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.
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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 Ontdek de Fascinerende Wereld van UFO's en UAP's: Jouw Bron voor Onthullende Informatie!
Ben jij ook gefascineerd door het onbekende? Wil je meer weten over UFO's en UAP's, niet alleen in België, maar over de hele wereld? Dan ben je op de juiste plek!
België: Het Kloppend Hart van UFO-onderzoek
In België is BUFON (Belgisch UFO-Netwerk) dé autoriteit op het gebied van UFO-onderzoek. Voor betrouwbare en objectieve informatie over deze intrigerende fenomenen, bezoek je zeker onze Facebook-pagina en deze blog. Maar dat is nog niet alles! Ontdek ook het Belgisch UFO-meldpunt en Caelestia, twee organisaties die diepgaand onderzoek verrichten, al zijn ze soms kritisch of sceptisch.
Nederland: Een Schat aan Informatie
Voor onze Nederlandse buren is er de schitterende website www.ufowijzer.nl, beheerd door Paul Harmans. Deze site biedt een schat aan informatie en artikelen die je niet wilt missen!
Internationaal: MUFON - De Wereldwijde Autoriteit
Neem ook een kijkje bij MUFON (Mutual UFO Network Inc.), een gerenommeerde Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in de VS en wereldwijd. MUFON is toegewijd aan de wetenschappelijke en analytische studie van het UFO-fenomeen, en hun maandelijkse tijdschrift, The MUFON UFO-Journal, is een must-read voor elke UFO-enthousiasteling. Bezoek hun website op www.mufon.com voor meer informatie.
Samenwerking en Toekomstvisie
Sinds 1 februari 2020 is Pieter niet alleen ex-president van BUFON, maar ook de voormalige nationale directeur van MUFON in Vlaanderen en Nederland. Dit creëert een sterke samenwerking met de Franse MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP, wat ons in staat stelt om nog meer waardevolle inzichten te delen.
Let op: Nepprofielen en Nieuwe Groeperingen
Pas op voor een nieuwe groepering die zich ook BUFON noemt, maar geen enkele connectie heeft met onze gevestigde organisatie. Hoewel zij de naam geregistreerd hebben, kunnen ze het rijke verleden en de expertise van onze groep niet evenaren. We wensen hen veel succes, maar we blijven de autoriteit in UFO-onderzoek!
Blijf Op De Hoogte!
Wil jij de laatste nieuwtjes over UFO's, ruimtevaart, archeologie, en meer? Volg ons dan en duik samen met ons in de fascinerende wereld van het onbekende! Sluit je aan bij de gemeenschap van nieuwsgierige geesten die net als jij verlangen naar antwoorden en avonturen in de sterren!
Heb je vragen of wil je meer weten? Aarzel dan niet om contact met ons op te nemen! Samen ontrafelen we het mysterie van de lucht en daarbuiten.
18-07-2025
Fighter pilot reveals near miss with 'perfect rectangle' UFO that defied the laws of physics
A veteran US fighter pilot has broken his silence about a near-collision with a UFO that defied the laws of physics and left the Air Force in stunned disbelief.
Major Ryan Bodenheimer, a retired F-15 and F-16 combat pilot, revealed in a YouTube video that one of the 'wildest experiences' of his career involved a close encounter witha rectangle-shaped UFOas he flew with his squadron over southern Wyoming.
Bodenheimer, who served in the Air Force for 13 years, said the large craft suddenly appeared out of nowhere during a training mission and looked to be on a collision course with his plane.
'Then I realized we weren't going to hit, and all of a sudden it came more into view, and it was a rectangular shape. This was like essentially a perfect rectangle,' Bodenheimer revealed in his video on June 8.
The military veteran described the UFO as being 30 to 50 feet in height and appearing to be glowing around the edges of its bright white body as it flew alongside the Thunderbirds, the Air Force's elite aerobatic demonstration squadron.
Bodenheimer added that this craft had no visible vapor trail coming from an engine, no radar signal, and was traveling at approximately 400 knots (460 miles per hour).
'It really was defying any type of aeronautical laws that I've learned,' Bodenheimer said.
Bodenheimer then revealed that his report to air traffic control left officials in 'dead silence' before the entire matter was apparently dismissed as an 'anomalous object.'
Major Ryan Bodenheimer (pictured) spent 13 years flying F-15s and F-16s for the US Air Force and said that he had 2 encounters with unexplainable UFOs over the US
Bodenheimer described one of the UFOs as a perfect triangle that was glowing around its edges and was transparent at its center (AI-generated recreation)
The strange rectangle UFO got so close to Bodenheimer's F-16 Falcon at 30,000 feet in the air that he said he could make out every detail of the craft before it eventually flew off and was never seen again.
When air traffic controllers in Denver asked Bodenheimer if he could give them any more details about the UFO, he revealed that it had a cream-colored interior that became transparent or had a hole in its center.
'I know it sounds like I'm talking about a delicious pastry, but this was the wildest experience I've ever had,' the fighter pilot joked.
The only evidence of Bodenheimer's sighting was a report made by air traffic control saying that an object had been spotted in the area where the Thunderbirds were training that day, but he never heard from anyone about the incident again.
The former combat officer explained on his channel, Max Afterburner, that this UFO could not have been a weather balloon, a high-tech drone, or some kind of light trick.
'There was nothing that made me think this was some sort of illusion. It was clear as day. It was right down our wing line, a 30 to 50 foot object,' the pilot continued.
Bodenheimer then speculated whether this could have been an extraterrestrial craft, noting that he's never been a fan of 'science fiction' but admitted that his encounter matched many of the incidents involving military pilots that 'defied physics.'
'Going against aerodynamics definitely blows my mind. Anti-gravity, something that cloaks radar, I didn't see anything on the radar,' he added.
The object wasn't even tilted to deflect the wind while traveling at that speed. It stayed completely vertical as if the wind did not affect the UFO's ability to fly at over 400 mph.
Bodenheimer revealed what he had seen while flying with the Thunderbirds during his YouTube podcast on June 8
Bodenheimer said that he has never heard about the UFO sighting since he reported it to officials with air traffic control in Denver
This wasn't the only time the Air Force veteran had encountered a UFO. He added that 'lightning-fast triangle' while training with the Thunderbirds near Area 51 - the military's top secret base in Nevada.
'There's been lots of crazy stuff that's been reported out there,' Bodenheimer said.
On this day, the mysterious jet-like object flew past Bodenheimer's F-16 as his squadron was coming in for a landing.
'This lightning-fast triangle blitzed past me as we were setting ourselves up on a final [approach],' the pilot revealed.
'I just remember this thing going massively fast past me... It had basically done an interceptor maneuver, a dust-off. So maybe this was its way of having fun, saying maybe this should be Top Gun 3,' Bodenheimer detailed.
The pilot noted that he hopes coming forward will encourage more of his fellow pilots to reveal what they've seen during their time in the military, noting that there have been roughly 800 UFO reports in just the last four years.
A group of US Air Force veterans has gone public with their story about how an 'invisible enemy' at the top-secret base Area 51 left them with cancer.
The former security guards at the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR), a classified site that houses Area 51, have claimed that the US government betrayed them and essentially handed them a death sentence without their knowledge.
Their claims stemmed from the revelation that NTTR was built in the 1970s on an area of land that was found to be contaminated with radiation from years of nuclear testing in the area.
However, that 1975 report from the US Energy Research and Development Administration also said it would 'be against the national interest' to stop the military's secret projects at the site.
David Crete, a former Air Force Sergeant who worked at NTTR from 1983 through 1987, said that over 490 of his fellow workers have died of severe illnesses since being stationed at the secret facility.
Making matters worse, the US Department of Veterans Affairs has refused to cover their medical care because none of the surviving veterans can prove they were exposed to radiation near Area 51.
That's because their work was so top secret, all records of their activities have been marked as 'data masked.'
'I have brain atrophy. The left side of my brain is shrinking and dying. That's not too bad. I'm one of the healthy ones,' Crete told the House Veterans Affairs Committee in April while lobbying for legislation to support the Area 51 veterans.
Dave Crete and hundreds of other airmen were employed by the Air Force's security police squadron to guard experimental aircraft
Crete spoke to the House Veterans Affairs Committee in April, revealing that he and his fellow veterans at Area 51 developed tumors
Area 51, an area of more than 2.9 million acres, is located next to the Nevada Test Site, where US nuclear weapons were tested from the 1950s to the 1990s
Crete added that the average age of death for someone who served in that unit is 65 and the youngest airman to die was just 33.
The Air Force veteran was unaware of anyone who worked at NTTR who had lived beyond the age of 80, but the radiation exposure caused even more harm than that.
Along with revealing that most of his fellow airmen had developed multiple tumors since retiring, Crete told lawmakers that the radiation had been passed to their families as well.
'My wife had three miscarriages. One of the guys that I worked with, his wife had seven,' the veteran explained.
'All four of my children were born with birth defects or significant health problems. It's not their fault. I'm not saying it's mine, but I brought it home. It was my DNA that was permanently altered from low-dose, long-term, ionizing radiation exposure,' Crete continued.
In 2000, then-President Bill Clinton signed a bill that provided compensation and medical benefits to workers who developed illnesses due to exposure to radiation and other toxins while employed at certain government facilities, including nuclear sites.
Crete and other veterans from Area 51 who were invited to Washington on April 8 asked that the same healthcare rules that apply to these workers, who were not part of classified projects, apply to them as well.
Veteran Mike Nemcic told NewsNation: 'It's just a matter of betrayal. These folks knew, and they purposefully kept it quiet because it was more beneficial to them not to tell us.'
Dave Crete (left) and Pomp Braswell (right) previously sued the federal government over their health issues
US Air Force F-117 stealth bombers (pictured) were at the cutting edge of aircraft design in the 1980s
The Air Force base, Area 51, 85 miles north of Las Vegas, was established in 1955 but was not officially acknowledged until 2013
DailyMail.com has reached out to the Air Force for comment regarding this matter is still awaiting a response.
Crete and the other Area 51 veterans were employed by the Air Force's security police squadron to guard the F-117A Nighthawk, America's first stealth bomber, which was being developed and tested at the top-secret facility.
Most of what the airmen did at NTTR since the 1970s is still classified, and they've never been able to share what they were doing, not even to their families.
Veteran Pomp Braswell said: 'It felt very special, especially at a young age. My mom knew absolutely zero about what I was doing. She knew there was a phone number if she needed to get hold of me, that's it.'
According to Crete, the only recognition of their sacrifice at Area 51 came during a conversation with late US Senator John McCain, who served on the Senate Armed Services Committee and allegedly knew what was happening at NTTR.
'He came up to me and he said, 'Your unit ended the Cold War.' If you ever wanted validation that what you did was important, that's just about it,' Crete recounted.
Two bills have been introduced in Congress, the Protect Act and the Forgotten Veterans Act, to provide healthcare relief for the veterans affected by their classified work at NTTR.
EXCLUSIVE - Secret trove of 'UFO evidence' hidden in Vatican archives revealed
EXCLUSIVE - Secret trove of 'UFO evidence' hidden in Vatican archives revealed
By ROB WAUGH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
Following the death of Pope Francis, UFO activists are intensifying calls for the Vatican to open its secret archives.
