What lies beneath: Scientists make shocking discovery in Antarctica

• READ MORE: The Arctic is turning GREEN thanks to climate change

By WILIAM HUNTER

It is the least explored continent in the world, famous for its harsh and remote environment.

Now, scientists have made a shocking discovery lurking beneath the waters of Antarctica.

Researchers have discovered 332 hidden trenches known as submarine canyon networks carved deep into the ocean floor - five times more than previously thought.

Some of these underwater trenches reach staggering depths of up to 13,000 feet (4,000m) - roughly as deep as Mont Blanc is tall.

Scientists have found roughly 10,000 submarine canyons all over the world.

And with just 27 per cent of the sea floor mapped in detail, there are likely to be many more waiting to be found.

However, the researchers say those beneath Antarctica's ice are the largest and most impressive anywhere on the planet.

David Amblas, of the University of Barcelona, says: 'The most spectacular of these are in East Antarctica, which is characterized by complex, branching canyon systems.'

Researchers have discovered 332 hidden submarine canyon networks - interconnected trenches carved deep into the ocean floor. That is five times more than previously expected 

Scientists have made a shocking discovery lurking beneath Antarctica's Ice Sheet (pictured), and it could have big implications for global sea level increases 

The submarine canyons around Antarctica are so large because they are carved by a phenomenon known as turbidity currents.

These are underwater avalanches of sediment and water, which flow at speeds up to 45 miles per hour down the steep slopes of the continental shelf, digging out deep channels as they pass.

Dr Amblas says: 'Like those in the Arctic, Antarctic submarine canyons resemble canyons in other parts of the world.

'But they tend to be larger and deeper because of the prolonged action of polar ice and the immense volumes of sediment transported by glaciers to the continental shelf.'

These vast canyons play a vital role in a number of important ocean processes.

They transport nutrient-rich sediment from the coast to wider ocean, connect shallow and deep waters, and create habitats rich in biodiversity.

However, despite being so important, these unique environments remain profoundly understudied - especially in remote, hard-to-reach locations like the Antarctic.

In their paper, published in the journal Marine Geology, Dr Amblas and his co-author used the most complete and detailed map of the Antarctic to hunt for previously unnoticed canyons.

These canyons had previously been hidden until the researchers used a new method to sort through maps of the area and identify canyons. These pictures illustrate how the semi-automatic method converts topographical information (A) into an analysed catalogue of canyons (D) 

The researchers say that Antarctica's canyons are much deeper than those elsewhere in the world because of the massive volume of sediment pushed into the ocean by glaciers. This sediment carves out deep grooves as it slides down the continental shelf 

By analysing the map with a semi-automated method for identifying canyons, the researchers found far more canyons beneath the ice than had previously been expected.

Interestingly, these new maps revealed that there is a big difference between the canyons in different parts of the continent.

Co-author Dr Riccardo Arosio, a marine geologist from University College Cork, told MailOnline: 'It has been very interesting to discover a striking difference between East and West Antarctic canyons, which had not been observed before.'

Dr Arosio says that those in the East form 'long canyon-channel systems, and have more frequent U-shaped profiles'.

Meanwhile, canyons in the West of the continent are 'shorter, steeper, and V-shaped'.

This is likely because the canyons in the West have been carved by the water released by relatively recent melting of the ice sheet while those in the East are the product of a much longer process of glacial activity.

The researchers say this discovery could have much wider implications for how we predict the impacts of climate change.

The Antarctic canyons help exchange water between the deep ocean and the continental shelf.

These canyons transport warm water from the open ocean up to the floating sea ice, speeding up ice melt. This map shows sea ice extent for February 25 as well as the average ice extent for February (marked by the red line)

This allows cold, dense water formed near the ice sheet to sink into the deep ocean, and drive global ocean circulation currents that help keep the climate stable. 

At the same time, these canyons also bring warmer waters in from the open sea up to meet the floating ice shelves - driving the ice melt, which is weakening Antarctica's inland glaciers.

By affecting how quickly water from the ice sheet enters the ocean, these channels have a direct impact on global sea level increases.

However, the ocean models used by organisations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) don't take the effects of these hidden canyons into account.

Dr Arosio says: 'Omitting these local mechanisms limits the ability that models must predict changes in ocean and climate dynamics.'

In the future, by gathering more high-resolution data in unmapped areas, the researchers expect to find even more submarine canyons beneath the ice.

Properly understanding these canyons and how they affect the circulation of water around the poles could be key to accurately predicting the impacts of climate change.

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24-07-2025 om 21:55 geschreven door peter  

From alien invasions to robot uprisings, there is no shortage of terrifying ways that the world might end.

But scientists have now worked out exactly when one terrifying scenario could bring the universe to a close.

According to the 'Big Crunch' theory, the universe will eventually collapse in on itself in a final climactic implosion.

As space itself contracts, the temperatures will soar until everything is destroyed in the 'furnace of this cosmic hell'.

Finally, the entire cosmos will find itself packed back into an infinitely dense singularity just like it was before the Big Bang.

While this was once just a terrifying possibility, new measurements of 'Dark Energy' suggest the Big Crunch is the most likely outcome for the Universe.

In a recent study, scientists from Cornell University calculated exactly when the 'Big Crunch' could begin.

Thankfully, their calculations suggest we can relax for the time being... that is if something else doesn't cause our demise.

Scientists have revealed the grisly details of what will happen to the universe during the Big Crunch, a time when all matter collapses into a black hole–like singularity 

What is the Big Crunch?

The Big Crunch is essentially the opposite of the Big Bang which started the universe 13.8 billion years ago. 

After the Big Bang, the universe rapidly expanded as a sea of superheated matter cooled into the familiar particles which make up the cosmos today.

During the Big Crunch, this process will run in reverse - compacting space back into a hot, dense state. 

Scientists believe the current outward expansion of the universe is due to a mysterious force called Dark Energy.

If the pushing force of Dark Energy was constant, the universe would keep on expanding and cooling for ever.  

But now, astronomers are beginning to question whether this really is the case.

Based on the latest data, some scientists believe that Dark Energy is weakening, leaving an inward force called the cosmological constant to pull the universe back together.

On the standard model of cosmology, the universe is being pushed apart by a constant force called dark energy. However, researchers now believe that this force could be weakening over time 

The latest map of the known universe suggests that dark energy is getting weaker, which means the universe will one day fall back in on itself like a ball falling back to Earth under the influence of gravity  

Dr Ethan Yu–Cheng, of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, told MailOnline: 'It is just like throwing a basketball vertically upwards in daily life.

'The negative cosmological constant acts like the Earth's gravity, which pulls the basketball downward. The basketball will de–accelerate until reaching the maximum height and start to fall.'

Would we notice the Big Crunch starting? 

If it's difficult to imagine what life during the Big Crunch would be like, think about the universe as a balloon with lots of little dots drawn on its surface.

As you blow air in, the balloon expands, the surface stretches, and the distance between all the dots grows larger.

The Big Crunch is like letting all the air out of the balloon at once, bringing those distant points back together in a rush.

However, the process would start very slowly.

Dr Hoang Nhan Luu, a researcher at the Donostia International Physics Center, told MailOnline: 'Intelligent civilisations at the scales of solar systems or even galactic scales would not notice any obvious phenomenon because these changes happen at much larger cosmological scales.

Just as the Hubble Space Telescope's observations (pictured) showed that the universe is now expanding by measuring the light from faraway galaxies, astronomers in the far future would see galaxies suddenly come back towards them 

'Civilisations like us typically exist on time scales of hundreds to thousands of years while the changes happen on billion–year time scales, so we wouldn't notice any obvious day–to–day phenomenon until the very last moment.'

But Dr Luu says that any observant humans still alive in the universe would be able to spot the warning signs.

Just as we can look at distant galaxies to see that the universe is expanding, astronomers of the future would be able to see that the galaxies are now rushing towards them.

What would the first signs of the Big Crunch be?

The first obvious sign that the universe was changing would be that the cosmic temperature would start to increase.

Professor Avi Loeb, a theoretical physicist from Cornell University, told MailOnline: 'It is the reverse history of our expanding universe.'

The universe has been getting colder as it expands, like gas escaping from a pressurised container. 

During the Big Crunch, this process will play out in reverse and raise the temperature of space.

As the universe collapses inwards, the temperature of the cosmic background radiation (pictured) would increase exponentially. Eventually, the cosmos would hit the 'Planck temperature', the hottest temperature possible according to physics 

About 13 billion years from now, Professor Loeb predicts the density of energy in the universe will be about 1,000 times higher than it is now.

Just half a billion years after that, it would be another 1,000 times higher, making the universe room temperature. 

Professor Loeb says: 'At this point it wouldn't be the sun warming that is warming us, but the equivalent of the Cosmic Microwave Background.'

Within a few million years, the entire universe would be as hot as the surface of the sun.

Eventually, the universe would reach the 'Planck temperature', the highest possible temperature according to our models of physics.

Professor Loeb says: 'Needless to say, all humans will burn up in the furnace of this cosmic hell.

What will happen to the solar system during the Big Crunch?

