UFO Hard Evidence looks at some of the most mind-blowing sightings and disturbing encounters on record, as well as interviews with various people from UFO circles.

To begin with, the Alien and UFO Exhibition in Blackpool is examined, including what is available to see and what is discussed. The notion of secret underground facilities in the United Kingdom used to study or even store UFOs is looked at next, including looking at some of the locations themselves.

UFO Hard Evidence then speaks with UFO researcher, Clifford Stone, and his claims of his involvement with recovered UFOs, including what projects these secret recoveries take place under, and what the future plans might be of these discreet departments.

Russell Callaghan examines some of the latest UFO videos and pictures, demonstrated techniques that are used, and how to tell how credible a piece of footage might be, before then looking at some of the better pieces of UFO footage sent to UFO Magazine over the last few years.

UFO Hard Evidence then takes to the streets of Leeds to see what general members of the public think about the idea of UFOs, including how they think the media portrays this notion.

A series of episodes from the UFOs: Hard Evidence series by Graham W Birdsall of the now defunct UK publication, UFO Magazine originally produced for Quest Publications and edited by Russel Callaghan.  Originally released in 1998.

TIMESTAMPS

0:00-2:07 - Introduction

2:07-9:22 - The Alien And UFO Exhibition, Blackpool, UK

9:22-15:39 - Secret Britain

15:39-26:39 - Interview With Clifford Stone, Recovered UFO Technology

26:39-32:11 - UFO Image Analysis with Russel Callaghan

32:11-47:54 - UFOs Over Britain

47:54-52:16 - Public Reaction to UFOs From Leeds

52:16-53:14 - Credits

 { https://www.ufoinsight.com }

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27-10-2022 om 22:05 geschreven door peter  

7 Legendary Cryptids that Turned Out to Be Real!

Cryptozoology is the search for and study of animals that mainstream science considers to be mythical or non-existent. Animals studied by cryptozoologists are called cryptids. Famous examples include creatures like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Yeti. Unsurprisingly then, there is quite a lot of derision aimed at cryptids in scientific circles. Cryptids are the stuff of low-level tabloid magazines and conspiracy theorists, right? Wrong! Many animals that experts once believed to be cryptids are actually flesh and blood living things.

Famous Cryptids that Aren’t Actually Cryptids Anymore

1. The Platypus

The platypus is a weird animal that seems to break a lot of rules. At the time of its first discovery by Europeans, it seemed to contradict everything they thought they knew about mammals.

The platypus is a furry, Australian mammal that lives in rivers. It has the feet of an otter and the tail of a beaver. So far, not that strange. Then one looks at the head, and it appears to have a bill of a duck, unlike any other mammal.

Even stranger still is the fact that it lays eggs. Only five living mammal species do so, the platypus and four kinds of echidna (spiny anteaters). Up until the discovery of the platypus, it was common knowledge that one of the things which defined a mammal was giving birth to live offspring.

On top of this, the platypus is venomous! Venomous mammals were basically unheard of. The male platypus produces venom from glands attached to its ankle spurs. It is believed these are used defensively against other males, especially during mating season.

It’s unsurprising then that European naturalists from the 18th and 19th centuries believed the platypus to be a hoax. When the first platypus corpses arrived in Europe from Australia, the experts weren’t sure what to make of them.

Many thought it to be the work of Chinese sailors, who had previously tricked them with the corpse of a supposed mermaid. It was believed the platypus corpses were just well-put-together amalgamations of other animals! It took nearly a century for zoologists to admit they were wrong and definitively confirm the existence of the platypus.

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After looking at the first published illustration of a platypus from 1799, you can understand why English naturalists though it might be a hoax

( Public Domain )

2. The Giant Squid

Another poster child for famous cryptids that turned out to be real is the terrifying giant squid. Reports of the giant squid go back 2,000 years to the time of Aristotle. Pliny the Elder, a Roman naturalist, did a pretty good job describing the giant squid in his Natural History .

