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.
01-11-2025
UFO Activity Near Nuclear Sites Gains Peer-Reviewed Validation
UFO Activity Near Nuclear Sites Gains Peer-Reviewed Validation
Scientists have published groundbreaking peer-reviewed research establishing a statistical connection between mysterious aerial objects and Cold War-era nuclear weapons testing. The study represents a watershed moment for unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) research, marking one of the first times such work has successfully navigated the rigorous scrutiny of mainstream scientific publication.
Dr. Beatriz Villarroel from the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics in Sweden and Dr. Stephen Bruehl from Vanderbilt University Medical Center analyzed over 100,000 mysterious bright spots called "transients" that appeared in photographic plates from the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey between 1949 and 1957. These star-like objects materialized briefly and then vanished, captured on film before humanity launched its first satellite into orbit. The researchers discovered that transients were 45 percent more likely to appear during a three-day window surrounding nuclear weapons tests, with the strongest correlation occurring the day after a test was conducted.
Before Sputnik: Objects in Orbit That Shouldn't Exist
The timing of these observations carries profound implications claim the writers of the study, which appears in the prestigious journal Scientific Reports. The study period concluded on April 28, 1957 - more than five months before the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 on October 4, becoming the first nation to place an artificial satellite in orbit. During these years, between 1949 and 1957, the United States, Soviet Union, and Great Britain conducted 124 above-ground nuclear tests, detonating atomic weapons in the open atmosphere rather than underground. The transients exhibited characteristics inconsistent with natural astronomical phenomena.
"These are objects before Sputnik One when humans had nothing up there, and these things, no matter what they are, they need to be really flat, reflective like a mirror," Dr. Villarroel explained to the Daily Mail. "I personally don't know anything natural that looks like that."
The transients appeared as distinct point sources with characteristics resembling highly polished metallic surfaces, potentially spinning like discs. Importantly, the objects manifested as discrete points rather than streaks across the 50-minute photographic exposures, suggesting they remained relatively stationary during observation periods.
Statistical Patterns Reveal Nuclear Connection
The research team employed sophisticated statistical methods to test their hypothesis, analyzing the relationship between transient occurrences and nuclear weapons testing across 2,718 days of observations. Their findings revealed multiple layers of correlation. Not only were transients significantly more likely to appear within nuclear testing windows, but the total number of transients observed increased by 8.5 percent on dates when tests occurred.
The temporal pattern proved particularly intriguing. While transients appeared throughout the study period, the association reached statistical significance specifically for observations made one day after nuclear detonations. On these post-test days, transients were spotted 68 percent more frequently than on unrelated dates. This timing argues against simple explanations such as atmospheric debris from explosions, which would be expected to appear during or immediately after tests rather than the following day.
Beyond the nuclear connection, researchers identified a secondary pattern linking transients to contemporaneous witness reports of unidentified aerial phenomena. The study incorporated data from UFOCAT, a comprehensive database maintained by the Center for UFO Studies that originated with the U.S. Air Force-funded University of Colorado UFO Study conducted between 1966 and 1968. This database contained reports from 89.3 percent of the dates in the study period, providing a rich dataset for correlation analysis.
The statistical analysis revealed that for every additional UAP report on a given date, there was an 8.5 percent increase in the number of transients observed. While this correlation was relatively modest, it achieved statistical significance well beyond chance. More strikingly, the effects appeared to be additive: dates featuring both UAP reports and nuclear testing windows showed the highest total number of transients. "The implications are this might be the first scientific evidence of a non-human intelligence," noted investigative journalist Ross Coulthart in his coverage of the findings.
The research also uncovered an intriguing temporal anomaly. The last transient observed within a nuclear testing window occurred on March 17, 1956, despite 38 additional above-ground nuclear tests conducted during the subsequent 13 months of the study period. This abrupt cessation parallels previous research showing a dramatic decrease in UAP activity at nuclear weapons production and assembly sites after 1953, suggesting a possible shift in the phenomenon's behavior during the mid-1950s.