During the Big Crunch, the universe will eventually become so dense that the planets and stars will be pushed together by the collapse.

Despite Dark Energy's push, the solar system isn't expanding because it is denser than the background universe. During the Big Crunch, the cosmos will become so dense that planets will be pulled into each other by the collapse of spacetime. Pictured: NASA's map of dark matter in the universe 

The only thing that will survive the collapse at first will be black holes. Black holes will actually thrive during the Big Crunch as they feed on a soup of ultra–dense matter 

That means the planets of the solar system will come closer and closer together until they are crushed together.  

As space approaches the final moments of the crunch, Professor Loeb says that the universe will be even denser than space inside an atom.

As the universe becomes even denser than an atomic nucleus, all matter in the cosmos will once again be squeezed back into this primordial state.

The only things in the universe to survive this transition would be black holes, which would thrive as they feed on the dense matter all around them.

Finally, this boiling mess of black holes and elementary particles would be crushed into a single infinitely dense point known as the singularity, bringing the universe to an end.

When will the Big Crunch happen? 

Thankfully, scientists believe that the Big Crunch is still far off in the impossibly distant future.

Professor Henry Tye, a leading cosmologist from Cornell University, 'We calculate that this will lead to a big crunch about 19.5 billion years from now. 

By the time the Big Crunch even begins, the sun will have expanded into a red giant and swallowed up the inner planets, including Earth

'Knowing that the age of the universe is 13.8 billion years, one obtains that the lifespan is 33.3 billion years.

In their pre–print paper, Professor Tye and his co–authors, Dr Luu and Dr Yu–Cheng, say that the Big Crunch will begin about 11 billion years from now.

The crunching phase would then last around 8.5 billion years before the universe completely collapses into a singularity.

Given that Homo sapiens have only been around for at most 300,000 years, that gives us plenty of time to relax. 

Read More

• Two terrifying black holes merge into one - creating monster mass bigger than the SUN 

Likewise, while it might not necessarily be a comforting thought, it is almost certain that humanity will have been wiped out long before then in any case.

Professor Tye says: 'Before the big crunch, at about 5 billion years from now, the sun will use up its fuel and start growing dramatically.

'Its outer layers will expand until they engulf much of the solar system, as it becomes what astronomers call a red giant. Eventually, it fades to a tiny white dwarf.

'To survive, human beings have to move to the edge of our solar system or beyond. We have a few billion years' time to prepare for that trip.'

THE BIG BANG THEORY DESCRIBES THE BEGINNING AND EVOLUTION OF THE UNIVERSE

The Big Bang Theory is a cosmological model, a theory used to describe the beginning and the evolution of our universe.

It says that the universe was in a very hot and dense state before it started to expand 13,7 billion years ago.

This theory is based on fundamental observations.

In 1920, Hubble observed that the distance between galaxies was increasing everywhere in the universe. 

The Big Bang Theory is a cosmological model, a theory used to describe the beginning and the evolution of our universe, based on observations - including the cosmic background radiation (pictured), which is a like a fossil of radiation emitted during the beginning of the universe, when it was hot and dense

This means that galaxies had to be closer to each other in the past.

In 1964, Wilson and Penzias discovered the cosmic background radiation, which is a like a fossil of radiation emitted during the beginning of the universe, when it was hot and dense. 

The cosmic background radiation is observable everywhere in the universe.

The composition of the universe - that is, the the number of atoms of different elements -  is consistent with the Big Bang Theory. 

So far, this theory is the only one that can explain why we observe an abundance of primordial elements in the universe.

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24-07-2025 om 21:39 geschreven door peter  

When US soldiers based in Suffolk saw lights, triangular aircraft and 'non-humans' the MoD 'shut it down'. Now 45 years later they tell their story for first time - and astonishing truth about how close armageddon really was

By DR DAVID CLARKE

Did aliens land outside an American airbase in Suffolk 45 years ago to probe its secret stash of nuclear warheads?

Or is the story a fisherman's tale that just gets bigger every time it is told?

Clearly something unusual happened in the early hours of Boxing Day morning in Rendlesham Forest, near the twin RAF bases of Bentwaters and Woodbridge, that's still being talked about today.

Some claim the latter Nato base was visited by UFOs, leading to a 'meet and greet' with silver-suited aliens and American top military brass that was caught on film.

Others, as the Mail can exclusively reveal, are convinced the Christmas visitors were interested in a secret nuclear missile stockpile, stashed just a few miles from Ipswich, where the good people of Suffolk were obliviously sleeping off their Christmas indulgences.

What everyone agrees on, however, is that the full story has never been disclosed. Until now.

A new feature length documentary, eight years in the making, re-ignited the decades-old Rendlesham Forest UFO mystery when it premiered last week.

Called Capel Green, after a field situated between the RAF Woodbridge airfield and the medieval Butley Priory in Suffolk, where the story is set, it re-creates the action seen through the eyes of a US airman who claims he witnessed it.

As a keen UFOlogist who has closely followed the Rendlesham story for decades, I fear the truth won't be the Close Encounters tale everyone craves, but rather yet another example of the British and American governments using UFO conspiracy stories as a convenient cloak for their nefarious, top-secret activities at the height of the Cold War, as confirmed last month in a bombshell report published by The Wall Street Journal.

Yet, that will be cold comfort for those Suffolk residents, who, in 1980, had no idea how close they were sleeping to the weapons of Armageddon that Christmas night.

The Capel Green film includes interviews with US security police, some of whom have never spoken on camera before, plus a newly recruited US airman, Larry Warren, just 19 at the time, who claims he had a front-row seat to the whole happening.

Larry Warren claims he had a front-row seat to the whole happening at Rendlesham Forest when he was 19

The Capel Green film includes interviews with US security police, some of whom have never spoken on camera before

In the film, he describes how he was told to hand over his rifle and driven in a Jeep to a clearing in the forest that was covered in glowing mist.

It was then, he says, that he saw a 'basketball sized red light in the sky' followed by a 'blinding flash of light'.

It was then he saw a triangular-shaped 'machine, object or craft' on the ground and – most astonishingly of all – three 'non-human beings' emerging from it.

These beings, he said, were then greeted by a tall man he believed was the most senior officer at the Nato complex, US air force wing commander (later brigadier general) Gordon Williams.

According to Warren, footage of this incredible meeting was captured on film, the footage handed to the pilot of a F-15 jet and later flown to the US air force HQ in Germany, never to be seen again.

Which is all very intriguing – and understandably greeted with a huge amount of scepticism.

Wing commander Gordon Williams, it should be noted, has never publicly commented on Rendlesham, but in 2003 described Warren's claims as 'a flight of fancy'.

Whatever happened, the incident wasn't a one-off and UFOs were seen around the base for at least three nights.

On December 28, 1980, the deputy base commander, lieutenant colonel Charles Halt, led a team of airmen into the forest to investigate his colleague's strange report.

As Halt made a running commentary of events on his hand-held tape recorder, his men gasped as they spotted a pulsing red light that resembled a winking eye between the trees.

Later three star-like lights in the sky were seen low in the north and south, hovering until daybreak. Halt claims one of these projected a pencil-thin beam of light into the weapons storage area of nearby RAF Bentwaters 'like it was looking for something'.

In the film, US security policeman Sergeant Steve Longero, who was assigned to protect the nuclear warheads at the Suffolk base, also claims to have seen a beam of light scanning the whole of the weapons storage area.

Charles Halt's memo summarising the Rendlesham sightings was sent to the British Ministry of Defence in January 1981 and became one of the most famous documents in the history of UFOlogy when it was leaked to the media.

As a teenage UFO enthusiast, I clearly recall being gripped by the headline 'UFO LANDS IN SUFFOLK: And that's OFFICIAL' that broke the Rendlesham Forest story in October 1983.

To many UFOlogists, the Rendlesham incident offered the exciting possibility of a 'British Roswell' right on our doorstep.

The News Of The World front page from 1983 reads: 'UFO LANDS IN SUFFOLK: And that's OFFICIAL'

To many UFOlogists, the Rendlesham incident offered the exciting possibility of a 'British Roswell' right on our doorstep

Roswell, as every UFO buff knows, was a mysterious incident in Roswell, New Mexico that happened in 1947, when a downed balloon used to spy on Soviet atomic tests was spun into a story of a captured flying saucer.

For those who wanted to believe, Rendlesham appeared to have everything Roswell had: impressive military witnesses, official documentation and what appeared to be a determined government attempt at a cover-up.

As an investigative journalist seeking answers, I used the precursor to the UK's Freedom of Information Act to persuade the MoD to release their own 150-page file on the case in 2001.

Sadly, I found no smoking gun, although I did find a letter written by the then-defence minister, Michael Heseltine, shortly after the story broke, giving unequivocal assurance 'that there is not a grain of truth in the allegation that there has been a cover-up about alleged UFO sightings'.

But remember, this was the Eighties and the height of the Cold War, where 'truth' could be subjective. The Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan a year earlier and tensions were high in Eastern Europe.

Not so many miles away, at Greenham Common in Berkshire, the first tents were being pitched in a protest camp outside another American airbase, where cruise missiles were being stored.