He got pretty much everything right, except the size. Showing that the giant squid was too massive even for the superstitious ancient writers to get right, Pliny only estimated the squid at 30 feet (9 meters) long, when in reality it's over 40 feet (12 meters) long! Early run-ins with giant squid were likely the inspiration for several mythological sea monsters , like Norse mythology’s Kraken and the Scylla of Greek mythology.

A life size model of the world record-holding giant squid discovered near Glover's Harbor, Newfoundland (ProductOfNewfoundland / CC BY NC ND 2.0 )

The giant squid remained a cryptid for so long because its existence was seemingly fantastical, and hard to verify. The sea is almost unfathomable in its size and depth. Looking for anything in the ocean, even something as huge as a giant squid, is like looking for a needle in a haystack. This is exacerbated by the fact that the giant squid is a deep sea creature, and humans haven’t spent much time down there.

The only chance early zoologists had to study and verify the giant squid was through carcasses that would very occasionally wash ashore. The problem with this was that hungry sea creatures had often begun eating the corpses before they washed ashore, meaning complete samples were rare. Added to this was the fact that the carcasses tended to rot extremely quickly, leaving little to work with.

The first recorded discovery of a mostly intact giant squid carcass was in the 1870s. However, it wasn’t until the last decade or so that we managed to take photos of a live specimen, cementing the giant squid's status as a former cryptid.

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Giant squid occasionally washed ashore, but were rarely intact, and quickly decomposed. Giant squid at The Rooms in St. John's; a regular sized squid is placed in the top left corner to compare.

(Zach Bonnell / CC BY NC ND 2.0 )

3. Sea Serpent Cryptids

Stories of dreadful sea serpents that dwell in the ocean date back thousands of years. Even the Bible makes references to a gigantic beast called Leviathan that roams the briny depths looking for prey. Much like in the case of the giant squid, for a long time, scientists thought these sea monsters were too huge to be real.

Cryptozoologists, however, believe that many sightings of these historic sea monsters are cases of real animals being misidentified, and then being given a fantastical, superstitious twist. One incredibly rare species is perhaps the likely culprit.

The oarfish is a long, bony fish with an elongated body that has been found to grow to at least 56 feet (17 meters) long. They are found in oceans all over the world, but usually live in the deep ocean. They have sometimes washed ashore during storms and occasionally come to the surface when near death.

A giant oarfish (Regalecus glesne) found in Los Cabos, Mexico

(Katia Cao / CC BY 3.0 )

It seems likely that these giant fish are responsible for at least some of these early depictions of sea serpents. The first live oarfish wasn’t filmed until 2001, showing just how rare and hard to verify these fish were.

After hearing about giant sea snakes, imaginations went wild. Sea serpents can no longer be considered cryptids, however, after documented creatures 56 feet (17 meters) long

( Anastasiya / Adobe Stock)

4. The Ultimate Cryptid: The Unicorn

Now obviously, unicorns as traditionally portrayed don’t exist. The unicorn is still very much a cryptid. Except it isn’t. Although no one has discovered a horned horse yet, we can go back 2,000 years and find the animals that likely inspired talk of unicorns.

Pliny the Elder described the unicorn two thousand years ago. He described it as having “the feet of the elephant, and the tail of the boar, while the rest of the body is like that of the horse; it makes a deep lowing noise, and has a single black horn, which projects from the middle of its forehead, two cubits in length. This animal, it is said, cannot be taken alive.” That sounds suspiciously like an Indian rhinoceros.

Reading Pliny the Elder’s description of a unicorn sounds a lot like the Indian rhino

(Yathin S Krishnappa / CC BY SA 3.0 )

There is another contender for real-life unicorn inspiration. The second is a little stranger, however, seeing as it lives in the sea. The narwhal is a type of toothed whale that lives in the freezing waters around Greenland, Canada, and Russia. Its defining feature is a large protruding canine tooth, known as its tusk. This tusk is startlingly similar to the imagined unicorn horn.