Many believe the archives contain long-hidden evidence of extraterrestrial visitations that have been framed as divine visions in centuries past.
Some, like US Pentagon whistleblower David Grusch, go even further, alleging the Vatican has known about alien life for decades and actively covered it up.
One scholar who knows the Vatican archives better than most is Diana Walsh Pasulka, a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
In her new book, American Cosmic, Pasulka dives deep into the Church's historical records, uncovering visions and events that sound like they came straight out of an X-Files episode.
While researching Catholic teachings on purgatory, Pasulka explored documents dating from 1300 to 1800, stumbling upon accounts that defied all expectations.
She found 'reports of orbs of light, flames that penetrated walls, luminous beings, forms of conscious light, spinning suns and disc-like aerial objects,' she writes.
'The historical record is filled with these kinds of events. The people at the Vatican, they don't even know where to look - it's in their basements.'
In the wake of Pope Francis 's April passing, calls from UFO activists have intensified, urging the Vatican to open its mysterious archives
One scholar who knows the Vatican archives better than most is Diana Walsh Pasulka, a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington
Pope Paul V formally established the Vatican Secret Archives - now called the Vatican Apostolic Archives - in 1612.
The vast collection of documents is estimated to contain over 50 miles of shelving, featuring papal correspondence, historical records of trials and what some believe to be proof of alien life.
According to Pasulka, the Vatican's archivists are in a 'mad rush to digitize' centuries of forgotten documents, but they're not exactly prioritizing 'orbs that were bothering nuns in the 1800s.'
She uncovers a number of so-called 'miracle' stories preserved in Church history - stories that carry a strange resemblance to modern UFO encounters.
One case involves Sister Maria of Ágreda, a 17th Century Spanish nun who reportedly levitated while bathed in a blinding white light.
Sister Maria also claimed to have been transported across the Atlantic 'on the wings of angels,' where she encountered Native American tribes, despite never physically leaving her cloistered convent in Spain.
Eventually, Pasulka began to see Sister Maria not just as having supernatural abilities, but as what she calls a 'meta experiencer' - someone whose spiritual visions may share a deeper, perhaps even cosmic, connection with today's unexplained phenomena.
'She was a mystic who wrote books about the Virgin Mary that were very popular in her era - and they're still widely read today,' Pasulka writes.
Sister Maria of Ágreda's earliest writings, which were later destroyed by fellow nuns at her convent, were cosmographies - vivid accounts of her astral journeys through space and across the Earth.
Some have speculated that the Vatican's secret archive stores records of UFO and extraterrestrial encounters. The Archives are pictured above in 2012
David Grusch claims one of these alien spacecraft crashed in Northern Italy in 1933. He said Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini kept it secret, before it was captured by American forces at the end of World War II and shipped to the US (pictured is an artist's impression of the finding)
An alleged handwritten memo dated Aug. 22, 1936, which includes a sketch and description of a cylindrical aircraft with portholes on the sides and white and red lights spotted flying over Northern Italy
In them, she recorded detailed topographies of distant lands, foreign cultures and even realms beyond our world.
Missionaries in colonial New Mexico were astonished when Indigenous people described being visited by a mysterious 'lady in blue' - matching Sister Maria's description and attire, despite her never physically leaving Spain.
'As a young nun, she claimed to bilocate to colonial New Mexico,' writes Pasulka.
'She said she met Indigenous Americans, taught them about the Catholic faith and prepared them to be baptized by Franciscan missionaries.'
The Catholic Church recognizes bilocation as a rare charism, or sacred ability - essentially the power to appear in two places at once.
UFO researchers have previously suggested that a 1917 'religious' encounter where a large crowd saw a vision of the Virgin Mary after it was predicted by three children could actually be something extraterrestrial
Pasulka notes that in previous centuries, experiences involving flight, mysterious lights or cosmic travel were interpreted not as alien phenomena, but as deeply spiritual or religious events.
She argues that many such experiences, like those of Sister Maria, may have parallels with what modern society would frame as extraterrestrial encounters.
As a researcher, Pasulka spent years exploring various church archives - including at the Vatican - seeking these overlooked or misunderstood accounts.
The Vatican's connection to mysterious aerial phenomena stretches beyond ancient visions and mystical nuns into modern history, even intersecting with global politics.
Grusch made headlines in 2023 when he claimed Pope Pius XII secretly assisted the US in recovering a crashed UFO during World War II.
According to Grusch, who has not provided physical evidence, the first recovery occurred in Magenta, Italy, in 1933 under Mussolini's regime.
'They recovered a partially intact vehicle, and the Italian government moved it to a secure airbase in Italy until around 1944 [or] 1945,' he told NewsNation.
'The Pope back-channeled that and told the Americans what the Italians had, and we ended up scooping it.'
While this particular account remains unverified, it adds to the growing body of speculation that the Vatican has long been aware of this phenomena.
Another mysterious event often cited by UFO researchers occurred decades earlier.
American Cosmic tells the story of the relationship between religion and UFO experiences
In 1917, three shepherd children in the town of Fatima, Portugal, claimed to witness repeated apparitions of the Virgin Mary in what later became known as the 'Miracle of the Sun.'
The children - Lucia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto - said an angel first appeared in the spring, urging them to fast and repent.
Over the following months, they reported seeing a radiant woman, who delivered a series of messages.
Then tens of thousands of witnesses, including journalists and skeptics, reported seeing the sun appear to spin, pulse with light and even plunge toward the Earth.
The event was captured in photos and widely covered by Portuguese media at the time.
To Pasulka and others, the parallels between Fatima and modern UFO encounters are striking: shining beings descending in spheres of light, spinning aerial displays and the transmission of messages or protocols.
'While some researchers argue that the Miracle of the Sun may have been an alien encounter misinterpreted through a religious lens, Pasulka takes a more nuanced approach.
'Religion cannot be analyzed in the same way as science,' she writes. 'One cannot put an angel under a microscope.
'It is this aspect - the mysterious sacred - that distinguishes religion from other organized practices like sports or fandoms.
'In religions, one finds the inexplicable, sacred event or a mysterious artifact.'
There's no doubt Easter Island is geographically one of the most isolated places on Earth.
More than 2,000 miles off the coast of Chile, it was first settled by humans around AD 1200, who built its famous enlarged head statues.
Historically, the original inhabitants, known as the Rapa Nui, were assumed to have long been completely shut off from the wider world.
However, a new study by researchers in Sweden challenges this long-held narrative.
They say the 63.2 sq mile island in the southern Pacific was not quite as isolated over the past 800 years as previously thought.
In fact, the island was populated with multiple waves of new inhabitants who bravely traversed the Pacific Ocean from west to east.
'Easter Island was settled from central East Polynesia around AD 1200-1250,' study author Professor Paul Wallin at Uppsala University told MailOnline.
'The Polynesians were skilled sailors so double canoes were used.'
Located in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, Easter Island was first settled by humans around AD 1200, who built its famous enlarged head statues, called moai
There's no doubt Easter Island (pictured) in the southern Pacific is geographically one of the most isolated places on Earth
Due to its remote location, Easter Island is traditionally assumed to have remained socially and culturally isolated from the wider Pacific world.
This idea is reinforced by the fact that Easter Island's famous Moai statues, estimated to have been built between AD 1250 and 1500, are unique to the location.
The huge human figures carved from volcanic rock were placed on rectangular stone platforms called 'ahu' – essentially tombs for the people that the statues represented.
For their study, the team at Uppsala University compared archaeological data and radiocarbon dates from settlements, ritual spaces and monuments across Polynesia, the collection of more than 1,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Their results, published in the journal Antiquity, show that similar ritual practices and monumental structures have been observed across Polynesia.
The experts point out that ahu stone platforms were historically constructed at Polynesian islands further to the west.
These rectangular clearings were communal ritual spaces that, in some places, remain sacred to this day.
'The temple grounds ahu [also known as marae] exist on all East Polynesian islands,' Professor Wallin added.
Map of the Pacific with the East Polynesian cultural sphere indicated. Note Easter Island (Rapa Nui) in a more isolated location further east
Pictured, ahu (a central stone platform) on Mo’orea, Windward, French Polynesia, southern Pacific Ocean
Archaeologists have analysed ritual spaces and monumental structures across Polynesia, questioning the idea that Easter Island (pictured) developed in isolation following its initial settlement
EASTER ISLAND TIMELINE
13th century: Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is settled by Polynesian seafarers.
Construction on some parts of the island's monuments begins.
Early 14th to mid-15th centuries: Rapid increase in construction
1600: The date that was long-thought to mark the decline of Easter Island culture.
Construction was ongoing.
1770: Spanish seafarers landed on the island. The island is in good working order.
1722: Dutch seafarers land on the island for the first time.
Monuments were in use for rituals and showed no evidence of societal decay.
1774: British explorer James Cook arrives on Rapa Nui
His crew described an island in crisis, with overturned monuments.
The team agree that an early population of people spread from the west of the Pacific to the east before encountering Easter Island and populating it around AD 1200.
But they argue that Easter Island was populated several times by new seafarers – not just once by one group who remains isolated for centuries as previously assumed.
'The migration process from West Polynesian core areas such as Tonga and Samoa to East Polynesia is not disputed here,' they say in their paper.
'Still, the static west-to-east colonization and dispersal suggested for East Polynesia and the idea that Rapa Nui was only colonized once in the past and developed in isolation is challenged.'
Based on their evidence, they also think ahu originated on Easter Island before the trend spread east to west across other western Polynesian islands during the period of AD 1300-1600.
It was only after this that Polynesian islands – including but not limited to Easter Island – might have become isolated from each other.
As hierarchical social structures developed independently – at Easter Island, Tahiti and Hawai'i for example – large, monumental structures were built to display power.
Overall, the study indicates there were robust 'interaction networks' between Polynesian islands, which allowed the transfer of new ideas from east to west and back again.
The Moai are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island, between AD 1,250 and 1,500
Ultimately, arrival of European explorers at Easter Island in the 18th century led to a rapid decline of the population, brought on by murder, bloody conflict and the brutal slave trade – although the population there may have already been weakening.
Today, Easter Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with only a few thousand inhabitants.
But it attracts large numbers of tourists, largely thanks to its monumental and world-famous stone statues that stare sternly out over the island.
Tourism, which has grown exponentially on the island over the last 20 years, has come at a price, according to co-author Professor Helene Martinsson-Wallin.
'When I was there in the 1980s, the sandy beach was white and there were almost no people around,' she said.
'When I came back in the early 00s, I thought the sand looked blue, and when I looked closer I saw that it was due to tiny, tiny pieces of plastic washed up by the sea from every corner of the Earth.'
The Moai are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island, between 1,250 and 1,500 AD.
All the figures have overly-large heads and are thought to be living faces of deified ancestors.
The 887 statues gaze inland across the island with an average height of 13ft (four metres).
Nobody really knows how the colossal stone statues that guard Easter Island were moved into position.
Nor why during the decades following the island’s discovery by Dutch explorers in 1722, each statue was systematically toppled, or how the population of Rapa Nui islanders was decimated.