The protest would go on for the next 19 years and draw worldwide media attention – something the US and UK governments were keen to avoid in Suffolk.

In 2002, I met with RAF squadron leader, Don Moreland, who was the British liaison officer for the two bases at the time. The question of nuclear weapons was dodged deftly.

'The MoD thing was, we don't confirm or deny it. I don't know whether there were nuclear weapons there, and I was the RAF commander,' he told me.

'I could probably guess that there might have been there but they wouldn't tell me.'

But last summer a US intelligence officer-turned UFO whistleblower, Luis Elizondo, claimed in his explosive book, Imminent, that the Rendlesham incident was indeed linked to the secret stockpile of nuclear weapons at nearby RAF Bentwaters – now a Cold War Museum.

He said the 'beam' described by multiple witnesses had 'hovered specifically over an underground bunker' where the stash was held. He said the visit triggered a 'flash override' that gave the US president, Jimmy Carter, direct control of the weapons in the event of a surprise attack.

Many theories have come and gone over the years, the earliest being put forward by astronomer Ian Ridpath who discovered the initial sighting coincided with a bright fireball meteor that appeared to fall into the forest in the early hours of Boxing Day.

Ridpath believes that once the airmen on the patrol became convinced a UFO had landed, they walked into the forest, where they saw the pulsing beam from the Orford Ness lighthouse, about six miles away on the Suffolk coast.

Professor David Clarke has spoken to several key men regarding the mysterious events that took place 45 years ago

Others have come forward to claim the sightings were caused by pranksters: in 2015 I received a letter from an anonymous source claiming to be a 'retired SAS trooper with inside knowledge of Rendlesham' who immediately got my attention.

He claimed the UFOs were created by pyrotechnics rigged up by Special Forces in the forest, in revenge for being caught and roughed up by US security forces during an exercise to test the base defences.

But, however exciting this theory might sound, the date stamp on the letter gave the game away: it was carefully timed to arrive on April 1.

Four decades have passed and the basic story has become ever more complicated and exaggerated, with numerous claims and counter-claims from both believers and sceptics.

Halt's straightforward, if bizarre, account of 'unexplained lights' seen in a forest at Christmas time has been transformed into a complex modern legend involving missing time, conspiracies and messages from time travellers.

Even the most dedicated supporters of the UFO story have struggled to reconcile the ever-changing accounts told by the principal witnesses.

Sergeant Jim Penniston's account of having approached the landed UFO in the forest on Boxing Day and made sketches of it was once regarded as good evidence. But his credibility crumbled when he announced, on the 30th anniversary, that he had received a 'download' of binary code when he touched the object that he wrote down in a notebook. He also claimed to have received a telepathic message from the craft's occupants who'd come from our future to gather genetic material. 'They are time travellers,' he said. 'They are us.'

Charles Halt went on, after retirement from the US air force, to write a book and has made frequent TV appearances. In 2010 he signed a statement that said he believed the UFOs were 'extraterrestrial in origin and that the security services of both the United States and UK have attempted – both then and now – to subvert the significance of what occurred in Rendlesham forest and RAF Bentwaters by the use of well-practiced methods of disinformation'.

But Halt's superior officer, Colonel Ted Conrad, responded with a scathing account of Halt's credibility when we met in 2016.

The Texan-born former top gun fighter pilot told me, in no uncertain terms: '[Halt] should be ashamed and embarrassed by his allegation that his country and England both conspired to deceive their citizens over this issue. He knows better.'

Colonel Conrad was base commander and said he carried out the only formal investigation of the UFO sightings on behalf of General Williams, his boss and, according to Larry Warren, the man who officially greeted the aliens that night.

But he failed to find any hard evidence and said the MoD decided to 'shut down' the whole incident.

Despite his scepticism, Conrad admitted that something unexplained really did happen that Christmas but claimed the whole saga has taken on a life of its own.

'I don't recognise the details anymore,' he told me. 'It resembles science fiction and I have a low opinion of those telling these stories.'

Then there is Larry Warren, the homesick teenage airman, whose story is the focus of the film Capel Green.

The film's director, Dion M Johnson ,describes him as 'the original military witness and whistleblower' who has 'fought for the truth to be revealed'.

But others have cast doubt upon his credibility, including Peter Robbins, with whom he co-authored a book about the incident, called Left At East Gate, in 1997.

He later publicly disowned Warren, saying 'my former author has taken me for the ride of my life'.

Former MoD UFO desk officer Nick Pope has gone further, describing Warren's story as 'largely fabricated' and 'part-stolen from other witnesses', such as Halt, that he believes are credible.

Astronomer Ian Ridpath says 'on the face of it the Rendlesham story sounds inexplicable, but when broken down into its individual elements it is possible to work out what actually happened.

'As with most UFO cases, it amounts to a series of misidentifications of natural and man-made objects, namely a fireball, the lighthouse and twinkling stars. However, the UFO believers have no interest in solutions.

'For them the case has become a modern myth, and films like Capel Green simply add to that mythology.'

Much like its American cousin Roswell, the Rendlesham story is likely to keep on growing as a snowball does rolling down a hillside, that keeps getting bigger and bigger with every re-telling.

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24-07-2025 om 21:14 geschreven door peter  

Earth has over 6 moons you never knew about, scientists reveal

• READ MORE: Joe Rogan claims ancient Egyptians fled to the moon and the whole timeline of humanity is WRONG

By CHRIS MELORE, ASSISTANT SCIENCE EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

If you thought the Earth only had one moon, think again. Researchers have revealed that our planet may actually have an entire collection orbiting us at any given time.

A new study has found that Earth has at least six 'minimoons' in orbit on a regular basis, with most of them being smaller pieces of the actual moon we see in the sky each night.

A team from the US, Italy, Germany, Finland, and Sweden said these tiny satellites are generally around six feet in diameter and were formed by asteroids impacting on the moon's surface.

The collisions essentially kick up a bunch of dust and moon debris, with some of it being large enough to float away and get pulled into the Earth's gravitational field.

The study suggested that these broken moon pieces, known as 'lunar ejecta,' can move into somewhat stable orbits, staying near Earth for years.

Minimoons typically stay in Earth's orbit only for a short time before escaping or, in rare cases, hitting our planet or the moon.

Most of the time, these temporarily bound objects (TBOs) break away from Earth and are pulled into the sun's gravity, where they'll remain indefinitely, while new chunks of the moon are broken off to replace them.

Robert Jedicke, a researcher at the University of Hawaii, said: It's 'kind of like a square dance, where partners change regularly and sometimes leave the dance floor for a while.'

2024 PT5 entered Earth's orbit as a 'minimoon' from September 29 through November 25, 2024

(Stock Image)

'Given that 18 percent of TBOs can also be classified as minimoons, our nominal results suggest that there should be about 6.5 minimoons larger than 1 m diameter in the [Earth-Moon system] at any time,' the researchers wrote in their new report. 

The new study could upend the belief among scientists that these minimoons which quietly circle Earth all come from the solar system's asteroid belt.

A 2018 study suggested most TBOs come from this distant region which sits between Mars and Jupiter.

However, the new findings published in Icarus looked at two recently discovered minimoons, Kamo'oalewa and 2024 PT5, which both appear to have telltale signs of being moon fragments.

Specifically, Kamo'oalewa, discovered in 2016 by the Pan-STARRS1 telescope in Hawaii, was found to reflect light in a way that closely matches the moon's surface composition.

The large minimoon, which measures between 131 to 328 feet in diameter, also has the same composition of lunar rocks, rich in silicates.

This greatly differs from the typical asteroid, which often contains different minerals and metals than those found on the moon.

Jedicke told Space.com that 2024 PT5, which was discovered entering Earth's orbit on August 7, 2024, has exhibited the same lunar-like characteristics.

Astronomers created a simulation of what they believed 2024 PT5, a so-called minimoon, looked like in space

Last year, 2024 PT5 was dubbed Earth's temporary 'second moon' because of its size and lingering presence so close to our planet.

Astronomers collected data on the supposed asteroid as it circled Earth, which led astronomers to suggest that it may have been a chunk of our moon instead.

The leading theory of lunar formation is called the 'giant impact hypothesis,' which theorizes that the moon is actually an enormous, orbiting hunk of Earth.

According to this theory, our planet collided with a Mars-sized planet roughly four billion years ago, and this triggered an explosion of material from Earth that shot into space and eventually condensed to form the moon.

If the giant impact hypothesis and the analysis of 2024 PT5's origin are correct, that would mean our true moon is the parent of this minimoon, and Earth is its grandparent.

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24-07-2025 om 21:05 geschreven door peter  

Newly released records have revealed never-before-seen footage of unidentified objects invading an Ohio military base connected to one of the most infamous UFO encounters in history.

Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA), the US military has just been compelled to release documents and video of two incidents over Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in December 2024.

According to Air Force personnel and other witnesses in the area, the UFOs may have been part of the same drone swarms that both captivated and terrified the nation late last year.

While the vast majority of those reports came from New Jersey and other East Coast locations, the newly declassified files show that on December 13 and December 16 personnel at Wright-Patterson tracked and recorded the objects hovering over the secure facility.