A nuclear-related surface shot is fired at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands in 1956.
The successful publication of this research in Scientific Reports, a Nature portfolio journal, represents a significant milestone for UAP research. Most papers discussing unidentified anomalous phenomena face rejection from mainstream scientific journals, often dismissed without serious consideration. Having this work pass peer review means independent scientists examined the methodology and data analysis without finding grounds to reject the findings as unsubstantiated.
Dr. Villarroel acknowledged the study's limitations while defending its validity. Automated methods identified the more than 100,000 transients in the dataset, and while a subset has undergone manual verification, more sophisticated validation using artificial intelligence might reduce potential misidentifications and strengthen the signal-to-noise ratio. The UAP witness report data also contains inherent noise due to observer error and the lack of systematic validation for individual reports. Additionally, observations came from a single geographic point—the Palomar Observatory - while nuclear tests and UAP reports occurred worldwide.
"Nature can always surprise us with something we could never have imagined. So, I cannot exclude that there might be some other explanation that is just outside my imagination," Dr. Villarroel told NewsNation. "But from what I see, I cannot find any other consistent explanation than that we are looking at something artificial." The research team systematically ruled out prosaic explanations including photographic plate contamination, emulsion defects, nuclear fallout effects, and atmospheric phenomena created by the explosions themselves.
Historical Context and Future Implications
The findings add empirical weight to decades of anecdotal reports connecting UAP sightings to nuclear facilities and weapons tests. Witness accounts from the 1950s frequently described unusual metallic objects appearing before, during, and after nuclear detonations. Former military personnel have testified about UAP interference with nuclear missile systems, including the famous 1967 Malmstrom Air Force Base incident where multiple intercontinental ballistic missiles mysteriously went offline during a reported UAP encounter.
Dr. Villarroel noted that if the transients truly represent artificial objects in high-altitude orbits or within the upper atmosphere, they may still be present today. The transient database contains approximately 35,000 objects in the northern hemisphere alone, suggesting a substantial population of whatever phenomena the observations represent. Whether these objects continue to monitor human nuclear activities remains an open question, though their apparent disappearance from nuclear testing windows after 1956 suggests the phenomenon may be responsive to changes in human behavior.
The research raises fundamental questions about human understanding of both our planet's space environment and the potential for non-human intelligence to observe terrestrial activities. While the study's authors carefully avoid definitive conclusions about the nature of the transients, their data-driven approach provides a template for future investigations. As observational technologies advance and more historical photographic archives undergo digital analysis, researchers may uncover additional patterns that either support or challenge the current findings.
The intersection of nuclear weapons development and unexplained aerial phenomena represents one of the most persistent threads in UAP research. This peer-reviewed study transforms what was previously anecdotal into statistically significant correlation, moving the conversation from speculation toward empirically grounded investigation. Whether the transients represent previously unknown atmospheric physics, surveillance technology from an unknown source, or something entirely unexpected, their systematic documentation in the scientific literature marks an important step toward understanding one of humanity's most enduring mysteries.
Top image: "Ivy Mike" atmospheric nuclear test - November 1952.
Bruehl, S., Villarroel, B. 2025. Transients in the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS-I) may be associated with nuclear testing and reports of unidentified anomalous phenomena. Scientific Reports 15, 34125. Available at:
Imagine standing on the shores of the modern-day Black Sea about 8,000 years ago. Instead of brackish waves, you would have seen a calm freshwater lake surrounded by fertile plains and forested hills. That landscape changed dramatically around 7,600 years ago. Marine geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman, after years of sediment analysis and sonar scans, proposed that a catastrophic flood had occurred when rising Mediterranean waters surged through the Bosporus Strait. This event rapidly transformed the Black Sea from a freshwater lake into a vast saltwater basin.
Sediment cores taken from the seabed reveal ancient shorelines more than 100 meters below present sea level, supporting the idea of a sudden inundation. While this event occurred after the last Ice Age, it remains one of the most dramatic post-glacial sea-level changes. It has led some researchers to wonder whether human settlements—perhaps even early civilizations—were lost beneath the rising waters.