Unicorn horns were an incredibly popular curio through the Middle Ages into the Renaissance period. These unicorn horns came from narwhals that the Vikings had hunted, selling their tusks for crazy prices as unicorn horns. When the English explorer Martin Frobisher led a Canadian expedition in 1577, he came across a dead narwhal. The name he gave it? The sea unicorn.

Unicorns are still cryptids, but the ocean dwelling narwhal may have inspired unicorn legends. Its hard, pointed tusk is quite distinctive.

( Andreas Meyer / Adobe Stock)

5. The Komodo Dragon

Before 1910, any scientist claiming to believe in a giant lizard that looked like a dragon would have been laughed out of the room. At the time, it was widely believed that giant lizards were a thing of the past, and nothing on the scale of a Komodo dragon could exist.

When pearl fishermen returned from the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia telling tall tales of giant ‘land crocodiles’, no one took them seriously. After all, fishermen are famous for exaggeration. Then, in 1910, an expedition from Buitenzorg Zoological Museum visited Komodo Island and produced the first scientific report on the creatures. Lieutenant Jacques Karel Henri visited the island and took home both a Komodo dragon skin and a photograph.

The Komodo dragon remained mostly a mystery until 1926, when a second expedition went in search of the dragon. Its leader, W. Douglas Burden, came back with twelve preserved Komodo dragon bodies, as well as two live animals. It was only then the Komodo dragon truly left the realm of the cryptids and entered the world of established science.

The 1926 expedition and discovery of an animal considered by many to be prehistoric went on to inspire the 1933 film King Kong .

From cryptid to captured: A Komodo dragon at the Louisville Zoo, Kentucky, United States

(David Ellis / CC BY NC ND 2.0 )

6. The Humble Gorilla

Sometimes an animal becomes so commonly known that it’s surprising it was ever considered a cryptid at all. For example, the humble gorilla was considered a cryptid until 1847.

The term gorilla comes from a Carthaginian explorer called Hanno the Navigator, who was exploring the African coast in 500 BC. He described coming across a tribe of “gorillae”, monstrous and violent humans. Although it is likely he actually encountered chimps or baboons, the name has stuck.

Reports of monstrous, hairy humans who would attack and overpower villages continue throughout the centuries but were never taken seriously by scientists. In the 16th century, an English explorer described ape-like humans visiting his campfire at night.

Gorillas in general remained cryptids until 1847, when Thomas Savage found gorilla bones in Liberia. With the help of a Harvard anatomist named Jeffries Wyman, he then released a formal description of the species dubbing it, Gorilla gorilla. Sadly, from this point onwards, other anthropologists began hunting gorillas in earnest, seeking to learn as much about the discovery as possible.

The mountain gorilla stayed a cryptid for a while longer. It wasn’t formally recognized as a species until 1902, when a German officer, Captain Robert von Beringe, shot one in the Virunga region of Rwanda and took it home to Europe.

Surprisingly, gorillas were considered cryptids until the mid- to late-1800s.

Mira Miejer / CC BY SA 4.0 )

7. The Okapi

The okapi is an African mammal that resembles a cross between a zebra and a donkey. Their only bizarre feature is the two hair-covered, horn-like structures called ossicones that they have just above their eyes. These may sound bizarre, but actually, the okapi is from the giraffe family, and the ossicones are pretty much the same as a giraffe's horns.

The okapi stayed in cryptid status for a long time, as they are quiet animals that live in dense forests. However, the okapi may have been depicted as early as the 5th century BC. Its unique ossicones led to its nickname as an African unicorn.

(DerekKeats / CC BY SA 2.0 )

The okapi isn’t especially peculiar, certainly not compared to the giant squid or platypus. Yet it was considered a myth until 1901. The problem was its central African habitat was already well-known to European explorers, and since they had never seen one, they did not believe the tales the locals told of the okapi.

Okapi inhabit incredibly dense forests and live quiet, solitary lives. Even the locals who told stories of them were unsure. Their knowledge of the okapi predominantly came from evidence the animals left behind, like tracks, rather than actual sightings.