The files on the incident revealed that the Air Force considered the invasion serious enough to stop flight operations around the base, call local law enforcement, and have security use thermal imaging cameras to find the intruders.

However, the case has remained unsolved as the military has not found out who or what sent the drones, the declassified documents stated.

The mystery of the 2024 drone swarms has become even more compelling because of the secretive work that has taken place at Wright-Patterson.

UFO researchers and government whistleblowers have said on multiple occasions that the Ohio compound has a direct tie to the 1947 UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico.

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio has been linked to UFO activity since the 1940s

Newly released video by the military shows unknown drones swarming over the base in December 2024

The Air Force documented revealed that on December 13, 2024, security forces around the base spotted several unmanned vehicles in the sky over Wright-Patterson around 10pm ET.

Patrols reported seeing at least one small drone that was about six inches in length and had four propellers hovering over the facility.

Another guard station stated that 'four quad-copter drones with red and green lights in a tight diamond formation' were swarming the base, but they 'gained altitude and flew away at a rapid speed' after the soldiers shined their car's spotlight on them. 

The base's air traffic control tower issued a full shutdown of Wright-Patterson's airspace during the incident, but airmen never found the drones or anyone in the area who may have sent them.

On December 16, a civilian walking his dog near the base perimeter spotted another cluster of drones and reported it to base personnel near the gate around 9:30pm.

According to the witness's account, the drones 'were slowly moving in different directions.'

'The objects appeared to be lights moving as a group, but too high up to get an accurate assessment of what they looked like,' one officer at Wright-Patterson reported.

At 11:43 pm, another officer spotted an unknown aircraft descending towards the base, getting within 500 feet of landing before it suddenly ascended and disappeared.

Documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request revealed that the Air Force does not know who or what sent the drones

Drones swarmed over Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (pictured) on both December 13 and December 16, 2024

A second patrol confirmed the startling report, saying the 'unidentified flying object' just vanished after approaching the base's runaway.

The FOIA release included multiple video clips taken by witnesses tracking the drones at various security checkpoints. 

Although President Trump has said the mysterious swarms were 'not the enemy' and had been authorized to conduct 'research,' the new documents revealed that federal officials have a much different story behind closed doors. 

The declassified report showed that both air traffic control and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) were contacted by officials at Wright-Patterson on December 13 and December 16.

Both agencies told the Air Force there were 'no authorized aircraft operating in WPAFB airspace' on those nights.

The FOIA request by The Black Vault, a website dedicated to sharing declassified government documents, has thrown Wright-Patterson back into the spotlight, as UFO conspiracy theorists have been focused on this facility for decades.

During a congressional hearing in May, Dr Eric Davis, a physicist who has been a consultant for the Pentagon's UFO program since 2007, revealed that debris from the Roswell incident was allegedly flown to Wright-Patterson after the crash in 1947.

The Air Force base has also been connected to the secret government group known as the Majestic 12 (MJ-12), a committee of high-ranking military, scientific, and intelligence officials assembled after the Roswell crash.

UFO researchers have said that the 1947 UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico 'was the real deal' and that debris from the ship was taken to Wright-Patterson for analysis

For over two decades, these experts were allegedly tasked with managing investigations into UFOs and extraterrestrial contact.

Recently unearthed CIA files stated that MJ-12 oversaw four specific projects charged with communicating with aliens, researching UFOs, recovering crashed alien ships, and testing out whatever advanced technology they could find.

That research and development program was based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, according to an alleged government whistleblower in 1984.

The base was also the headquarters for Project Blue Book, the Air Force's official UFO investigation program from 1947 to 1969. It investigated 12,618 sightings, with 701 remaining 'unidentified,' according to declassified records in the National Archives.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

24-07-2025 om 20:55 geschreven door peter  

Oldest Alien Base on Earth Found in Chile Google Earth, Many Faces! UFO UAP Sighting News.

Date of discovery: July 2025
Location of discovery: Chile, sorry I said Argentina earlier
Coordinates: 55°32'35"S, 69°15'56"W

Found the faces at Chile on Island of Grande de Tierra del Fuego, many faces of different alien species on a high mountain top. Each a different color species, the oldest alien base on our planet. Now we are left with other questions...are these aliens, the oldest aliens in our universe might be seen as angels or demons with such powers...or even god or gods. A thin line sites between them.
Scott C. Waring - UFO Sightings Daily

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

23-07-2025 om 22:35 geschreven door peter  

“She Cared for Alien Babies”: Paul Hynek’s Astonishing UFO Encounter

In the world of UFO lore and extraterrestrial encounters, few accounts are as intriguing and grounded as the one shared by Paul Hynek, son of famed astronomer and Project Blue Book scientific advisor, J. Allen Hynek. In a candid interview on Debriefed (Episode 45), Paul recalls a fascinating conversation with an elderly German woman who claimed to have one of the most unusual jobs imaginable—serving as a nanny for hybrid alien babies aboard a spaceship.

A Matter-of-Fact Encounter

During a conference in San Francisco, Hynek met the woman, who was unassuming and not eager to share her story. When asked about her occupation, she calmly revealed, “I’m a nanny on a spaceship for human-alien hybrid babies.” Her delivery was devoid of drama, describing her work as a 9-to-5, Monday-through-Friday routine. This matter-of-fact tone set her apart from the many sensational accounts often heard in UFO circles.

When Hynek probed further, asking about topics such as the species of aliens she worked with and practical matters like insurance, her responses were steady and reflective. She mentioned there was no insurance but noted that the aliens “kind of healed her” when needed. Her answers painted a picture of a day-to-day job that, while extraordinary, seemed as mundane to her as any earthly employment.

Connecting With Known Abduction Themes

Hynek drew parallels between her account and research by David Jacobs, who documented cases where abductees were trained to care for or socialize hybrid beings to help them adapt to human environments. Such themes often involve abductees being placed in maternal or caregiving roles. Yet, the woman’s account was remarkable for its prosaic, almost businesslike description of life aboard the craft.

A Personal and Historic Perspective

Hynek also shared insights from his family’s deep ties to UFO research. He recalled conversations with Colonel Robert Friend, a Tuskegee Airman and one of the directors at Project Blue Book. In one exchange, Friend was asked if alien bodies were ever transported to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Remaining loyal to his oath of secrecy, Friend replied that bodies wouldn’t have gone there, as it was a mechanics center, but rather to Fort Hood, a burn center. This subtle, yet telling comment hinted at concealed truths within military circles.

On Friend’s 99th birthday, Hynek delicately pressed him again for any convincing evidence of extraterrestrial encounters. Friend’s response was brief but powerful: “Paul, yes.” Though he didn’t break confidentiality, his confirmation resonated deeply with Hynek, who regards it as one of the most compelling personal testimonies he has encountered.

A Reflection on Credibility and Calm

What makes these stories compelling is not just their content but the demeanor of the people telling them. The German nanny’s calm, measured recounting and Friend’s quiet affirmation contrast starkly with the sensationalism often found in UFO narratives. For Hynek, these understated yet powerful anecdotes hold more weight than any dramatic case file.

Closing Thoughts

Paul Hynek’s experiences serve as a reminder that some of the most remarkable stories about extraterrestrial life come from the most unassuming voices. Whether one believes in such accounts or not, they provide a fascinating glimpse into the intersections of human imagination, personal experience, and the enduring mystery of our place in the universe.

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

23-07-2025 om 22:25 geschreven door peter  

‘It Became Brighter And Disappeared’: Infrared Camera Captures Footage Of Multiple UFOs Over Brazil

by Douglas Charles

iStockphoto

Mysterious video taken from an infrared camera shows multiple UFOs flying through the sky over Brazil, then vanishing. Brazilian officials have not offered any explanation for the video, despite it going viral on social media throughout the country.

According to a report by CNN Brazil, the footage was taken at around 8:30 p.m. local time on July 8 in Sao Pedro, a city in the metropolitan region of Piracicaba, in the interior of Sao Paulo. One area resident told the media outlet that the UFOs did not move in any conventional way. They also stated that it did not look like any standard aircraft.

What witnesses said about the UFO sighting

“What caught my attention was that they were lights that had a brightness much greater than that of an airplane”, said the witness who recorded the UFO footage. “It was a white glow that oscillated […] And so, there were several points, which did not all appear simultaneously. It followed a path and suddenly it became brighter and disappeared. Then, suddenly, another light appeared in another place [in the sky].”

CNN Brazil also reports that these or similar UFOs have been appearing in the region since last year. One local resident even said it happens at least once a week.

“It’s quiet here, there’s no airplane noise,” the local resident said. “I also thought it might suddenly be a rural drone. I can’t understand how far away they [the lights] are, but the fact is that they appear and leave us wondering.”

Brazil is a known hot spot for UFO and alien activity

The Brazilian National Archives contain at least 26 reports of UFOs being seen by pilots, controllers and people to the Air Force Command in 2024.

The country is also well-known in the UFO community for “the Varginha incident” which occurred on January 20, 1996. Dubbed “Brazil’s Roswell,” the Varginha incident involved numerous witnesses claiming to have seen aliens amid experienced numerous UFO sightings over a period of multiple days, following by some sort of investigation or intervention by Brazilian military.