Echoes Beneath the Waves
Over the past two decades, researchers have mapped submerged landscapes along the Black Sea’s former shoreline. Using sonar and underwater drones, they’ve documented features that appear to show organized shapes and linear patterns. While some formations resemble terraces or walls, these interpretations remain speculative. No peer-reviewed study has yet confirmed the presence of definitive pre-Holocene architecture beneath the Black Sea.
Still, the surrounding basin was once fertile and habitable. Archaeological evidence from the nearby Anatolian and Balkan regions shows Neolithic communities thriving in the millennia leading up to the flood. It’s plausible that similar groups occupied now-submerged lowlands. If so, their settlements may have been erased swiftly, with little trace left behind—except perhaps in the memories of their descendants.
Evidence of complex human activity at the end of the Ice Age does exist—above sea level. Göbekli Tepe, located in southeastern Turkey (one of my absolute favorite sites), was constructed around 9600 BCE, shortly after the Younger Dryas cold snap. The site features towering limestone pillars, some up to 10 tons, carved with animals, symbols, and abstract motifs. Its builders used advanced quarrying and organizational skills, even though they had no pottery, no written language, and no domesticated crops.
The sophistication of Göbekli Tepe challenges the traditional view that complex societies only emerged after agriculture. While the people who built it were likely hunter-gatherers, they clearly had the social coordination and symbolic systems often associated with later civilizations. This raises the question: Could Göbekli Tepe represent a surviving cultural lineage—descendants of an earlier, now-lost society forced to adapt after environmental collapse? Or is Göbekli Tepe a civilization on its own? Lost to time? If you believe there is a possibility, read this article I wrote a while back.
Atlantis Reconsidered
References to lost civilizations are not limited to scientific theories. Plato’s tale of Atlantis, often regarded as a philosophical allegory, has inspired generations of researchers to search for real-world parallels. Around the globe, underwater features have stirred debate: the Yonaguni Monument off Japan, structures in the Gulf of Khambhat off India, and the Bimini Road near the Bahamas.
The Bimini Road, in particular, consists of large, flat stones arranged in a roughly linear path just offshore. While many geologists identify it as natural beachrock shaped by erosion and wave action, a few researchers argue the stones show signs of human modification. No definitive tools or artifacts have been found to confirm this, and mainstream science considers the formation natural. However, its ambiguity keeps it in the public eye and reflects a broader curiosity about what the oceans might be hiding.
Supporting evidence includes peaks in platinum levels, nanodiamonds, and tiny glass-like spheres found in geological layers from that time. However, the scientific community remains divided. Critics point to the lack of a definitive crater, while proponents argue the explosion may have occurred in the air or on ice, leaving minimal physical trace.
If the hypothesis is correct, such an event could have devastated early societies, particularly those concentrated in vulnerable lowland regions. Any civilization that had emerged by then may have been scattered or reduced to small bands of survivors, their cultural memory passed on through story, symbol, and myth.
Hidden in Oral Tradition
Across the world, traditional stories tell of great floods, fire from the sky, and civilizations destroyed in cataclysm. The Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh recounts a massive deluge. In Hindu texts, Manu survives a divine flood. Native American, Aboriginal Australian, and African oral traditions include tales of fire, shaking earth, and rising seas.
Historians caution against taking myths at face value. Still, the shared elements in these narratives are striking. While independent invention is possible, some scholars suggest these stories may preserve collective memories of real events—filtered through generations and transformed by cultural lenses. If so, they could offer clues to a time when humanity faced disasters so profound that only myth could preserve their meaning.
The Pursuit of Proof
The biggest challenge in confirming a pre-Ice Age civilization is the passage of time itself. Sea levels rose more than 120 meters after the last glacial maximum, submerging vast coastal areas where early populations likely lived. Underwater environments accelerate decay: wood, bone, and textiles degrade rapidly; storms and currents bury or break structures.