Shrouded in mystery, this tiny triangular landmass, stranded in the middle of the South Pacific and 1,289 miles from its nearest neighbour, has been the subject of endless books, articles and scientific theories.
All but 53 of the Moai were carved from tuff , compressed volcanic ash, and around 100 wear red pukao of scoria.
What do they mean?
In 1979 archaeologists said the statues were designed to hold coral eyes.
The figures are believed to be symbol of authority and power.
They may have embodied former chiefs and were repositories of spirits or 'mana'.
They are positioned so that ancient ancestors watch over the villages, while seven look out to sea to help travellers find land.
But it is a mystery as to how the vast carved stones were transported into position.
In their remote location off the coast of Chile, the ancient inhabitants of Easter Island were believed to have been wiped out by bloody warfare, as they fought over the island's dwindling resources.
All they left behind were the iconic giant stone heads and an island littered with sharp triangles of volcanic glass, which some archaeologists have long believed were used as weapons.
Now, scientists in Australia have identified a possible cause of gigantic volcanic eruptions – mysterious 'blobs' about 1,200 miles under our feet.
Blobs are three-dimensional regions that span the length of continents and stretch 100 times higher than Mount Everest.
They sit at the bottom of Earth’s rocky mantle above the molten outer core – a place so deep that Earth’s elements are squeezed beyond recognition.
And they're a starting point for plumes of hot molten rock which flow upwards towards the Earth's surface.
There they erupt as lava, gases and rock fragments – with the capability of wiping out life as we know it.
The authors warn that giant, large-scale eruptions can have serious impacts, such as sudden climate change and mass extinction events.
Giant, large-scale volcanic eruptions can have serious impacts, from mass extinction events to sudden climate change. Pictured, glowing lava from a volcano eruption in Iceland
Earth is made up of three layers - the crust, the mantle and the core, which was later separated into 'inner' and 'outer'. A recent study suggested the existence of an 'innermost core' too
Volcanic eruptions can intensify global warming by adding greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere.
Giant volcanoes also triggered events that led to the largest mass dying on Earth, the Permian-Triassic extinction 252 million years ago.
'These blobs have possibly existed for hundreds of millions of years,' say the researchers from the University of Wollongong near Sydney.
According to the team, blobs are at the bottom of Earth’s mantle, about 1,200 miles and 1,800 miles (2,000km and 3,000km) below our feet.
The mantle, the planet's thickest layer, is predominantly a solid rock – but blobs may be different compared with the surrounding mantle rocks.
Blobs are made of rock just like the rest of the mantle, but they're thought to be hotter and heavier.
For their study, the team used computer modeling to simulate 'mantle convection' – the movement of material in Earth's mantle powered by heat – over one billion years.
Connection between the deep mantle and Earth’s surface showing the relationship between Blobs, mantle plumes and giant volcanic eruptions (not drawn to scale)
Blobs, which are some 1,200 miles below Earth’s surface, move over time and are connected to Earth’s surface by 'mantle plumes' that create giant eruptions
How do scientists know about Earth's interior?
No one can see inside the Earth, nor can drill deep enough to take rock samples from the mantle, the layer between Earth's core and crust.
So geophysicists use indirect methods to see what's going on deep beneath our feet.
For example, they use seismograms, or earthquake recordings, to determine the speed at which earthquake waves propagate.
They then use this information to calculate the internal structure of the Earth - similar to how doctors use ultrasound to see inside the body.
Their findings suggest that mantle plumes – columns of hot molten rock in the mantle – rise up from the continent-sized blobs.
Mantle plumes are shaped a bit like a lollipop sticking upwards – with the 'stick' the plume tail and the 'candy' nearer Earth's surface the plume head.
The researchers found that locations of volcanic eruption fall either onto (or close to) the location of blobs, as predicted by their models.
This suggests that blobs – an acronym standing for Big LOwer-mantle Basal Structures – are essentially the deep-Earth origin of volcanic eruptions.
Typically, deep Earth motions are in the order of 0.4-inch (1 cm) per year, so they only become significant over tens of millions of years.
Blobs probably shift in a year at roughly the rate at which human hair grows each month, the team say.
Although they have possibly existed for hundreds of millions of years, it's unclear what causes their movement.
Mantle plumes rise very slowly from blobs through the mantle because they transport hot solid rock, not melt or lava.
Cotopaxi, one of the highest active volcano in the world, stands at 19,347 feet (5,897 metres). Historically, its activity started in 1534 when the Spanish conquistadors began to venture into the territories that are now Ecuador
At lower pressures in the uppermost 125 miles (200 km) of Earth’s mantle, the solid rock melts, leading to volcanic eruptions.
'We used statistics to show that the locations of past giant volcanic eruptions are significantly related to the mantle plumes predicted by our models,' explain the authors in a piece for The Conversation.
'This is encouraging, as it suggests that the simulations predict mantle plumes in places and at times generally consistent with the geologic record.'
According to Eric Dunham, an associate professor of Stanford University's School of Earth, energy and Environmental Sciences, 'Volcanoes are complicated and there is currently no universally applicable means of predicting eruption. In all likelihood, there never will be.'
However, there are indicators of increased volcanic activity, which researchers can use to help predict volcanic eruptions.
Researchers can track indicators such as:
- Volcanic infrasound:When the lava lake rises up in the crater of an open vent volcano, a sign of a potential eruption, the pitch or frequency of the sounds generated by the magma tends to increase.
- Seismic activity: Ahead of an eruption, seismic activity in the form of small earthquakes and tremors almost always increases as magma moves through the volcano's 'plumbing system'.
- Gas emissions: As magma nears the surface and pressure decreases, gases escape. Sulfur dioxide is one of the main components of volcanic gases, and increasing amounts of it are a sign of increasing amounts of magma near the surface of a volcano.
- Ground deformation: Changes to a volcano's ground surface (volcano deformation) appear as swelling, sinking, or cracking, which can be caused by magma, gas, or other fluids (usually water) moving underground or by movements in the Earth's crust due to motion along fault lines. Swelling of a volcano cans signal that magma has accumulated near the surface.
A massive fire has broken out near the infamous Area 51, sending plumes of smoke into the sky and UFO enthusiasts into a panic.
A livestream camera, set up on private land just outside the heavily guarded Groom Lake facility near Rachel,Nevada, captured eerie footage of smoke rising from deep within the classified base.
The blaze was sparked by the Gothic Fire, which has grown from 8,000 acres to 35,000 since starting on July 4. It has been confirmed as a lightning-sparked wildfire
But that has not stopped speculation from spiraling online, with conspiracy theorists claiming everything from a crashed experimental craft to a cover-up gone wrong.
'I'm not saying anything other than it was aliens,' Skywatch Signal, a group that monitors strange sightings, shared on X.
While the fire is around 15 miles outside of the military base, it is currently sweeping over where above-ground nuclear testing occurred, the Nevada Test Site, which sits 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
This site, now known as the Nevada National Security Site, was established for nuclear weapons testing during the Cold War, and there is still nuclear debris and contamination in the area.
A livestream camera, set up on private land just outside the heavily guarded Groom Lake facility near Rachel, Nevada, captured eerie footage of smoke rising from deep within the classified base
While the fire (red) is outside of the military base (bottom right), it is currently sweeping over where above-ground nuclear testing occurred, the Nevada Test Site, which sits 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas
The fire is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense, which is listed as the landowner for Area 51 and surrounding regions.
The Gothic Fire is primarily spreading through northern Nevada, gaining fuel as high temperatures and low relative humidity hit the state.
The area is also littered with timber, specifically pinyon and juniper, and grass, allowing the fire to continue its path of destruction.
Despite the fire's growth, no evacuations have been ordered, and no structures are threatened.
It's currently zero percent contained with no estimate on full containment.
Bryan Cross shared on X: 'Sitting in the Vegas airport at this moment..gray and smoky off toward Area 51.'
Area 51 is a highly classified US Air Force facility located within the Nevada Test and Training Range, approximately 83 miles north-northwest of Las Vegas.
Officially known as Groom Lake, the base is situated near a dry salt flat of the same name, nestled between the Nellis Air Force Range and the rugged Groom Mountain range.
Area 51 is a highly classified US Air Force facility located within the Nevada Test and Training Range, approximately 83 miles north-northwest of Las Vegas
It lies just outside the tiny desert town of Rachel, Nevada, along the so-called 'Extraterrestrial Highway,' which is formally called Nevada State Route 375.
The base, established in 1955, remained largely unknown until 1989 when Robert Lazar claimed on TV that he worked at a secret site near Groom Lake, 'S-4,' studying alien technology and spacecraft.
The US Air Force and the government have denied those claims.
The footage has sparked wild conspiracies online, with one X user saying: 'Are they trying to destroy evidence now that a congressman has asked for access to Area 51?'
Another user asked if people 'finally stormed Area 51,' recalling how 500,000 people committed to rushing the base in July 2019.
The owners of the livestream, EWU Crew, posted an alert about the fire, saying: 'A fire has broken out inside the boundaries of Area 51 and our cameras are capturing it in real time.
'This livestream is operated from private property overlooking the Area 51 perimeter near Rachel, NV.
'Watch day and night as activity unfolds. Strange lights, aircraft, convoys, and now: smoke rising from inside the base. We're located only minutes from the back gate of Groom Lake.'
Every 200,000-300,000 years, Earth's magnetic poles do something extraordinary.
They completely flip, meaning the North pole becomes the South, and vice-versa.
The last full reversal took place approximately 780,000 years ago – leaving some experts to predict another flip is imminent.
Now, researchers have created a terrifying soundscape to represent the chaos of this event.
Using paleomagnetic data – the record of Earth's ancient magnetic field preserved in rocks – from around the globe, scientists have constructed a model of the magnetic field before, during and after this historic reversal.
They also created a musical piece – a 'soundscape' – to represent the haunting sounds of the flip, called the Matuyama-Brunhes reversal.
The team, from the Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam, Germany, used three violins and three cellos to create a 'disharmonic cacophony' that mirrors the complex dynamics of a flip.
The clip starts off as melodic and makes for pleasant listening as it represents the poles while stable. However, it sounds more erratic and eerie as the magnetic fields begin to flux and change.
Researchers have created a terrifying soundscape to represent the chaos of this event. The left part of the animation represents the magnetic field is a relatively stable state, however, the right represents it in a total state of flux, with the poles completely scrambled
Earth is surrounded by a system of magnetic fields called the magnetosphere. This shields our home planet from harmful solar and cosmic particle radiation, but it can change shape in response to incoming space weather from the Sun. Pictured: an artist's impression
Earth's magnetic field is generated by the roiling liquid metals deep beneath the crust.
It extends from the Earth's interior into space, acting like a protective shield by diverting harmful charged particles from the Sun away from our planet.
A flip doesn't happen overnight but takes place gradually, over centuries to thousands of years.
If a magnetic flip were to happen again, some experts claim it could render parts of Earth 'uninhabitable' by knocking out power grids.
Communication systems could be seriously disrupted, and compasses would point south – meaning Greenland would be in the southern hemisphere and Antarctica in the North.