UFO É FILMADO SOBRE PIRACICABA (SP) – IMAGENS CHOCANTES CAPTADAS POR CÂMERA DE SEGURANÇA

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{ https://brobible.com/ }

23-07-2025 om 22:16 geschreven door peter  

Image: Shutterstock

On the 6th of June 1980, 56-year-old coal miner Zigmund Adamski left his home in Tingley, West Yorkshire to do some shopping. He never returned. On the 9th of June, his body was found on top of a ten-foot high pile of coal in the town of Todmorden, twenty miles away from his house.

Sent to investigate, local bobby Alan Godfrey discovered that while Adamski was wearing a suit, his shirt, wallet and watch were all missing. Adamski’s hair had been cropped in what PC Godfrey described as a ‘roughly cut’ manner, and he only had one day’s growth of beard despite being missing for several days. The young policeman also reported that Adamski had mysterious burns on his neck, head and shoulders.

The coroner, James Turnbull, confirmed that some of the burns had been treated with a ‘strange ointment’ that could not be identified by forensic scientists. Godfrey later said that Adamski looked like he’d been frightened to death.

Speaking to reporters, PC Godfrey said there was a possibility Adamski had been abducted by aliens. ‘I am open-minded,’ he said. ‘I can't rule it out.’

The true cause of the Lofthouse Colliery worker’s death remains a mystery to this day. One wild theory that did the rounds at the time was that Adamski had been killed by the KGB. Another suggested he had been struck by ball lighting which caused him to wander off confused and eventually die at the top of the coal heap. To many people though, there was only one explanation - Adamski encountered alien beings on his way to the shops and it had cost him his life.

Five months after the grisly discovery of Adamski’s body, Todmorden once again found itself at the centre of media attention. This time it was none other than PC Godfrey who was in the eye of the storm.

Sent out at five in the morning to deal with a call about escaped cattle on a housing estate, Godfrey was, according to his own account, stopped dead in his tracks by what he claimed was an unidentified flying object. Godfrey said the object was a bright light in the sky - a rotating, diamond-shaped vessel, twenty feet high and fourteen feet wide.

Read more about Mysteries

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Godfrey made a quick sketch of the object in his notebook and then grabbed his police radio to call the incident in. The line was dead. Suddenly, it disappeared in a bright flash and Godfrey found himself sitting in his car thirty yards further down the road. Looking at his watch, the policeman was surprised to see it was twenty-five minutes later than it had been just moments before. Weirder still, his boot was split open and an itchy mark had appeared on one of his feet.

Baffled, Godfrey returned to where he had seen the light and discovered the road where his car had been was completely dry, despite the fact it had recently been raining. Getting out to investigate the area, he found the cows he’d been looking for in a park next to the road. They had not been there before he saw the strange object in the sky. What on earth was going on?

When he finally managed to report his strange encounter, Godfrey was met with scepticism and even ridicule. On the advice of a solicitor friend, he decided to see a hypnotist to get to the bottom of what he’d witnessed.

Under hypnosis, Godfrey recalled that he had been blinded by the light and passed out. He told the hypnotist that when he awoke, he was in a strange room being examined by several little creatures and a tall, humanoid figure with a beard. Again, his claims were met with raised eyebrows and derision.

Several weeks after Godfrey’s account had leaked to the newspapers and became an international news story, he was called into his inspector's office. There sat a man in a dark suit and tie who introduced himself as ‘the Man from the Ministry’.

He had with him a file containing Godfrey’s drawing of the strange craft. Godfrey wasn’t allowed to see the rest of the file but assumed it also contained his account of the evening’s events, plus his report on the mysterious death of Zigmund Adamski. The man told Godfrey that he was to swear on the Official Secrets Act that he would not talk to anyone about what he had seen. Godfrey reluctantly agreed.

The young policeman then encountered the man on several occasions over the next few days. It was clear he was being followed. Eventually, Godfrey confronted the man in his local pub, telling him to clear off. The man disappeared and was never seen again..

Who was this mysterious man? Was he an MI5 agent, sent to warn him off? That's what Godfrey believes, though another theory is that the stranger was actually from West Yorkshire Police, sent to warn Godfrey off from speaking to the press in an attempt to not draw any more attention to the force. They were already getting a considerable amount of bad publicity over the Yorkshire Ripper case.

Despite that it later transpiring that several other police officers and a bus driver had seen strange lights on the same morning, Godfrey’s claims were seen as an embarrassment to the force. He was eventually transferred to Wakefield and an attempt was even made to have him sectioned.

Godfrey later claimed that he was hounded out of the police for refusing to give up on his story. He also talked of the negative impact the incident had had on his family. ’I wish I'd never seen the UFO, particularly because of the effects on my children,’ he was later to reflect. ’It's not easy having a policeman as a father but when he's a policeman who saw a UFO it's even worse.’

Since the two incidents in 1980, Todmorden and other areas of West Yorkshire have become UFO hotspots. Mysterious objects have been reported for forty years across the Pennines in the skies above Holmfirth, Rothwell and, in 2016, over the world famous Ribblehead Viaduct, where strange lights could be seen hovering in the sky for several hours.

A mere year after Godfrey’s experience, Todmorden local Vicky Dinsdale was out walking her dog with her grandfather when they saw a long, thin, diamond-shaped object that kept changing colour. Vicky’s grandfather, a former sergeant in the army, told the young girl to keep what they saw to themselves, mindful of the ridicule visited on Godfrey.

So, is there an explanation for what happened to Zigmund Adamski and PC Godfrey, or indeed for the numerous incidents that have happened in the four decades since? Despite many people attempting to get to the bottom of this intriguing mystery, no one has ever managed to come up with a definitive answer.

In the case of Adamski, the state of his clothes, his cropped hair, one day of beard growth and the strange burns still baffle people to this day.

As for Godfrey’s account, we have just his word to go on. But if he’s simply making it up, it’s been to his own personal detriment, as he lost both his job and a lot of credibility, becoming a figure of ridicule to many. He also lost his family and his home and slid into alcoholism. Despite all this, he still swears that something out of the ordinary happened to him that night. Plus, there’s the small matter that he wasn’t the only one who reported strange goings-on that morning.

’This was a nuts and bolts craft, not a trick of the mind,’ Godfrey told an audience in Halifax back in 2014. ‘I have never seen anything like it. I would swear on the Bible it was from somewhere else. These things have been seen so many times above Todmorden, they call the area UFO alley.’

Did aliens have something to do with the death of a 56-year-old miner and ruin the life of a young police officer in a small Yorkshire market town in 1980? The answer is we’ll probably never know for sure. For sceptics, the idea of alien abduction is a load of nonsense. For those like the group who meet at the Golden Lion pub in Todmorden once a month to discuss these incidents as well as their own brushes with UFOs, things aren’t quite so black and white.

As part of Sky HISTORY’s ‘Mystery Season’, Craig Charles is joined by renowned astrophysicist Sarah Cruddas to investigate unsolved UFO mysteries, and abductions with episode 8 (1st March at 9pm), focussing on Godfrey’s compelling claims. They scrutinise all available evidence, reveal never before heard testimonies as they attempt to separate fact from fiction.

Also, speculation was recently fueled when, after decades of denial, the Pentagon admitted that UFOs did in fact exist and could not simply be dismissed as weather balloons or natural phenomena. To many believers, there is indeed something strange going on in West Yorkshire, and cases like those of the Todmorden UFO Mystery cannot be simply dismissed.

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{ https://www.history.co.uk/articles 

23-07-2025 om 21:47 geschreven door peter  

Area 51. The name itself immediately conjures images of aliens, armed personnel guarding the perimeter of a facility deep in the desert, and bunkers filled with who-knows-what. So much about this large region of Nevada, northwest of Las Vegas, is a mystery. With any movement there completely under government control and the area resolutely closed to the public, all kinds of theories - some wild and some not-so-wild - have sprung up about what has taken place over the past 65 years. Most of the theories involve alien life forms and extraterrestrial research - but what is the actual truth?

It has been approximately nine years since the US government acknowledged Area 51’s existence for the first time, so it’s time to take a look at the timeline of events surrounding the US Air Force’s most mysterious military installation.

The story begins in 1954. President Dwight Eisenhower called for a confidential location to be established for aircraft to be developed and tested for espionage purposes. At that point, the possibility of nuclear war was driving the American military, and creating effective spy planes was a high priority so that the security forces could understand how much of a threat Russia’s weapons capability posed to the West.

Work had already begun in the area - the U-2 reconnaissance plane had been created by 1955 - and then later, under Public Land Order 1662, the 38,400-acre land area that comprises the area was withdrawn from public use by the US Atomic Energy Commission in 1958. Public entry was strictly prohibited and armed guards prevented those who were curious from breaching its borders.

Whilst the US was preparing these specialised aircraft and flying them deep into Russian territory without detection, theories about alternative operations happening deep within the facility began to surface. Rumours had previously abounded that a UFO had crash-landed in Roswell in 1947 and many speculated that the wreckage was being re-engineered in the bunker known as Area 51, deep inside the Nevada Test & Training Range. From there, the extraterrestrial theories began to grow for decades to come.