The Vera Rubin Observatory found a stellar stream coming from the M61 galaxy, a spiral galaxy in the Virgo Cluster. It extends for about 50 kpc, or 163,000 light years. The face-on image of M61 comes from the PHANGS (Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS) survey. Image Credit: Romanowsky et al. 2025, RNAAS.
The Vera Rubin Observatory (VRO) hasn't yet begun it's much-anticipated Legacy Survey of Space and Time. But it saw its first light in June 2025, when it captured its Virgo First Look images as part of commisioning its main camera. Those images are a sample of how the observatory will perform the LSST and feature the Virgo Cluster of galaxies.
While the galaxies in the Virgo Cluster have been well-studied, the powerful VRO has revealed new, previously unseen details. Astronomer have detected an enormous stellar stream emanating from one of the cluster's galaxies, Messier 61 (NGC 4303.)
The discovery is in a new research letter titled "A stellar stream around the spiral galaxy Messier 61 in Rubin First Look imaging." It'll be published in the Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society, and the lead author is Aaron Romanowsky from the Department of Physics & Astronomy at San Jose State University.
The authors explain that among all the new detail revealed in the VRO images, a new stellar stream stands out. "One dramatic novelty is a long, narrow stellar stream extending Northward from the MW-like galaxy M61," they write.
These types of streams are usually the remnants of a dwarf galaxy or a globular cluster that's been torn apart by the larger galaxy's tidal forces. The orbit stretches the stars into a stream. There are many known streams in the Milky Way, and they're mostly tens of thousands of light years in length. But the newly-discovered stream at M61 dwarfs those ones: it's about 163,000 light years long.
"Giant spiral galaxies like the Milky Way (MW) constantly accrete dwarf galaxies that disrupt into stellar streams, as hallmarks of the hierarchical universe, useful for testing galaxy formation and dark matter theories," the authors write in the research letter. M61 is giant spiral just like the MW, and the stream could come from the same disruption that caused a starburst in its nucleus about 10 million years ago.
In fact, the stream's progenitor galaxy could be responsible for more than just the stream. It may have shaped M61 in more fundamental ways. "Given an infall halo mass of ∼ 8 × 1010M⊙ expected from its stellar mass, the stream progenitor galaxy could be responsible for the bar formation, starburst, and active galactic nucleus in M61, reminiscent of the Sgr impact on the MW," the authors write.
The Sgr they're referring to is the stellar stream from the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy. It's a satellite of the Milky Way that follows a polar orbit around the MW. It's passed through the MW's plane multiple times, and data from the ESA's Gaia shows that the interactions triggered massive star formation episodes in the MW.
The stream also has a complex end plume that awaits more detailed study. It's about 9 x 4 kpc, or about 30,000 by 13,000 light years.
The stream from M61 terminates in a plume with a complex structure.
Image Credit: Romanowsky et al. 2025, RNAAS.
Many of us have been waiting for the Vera Rubin Observatory to begin observations, and this discovery of the new stellar stream in a much-observed galaxy is just adding more excitement. Who knows what else is hiding in plain sight, waiting to be revealed by the new observatory?
"It is remarkable that the stream went long unnoticed around a Messier galaxy," the authors conclude. "We expect a treasure trove of substructures to be unveiled around other galaxies with future Rubin data."
Image of comet 3I/ATLAS captured by the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph on Gemini South at Cerro Pachón in Chile (Credit : International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)
Comet 3I/ATLAS, only the third known visitor from beyond our Solar System, has been brightening far more rapidly than expected as it approaches perihelion, its closest point to the Sun. From Earth, the comet has been positioned almost directly behind the Sun for the past month, making ground based observations nearly impossible during this crucial period. Instead, the team of astronomers have been watching from space based observatories.
Enter an unlikely group of observers - solar monitoring satellites. Researchers Qicheng Zhang from Lowell Observatory and Karl Battams from the US Naval Research Laboratory realised that spacecraft designed to watch the Sun's corona could also track the comet during its near conjunction with our star. Using instruments aboard STEREO-A, SOHO, and GOES-19, they captured the comet's dramatic transformation.