In 1890, Sir Henry Stanley was the first European to describe the mammal after traveling in the region. However, he had no solid proof, and so the okapi remained a cryptid. It was not until 1901 that zoologist and imperial officer Sir Harry Johnston obtained a skull and some skins with the help of locals. With this physical evidence, the okapi's existence could finally be confirmed.

The okapi wasn’t caught on film in the wild until 2008, which should give an idea of just how hard this beautiful animal is to track down.

The okapi was thought to be a cryptid until 1901. Its habitat and appearance hindered its documentation. It wasn’t caught on film until 2008!

(Eric Kilby / CC BY SA 2.0 )

Conclusion

So, if these cryptids turned out to be real, what about Nessy or Bigfoot? Why are people who believe in them still mocked and derided in the scientific community? The animals above, and in fact, all former cryptids share at least one thing in common.

They come from remote, hard-to-explore regions of the planet. These animals stayed cryptids for so long because European scientists hadn’t had a chance to fully explore their habitats yet. Once they had, these animals stop being cryptids. The problem is, besides the oceans, most of the earth's land mass has been pretty well studied by now. The likelihood of creatures as large as the okapi walking around undiscovered up to now is slim to none.

Another thing most cryptids have in common is that they were actually discovered ages ago. The okapi and mountain gorilla had been talked about by African tribes for centuries. Likewise, the indigenous peoples of Australia were likely familiar with the platypus.

The awkward truth is that the only reason these animals were never taken seriously is old-fashioned racism. For the most part, something remained cryptid until European scientists said otherwise, seeing it with their own eyes. Centuries of eyewitness accounts made by the locals didn’t count, because colonial-era European scientists lacked respect for the indigenous people of the places they were colonizing.   

Although it is unlikely any more large cryptids will be discovered, there is always some hope. There are still far-flung corners of the world and the fathomless depths of the oceans we haven’t scoured yet. If we are now willing to listen to the people from these areas, who knows what we might discover?

• Top Image: The Altamaha-ha legend has its roots in Muscogee traditions. This cryptid river monster with an alligator shaped head and long neck, is said to inhabit the Altamaha river and nearby marshes in southern Georgia. Will it be the next cryptid proven real?
• Source: Daniel Eskridge / Adobe Stock

By Robbie Mitchell

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27-10-2022 om 21:43 geschreven door peter  

Earth's methane 'super-emitters' REVEALED: NASA identifies more than 50 regions in Central Asia, the Middle East and US pumping out unprecedented levels of the greenhouse gas

• NASA's 'EMIT' spectrometer is intended to measure solar energy reflected by airborne dust particles on Earth
• However, scientists have discovered it is also capable of detecting large plumes of methane gas
• So far it has picked up over 50 'super-emitter' regions, including oil and gas infrastructure in Turkmenistan
• Other culprits are a waste-processing complex south of Tehran in Iran, and an oilfield in New Mexico, USA
• It is hoped the knowledge will be able to inform operators of these facilities to act to reduce their emissions

By FIONA JACKSON FOR MAILONLINE 

An orbital NASA instrument has identified more than 50 'super-emitter' regions worldwide that are pumping out unprecedented levels of methane.

The top culprits include Turkmenistan, which produces plumes that stretch more than 20 miles (32 km) wide, Iran and New Mexico, USA. 

Earth Surface Mineral Dust Investigation, or 'EMIT', is a spaceborne spectrometer that measures solar energy reflected from Earth in hundreds of wavelengths of light from the visible to the infrared range.

Its purpose is mainly to advance studies of airborne dust and its effects on climate change, but NASA scientists have discovered it can also detect areas where significant amounts of methane are being produced.

The newly measured methane hotspots - some previously known and others just discovered - include sprawling oil and gas facilities and large landfills.

'Some of the (methane) plumes EMIT detected are among the largest ever seen - unlike anything that has ever been observed from space,' said Andrew Thorpe, a NASA research technologist leading the methane studies.

'What we've found in a just a short time already exceeds our expectations.' 