While it sounds terrifying, and would leave life on our planet exposed to higher amounts of solar radiation, it's unlikely to cause catastrophic events or mass extinctions.
Last year, researchers also transformed readings of an epic upheaval of Earth's magnetic field that took place some 41,000 years ago.
The Laschamp event saw our planet's magnetic North and South poles weaken, with the magnetic field tilting on its axis.
During a pole reversal, Earth's magnetic North and South poles swap locations. While that may sound like a big deal, pole reversals are common in Earth's geologic history. Pictured: an artist's impression of Earth with its magnetosphere
What is Earth's magnetic field?
Earth's magnetic field is a layer of electrical charge that surrounds our planet. The field protects life on Earth because it deflects charged particles fired from the sun known as 'solar wind'.
Without this protective layer, these particles would likely strip away the Ozone layer, our only line of defence against harmful UV radiation.
Scientists believe the Earth's core is responsible for creating its magnetic field. As molten iron in the Earth's outer core escapes it creates convection currents. These currents generate electric currents which create the magnetic field.
The soundscape was captured using data from a constellation of European Space Agency satellites.
Researchers mapped the movement of Earth's magnetic field lines during the event and produced a stereo sound version using natural noises including wood creaking and rocks falling.
The noises in the video represent a time when the Earth's magnetic field was at just five per cent of its current strength.
While the Earth's magnetic field did return to normal – over the course of around 2,000 years – its strength has decreased again by 10 per cent over the past 180 years, experts have found.
However, a mysterious area in the South Atlantic has emerged where the geomagnetic field strength is decreasing even more rapidly.
The area is called the South Atlantic Anomaly and has seen satellites malfunctioning over it several times due to exposure to highly charged particles from the sun.
This has led to speculation that Earth is heading towards a magnetic pole flip.
However, some experts have provide reassurance that the poles aren't going to flip anytime soon.
A comparison between the present day geomagnetic field (top) and a potential ancient analogue at 600 BCE (bottom)
Researchers previously pieced together data on Earth's geomagnetic field strength stretching back 9,000 years and say there's no evidence a reversal is on the cards.
'We have mapped changes in the Earth's magnetic field over the past 9,000 years, and anomalies like the one in the South Atlantic are probably recurring phenomena linked to corresponding variations in the strength of the Earth's magnetic field', said Andreas Nilsson, a geologist at Lund University.
The team analysed burnt archaeological artefacts, volcanic samples and sediment drill cores – all of which carry information about Earth's magnetic field.
Reassuringly, the team's model suggests that the South Atlantic Anomaly will recover of its own accord and is unlikely to trigger the reversal that some have anticipated.
'Based on similarities with the recreated anomalies, we predict that the South Atlantic Anomaly will probably disappear within the next 300 years, and that Earth is not heading towards a polarity reversal', Mr Nilsson said.
The Earth’s magnetic field is in a permanent state of change.
Magnetic north drifts around and every few hundred thousand years the polarity flips so a compass would point south instead of north.
The strength of the magnetic field also constantly changes and currently it is showing signs of significant weakening.
Life has existed on the Earth for billions of years, during which there have been many reversals.
There is no obvious correlation between animal extinctions and those reversals. Likewise, reversal patterns do not have any correlation with human development and evolution.
It appears that some animals, such as whales and some birds use Earth's magnetic field for migration and direction finding.
Since geomagnetic reversal takes a number of thousands of years, they could well adapt to the changing magnetic environment or develop different methods of navigation.
Radiation at ground level would increase, however, with some estimates suggesting that overall exposure to cosmic radiation would double causing more deaths from cancer. ‘But only slightly,’ said Professor Richard Holme.
‘And much less than lying on the beach in Florida for a day. So if it happened, the protection method would probably be to wear a big floppy hat.’
The movement of the Earth's magnetic poles are shown in this animation at 10-year intervals from 1970 to 2020. The red and blue lines sjpw the difference between magnetic north and true north depending on where you are standing. On the green line, a compass would point to true north. Credit: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
Electric grid collapse from severe solar storms is a major risk. As the magnetic field continues to weaken, scientists are highlighting the importance off-the grid energy systems using renewable energy sources to protect the Earth against a black out.
'The very highly charged particles can have a deleterious effect on the satellites and astronauts,' added Dr Mona Kessel, a Magnetosphere discipline scientist at Nasa.
In one area, there is evidence that a flip is already occurring. ‘The increasing strength of the South Atlantic anomaly, an area of weak field over Brazil, is already a problem,’ said Professor Richard Holme.
The Earth's climate could also change. A recent Danish study has found that the earth's weather has been significantly affected by the planet's magnetic field.
They claimed that fluctuations in the number of cosmic rays hitting the atmosphere directly alter the amount of cloud covering the planet.
Henrik Svensmark, a weather scientist at the Danish National Space Centre who led the team behind the research, believes that the planet is experiencing a natural period of low cloud cover due to fewer cosmic rays entering the atmosphere.
Astronomers have discovered a new world circling the outer edges of our solar system.
Researchers using the Subaru Telescope, located inHawaii, spotted a small, distant object called 2023 KQ14 far beyond Pluto. They've given it the nickname Ammonite.
2023 KQ14 is a rare type of object called a 'sednoid,' a small, icy body in the outer solar system, similar to the icy rocks floating in the Kuiper Belt or dwarf planets like Pluto.
So far, there are only four known objects like it in our solar system. 2023 KQ14 is about 71 times farther from the sun than Earth is.
This object follows a unique, stretched-out orbit that has stayed stable for about 4.5 billion years.
Scientists found that 2023 KQ14's orbit was similar to the other sednoids in the solar system for billions of years, but that has mysteriously changed over time, suggesting the outer solar system is a more complex space than we thought.
This discovery also makes the possible existence of 'Planet Nine' less likely, as 2023 KQ14's orbit doesn't quite fit with where scientists believe that world would be.
Dr Yukun Huang from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan said: 'It is possible that a planet once existed in the solar system but was later ejected, causing the unusual orbits we see today.'
Researchers using the Subaru Telescope, located in Hawaii, spotted a small, distant object far beyond Pluto and have named it 2023 KQ14
Planetary scientist Fumi Yoshida added that Ammonite was found in a region of space far beyond the influence of Neptune's gravity
'The presence of objects with elongated orbits and large perihelion distances in this area implies that something extraordinary occurred during the ancient era when 2023 KQ14 formed,' Yoshida explained in a statement.
Scientists are calling Ammonite a cosmic 'fossil' from the beginnings of the solar system.
The discovery was part of the Formation of the Outer Solar System: An Icy Legacy (FOSSIL) survey project.
The project's name itself reflected the goal of finding objects like Ammonite that act as 'icy fossils,' preserving information about the outer solar system's formation and evolution.
'I would be happy if the FOSSIL team could make many more discoveries like this one and help draw a complete picture of the history of the solar system,' Yoshida said.
Until now, astronomers had been focused on proving the existence of the fabled Planet Nine (or Planet X as NASA calls it), a mysterious ninth planet believed to be hiding far beyond Pluto at the edge of the solar system.
A recent study had whittled a list of 13 candidates down to just one potential object slowly moving around our sun approximately 46.5 billion to 65.1 billion miles away.
2023 KQ14 is a rare type of object called a 'sednoid,' a small, icy body in the outer solar system. So far, there are only four known objects like it in our solar system
Beyond Neptune is a region of the solar system called the Kuiper Belt, where Pluto and other ice fragments sit. All 4 sednoids sit in this region as well
To put that in perspective, that hypothetical planet would be almost 20 times farther away from the sun than Pluto is.
However, the Japanese team’s discovery of Ammonite (2023 KQ14) challenges the Planet Nine theory, as its unique orbit suggests that Planet Nine, if it exists, would need to be even farther from the sun than previously thought.
This has led the researchers who discovered Ammonite to hypothesize that a mystery planet (possibly Planet Nine) was somehow thrown out of its orbit around the sun long ago.
Scientists had been using the Planet Nine theory to explain some of the unsolved mysteries still surrounding our tiny corner of the Milky Way galaxy.
In a breakdown of Planet Nine, NASA said: 'It could also make our solar system seem a little more 'normal.'
'Surveys of planets around other stars in our galaxy have found the most common types to be 'super Earths' and their cousins — bigger than Earth, but smaller than Neptune,' NASA researchers continued.
'Yet none of this kind exist in our solar system. Planet Nine would help fill that gap.'
If astronomers had found a giant planet at the rim of the solar system, it could explain why objects in the Kuiper Belt are tilted by about 20 degrees with respect to the plane the planets sit on as they orbit the sun.
Planet Nine's gravity would be pulling on these objects over long periods of time, tilting their orbits so the entire ice belt would be out of line with the planets.
The existence of Planet Nine and its strong gravity would also explain why all these comets and tiny dwarf planets like Pluto all cluster together and move in the same direction without floating away.
Yellowstone is one of the world's largest active volcanoes - and if it erupted, it would cover up to two-thirds of the US with ash.
Entire states could become uninhabitable as toxic air sweeps through it, grounding thousands of flights and forcing millions to leave their homes.
The new thermal pool at Yellowstone National Park (pictured) likely formed in a series of mildly explosive events between late December 2024 and early February 2025. The rocks and white material (silica mud) surrounding the pool were probably ejected as the feature formed
The new thermal feature, discovered by geologists on April 10 but only revealed this week, is a 'blue water spring' – a natural exit point producing exceptionally pure, clear water.
The water is relatively warm (about 43°C/109°F), light blue in colour and reaches about one foot (30cm) below the rim of the pool.
In terms of the cause of its creation, the experts point to a 'hydrothermal explosion' – an eruption of such force that boiling water, mud and surrounding rocks are broken and flung through the air.
Satellite imagery suggests it happened as a series of mildly explosive events between late December 2024 and early February 2025 prior to discovery.
The imagery shows there was no feature present in the spot on December 19, but by January 6, a small depression had formed there.
Another image from February 13 shows the fully formed water pool, overall indicating that it did not form in a single major explosive event.
Rocks and pure white geothermal mud made of silica surrounding the pool were probably ejected during 'multiple small events'.
In contrast, other hydrothermal features at Yellowstone have formed during 'brief and violent episodes of change'.
This satellite imagery dated February 15 shows the new fully-formed thermal pool at Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park. There is no indication of the pool in images from October 19 and December 19, 2024, but a small depression is visible in a January 6 image
The new hole in the ground is at Norris Geyser Basin (pictured), the hottest, oldest and most dynamic of Yellowstone's thermal areas
What is Yellowstone?
One of the most famous volcanos on Earth, Yellowstone is located beneath a national park spanning three states - Idaho, Wyoming and Montana.
There lies a magma chamber, pulsing with molten and superheated rock and toxic gases such as sulfur dioxide (SO2) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S).
Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park's famous geyser, which has erupted jets of boiling water every 44 to 125 minutes into the air continuously for the last 800 years.
Erupting an average of 130 feet into the air at 200°F the thermal attraction could prove fatal to anyone in close proximity when it blows.