STEREO Observatory spacecraft during solar panel deploy
(Credit : NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory)
What they found was striking. Between mid September and late October, as 3I/ATLAS closed in from about 2 astronomical units (roughly twice Earth's distance from the Sun) to just 1.36 AU, its brightness surged dramatically. The team calculated that the comet's brightness increased proportionally to the inverse of heliocentric distance to the 7.5 power, a significantly steeper brightening than the earlier rate observed when it was farther out. To put this in perspective, most comets brighten gradually as they approach the Sun and ice turns to gas. This interstellar visitor is brightening at roughly twice that typical rate, suggesting something unusual is happening on its surface.
The observations also revealed that the comet appears distinctly bluer than sunlight, a telltale sign that gases, rather than just dust, are contributing substantially to its visible brightness. Earlier observations had found the comet's dust to be reddish, making this blue shift particularly noteworthy. The researchers suspect emissions from molecules like cyanogen and possibly ammonia are responsible for this unusual colouring.
Images from GOES-19's coronagraph resolved the comet as an extended object with a visible atmosphere, or coma, stretching about four arc-minutes across the sky. This glowing envelope of gas and dust surrounding the nucleus confirms that 3I/ATLAS is actively shedding material as solar heating intensifies. The comet reached perihelion on October 29, and the team's calculations suggest it may have brightened to around magnitude 9, bright enough to be visible through smaller amateur telescopes. Now that it's emerging from behind the Sun and returning to dark skies in November and December, ground based observers will finally get their chance to study this remarkable interstellar wanderer in detail.
GOES-U spacecraft rendering
(Credit : NOAA/Lockheed Martin)
What caused such rapid brightening remains an open question. The researchers speculate that the comet's unusual behaviour might stem from its composition, its rapid approach speed, or perhaps peculiarities acquired during its long journey through interstellar space.
Relics of the impactor identified in the Chang'e-6 lunar regolith. Credit: Prof. Xu,Y., et al. (2025)
Meteorites are both the messengers and time capsules of the Solar System. As pieces of larger asteroids that broke apart, or debris thrown up by impacts on other bodies, these "space rocks" retain the composition of where they originated from. As a result, scientists can study other planets, moons, and objects by examining the abundance of chemical elements in meteorites. Unfortunately, such studies are limited when it comes to meteorites retrieved on Earth, due to erosion, atmospheric filtration, and geological processes (like volcanism and mantle convection).
However, meteor impacts are well-preserved in the lunar environment, as it has virtually no atmosphere, experiences no wind or water erosion, and is (for the most part) geologically inactive. Recently, a research team with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) examined samples returned by the Chang'e-6 mission from the far side of the Moon. They identified seven olivine-bearing minerals from the lunar regolith they examined, which they determined to have been deposited by Carbonaceous Ivuna-type (CI) chondrites, a type of fragile meteorite that rarely survives impact with Earth.
CAS Professors Xu Yigang and Lin Mang led the research team. It consisted of researchers from the CAS's Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry (GIG), the College of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the CAS University, the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Brown University, the Research Organization of Science and Technology of Ritsumeikan University, and the Department of Archaeology, Environmental Changes and Geo-Chemistry at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. The paper describing their findings was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on Oct. 20th.
*Meteorites bombard a molten landscape in this illustration of the Late Heavy Bombardment.
Credit: NASA GSFC Conceptual Image Lab*
CI chondrites are a rare type of carbonaceous meteorite, which are defined by their relative abundance of carbon (up to 3%) in the form of graphite, carbonates, and organic compounds (including amino acids). The parent bodies originally formed in the outer Solar System, and many migrated into the inner Solar System when the planets were still forming. Due to their fragile nature, these meteorites account for less than 1% of meteorite samples examined by scientists. But on the Moon, chondrites are largely preserved, and their chemical makeup speaks volumes about the environment in which they formed.