NASA's EMIT mission detected a methane plume 2 miles (3 km) long southeast of Carlsbad, New Mexico. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that is much more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide

A methane plume at least 3 miles (4.8 km) long billows into the atmosphere south of Tehran, Iran. The plume, detected by NASA's EMIT mission, comes from a major landfill, where methane is a byproduct of decomposition

East of Hazar, Turkmenistan - a port city on the Caspian Sea - 12 plumes of methane stream westward. The plumes were detected by NASA's EMIT mission and some of them stretch for more than 20 miles (32 km)

Methane is is a potent greenhouse gas that can trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere.

During the day, the sun shines through the atmosphere and warms the planet's surface, while at night, it cools down again, releasing heat back into the air.

However, greenhouse gases can trap some of this hot air, which results in the warming of the planet.

Methane has more than 80 times the heat-trapping potency of carbon dioxide over the first 20 years after it reaches the atmosphere.

While this does decrease over time as it breaks down, it means emissions have a more immediate impact on planetary warming.

The EMIT imaging spectrometer was launched and docked onto the International Space Station in July this year, and now circles the Earth once every 90 minutes some 250 miles (420 km) above us. 

Managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), it is able to scan vast tracts of the planet dozens of miles across while also focusing in on areas as small as a football pitch.

Its primary duty is to collect information about the mineral composition of dust blown into the atmosphere from Earth's deserts and other arid regions in Africa, Asia, North and South America and Australia.

It does this by measuring the wavelengths of light reflected from the surface soil. Darker dust tends to absorb more of the sun's rays, while lighter dust reflects more of them, thus cooling the area around it. 

This investigation will help scientists determine whether airborne dust in different parts of the world is likely to contribute to climate change.

However, while verifying the accuracy of the imaging spectrometer's mineral data, scientists found that it could also pinpoint emissions of methane.

This will provide them with the locations of facilities, equipment, and infrastructure that produce the gas at high rates - known as 'super-emitters' - so authorities can quickly act to limit emissions.

'We have been eager to see how EMIT's mineral data will improve climate modelling,' said Kate Calvin, NASA's chief scientist and senior climate adviser. 

'This additional methane-detecting capability offers a remarkable opportunity to measure and monitor greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.'

The cube (left) shows methane plumes (purple, orange, yellow) over Turkmenistan. The rainbow colours are the spectral fingerprints from corresponding spots in the front image. The blue line in the graph (right) shows the methane fingerprint EMIT detected; the red line is the expected fingerprint based on an atmospheric simulation

Earth Surface Mineral Dust Investigation, or 'EMIT' (pictured), is a spaceborne spectrometer that measures solar energy reflected from Earth in hundreds of wavelengths of light from the visible to the infrared range

The EMIT imaging spectrometer was launched and docked onto the International Space Station (pictured) in July this year, and now circles the Earth once every 90 minutes some 250 miles (420 km) above us. Managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near Los Angeles, USA, it is able to scan vast tracts of the planet dozens of miles across while also focusing in on areas as small as a football pitch

Levels of methane in the atmosphere are growing 'dangerously fast', scientists warn 

So far, EMIT has identified more than 50 super-emitters in Central Asia, the Middle East and the Southwestern United States.

Examples of newly imaged methane super-emitters showcased by JPL include a cluster of 12 plumes from oil and gas infrastructure east of the Caspian Sea port city of Hazar in Turkmenistan.

Scientists estimate these plumes collectively spew methane at a rate of 111,000 pounds (50,400 kilograms) per hour, rivalling the peak flow of 110,000 pounds (50,000 kilograms) per hour of the 2015 Aliso Canyon gas field blowout.

Another other large emitter is the Permian Basin oilfield in New Mexico - one of the largest oilfields in the world - which generated a plume about two miles (3.3 km) long.

The third culprit revealed by NASA is a waste-processing complex south of Tehran, Iran, which emits a plume at least three miles (4.8 km) long. Methane is a byproduct of decomposition, and landfills can be a major source.