When we think of volcanoes we tend to think of striking cone-shaped features that rise high into the sky, but Yellowstone volcano is largely underground.
Yellowstone volcano blew catastrophically 630,000 years ago and many fear it's getting ready for another eruption, but fortunately, the new hole doesn't necessarily indicate it is in any immediate danger of doing so.
Dr Craig Magee, geologist at the University of Leeds, stressed that Yellowstone has a 'long history of hydrothermal activity'.
'There are lots of small earthquakes and subtle changes in ground elevation regularly recorded there,' he told MailOnline.
'All these tell-tale signs, and others, indicate Yellowstone has an active magmatic and hydrothermal system beneath it.
'But the occurrence of one event, like this single hydrothermal explosion, is unlikely to represent increasing volcanic activity or a move closer to eruption; it is just a symptom.'
According to the academic, if Yellowstone had 'swarms' of hydrothermal explosions, plus increasing seismic activity and ground movement, it could suggest increased activity level.
However, volcanoes do not work in predictable ways and their eruptions do not follow predictable patterns or schedules.
This relief map shows the location of the new thermal feature - formed sometime during late December 2024 to early February 2025 - marked by an orange star
Hydrothermal explosions are caused by pressure changes that result from the transition of liquid water to steam, but even scientists know 'relatively little' about them, according to Dr Magee.
'In Yellowstone, hydrothermal explosions are one of the main hazards the numerous tourists who visit may come across,' he told MailOnline.
The unusually light blue water in this one 'could be very salty or even acidic', so visitors wouldn't want to fall in, he added.
Despite its potency, Yellowstone National Park's famous volcanic activity draws about 4 million tourists per year from around the world.
One of the park's most famous geothermal features, the Old Faithful geyser, spews jets of boiling water every 44-125 minutes.
According to a recent study, Yellowstone's magma chamber is just 2.3 miles (3.8km) or about 12,500 feet below Earth's surface.
This marginal distance is about the same as between Buckingham Palace and St Paul's Cathedral in London, but the study authors also did not consider an eruption to be imminent.
Recent research found a small magma chamber, known as the upper-crustal magma reservoir, beneath the surface
Nasa believes drilling up to six miles (10km) down into the supervolcano beneath Yellowstone National Park to pump in water at high pressure could cool it.
Despite the fact that the mission would cost $3.46 billion (£2.63 billion), Nasa considers it 'the most viable solution.'
Using the heat as a resource also poses an opportunity to pay for plan - it could be used to create a geothermal plant, which generates electric power at extremely competitive prices of around $0.10 (£0.08) per kWh.
But this method of subduing a supervolcano has the potential to backfire and trigger the supervolcanic eruption Nasa is trying to prevent.
'Drilling into the top of the magma chamber 'would be very risky;' however, carefully drilling from the lower sides could work.
This USGS graphic shows how a 'super eruption' of the molten lava under Yellowstone National Park would spread ash across the United States
Even besides the potential devastating risks, the plan to cool Yellowstone with drilling is not simple.
Doing so would be an excruciatingly slow process that one happen at the rate of one metre a year, meaning it would take tens of thousands of years to cool it completely.
And still, there wouldn't be a guarantee it would be successful for at least hundreds or possibly thousands of years.
A massive explosion of solar plasma erupted from the sun on Wednesday, and scientists say this may be just the beginning.
NASAsatellites caught the dramatic moment when a blazing arc of superheated material burst from the Sun's northeastern edge, large enough to stretch across 30 Earths.
The eruption was caused by a solar filament, a thick ribbon of solar material, which snapped and collapsed, firing off a giant cloud of particles known as a coronal mass ejection (CME).
While this CME isn't expected to hit Earth, experts are warning that the sun is becoming more active, and future eruptions could strike our planet head-on.
If one does, it could unleash a geomagnetic storm, a powerful solar disturbance that has the potential to knock out power grids, satellites, and GPS systems.
It was triggered by a solar filament, a dense, rope-like ribbon of solar material, that suddenly snapped and collapsed and shoot a coronal mass ejection (CME)
NASA satellites captured the colossal explosion as it exploded off the sun's northeastern edge, blasting a glowing arc of superheated material enough to stretch across 30 Earths
While astronomers feared the violent burst of energy could hit Earth, the space weather forecast shows our planet is in the clear of a geomagnetic storm.
The latest eruption was caused by a solar filament, a massive ribbon of dense material that floats above the sun's surface.
These filaments are held in place by invisible magnetic forces, but when those break down, the entire structure can collapse and explode.
Tony Phillips, an astronomer who manages Spaceweather.com, said: 'Debris from the filament flew through the sun's atmosphere, carving a 'canyon of fire' more than 248,548 miles long.
'The walls of the canyon are at least 32,186 miles high--a grand canyon, indeed.'
CMEs like this are massive clouds of solar material hurled into space when the Sun's magnetic fields shift violently
Phillips also noted that the eruption hurled a CME into space, but at the time, astronomers feared it was on a direct path toward Earth.
'We don't yet know if there is an Earth-directed component. Confirmation awaits additional images from [NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)].
SOHO is a project of international cooperation between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA to study the sun, from its deep core to the outer corona, and the solar wind.
Another massive solar eruption occurred in May, but this one measured about 600,000 miles wide, making it more than twice as long as the distance from the Earth to the moon.
Stunning video recorded by NASA's solar observation satellites shows the moment that filaments of plasma 75 times larger than Earth peeled away from the sun in a pair of sweeping 'wings.'
Researchers have found a link between two geological events in iconic locations of the U.S. Southwest that scientists previously didn't think had anything to do with each other.
A massive landslide in the Grand Canyon 56,000 years ago blocked the Colorado River.
(Image credit: kjetilporsboll / 500px via Getty Images)
The ancient meteor impact that formed Arizona's Barringer Crater sent shock waves through the Grand Canyon — likely triggering a landslide that dammed the Colorado River, a new study suggests.
Barringer Crater, also called Meteor Crater, formed between 53,000 and 63,000 years ago, when a giant cosmic "curveball" punched a hole in Earth's surface. The force of the impact traveled more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the Grand Canyon, which may have caused an entire cliff face to collapse into the river, scientists have found.
The discovery, described July 15 in the journal Geology, has linked two major events that were thought to be completely unrelated.
"There are other possibilities, such as a random rockfall or local earthquake within a thousand years of the Meteor Crater impact that could have happened independently," Karl Karlstrom, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at the University of New Mexico and lead author of the study, said in a statement.
But the events described are extraordinary, Karlstrom said — and they happened within a suspiciously small time frame, suggesting that they were related.
Researchers already knew that the Colorado River flooded the Grand Canyon sometime in the Late Pleistocene (129,000 to 11,700 years ago). They determined this by analyzing animal figurines carved out of driftwood, which Karlstom's father and colleagues unearthed in a cavern called Stanton's Cave in the 1960s, according to the statement. With techniques available at the time, the researchers dated the driftwood and found it was more than 35,000 years
Pieces of driftwood in several caves in the Grand Canyon pointed to a flooding event.
(Image credit: University of New Mexico)
Stanton's Cave sits 150 feet (46 meters) above river level, so the water must have risen to deposit driftwood there — but the reason remained unknown. "It would have required a ten-times bigger flood level than any flood that has happened in the past several thousand years," Karlstrom said.
"Rare and unusual occurrences"
Subsequent analyses using more advanced techniques suggested the driftwood was 43,500 years old, and the new study pushed the date back even further, to 56,000 years ago. Dating the driftwood was a crucial step in figuring out how it got to Stanton's Cave in the first place, Karlstrom said.
But the researchers needed more evidence to complete the puzzle, so they searched similar caves in the area. "From numerous research trips, Karl and I knew of other high-accessible caves that had both driftwood and sediment that could be dated," study co-author Laura Crossey, also a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at the University of New Mexico, said in the statement.
Several labs examined the additional driftwood samples, and all came back with dates consistent with a flooding event 56,000 years ago. The locations of the caves pointed to this event being a landslide near Nankoweap Canyon, which is downstream of Stanton's Cave. The landslide may have been so big that it created a dam on the Colorado River, forming a lake that stretched for miles upstream. As a result, water levels may have risen high enough to deposit driftwood in the caves, according to the statement.
A conceptualization of the landslide near Nankoweap Canyon (Image credit: University of New Mexico)
Around the same time as these results appeared, study co-author David Kring, principal scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, was recalculating the age of the Barringer Crater. Kring's work showed that the meteor impact occurred around 56,000 years ago, according to the statement.
Kring had previously calculated that the Barringer meteor impact unleashed a magnitude 5.4 earthquake, and when the researchers came together to work on the new study, he determined that the residual effect at the Grand Canyon would have been the same as a 3.5 magnitude earthquake. This could have been enough to disintegrate a cliff face, according to the statement.
"The team put together these arguments without claiming we have final proof," Karlstrom said. "Nevertheless, the meteorite impact, the massive landslide, the lake deposits, and the driftwood high above river level are all rare and unusual occurrences."
With dates that all converge around 56,000 years ago, it seems credible for the events to be related, he said.
Supernova Cinematography: How NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Will Create a Movie of Exploding Stars
Type 1a supernovae occur in binary systems where one of the stars is a white dwarf. The white dwarf draws material away from its companion star, and that material accumulates on the white dwarf's surface. Eventually, it explodes as a supernova. Image Credit: NASA
Exploding stars come in different types, and these different types of supernovae show astronomers different things about the cosmos. There's a scientific appetite to find more of them and boost our knowledge about these exotic events. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope should be able to feed that appetite.
The Roman is due to launch in about two years, and will make its way to its station at the Sun-Earth L2 orbit. After commissioning, it'll begin operations. One of its three primary surveys is the High-Latitude Time-Domain Survey. In that survey, the powerful space telescope will image the same section of sky beyond the Milky Way every five days for two years. The team behind the Roman will stitch these scenes together into one comprehensive movie, a sort of cosmic cinema.
These movies will reveal the presence of Type 1a supernovae. These occur in binary star systems where one star is a white dwarf. White dwarfs have immense gravitational force because they're extremely dense objects. They draw material away from their companion stars, which could be anything from another white dwarf to a giant star. That material builds up on the white dwarf's surface, and when it reaches a critical mass, it triggers a runaway reaction and a supernova explosion.
Type 1a are different from what we can call standard supernovae. Those are core-collapse supernovae, where a massive star collapses into a neutron star or a black hole, or is completely destroyed and leaves behind only a diffuse nebula.
Since Type 1a supernovae explode at a fixed mass, their peak luminosity is known. For that reason, they serve as standard candles, tools astronomers use to accurately gauge the distance to their home galaxies. These accurate distances allow cosmologists to trace the expansion of the Universe.
The Roman's High-Latitude Time-Domain Survey is a critical part of its mission and is aimed at finding Type 1a supernovae and other transients. According to new research and simulations, it should find about 27,000 of them, a shocking number that's about ten times greater than the current number of known Type 1a SN. This comprehensive data set should help cosmologists in their quest to map the expansion of the Universe, a critical part of understanding dark energy.