Throughout the rest of the late 1950s, further developments were made which resulted in the A12 aircraft being created, as well as the F117 stealth jet.

Things became quieter on the topic until the 1970s, with the speculation over other-worldly research being something of a niche interest in the interim period. In that decade, it was determined that the location wasn’t secure enough, with Deputy Director of Central Intelligence E.H. Knoche to General David C. Jones declaring that the facility should be moved from management by the CIA to the Air Force.

Once again, things went a little quiet. Then, in 1989, what was once a niche interest truly became public domain when an individual named Bob Lazar exposed details about Area 51, claiming that he had worked there to reverse engineer “a downed alien spacecraft” - though the veracity of his claims couldn’t be confirmed. At this point, Area 51 became a watchword for government secrecy and the existence of alien life on Earth.

Possibly as an attempt to reverse swelling interest in confidential affairs, the US government released a statement in 1994 claiming the wreckage in Roswell in the 1940s came from Project Mogul - a very much terrestrial weather experiment. However, these claims only reduced public trust in the government’s statements on the subject, and the theories continued to spread.

Conjecture on the true purpose of Area 51 was only made more vigorous when President Bill Clinton exempted the facility from laws surrounding the movement and disposal of hazardous waste in 1996. Naturally, UFOlogists wondered what that hazardous waste might be - and whether it was of this planet. This continued to be an issue until the early part of the 21st century when in 2003 President George W Bush once again signed off on exempting it from the hazardous waste laws.

There was little news on the facility for nearly 10 years and then, in 2012 - a year prominent in the mind of many conspiracy theorists due to the end of the Mayan calendar - the confidential Pentagon department known as the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program was shut down. The following year in 2013, the CIA finally admitted that the area was indeed a secret government facility.

In the following years, ex-Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama spoke casually of their interest in the topic in public, on talk shows, and at public engagements. Hillary Clinton also expressed her curiosity during her failed Presidential campaign, but no new details emerged from anywhere official.

The most recent events surrounding Area 51 occurred in 2019 when public interest reached a sudden fever pitch. An event was arranged online, jokingly referred to as “Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us", with Facebook users signing up to take part in a civilian rebellion to “find them aliens”. Thankfully this resulted in little more than a skirmish, with only two arrests for disorderly conduct.

Since then we’ve seen a dip in interest in the secretive Air Force base once again. However, this quiet period is unlikely to last long as public curiosity regarding this byword for clandestine government operations is never far away. People truly do seem to believe that, as far as Area 51 is concerned, the truth is out there.

{ https://www.history.co.uk/articles }

23-07-2025 om 21:28 geschreven door peter  

All these decades later we're still no closer to finding out what really happened

Image: Shutterstock

{ https://www.history.co.uk/articles }

23-07-2025 om 21:11 geschreven door peter  

Image: Sipa US / Alamy Stock Photo Above: Ryan Graves, David Grusch and David Fravor are sworn in during a hearing on “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency,” on the 26th July 2023

{ https://www.history.co.uk/articles }

23-07-2025 om 20:53 geschreven door peter  

Image: Shutterstock.com

{ https://www.history.co.uk/articles }

23-07-2025 om 20:38 geschreven door peter  

Students build new 'hybrid drone' — watch it fly in the air and then seamlessly dive underwater

Students have built a hybrid drone that can seamlessly transition from flying in the air to swimming in water.

The students developed a working prototype of the hybrid drone for a bachelor's thesis at Aalborg University in Denmark, and recently shared a video of the drone in action.

In the video, the drone takes off next to a large pool of water and then quickly dives underwater. It then moves around beneath the surface for a few seconds before shooting straight out of the water to fly once again. The video shows the drone repeating the trick several times from different angles.

Andrei Copaci, Pawel Kowalczyk, Krzysztof Sierocki and Mikolaj Dzwigalo, who are all studying applied industrial electronics, achieved this remarkable air-to-water transition by using variable pitch propellers, which have blades that can rotate at different angles to match the two different environments.

"The development of an aerial underwater drone marks a major step forward in robotics, showing that a single vehicle can operate effectively in both air and water thanks to the use of variable pitch propellers," the students told Live Science in a joint email.

This isn't the first air-water hybrid drone to be built. Researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey developed a hybrid prototype that could perform a similar action in 2015, while Chinese scientists showed off a drone transitioning from air to water in 2023.

Related: 

• Best drones for wildlife and landscapes in 2025 — Explore and capture the world from above

The students designed, built and tested their drone over two semesters at their university, according to a LinkedIn post by Petar Durdevic, an associate professor who leads the Offshore Drones and Robots research group at Aalborg University.

They began by creating a model of the drone and designing the variable pitch propeller system. The angle of the blades, or propeller pitch, is higher when flying to create more air flow, while lower in the water to minimize drag and increase efficiency. The propellers are also capable of providing negative thrust to increase maneuverability underwater, the students said.

The team used a 3D printer and a computer numerical control machine — another piece of automated manufacturing equipment — to get the parts they needed for the build, and programmed the drone with custom software. Finally, they moved on to testing.

"We were surprised how seamlessly the drone transitions from water to air," the students said.

The new drone is just a single prototype, but this kind of technology has a variety of potential real-world applications, from emergency response to warfare. "A few of the applications are military, vessel inspections, marine exploration, search and rescue," the students said.

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{ https://www.livescience.com/technology }

22-07-2025 om 23:21 geschreven door peter  

Nessie, ben je daar? Mensen die het monster van Loch Ness hebben gezien

©The Daily Digest

Het monster van Loch Ness
Het mythische monster van Loch Ness wordt steeds minder vaak gezien. Misschien heeft de massale aanwezigheid van toeristen het iconische wezen weggejaagd of... misschien heeft het nooit bestaan.

©The Daily Digest

"Enorme donkere vorm" in het water van het meer
Op 16 juni 2023 (toevallig of niet, net voor het hoogseizoen) kopte The Telegraph dat een Franse toerist een "enorme donkere vorm" had waargenomen in het water van het meer. Iets van ongeveer 15 meter lang dat onder water bewoog.

©The Daily Digest

"Ik ben een man van de wetenschap"
De toerist die de vreemde vorm in het water zag, heet Etienne Camel en is apotheker. Volgens The Mirror zei hij: "Het was heel vreemd. Ik ben een man van de wetenschap, dus ik heb nooit geloofd dat het monster van Loch Ness een prehistorisch dier is. Maar toen ik een foto nam zag ik een heel lange schaduw."

©The Daily Digest

De Franse apotheker en zijn vrouw zagen het
De Franse apotheker en zijn vrouw waren getuige van de vreemde grote schaduw. Beiden waren verbaasd en zo dook mythe voor weer een nieuwe zomer op in het nieuws.

©The Daily Digest

Nessie in de Schotse folklore
Nessie maakt al eeuwenlang deel uit van de Schotse folklore. Volgens Wikipedia duikt er in de 7e eeuw een verwijzing op in de tekst 'Vita Columbae' (een heilige redt iemand van een monster uit het meer), maar pas in 1868 wordt er in een artikel in de Inverness Courier gesproken over "een enorme vis of ander soort wezen" in Loch Ness.

©The Daily Digest

Vermeende beelden van Nessie
In de loop der jaren zijn er talloze foto's openbaar gemaakt waarop onduidelijk iets te zien was dat leek op een monster met prehistorische kenmerken.

©The Daily Digest

Misschien zijn het schaduwen, boomstammen... en verbeelding
Sommige kiekjes die Nessi zogenaamd hebben vastgelegd (zoals deze foto) zijn misschien gewoon schaduwen of boomstammen die op het oppervlak van het meer drijven.

©The Daily Digest

Maar waarom zouden we niet fantaseren?
Toch heeft de legende van Loch Ness iets moois en poëtisch. En een schot in de roos voor de roddelpers die in de jaren 1930 van dit verhaal een massaverschijnsel maakte. Foto's als deze werden gepubliceerd in de Londense media en gingen al snel de hele wereld over.

©The Daily Digest

20.000 pond voor degene die het monster zou vangen
Het was ook in de jaren 1930 toen Bertram Mills, een circuseigenaar, 20.000 pond beloofde aan degene die Nessie zou vangen. Deze beloning leidde uiteraard tot de komst van avonturiers, reizigers en gelukszoekers van allerlei pluimage.

©The Daily Digest

Foto: Steve Douglas / Unsplash

Maar is er een wetenschappelijke verklaring voor deze legende?
Naast verbeelding en legende zijn er mensen die wetenschappelijke (of pseudowetenschappelijke) verklaringen hebben gezocht voor de vermeende waarnemingen van een monster in Loch Ness. De meest wijdverspreide verklaring is de theorie die het heeft over het overleven van een antediluviaans wezen in dit meer.