Scientists estimate flow rates of about 40,300 pounds (18,300 kilograms) per hour at the Permian site and 18,700 pounds (8,500 kilograms) per hour at the Iran site. 

JPL officials said neither were previously known to scientists.

'These results are exceptional, and they demonstrate the value of pairing global-scale perspective with the resolution required to identify methane point sources, down to the facility scale,' said David Thompson, EMIT's instrument scientist and a senior research scientist at JPL. 

'It's a unique capability that will raise the bar on efforts to attribute methane sources and mitigate emissions from human activities.'

Robert Green, EMIT's principal investigator at JPL, said: 'As it continues to survey the planet, EMIT will observe places in which no one thought to look for greenhouse-gas emitters before, and it will find plumes that no one expects.'

NASA says that EMITcould potentially find hundreds of previously unknown methane super-emitters before its year-long mission ends. 

'Reining in methane emissions is key to limiting global warming,' said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

'This exciting new development will not only help researchers better pinpoint where methane leaks are coming from, but also provide insight on how they can be addressed – quickly.

'The International Space Station and NASA's more than two dozen satellites and instruments in space have long been invaluable in determining changes to the Earth's climate. 

'EMIT is proving to be a critical tool in our toolbox to measure this potent greenhouse gas – and stop it at the source.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

27-10-2022 om 20:52 geschreven door peter  

Vitorio Pacaccini talks about Varginha Aliens photos and videos

By the time of the event in 1996, UFOlogist and expert on the subject of the Varginha ET, Vitorio Pacaccini, was a prominent figure in the community. However, he had been missing from the discussion until recently. According to him, he was able to watch a video proof of the UFO’s existence in 2012.

Check out our post about Varginha UFO case from yesterday called This is a leaked photo of the Varginha, Brazil Alien. This could be authentic!

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

27-10-2022 om 18:41 geschreven door peter  

The Smallest, Lightest Neutron Star Ever Seen Could be a “Strange Star”

The life of every star is a fight against gravity. Stars are so massive they risk collapsing under their own weight, but this is balanced by the heat and pressure a star generates through nuclear fusion. Eventually, that comes to an end. The outer layers of a star will be cast off, and the remaining core will become a stellar remnant. Which kind of remnant depends on the mass of the core.

If the core is less than 1.4 solar masses, then it will collapse until the pressure of electrons balances its weight, thus becoming a white dwarf. If the core is more massive than that, up to perhaps 3 solar masses, it collapses until neutron pressure resists, creating a neutron star. Beyond that, the core will collapse into a stellar-mass black hole.

At least that seems to be the case. The most massive white dwarf we’ve found is about 1.35 solar masses, and the smallest black hole we’ve observed is about 2.6 solar masses. The most massive confirmed neutron star is about 2.14 solar masses. Of course, the cut-off ranges aren’t absolute. A stellar core might be a bit under 1.4 solar masses but experiences an explosive collapse that pushes it to become a neutron star. Neutron stars of 1.2 or 1.3 solar masses would be unusual, but not impossible. But recent observations of the neutron star HESS J1731-347 seem to give it a mass of 0.77 solar masses, which shouldn’t be possible.

Neutron stars are the densest celestial bodies in the entire universe except black holes, and the lower limit of mass is 1.1 times that of the sun. But recently, astronomers discovered that a neutron star named HESS J1731-347 has a smaller mass than the sun. It is likely not a neutron star at all, but a more special and never-before-seen “strange star” composed of quark particles and unknown exotic matter.

Neutron stars are notoriously difficult to mass. They are only about 20 kilometers in diameter and can be seen by the x-rays they give off. To calculate the mass you generally either need the neutron star to be a companion of a star, so that you can determine mass by orbital dynamics, or it needs to be a pulsar so that you can use radio observations to get a mass estimate. HESS J1731-347 is neither of these, but it does have a remnant nebula surrounding it. That remnant is illuminated by a nearby regular star, which we do know the distance of. The regular star was mapped by the Gaia spacecraft, so we know its distance really well. From that data, the team looked at the reflected light of the nebula to determine the distance of HESS J1731-347. It’s about 8,000 light-years away, which is closer than we thought.