“Evidence is mounting that dark energy has changed over time, and Roman will help us understand that change by exploring cosmic history in ways other telescopes can’t.” - Dr. Ben Rose - Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Baylor University
The Roman will find these explosions by observing light from distant galaxies and looking back in time. The Roman will push that time boundary and allow astronomers to see Type 1a SN further back than ever. Most of the T1a SN observed so far exploded in the last 8 billion years. The Roman's High-Latitude Time-Domain Survey (HLTDS) will uncover thousands that exploded longer than 10 billion years ago, and dozens that exploded even earlier than that. These standard candles will fill a missing gap and are critical evidence of the Universe's expansion in its early age.
This graphic outlines the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope's High-Latitude Time Domain Survey. The survey’s main component will cover over 18 square degrees — a region of sky as large as 90 full moons — and will detect supernovae that occurred up to about 8 billion years ago. Smaller areas within the survey can look even further back in time, potentially back to when the universe was around a billion years old. The survey will be split between the northern and southern hemispheres, located in regions of the sky that will be continuously visible to Roman. The bulk of the survey will consist of 30-hour observations every five days for two years in the middle of Roman’s five-year primary mission.
Image Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
“Filling these data gaps could also fill in gaps in our understanding of dark energy,” lead author Rose said in a press release. “Evidence is mounting that dark energy has changed over time, and Roman will help us understand that change by exploring cosmic history in ways other telescopes can’t.”
This figure compares the Roman's expected haul of Type 1a SN with the Dark Energy Survey's cosmological sample of the same. "DES has over 1500 SNe in its cosmological sample with very few at z > 1. However, we expect Roman to have nearly 19,000 SN Ia, with the majority above z > 1," the authors write.
Image Credit: Rose et al. 2025. TApJ
Every supernova is essentially a flash in the cosmos, and dissecting the light from the flash reveals what type of event released it. Core collapse SN and T1a SN aren't easy to distinguish at such great distances, but the light changes over time, and can be split apart with spectroscopy to learn more about it. The Roman carries two instruments, and one of them, the Wide-Field Instrument (WFI), allows the telescope to do large-scale spectroscopic surveys.
“By seeing the way an object’s light changes over time and splitting it into spectra — individual colors with patterns that reveal information about the object that emitted the light—we can distinguish between all the different types of flashes Roman will see,” said Rebekah Hounsell, study co-author and assistant research scientist at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
The Hourglass Simulation "uses the most up-to-date spectral energy distribution models and rate measurements for 10 extragalactic time-domain sources," the authors explain in their research. "We simulate these models through the design reference Roman Space Telescope survey."
"In total, Hourglass has over 64,000 transient objects, 11,000,000 photometric observations, and 500,000 spectra," the authors write. Hourglass showed that the Roman can expect to find "approximately 21,000 Type Ia supernovae, 40,000 core-collapse supernovae, around 70 superluminous supernovae, ∼35 tidal disruption events, three kilonovae, and possibly pair-instability supernovae."
This impressive data set will drive the study and understanding not only of dark energy, but of many other transient events too. As of 2024, for example, astronomers knew of only about 260 superluminous supernovae (SLSNe). These explosions can be 10p times as luminous as other SN. Only massive stars greater than 40 solar masses are expected to explode as SLSNe, yet astrophysicists aren't certain what causes them. Finding an additional 70 could provide answers to some outstanding questions.
This artist's illustration shows the explosion of SN 2006gy, a superluminous supernova about 238 million light-years away.
The Hourglass Simulation is designed to prepare the science community for the Roman's deluge of data. With its tens of thousands of transients, millions of photometric observations, and hundreds of thousands of spectra, Hourglass will serve as a training tool. "Additionally, Hourglass is a useful data set to train machine learning classification algorithms."
"With the dataset we’ve created, scientists can train machine-learning algorithms to distinguish between different types of objects and sift through Roman’s downpour of data to find them,” Hounsell added in the press release. “While searching for type Ia supernovae, Roman is going to collect a lot of cosmic ‘bycatch’—other phenomena that aren’t useful to some scientists, but will be invaluable to others.”
Among those other phenomena are Tidal Disruption Events (TDE), which occur when a black hole consumes a star. Astronomers know of about 100 of them, and they can reveal the presence of black holes that are otherwise dormant and undetectable. If the Roman can find an additional 35, that will undoubtedly help them answer some of their questions. Not only are their outstanding questions about black holes' masses and spina, but there are also questions about how stars behave in the dense regions near galactic centers.
Kilonovae are another type of cosmic explosion and occur when two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole collide. Though they're fainter than SN, Kilonovae release gravitational waves and also produce substantial amounts of heavy elements like gold, platinum, and uranium. There's only one confirmed kilonova explosion, and there are many outstanding questions about them. Astrophysicists want to understand the composition of these elements in their ejecta, and how often they occur and if there are multiple types. If the Roman can find three more, that's a massive increase in the dataset scientists have to work with.
This artist's illustration shows two neutron stars merging, releasing gravitational waves and exploding as a kilonova. There's only one confirmed kilonova, so if the Roman can find three more, that's a massive jump in data.
Image Credit: By University of Warwick/Mark Garlick, CC BY 4.0
Pair-instability supernovae are another exotic type of stellar explosion that scientists want to know more about. Only extremely massive stars between about 130 to 250 solar masses can explode as pair-instability supernovae (PISNe), and they don't leave neutron stars or black holes behind. The progenitor stars is completely destroyed, and only an expanding nebula of gas and dust, including heavy elements synthesized in the explosion, is left behind. Astrophysicists want to know the exact stellar mass of their progenitors and what role metallicity plays.
As it stands now, astrophysicists have only a small handful of candidate PISNe, and if the Roman can find ten of them like the simulation suggests, researchers will have a lot more data to work with.
“I think Roman will make the first confirmed detection of a pair-instability supernova,” Rose said. “They’re incredibly far away and very rare, so you need a telescope that can survey a lot of the sky at a deep exposure level in near-infrared light, and that’s Roman.”
As NASA's next flagship astrophysics mission, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will make an enormous contribution to our understanding of different types of cosmic explosions. By stitching together its observations into movies that show how different cosmic explosions take place, it will advance our scientific knowledge considerably.
“Whether you want to explore dark energy, dying stars, galactic powerhouses, or probably even entirely new things we’ve never seen before, this survey will be a gold mine,” said Rose.
Each time a new telescope mission is launched, it's after years or even decades of preliminary work, including figuring out what questions need to be asked and what instruments are needed to find the answers. Simulations like the Hourglass simulation are becoming more common, as the astronomy community anticipates and prepares for new data from upcoming missions.
But each mission also produces surprises, and though they're unpredictable, scientists often mention how excited they are to find surprising new things.
“Roman’s going to find a whole bunch of weird and wonderful things out in space, including some we haven’t even thought of yet,” Hounsell said. “We’re definitely expecting the unexpected.”
An illustration the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, set to launch in 2027, if it can survive budget cuts.
Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/SVS
Sadly, the current US administration has taken aim at NASA's budget and announced that the Roman's funding will be cut. Since the current administration has gained a reputation for confusing announcements that are sometimes later rescinded, the mission's future is unclear.
If it is approved and launched, its precious dataset will be a feast for astrophysicists around the world and will help drive a deeper understanding of Nature and some of its most extreme objects and events.
The orbit of 2023 KQ14 (in red) compared to the orbits of the other three sednoids. Credit: NAOJ
Despite the powerful telescopes that modern astronomers have to work with, the distant reaches of the Solar System are still mysterious. Not much sunlight pierces these regions, and there are strong hints that undiscovered objects lurk there. The objects that astronomers have discovered in these dim reaches are primordial, and their orbits suggest the presence of more undiscovered objects. Piecing it all together is a challenge.
While some objects announce themselves with fiery explosions or streaks of light across the sky, distant Solar System objects don't attract much attention. They reveal themselves in tiny hints; a nearly imperceptible tug on another object, a nearly-invisible and short-lived glimmer of light. Yet these objects have something important to tell us about how our Solar System formed and evolved.
Astronomers have detected hints of a ninth planet in the Solar System's distant reaches. This hypothetical and elusive Planet Nine is held up to explain the puzzling orbital groupings of a family of distant objects called Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNO).
Astronomers working with Japan's Subaru Telescope in Hawaii found evidence of a new distant object in the Solar System. It's a Trans-Neptunian Object, meaning it orbits the Sun at a greater average distance than Neptune, the outermost planet. But it's also a member of an important and puzzling sub-class of objects: Sednoids. It's name is 2023 KQ14, but its nickname is Ammonite, after the fossilized cephalopod.
Sednoids follow more extreme orbits than TNOs. Their orbits are extremely elongated, with high eccentricity, distant perihelia, and large semi-major axes. They're named after the dwarf planet Sedna, and the new discovery is only the fourth Sednoid ever detected.
"Understanding the orbital evolution and physical properties of these unique, distant objects is crucial for comprehending the full history of the Solar System." - Dr. Fumi Yoshida, co-author.
Ammonite was first detected with the Subaru Telescope during observation efforts in March, May, and August 2023. Those observations alone weren't sufficient to confirm the dim object's existence, and follow-up observations in July 2024 with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, as well as a search through archived data from other observatories, provided confirmation. Overall, the researchers tracked Ammonite's orbit for 19 years.
Ammonite was found as part of the FOSSIL (Formation of the Outer Solar System: An Icy Legacy) observing program. It uses the Subaru Telescope's powerful HyperSuprimeCam to measure the populations and sub-populations of the objects that populate the outer Solar System. The FOSSIL team used computer numerical simulations to determine that Ammonite has followed a stable orbit for at least 4.5 billion years, dating all the way back to the Solar System's earliest times. Ammonite's orbit is currently different from the other Sednoids, but the simulations show that there orbits were all similar about 4.2 billion years ago.
There's an odd gap in distant Solar System objects when it comes to their perihelion distances and Ammonite sits in that gap. "The orbit of Ammonite does not align with those of the other Sedna-like objects and fills the previously unexplained ‘q-gap’ in the observed distribution of distant Solar System objects," the authors explain in their paper.
This figure is divided into two panels divided by a vertical black line, and shows the orbital data for outer Solar System objects. The left side shows the semi-major axis versus perihelion distribution, with the red vertical dashed line representing the approximate region where galactic tides and passing stars can perturb the orbits of TNOs. The horizontal black lines show the upper boundary of chaotic diffusion and gravitational scattering by Neptune. The named objects all have large perihelia, and it clearly shows hos Ammonite is different from the others. It's in the region that currently lacks any other detections. The right side shows how Ammonite falls outside the proposed clustering of objects with large perihelia.
Image Credit: Chen et al. 2025. NatAstr. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02595-7
Dr. Yukun Huang of the NAOJ is a co-author of the paper who conducted simulations of Ammonite's orbit. "The fact that 2023 KQ14’s current orbit does not align with those of the other three sednoids lowers the likelihood of the Planet Nine hypothesis," Huang said in a press release. "It is possible that a planet once existed in the Solar System but was later ejected, causing the unusual orbits we see today."
Neptune is the only known massive object near the outer Solar System that could have shaped the orbits of the TNOs and Sednoids. But according to study co-author Dr. Fumi Yoshida, Ammonite is beyond its reach.