©The Daily Digest

Foto: Dmitry Bogdanov / Wikimedia

A plesiosaur that survived extinction
Het prehistorische dier dat het dichtst in de buurt komt van de beschrijvingen van het monster van Loch Ness zou de plesiosaurus zijn, een soort waterdinosaurus. Maar de wetenschap gelooft dat het bijna onmogelijk is voor deze soort om geïsoleerd te overleven in de wateren van Loch Ness.

©The Daily Digest

Een olifant?
Het zou ook kunnen dat mensen in de jaren 1930 een olifant hadden zien baden in het water van het meer. Het zou een olifant zijn geweest van een circus dat zich in het gebied bevond, volgens MSNBC, gebaseerd op het proefschrift van paleontoloog Neil Clarck, conservator van het Hunterian Museum in Glasgow.

©The Daily Digest

Foto: Cacophony / Wikimedia

Een steur?
Er is ook gespeculeerd dat Nessie een steur was, een reusachtige vis met een monsterlijk uiterlijk. De steur komt voor in nabijgelegen rivieren, maar in principe zou deze soort niet in het meer leven.

©The Daily Digest

Foto: NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program / Wikimedia

Koudwaterhaai
Er is ook sprake van een soort koudwaterhaai die voor de Schotse kust is gesignaleerd: de zogenaamde Groenlandse haai. Maar hoe zou die in Loch Ness terecht zijn gekomen?

©The Daily Digest

Misschien gewoon wat simpele alen
Een onderzoek van de Nieuw-Zeelandse University of Otago (waarover The Guardian berichtte) wees echter in een andere richting. Een onderzoeker verzamelde biologische monsters van het meer en vond geen sporen van prehistorische monsters, haaien, steuren... Maar ze vonden wel alen, en volgens professor Neil Gemmell, die het onderzoek leidde, zagen de duikers alen van enorme afmetingen (groter dan normaal), wat hun verwarring met een mythologisch wezen zou verklaren.

©The Daily Digest

Een personage uit de populaire cultuur
De rationele verklaring doet er eigenlijk niet toe. Nessie is vandaag de dag een belangrijk onderdeel van de populaire cultuur en een toeristische attractie voor de Schotse Hooglanden. En mensen houden van mysteries, dus het is beter om het raadsel in leven te houden. En dus ook de zogenaamde waarnemingen.

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{ The Daily Digest. }

22-07-2025 om 21:57 geschreven door peter  

How the Moon’s Hidden Protection Shields Against Solar Wind Erosion

By Mark Thompson 

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22-07-2025 om 21:06 geschreven door peter  

Bestaat er een mysterieuze negende planeet in ons zonnestelsel?

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Bestaat er een mysterieuze negende planeet in ons zonnestelsel?
Nieuw bewijs toont aan dat er mogelijk ver voorbij Pluto een hypothetische planeet is ​​die 'Planeet Negen' of 'Planeet X' wordt genoemd. Astronomen voorspellen dat er mogelijk een grote, nog niet ontdekte planeet met gravitationele interactie zich in de Kuipergordel bevindt. Het bestaan ​​van deze mysterieuze planeet kan de afwijkende banen en gravitationele interacties van enkele dwergplaneten en andere objecten in de Kuipergordel verklaren.

Wil je meer weten? Bekijk dan deze afbeeldingen en informatie!

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Neptunus
Het is bijna 200 jaar geleden dat astronomen op een nieuwe planeet in ons zonnestelsel stuitten. Neptunus werd in slechts één nacht planeten observeren ontdekt, toen Johann Gottfried Galle en zijn student in 1846 een telescoop op de planeet richtten.

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California Institute of Technology
In 2016 verklaarden Konstantin Batygin en Mike Brown, twee astronomen van het California Institute of Technology (Caltech), dat hun onderzoek bewijs levert voor het mogelijke bestaan van een grote planeet in het buitenste zonnestelsel.

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Sterk bewijs
Hoewel de astronomen de planeet niet hebben waargenomen, leveren ze sterk theoretisch bewijs voor zowel het bestaan ​​ervan als relevante informatie over de mogelijke impact ervan.

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Kuipergordel
Dit bewijsmateriaal toont de invloed van de hypothetische planeet op dwergplaneten en kleinere objecten in de Kuipergordel en de mogelijke relatie tussen hen.

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Planeet Negen
De mysterieuze planeet, die ook wel 'Planeet X' (de 'X' staat voor de letter, niet voor het Romeinse cijfer) of 'Planeet Negen' wordt genoemd, is vermoedelijk 1,5 keer zo groot als de aarde en bevindt zich ver voorbij Pluto.

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Vijf tot tien keer grotere massa dan die van de aarde
De massa van de planeet is mogelijk 5 tot 10 keer groter dan die van de aarde en hij zou in een 20 tot 30 keer grotere baan om de zon kunnen draaien dan Neptunus. NASA merkt op dat het Planeet Negen, mocht deze theorie kloppen, 10.000 tot 20.000 aardjaren zou kosten om één keer om de zon te draaien.

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Unieke banen
Astronomen zeggen dat het mogelijke bestaan ​​van deze planeet het gedrag van bepaalde objecten in het buitenste zonnestelsel zou kunnen verklaren, met name de unieke banen van dwergplaneten en ijzige objecten in de Kuipergordel.

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Gerard Kuiper
De Kuipergordel is vernoemd naar de astronoom Gerard Kuiper. Het is een koud gebied dat zich voorbij de baan van Neptunus bevindt en wordt soms de 'derde zone' van het zonnestelsel genoemd.

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IJzige objecten
Astronomen denken dat er naast Pluto nog miljoenen andere ijzige objecten in de Kuipergordel aanwezig zijn, waaronder stoffen als ammoniak en methaan.

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Opgeblazen donut
De Kuipergordel staat bekend als een van de grootste samenstellingen in ons zonnestelsel en wordt over het algemeen beschreven als een opgeblazen donut.

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Rand van de baan van Neptunus
De Kuipergordel begint aan de rand van de baan van Neptunus en strekt zich uit over bijna 1.000 AE (1 AE komt overeen met de afstand van de zon tot de aarde).

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Meer dan 2.000 objecten ontdekt
Hoewel astronomen rond de 2.000 objecten hebben geïdentificeerd in de Kuipergordel, is het waarschijnlijk dat er nog honderdduizenden onontdekte objecten zijn. Deze worden vaak beschouwd als 'overblijfselen' van de vorming van het zonnestelsel.

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Vorming van het zonnestelsel
De theorie over hoe dit tot stand kwam, is dat toen het zonnestelsel zich vormde, Uranus en Neptunus door verschuivingen in de banen van Jupiter en Saturnus gedwongen werden om verder van de zon te bewegen.

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Uranus en Neptunus
Uranus en Neptunus dreven steeds verder weg en passeerden de ijzige overblijfselen nadat alle grote planeten waren gevormd.

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Jupiter
De zwaartekracht van de baan van Neptunus duwde deze objecten in de richting van de zon en grote planeten zoals Jupiter, terwijl Jupiter ze vervolgens uit het zonnestelsel slingerde of naar verre banen bracht.

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Verbrokkelde stukken
De zwaartekracht van Neptunus duwde de resterende objecten de Kuipergordel in, waar ze soms op elkaar botsten en in verbrokkelde stukken uiteenvielen.

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Dwergplaneten en samengeklonterde objecten
Astronomen die de Kuipergordel onderzoeken, merken dat verschillende kleinere planeten en sommige objecten de neiging hebben om in dezelfde banen rond te draaien en daarbij samen te klonteren.

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Theorie over Planeet Negen
Het is de analyse van deze banen, oftewel de gravitationele interacties met een grote planeet, waar astronomen hun theorie over het bestaan ​​van Planeet Negen op baseren.

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Sommige onderzoekers ontkennen het bestaan ​​ervan
Sommige criticasters in de gemeenschap van wetenschappers ontkennen het mogelijke bestaan ​​van Planeet Negen. Zij beweren dat de waargenomen banen slechts te wijten zijn aan de willekeurige verspreiding van objecten langs de Kuipergordel.

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Alle middelen worden ingezet
Wetenschappers proberen wanhopig de planeet te vinden om het bestaan ​​ervan te bevestigen. Met behulp van een speciaal observatorium, krachtige telescopen en burgerprojecten proberen astronomen zoveel mogelijk gegevens te verzamelen om de planeet te lokaliseren.

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Complexe computersimulaties
De huidige theorie is gebaseerd op complexe computersimulaties waarbij rekening wordt gehouden met een aantal voorwaarden. Het model dat het meest aansluit bij het waargenomen gedrag van banen is het model waarin Planeet Negen is opgenomen.

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Vera C. Rubin Observatory
Wetenschappers hopen dat het nieuwe Vera C. Rubin Observatorium in Chili zal bijdragen aan het beantwoorden van een aantal vragen over Planeet Negen en het oplossen van andere kwesties m.b.t. sterrenkunde.

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Gedetailleerde timelapse
Dankzij innovatieve technologie kan het observatorium gedurende tien jaar een uitgebreid en gedetailleerd overzicht van het heelal bieden met behulp van de grootste camera die ooit is gebouwd.

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Verzamelde beelden
De beelden die het observatorium verzamelt, kunnen een gedetailleerder inzicht verschaffen in de verspreiding van objecten langs de Kuipergordel.