Knowing the distance, the team then looked at x-ray observations of the neutron star. Given their luminosity, the calculated mass comes out to be 0.6 – 0.9 solar masses, which is far below the white dwarf mass limit. If this mass is accurate, our understanding of neutron stars is off. One possibility is that we don’t understand how neutron stars form. The authors propose another possibility, which is that it could be a type of quark star known as a strange star.

The standard view of neutron stars is that they are mostly neutrons. Some theorists argue that within the core the boundary of neutrons might break down, creating a soup of up and down quarks, thus a quark star. A strange star would be one where colliding quarks in the core create strange quarks, so that the neutron star has a core of up, down, and strange quarks. All of this is hypothetical, but since strange quarks are twenty times more massive than up and down quarks, a strange star would have a much greater density than a normal neutron star. Thus, it could hold itself together even with a mass much smaller than the Sun.

The third option is, of course, that the mass result is wrong. This is only one result, and several factors could make the neutron star appear dimmer than it actually is, thus skewing the mass result. It’s an interesting result, but not conclusive. Even the authors acknowledge that more observations are needed to confirm the result. It is indeed a strange sight, but it might not be a strange star.

Reference: 

• Doroshenko, Victor, et al. “A strangely light neutron star within a supernova remnant.” Nature Astronomy (2022): 1-8.

The post The Smallest, Lightest Neutron Star Ever Seen Could be a “Strange Star” appeared first on Universe Today.

Source: 

• https://www.universetoday.com/158331/the-smallest-lightest-neutron-star-ever-seen-could-be-a-strange-star/

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26-10-2022 om 22:43 geschreven door peter  

Clearing the Air on a Trip to Mars: the NASA Particle Partition Challenge!

In the coming decade, NASA and the China National Space Agency (CNSA) will send the first astronaut crews to Mars. Unlike missions to the International Space Station (ISS) or the Moon, crewed missions to Mars present several unique challenges because of the distance and transit times involved. For instance, it is only practical to send missions to Mars when our two planets are closest to each other in their orbits (known as “Opposition“), which occurs every 26 months. Even then, it can take up to nine months for spacecraft to reach Mars, creating all kinds of logistics headaches.

On top of that, there’s the need for life support systems that will maintain a breathable atmosphere inside the spacecraft. Like the system that allows astronauts to live aboard the ISS for extended periods, methods are needed to scrub waste carbon from the air and safely sequester it. HeroX, the world’s leading platform for crowdsourced solutions, has launched the NASA Particle Partition Challenge. With a total prize purse of f $45,000, this competition is looking for innovative ideas on how to ensure that astronauts can breathe comfortably on the way to Mars!

Astronauts living aboard the ISS rely on a complex life support system that routinely scrubs the air for carbon dioxide waste produced by exhalation. From 2011 to 2017, this system included a Sabatier reactor that uses heat and hydrogen gas to convert carbon dioxide into methane (CH4) and water. The methane can be used for more chemical reactions or as a fuel source. The water, another crucial resource for space exploration, can be used on its own or electrolyzed to create oxygen gas and hydrogen (which can be processed with carbon to create more methane).

For years, NASA has been working on the next-generation life support system to support crewed missions to Mars and other locations beyond the Earth-Moon system. This system will rely on a Bosch reactor, which relies on electrolysis and hydrogen gas to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen gas, with solid carbon (graphite) and water created as byproducts. Once again, the resulting water is extremely valuable as a resource, but the graphite particulates create a problem. These must be removed regularly for the reactor to keep operating and are hazardous if not removed correctly.

This represents a major challenge since Bosch reactors produce large amounts of graphite on a daily basis. According to NASA’s estimates, a crew of four astronauts will produce roughly 1 kg (2.2 lbs) of carbon particulates a day. In addition, the particulates are very fine, rating in size from 1 to 500 microns (averaging 8.36 microns). Therefore, the removal methods must be very efficient and precise so that carbon particulates don’t escape back into the spacecraft’s internal atmosphere and slowly pollute the air supply.