“2023 KQ14 was found in a region far away where Neptune’s gravity has little influence. The presence of objects with elongated orbits and large perihelion distances in this area implies that something extraordinary occurred during the ancient era when 2023 KQ14 formed," Yoshida said. "Understanding the orbital evolution and physical properties of these unique, distant objects is crucial for comprehending the full history of the Solar System. At present, the Subaru Telescope is among the few telescopes on Earth capable of making such discoveries. I would be happy if the FOSSIL team could make many more discoveries like this one and help draw a complete picture of the history of the Solar System.”
Ammonite's orbit is now different from the other Sednoids, and that fact needs an explanation. It's evidence that there's more complexity and diversity among distant Solar System objects. Astronomers have long wondered if our Solar System hosts a 'Planet Nine' that has shepherded the orbits of these distant objects. If there is, then Ammonite's discovery places more constraints on its orbit, and where it may be hiding. It effectively reduces the number of hiding spots for this hypothetical planet.
An artist's illustration of the mysterious, elusive, hypothesized Planet Nine.
Image Credit: NASA
"Sedna-like objects with large semi-major axes (a > 200 au) and large perihelia (q > 60 au) appear to evolve in stable orbits that have remained largely unchanged and not altered by the gravity of Neptune since the formation of the Solar System," the researchers explain in their paper. "No viable transfer mechanisms to raise their perihelia exist with the current configuration of planets. Their stability suggests that an external gravitational influence beyond those of the currently known Solar System planets is required to form their orbits."
This figure shows the orbits of the four Sednoids, with Neptune's orbit around the Sun shown for comparison. "Ammonite’s longitude of perihelion is in the opposite direction of the other Sedna-like objects," the authors explain. "Its high perihelion suggests the potential for long-term orbital stability," and it's valuable for testing the hypothesized clustering of Sednoids and the hypothetical Planet Nine.
Image Credit: Chen et al. 2025. NatAstr. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02595-7
Astronomers have proposed many sources for this external gravitational influence, including interactions with a rogue planet or star, ancient stellar interactions from when the Sun was still in its natal cluster, and the capture of objects from other lower-mass stars in the Solar System's early times. But the explanation that gets the most attention is interactions with a hypothetical planet, Planet Nine.
While this study neither confirms nor disputes the existence of Planet Nine, it does place further constraints on its orbit. In fact, each time another Sednoid is discovered, it constrains Planet Nine. Astronomers now know of four of them, but they don't know how many may still be hiding out there, potentially shepherded by the elusive, hypothetical, Planet Nine.
If Planet Nine exists, it has a huge area to hide in. Some astronomers who have studied its potential existence think it could be the fifth largest planet in the Solar System. It would be so far away that it would be extremely dim. However, we may be on the cusp of detecting it, if it exists.
The Vera Rubin Observatory recently saw first light and will begin its decade-long Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). The LSST will find transient events and objects in the Solar System like no other telescope before it. It's purpose-built to find hard to detect objects, and not even an elusive object like Planet Nine may be able to hide from it.
Geheimen onthuld door klokkenluider Edward Snowden In 2013 lekte Edward Snowden, een onderaannemer van de National Security Agency (NSA), geheime documenten waarin het bestaan van uiterst geheime surveillanceprogramma's werd onthuld. Als een van de meest beruchte klokkenluiders van de afgelopen tijd stond Snowden aan de basis van het grootste beveiligingslek in de geschiedenis van het Agentschap. Zijn onthullingen onthulden talloze wereldwijde spionagetactieken, veel uitgevoerd door de NSA en het Britse Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). Na de sensationele onthullingen vluchtte Snowden naar Moskou. In 2022 werd hij genaturaliseerd tot Russisch staatsburger.
De acties van Edward Snowden dwongen de Amerikaanse inlichtingendiensten om toe te geven dat ze hun eigen burgers op grote schaal bespioneerden. Het legde ook wereldwijde surveillanceoperaties bloot van zowel de NSA als de GCHQ. Maar wat is er precies gelekt en wie is erdoor getroffen?
Klik door de volgende galerij en kom meer te weten over de man die honderdduizenden zeer geheime stukken informatie stal en aan de wereld onthulde.
PRISM Een van de geheimen die Snowden's documenten in 2013 onthulden, was het bestaan van het PRISM-programma. PRISM was de codenaam voor een operatie waarmee de National Security Agency (NSA) internetcommunicatie van verschillende Amerikaanse internetbedrijven kon verzamelen.
PRISM PRISM vergemakkelijkte de toegang van de NSA tot e-mails, documenten, foto's en gegevens die waren opgeslagen door techbedrijven, waaronder Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, YouTube, Skype en Apple.
Tempora Snowden onthulde ook het bestaan van Tempora. Dit lek onthulde de praktijk van de Britse inlichtingen- en veiligheidsorganisatie Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) om glasvezelkabels af te tappen om enorme hoeveelheden persoonlijke gegevens van internetgebruikers te verzamelen, op te slaan en te delen met de NSA.
Boundless Informant Het Boundless Informant programma is een uitgebreid hulpmiddel voor gegevensanalyse en -visualisatie dat wordt gebruikt door de NSA en dat metadata verzamelt en telt.
Boundless Informant Snowden onthulde Boundless Informant in juni 2013 en legde uit dat inlichtingen worden verzameld van miljoenen Amerikanen via toegang tot de computer- en telefoonnetwerken van het land.
XKeyscore In juli 2013 onthulde Edward Snowden publiekelijk XKeyscore, een geheim computersysteem dat door de NSA wordt gebruikt om toegang te krijgen tot wereldwijde internetgegevens en deze te analyseren.
XKeyscore De omvang en functie van XKeyscore is enorm. Het is zelfs beschreven als "de Google van de NSA". Het systeem bestaat uit minstens 700 servers op locaties verspreid over de hele wereld, allemaal verbonden met de analisten van de NSA.
Follow the Money “Follow the Money”, een slogan die populair werd gemaakt door de docudramafilm “All the President's Men” uit 1976, verwijst naar een afdeling van de NSA die belast is met het volgen en verzamelen van wereldwijde financiële gegevens.
Follow the Money Snowden onthulde dat informatie voornamelijk wordt verzameld via creditcardtransacties, waaronder internationale betalingen die worden verwerkt door bedrijven als Visa.
JTRIG De Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG) is een eenheid van GCHQ. Het kan ook worden omschreven als een "smerige trucjes afdeling", omdat het hun missie is om zich bezig te houden met online manipulatie, propaganda en desinformatiecampagnes.
JTRIG Snowden onthulde hoe JTRIG-operaties worden opgedeeld en een codenaam krijgen. Een aantal van de tools zijn bijvoorbeeld de mogelijkheid om de resultaten van online peilingen te manipuleren ("Underpass"). JTRIG kan ook privéfoto's van doelwitten op Facebook achterhalen, een procedure die bekend staat als "Spring Bishop".
Nymrod De gelekte NSA-bestanden van Snowden onthulden hoe het agentschap zowel bondgenoten als vijanden afluisterde met behulp van een systeem dat bekend staat als Nymrod.
Nymrod Nymrod werd ook gebruikt door GCHQ om ten minste 11 wereldleiders te volgen, waaronder de toenmalige Syrische president Bashar al-Assad en de voormalige Oekraïense premier Yulia Tymoshenko. De voormalige Duitse kanselier Angela Merkel werd ook met naam en toenaam genoemd, een onthulling die de diplomatieke betrekkingen met veel Europese landen onder druk zette.
Bullrun en Edgehill Volgens de Snowden-documenten is Bullrun een clandestien, zeer geheim programma om de encryptie van online communicatie en gegevens te kraken. Het is gemaakt om encryptiestandaarden te ondermijnen met behulp van een aantal methodes zoals computernetwerkexploitatie en interdictie.
Bullrun en Edgehill Interdictie is een proces waarbij zendingen van computerelektronica worden onderschept voordat ze hun bestemming bereiken en worden geïnstalleerd met kwaadaardige hardware die Amerikaanse inlichtingendiensten op afstand toegang kan geven. De GCHQ heeft een soortgelijk programma met de codenaam Edgehill.
MUSCULAR Daarnaast onthulde Snowden ook MUSCULAR, een gezamenlijk surveillanceprogramma van NSA en GCHQ dat agenten in staat stelde om in te breken in de belangrijkste communicatieverbindingen tussen de datacenters van Yahoo en Google.
MUSCULAR De gelekte documenten onthulden dat het zogenaamde "acquisitions directorate" van de NSA in één dag miljoenen gegevens van de interne netwerken van Yahoo en Google doorstuurde naar data opslagplaatsen in het hoofdkwartier van NSA Fort Meade.
Tailored Access Operations Ook als gevolg van Snowdens klokkenluiden werd de wereld zich bewust van de NSA-eenheid voor het verzamelen van informatie over cyberoorlog, ook wel bekend als het Office of Tailored Access Operations (TAO).
Tailored Access Operations TAO zijn in wezen hackers van de overheid. Hun taak is het identificeren, volgen, infiltreren en verzamelen van informatie over computersystemen die worden gebruikt door buitenlandse entiteiten in de Verenigde Staten. Op het moment van de lekken had TAO meer dan duizend militaire en civiele medewerkers. Tegenwoordig staat de eenheid bekend als Computer Network Operations.
Afluisteren van mobiele telefoons De documenten van Snowden bevestigden wat velen al vermoedden, namelijk dat de inlichtingendiensten grote hoeveelheden mobiele telefoongesprekken en e-mails onderschepten en verzamelden.
Afluisteren van mobiele telefoons Iets minder bekend is dat deze informatie werd verzameld bij werknemers van mobiele providers om zwakke plekken in de beveiliging van netwerken te identificeren die de NSA kon gebruiken voor surveillancedoeleinden.
Optic Nerve In februari 2014 werd onthuld dat GCHQ, met hulp van de NSA, stiekem foto's van privéwebcams van gebruikers verzamelde terwijl ze een webcamapplicatie van Yahoo gebruikten.
Optic Nerve GCHQ noemde deze slinkse praktijk het Optic Nerve-programma. Snowden onthulde dat gegevens van gebruikers willekeurig in grote hoeveelheden werden verzameld, ongeacht of ze een inlichtingendoelwit waren of niet.
Operation EgotisticalGiraffe De bizarre codenaam Operation EgotisticalGiraffe verwijst naar de praktijk van de NSA om populaire sociale netwerkplatforms te infiltreren en te compromitteren. Dit wordt gedaan door het Tor-netwerk te ondermijnen.
Operation EgotisticalGiraffe Tor (afkorting van The Onion Routing project) is een open-source privacynetwerk voor anoniem surfen op het web. In 2013 deden zowel GCHQ als NSA verschillende pogingen om mensen te identificeren die de Tor anonimiteitsservice gebruikten, maar slaagden hier grotendeels niet in.
Geheime operaties tegen China Snowdens onthullingen tegen de NSA gingen verder dan het beschuldigen van het hacken van buitenlandse mobiele telefoonbedrijven om toegang te krijgen tot miljoenen privé sms-berichten in China. In 2012 was sms de populairste vorm van communicatie op het Chinese vasteland.