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Waarom is het zo moeilijk om de planeet te vinden?
Het lokaliseren van planeten is een behoorlijke uitdaging. Astronomen gebruiken de transitmethode om planeten in andere zonnestelsels te vinden.

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Transitmethode
Astronomen kunnen planeten waarschijnlijk beter vinden door de bewegingen van een ster te observeren. Het computermodel dat wordt gebruikt om Planeet Negen te detecteren, schat de kans dat de planeet bestaat op 99 procent.

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Malena Rice
Malena Rice, universitair docent astronomie aan de Yale-universiteit, stelde dat het vinden van een andere planeet "ons begrip van het zonnestelsel en andere planetenstelsels, en hoe wij in die context passen, volledig zou kunnen veranderen".

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Mysteries van het buitenste zonnestelsel
Kleine zwarte gaten, potentiële buitenaardse werelden, extra dwergplaneten, vulkanische kometen en asteroïden zijn slechts enkele van de mysteries omtrent het buitenste zonnestelsel die astronomen proberen te ontrafelen.

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De zoektocht gaat door
Terwijl de zoektocht naar Planeet Negen doorgaat, zetten sommige wetenschappers alles in op indirect bewijs voor het bestaan ​​van de planeet, terwijl anderen er zeer kritisch tegenover staan.

Bronnen: (NASA) (AP News) (Live Science) (Yahoo News UK) (Interesting Engineering) (ABC Australia)

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22-07-2025 om 15:31 geschreven door peter  

Apparently Vera Rubin Captured Images Of 3I/ATLAS Before It Was Even Discovered

Sometimes serendipity happens in science. Whether it’s an apple falling from a tree or a melting chocolate bar, some of the world’s greatest discoveries come from happy accidents, even if their stories may be apocryphal. According to a new paper on arXiv, there’s a new story to add to the archives of serendipitous scientific discoveries - Rubin happened to make observations of interstellar object 3I/ATLAS before its official discovery, while the telescope was still in its Science Validation survey, marking the earliest, high resolution images we will likely get of the comet at that time.

According to the paper, Rubin just happened to be pointing at the part of the sky where 3I/ATLAS was located during its Science Validation (SV) phase. It unknowingly took pictures of the object between June 21st (10 days before it was officially discovered) and July 7th. June 21st was even a few days before the telescope officially released its “First Look” images to the public back on June 23rd.

These observations are important because they are the earliest ones done by a high power telescope. Rubin’s 8.4m Simoyi Survey Telescope and 3.2-gigapixel Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) combined to capture the highest resolution images of the comet released to date. Since the images were captured before full commissioning, the data they represented had to be run through customer data pipelines rather than the standard automated ones that will handle the terabytes of data normally created by Rubin every night.

Fraser discusses the new interstellar object, 3I/ATLAS.

There were 49 images included in the study, though some were excluded due to being captured during telescope alignments, blending with other stars, or just being out of focus. Nineteen of the images were captured during intentional SV operations.

Those images show a comet that largely behaved as expected. They provided the highest resolution proof that 3I/ATLAS is, in fact a comet, and shows cometary behavior, like a coma of gas and dust surrounding it. The apparent size of its coma grew about 58% over the observational period as it continued to approach the Sun. Interestingly, it had a sunward pointing tail. According to the paper this can be explained by “anisotropic dust emission”, and has been observed in other comets, though it is relatively rare. Several explanations are offered, including slow ejection of large particles that aren’t pushed back as quickly by the Sun’s radiation pressure or a rotational axis that nearly aligns with its orbital plane.

Perhaps not as excitingly, 3I/ATLAS doesn’t show any sign of non-gravitational acceleration like 1I/Oumuamua. That’s not to say there won’t eventually be - 1I/Oumuamua’s acceleration was first observed during its perihelion, so astronomers will be watching closely to see if the same effect happens for 3I/ATLAS when it approaches its perihelion in October. However, in an opposite twist of luck, the object itself won’t be visible at that time as it will be blocked by the Sun from September through December.

Fraser discusses the observational power of Vera Rubin and how it could change astronomy forever.

Rubin will lose sight of its slightly beforehand, on August 22nd, when it will move out of the telescope's surveyed area of the sky. Between the final image presented in the paper and that time, the authors expect at least 100 more images of the comet to be captured, many of which will likely be high quality than the earlier sets when the telescope operators didn’t know they had such a valuable and rare object in their field of view. An even more detailed paper is sure to be forthcoming, even if it might not be as much of a surprise.

Learn More:

• C.O. Chandler et al - NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Observations of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1)
• UT - The First Pictures from Vera Rubin are Here!
• UT - Inbound: Astronomers Discover Third Interstellar Object
• UT - Newly-Discovered Interstellar Comet is Billions of Years Older Than the Solar System

22-07-2025 om 14:33 geschreven door peter  

NASA rover discovers out-of-place 'Skull' on Mars, and scientists are baffled

The region, called Port Anson, contains several such rocks that may have been transported from elsewhere, scientists said. Known as "floats," these loose rocks likely traveled vast distances billions of years ago when Mars possessed a warmer, wetter environment with rivers, lakes and potentially even oceans. As the water receded and softer surrounding material eroded over eons, the more resilient rocks remained perched on the Martian soil.

"We've found a few of these dark-toned floats in the Port Anson region," the post noted. "The team is working to better understand where these rocks came from and how they got here."

The mystery of Skull Hill

According to the post, the pits on Skull Hill may have formed in a couple of ways. Small pieces within Skull Hill itself might have become loose and eroded away, leaving the holes. Another possibility is that Martian winds, carrying tiny dust and rock particles, could have acted like sandpaper, slowly wearing away the rock's surface and creating the pits.

The dark tone of Skull Hill and similar rocks could suggest they are meteorites, but recent analysis of their chemical data from Perseverance's SuperCam instrument indicates their composition doesn't match that of a typical meteorite.

Alternatively, these dark rocks could have a volcanic origin. On both Earth and Mars, minerals like olivine, pyroxene and biotite are known to give igneous rocks their dark color. If these rocks are indeed igneous, they might have come from nearby volcanic rock formations that have eroded away, or they could have been blasted out of the ground by an impact crater that excavated deeper volcanic layers.

"Luckily for us, the rover has instruments that can measure the chemical composition of rocks on Mars," according to the post. "Understanding the composition of these darker-toned floats will help the team to interpret the origin of this unique rock."

In the past few months, Perseverance has collected samples of five rocks, analyzed seven others in detail and zapped 83 more with its laser for remote study — the robotic explorer's fastest pace of scientific data collection since landing on Mars four years ago, representatives of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said in another statement.

Mission scientists noted that it often takes months of searching the crater to find a scientifically unique rock worth sampling. On the crater rim, however, Perseverance is encountering new and intriguing rocks at every turn, according to the statement.

"Crater rims — you gotta love 'em," Katie Morgan, Perseverance's project scientist at JPL, said in the statement. "The last four months have been a whirlwind for the science team, and we still feel that Witch Hazel Hill has more to tell us — it has been all we had hoped for and more."

Scientists are keen to get the samples Perseverance has collected back to Earth to determine if life ever existed on Mars. However, NASA's Mars Sample Return mission is facing significant challenges with budget, timelines and technical complexities, leaving its future uncertain.

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{ https://www.livescience.com/space }

21-07-2025 om 21:53 geschreven door peter  

Trippy liquid 'fireworks' appear when scientists try to mix unmixable fluids

In this case, the word "fluid" can refer to both gases and liquids, including gaseous carbon dioxide. Viscosity is a measure of how easily a fluid moves. Fluids with high viscosity move sluggishly, like molasses or tar, while low-viscosity fluids move faster and can spread out more, like water or air.

The fluid "fireworks" are caused by Saffman-Taylor instability — a phenomenon that occurs when two immiscible fluids with different viscosities are confined in a small space. When a less viscous fluid is added to the system, there aren't a lot of places for it to go, so it pushes against the thicker fluid instead — forming the distinctive patterns.

If you've ever put a drop of glue between two flat surfaces, then changed your mind and pulled them apart, you might have noticed the wet glue forming strange ridges and channels. This is Saffman-Taylor instability in action. When you pulled the pieces apart, air tried to go where the more viscous glue was and left those patterns behind.

Related: 

• Why does nearly all life breathe oxygen?

Storing carbon dioxide in the ground involves "injecting" carbon dioxide gas into a more viscous liquid (water) in confined spaces underground, leading to Saffman-Taylor instability. The "fireworks" from the paper show that the number and extent of the fingers can be changed depending on when and how the fluid is injected into the system. Increasing the fingering effect helps keep the gas from escaping back into the atmosphere.

People across the globe are already working on carbon sequestration (storage) projects — as of 2024, there were 50 facilities in operation, 44 being built, and an additional 534 in development according to the Global CCS (carbon capture and storage) Institute. Developing this technology further gives us more tools to rein in global heating caused by the presence of too much carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere.

{ https://www.livescience.com/chemistry }

21-07-2025 om 21:25 geschreven door peter