To this end, the Challenge is looking for innovative ways to safely and efficiently remove fine particulate carbon from a continuously-running Bosch reactor without impacting its performance. The winning designs will have the chance to become part of the life support systems used by astronauts as they make the long journey to Mars. It will also aid in the development of future extraterrestrial habitats that will enable long-duration missions on the surface of the Moon and Mars. In short, the technology this Challenge inspires will become essential to future missions to deep space, where opportunities for resupply are few and far between, and sustainability and self-sufficiency are vital.

“This problem has been brought to the right people,” said HeroX CEO Kal K. Sahota. “The HeroX community is ready to help again, this time breathing life into the length of planetary missions.”

To encourage the next generation of innovators and potential astronauts, there will also be a Junior challenge running concurrently for competitors under 18 years of age. This Challenge will ask competitors to develop ideas for how habitats far from Earth can maintain a breathable atmosphere for their inhabitants. The Challenge kicked off at 09:00 AM EDT (06:00 AM PDT) today (Wednesday, October 26th) and will remain open to submissions until January 12th, 2023.

The judging panel will finish evaluating submissions in early March, followed by the announcement of the three winning entries on March 16th. The competition is open to anyone 18 years of age or older, participating as an individual or a team from anywhere in the world, as long as U.S. federal sanctions do not prohibit participation (some restrictions apply).

Winners of this single-phase competition will share a total prize purse of $45,000, while the top three participants in the Junior category will each receive public recognition and NASA swag. For more information on the Challenge and eligibility, head over to the HeroX competition page.

Further Reading: 

• HeroX

The post Clearing the Air on a Trip to Mars: the NASA Particle Partition Challenge! appeared first on Universe Today.

Source: 

• https://www.universetoday.com/158320/clearing-the-air-on-a-trip-to-mars-the-nasa-particle-partition-challenge/

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

26-10-2022 om 22:17 geschreven door peter  

A couple from Las Cruces, NM, near White Sands Missile Range captured what looks like a large triangular UFO hiding in the clouds. 

Linda Moulton Howe discusses and analyzes the strange sky phenomenon.

A first analyze:

So far I don't see anything in this image that says definitively 'real or fake'. There are some subtleties in the cloud formation in front of the triangle that suggest it's real, but that could be chalked up to skillful photoshopping. My truth-o-meter says" 65% probability of being genuine. But I still need to see the raw file. 

After receiving the raw file, ok, the metadata is intact and the photo looks kosher. The original image had lower contrast, so it looks as if they spiked up a little in the version they sent you, but otherwise it appears unchanged. The sun is behind the object and there's no way to tell the object's actual shape, but its corner angle is a little more than 90 degrees, so either it's pyramidal or, if square or cubical, the top corner is leaning away from the camera. 

More analyses and suggestions on this object, which may not be a natural phenomenon, starts at around the 7, 30 minutes in the video.

  

26-10-2022 om 21:58 geschreven door peter  

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Alien Probe, Sentient Machine, Nuclear Weapon, or Junk? What is the Betz Mystery Sphere?

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While assessing the damage, they noticed something very out of place.

Lying in the smoldering grass, was a highly polished, metal sphere. This became known as the Betz sphere or the Betz orb.

Terry Betz, Antoine and Jerri's 21-year-old son, went to pick up the sphere. Although it was only 8-inches in diameter, it was extremely heavy.

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There’s more to say, more to explore together and we invite you now to join this new journey with us on Section 51 ! Subscribe now !

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Skinwalker Ranch - The Full Story | Documentary

A ranch in Utah has, ever since it was first reported on in 1996, been regarded as one of the most significant hotspots of paranormal activity in the entire world. Moreover, it is also one of the few to be thoroughly investigated by professional teams of researchers. What really happened here? In this video, we will find out.

{  https://www.youtube.com/ }

26-10-2022 om 20:08 geschreven door peter