Dishfire Dishfire werd zowel door de NSA als de GCHQ geëxploiteerd en bestond uit het dagelijks verzamelen, opslaan en analyseren van honderden miljoenen wereldwijde sms-berichten, zowel uit het buitenland als uit het binnenland.
Bronnen:(Spyscape) (The Intercept) (American Civil Liberties Union) (Der Spiegel) (The Guardian) (The Independent) (Tor Project) (South China Morning Post)
Where dimensions collide, rip in our reality, possibly caused by CERN. 😱 UFO UAP sighting news 👽 Wow!
Where dimensions collide, rip in our reality, possibly caused by CERN. 😱 UFO UAP sighting news 👽 Wow!
Date of discovery: July 2025
Location of discovery:Lisbon, Portugal
Coordinates:38°46'0.29"N 9° 8'5.92"W
At the Lisbon airport there is a single passenger jet with out wings! It has a shadow, but no wing shadow...and how is that possible? Well, Portugal is not far from CERN which causes not just mini black holes which we saw over Norway the day Obama got a Nobel Prize, but CERN also causes temporary rips in time and space into other dimensions. The wings went there, then came back. Amazing and the satellite caught it all.
Ancient alien sign in Australia 🇦🇺gov calls it new, cover up, it’s aliens 👽 UFO UAP sighting breaking news.
Ancient alien sign in Australia 🇦🇺gov calls it new, cover up, it’s aliens 👽 UFO UAP sighting breaking news.
Date of discovery: July 2025
Location of discovery: Australia
Coordinates: -29.5324, 137.469
I found this ancient drawing in the desert of Australia and I looked it up, the Australian gov seems to suspect it was created about 20 years ago, but...they only suspect, they admit they are not certain. They call it Murree Man. I on the other hand believe this is an ancient sign made by aliens long ago...for us to find...so that we can know, we are not alone.
Just found this alien face a few minutes ago. It’s in Antarctica and is not far from the last face I reported last night. This has an extended long skull and the shadow makes the forehead, nose, lips, chin and neck. A sign left behind for us to find.
Gemini North Telescope Captures New Images of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
Gemini North Telescope Captures New Images of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
Astronomers using the Gemini North telescope at NSF’s International Gemini Observatory have captured 3I/ATLAS as it makes its temporary passage through our cosmic neighborhood.
This image from the Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS-N) at the Gemini North telescope shows the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS.
Image credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / K. Meech, IfA & U. Hawaii / Jen Miller & Mahdi Zamani, NOIRLab.
Interstellar objects are objects that originate outside of, and are observed passing through, our Solar System.
Ranging from tens of meters to a few kilometers in size, these objects are pieces of cosmic debris leftover from the formation of their host star’s planetary systems.
As these remnants orbit their star, the gravity of nearby larger planets and passing nearby stars can launch them out of their home systems and into interstellar space, where they can cross paths with other solar systems.
Interstellar visitors are valuable objects to study since they offer a tangible connection to other star systems.
They carry information about the chemical elements that were present when and where they formed, which gives scientists insight into how planetary systems form at distant stars throughout our Milky Way Galaxy’s history — including stars that have since died out.
3I/ATLAS is only the third interstellar object ever discovered after 1I/ʻOumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019.
While astronomers think many interstellar objects exist, and likely pass through our Solar System on a regular basis, they are exceptionally difficult to capture since they are only visible when they’re close enough to see and when our telescopes are pointing in the right place at the right time.
Multiple teams around the globe are using a wide variety of telescopes to observe 3I/ATLAS during its temporary visit to our Solar System, allowing them to collectively determine some of the comet’s key characteristics.
Although much remains unknown, it is already clear that 3I/ATLAS is unique compared to 1I/ʻOumuamua and 2I/Borisov.
Observations so far suggest that 3I/ATLAS has an approximate diameter of at most 20 km (12 miles), compared to ‘Oumuamua’s diameter of 200 m and Borisov’s of less than one km.
The new comet also has an exceptionally eccentric orbit, where eccentricity describes how much an object’s orbital pathway is ‘stretched out.’
An eccentricity of 0 is a perfectly circular orbit, while an eccentricity of 0.999 is a very stretched-out ellipse.
An object with an eccentricity above 1 is on a path that does not loop back around the Sun, implying it comes from — and will return to — interstellar space.
3I/ATLAS has an eccentricity of 6.2, which is highly hyperbolic and ensures its classification as an interstellar object.
In comparison, ‘Oumuamua had an eccentricity of about 1.2, and Borisov about 3.6.
Right now, 3I/ATLAS is within Jupiter’s orbit at a distance of about 465 million km (290 million miles) from Earth and 600 million km (370 million miles) from the Sun.
The closest the comet will come to Earth is approximately 270 million km (170 million miles) on December 19, 2025, though it will pose no threat to the planet.
It will reach its closest approach to the Sun around October 30, 2025, at a distance of 210 million km (130 million miles) — just inside the orbit of Mars.
During this close approach, it will be traveling almost 25,000 km (15,500 miles) per hour.
The new image of 3I/ATLAS was captured by the Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS-N) at the Gemini North telescope.
“The sensitivity and scheduling agility of the International Gemini Observatory has provided critical early characterization of this interstellar wanderer,” said Martin Still, NSF program director for the International Gemini Observatory.
“We look forward to a bounty of new data and insights as this object warms itself on sunlight before continuing its cold, dark journey between the stars.”
Mars was Warm and Wet 3.7 Billion Years Ago, New Study Suggests
Mars was Warm and Wet 3.7 Billion Years Ago, New Study Suggests
Planetary scientists have discovered more than 15,000 km of ancient riverbeds in Noachis Terra, a region in Mars’ southern highlands. This discovery suggests that Mars may once have been much wetter than previously thought.
This HiRISE image shows a flat top, heavily eroded fluvial sinuous ridge on Mars; sand dunes can be seen migrating over the top of the fluvial sinuous ridge.
Image credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona.
The nature of the Martian climate during the Noachian-Hesperian transition, a period of geologic and climatic changes around 3.7 billion years ago, and how surface features such as valley networks and lakes associated with liquid water formed, is debated.
There are two theories: the first is that warm and wet conditions persisted on early Mars long enough that liquid water was stable on the surface for extended periods; the second is that Mars was generally cold and dry, and that geological features indicative of flowing water were formed only very sporadically by meltwater from ice sheets during short climate excursions.
Noachis Terra is a region where ‘warm, wet’ climate models predict high rates of precipitation.
In new research, Open University Ph.D. student Adam Losekoot and his colleagues looked at fluvial sinuous ridges, also known as inverted channels, across this region.
“These are believed to have formed when sediment deposited by rivers hardened and was later exposed as the surrounding material eroded,” the authors said.
“Similar ridges have been found across a range of terrains on Mars.”
“Their presence suggests that flowing water was once widespread in this region, with precipitation being the most likely source of this water.”
They found fluvial sinuous ridges to be common across Noachis Terra, with a cumulative length of more than 15,000 km.
These are often isolated segments, but some systems are hundreds of km in length.
“Studying Mars, particularly an underexplored region like Noachis Terra, is really exciting because it’s an environment which has been largely unchanged for billions of years,” Losekoot said.
“It’s a time capsule that records fundamental geological processes in a way that just isn’t possible here on Earth.”
For the study, the researchers used data from three orbital instruments: the Context Camera (CTX), the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) and the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE).
These datasets allowed them to map the locations, lengths and morphologies of ridge systems across a wide area.
“Our work is a new piece of evidence that suggests that Mars was once a much more complex and active planet than it is now, which is such an exciting thing to be involved in,” Losekoot said.
“The fact that the ridges form extensive interconnected systems suggests that the watery conditions must have been relatively long-lived, meaning Noachis Terra experienced warm and wet conditions for a geologically relevant period.”
“These findings challenge existing theories that Mars was generally cold and dry, with a few valleys formed by ice-sheet meltwater in sporadic, short periods of warming.”
Skydweller is a solar-powered drone that can fly for up to three months without landing, with researchers hoping to one day achieve much longer flight times.
(Image credit: Rey Sotolongo/Europa Press via Getty Images)
U.S. tech startup Skydweller Aero has teamed up with Thales, a French electronics company specializing in defense systems, to develop a new maritime surveillance drone that can stay aloft far longer than existing machines.
Skydweller powers itself purely from solar energy and aims to be capable of continuous flight. The initial flight milestone will be for it to remain aloft for 90 days, but ultimately it has the potential to fly for much longer.
The solar energy that powers the Skydweller is captured by over 17,000 individual solar cells, spread across approximately 2,900 square feet (270 square meters) of wing surface — across a wingspan of 236 feet (72 m), 25 feet (7.6 m) longer than a Boeing 747. In ideal conditions, the solar cells can generate up to 100 kilowatts of power for the aircraft.
During daylight hours, solar energy is used to maintain flight, power the onboard avionics and charge batteries. The Skydweller has over 1,400 pounds (635 kilograms) of batteries, which are used to power the aircraft through the night. This will allow Skydweller to maintain almost continuous flight.
The Skydweller typically flies at an altitude between 24,600 and 34,400 feet (7,500 and 10,500 meters), but can fly as high as 44,600 feet (13,600m) during the day, before dropping by 4,900 to 9,800 feet (1,500 to 3,000m)at night, as this minimizes power consumption.
Despite its similar wingspan to a long-range commercial airliner, Skydweller weighs 160 times less than a "jumbo jet" — 2.5 metric tons at maximum capacity versus 400 tons for the 747 at full payload.
Solar-powered aircraft are not completely new, but some designs have suffered structural problems, including catastrophic failure mid-flight when climbing or descending through medium altitudes (approximately 6,500-32,800 feet, or 2,000-10,000 m).
The Skydweller has been specifically designed to operate in this altitude range, using automatic gust-load alleviation software in the flight control system to reduce the aerodynamic loads caused by turbulence. It has also been constructed from carbon fiber and can carry up to 800 pounds (362 kg) of payload.
Continuous surveillance by sky
Operating an aircraft continuously and reliably for up to 90 days necessitates a quadruple-redundant flight control system and vehicle management system (VMS). Should one of the onboard systems fail, a backup system can take over to maintain the flight.
Self-healing algorithms within the VMS allow any failed strings (coding in an algorithm) to be autonomously shut down, corrected and resurrected during flight, thereby allowing the aircraft to return to quadruple redundancy, according to information published by company representatives. This enables the aircraft to consistently maintain flight.
Although the onboard batteries, once sufficiently charged, can maintain flight during the night, their capacity will degrade over time, which could limit the maximum patrol duration of the aircraft. Skydweller’s reliance on solar power to maintain flight means that its patrols must also avoid areas of limited sunlight, such as polar regions during winter.
Skydweller Aero has recently partnered with Thales to equip Skydweller with a radar surveillance system designed for maritime patrol operations. Further test flights are planned, with the goal of extending the maximum flight duration. Even so, this is a massive step forward in solar-powered flight, especially for long-term surveillance monitoring.
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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 74 jaar jong.
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