"Systematic identification and classification of meteorites on the airless Moon thus provide additional critical constraints for reconstructing the primordial accretion history and impactor population of the inner Solar System," they state in their paper. However, this remains challenging since meteors will vaporize upon colliding at high velocities with the lunar surface. Upon examining the samples, the team confirmed that they were formed from molten droplets resulting from impact, which then underwent rapid cooling and crystallization due to exposure to the extreme cold and vacuum of space.
However, using textural characterization and an analysis of in-situ triple oxygen isotopes, the team confirmed that the samples are relics of CI-like chondrites that struck the Moon before the Nectarian Period (approximately 3.92 billion years ago). This coincides with the Late Heavy Bombardment, which took place 4.1 to 3.8 billion years ago. This period was characterized by a disproportionately high number of asteroids and comets striking the Earth-Moon system and other bodies in the inner Solar System.
These impacts are believed to have been the means through which water and organic molecules were introduced to the inner Solar System. Since CI chondrites are known to be rich in water and organic materials, as demonstrated by the samples returned from asteroid Bennu that showed traces of amino acids, these findings support the hypothesis that asteroids played a key role in delivering water and other volatiles to the inner Solar System. Additionally, the team suggests that previously-detected deposits of water ice on the Moon, which showed indications of certain positive oxygen isotopes, were likely delivered by CI chondrites in the past.
Based on these findings, the team conducted a preliminary statistical analysis of meteoritic materials, indicating that CI chondrites likely played a significantly greater role in shaping the Earth-Moon system than previously thought. Their study offers new insight into the evolution of our Solar System and the events that helped give rise to life. Furthermore, the integrated methodology they devised could be a valuable tool for assessing other returned samples of extraterrestrial materials, pointing the way towards future research opportunities.
A new report on the enigmatic interstellar visitor3I/ATLAShas revealed deeper insights into the object’s behavior, which include signs of non-gravitational motion during its recent closest approach to the Sun.
Presently, most astronomers maintain that the space object, discovered in July 2025, is a natural comet, based on a growing body of data that confirms this interpretation. The object is the third known interstellar visitor that has entered our planetary neighborhood from another star system.
3I/ATLAS is also helping confirm data that suggests such objects probably make appearances far more frequently in our Solar System than previously known. With its glowing gassy envelope—what astronomers call a coma—and other key traits that have manifested as the object has moved closer to the Sun, little doubt has been left about the interstellar visitor’s identity as a natural object.
However, there are still some experts who interpret its recent activity as being noteworthy indicators—if additional related phenomena were to be confirmed in future observations—which some might expect to associate with objects of technological origin. So what does the latest data reveal, and why does it still have some astronomers divided over whether 3I/ATLAS might show signs associated with intelligent life?
What the New Report Reveals
A recent report by researcher Davide Farnoccia with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory offers some of the latest data on the gravitational characteristics displayed by 3I/ATLAS during its journey through our Solar System.
Farnoccia specializes in the study of small objects and their orbits, which includes “nongravitational perturbations” some space objects display, as well as whether some near-Earth objects (NEOs) may pose an impact hazard to Earth.
According to Farnoccia’s report, 3I/ATLAS follows a hyperbolic orbit, displaying an eccentricity of e = 6.1373 (rounded). This figure is important, as it significantly exceeds the accepted value of 1 that astronomers recognize as being required to escape the Sun’s gravity. This means that the object’s trajectory confirms that 3I/ATLAS is not gravitationally bound to our Solar System, confirming astronomers’ suspicions that once it completes its recent planetary drive-by visit, the object will continue back into interstellar space.
NASA diagram showing the trajectory of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS
(Image Credit: NASA).
Perihelion Surprises
3I/ATLAS reached perihelion—its closest point to the Sun—on October 29, 2025, with the object reaching a point of approximately 1.356 astronomical units (AU) from our nearest star. This placed the comet just beyond Earth’s orbit, displaying a steep retrograde inclination of around 175 degrees, which reveals an incoming path that is almost completely the opposite direction of planetary motion.
Farnoccia’s report confirms that the object also displayed something that many astronomers were eager to see if 3I/ATLAS would reveal as it approached perihelion: signs of measurable non-gravitational accelerations.
Unlike the odd, elongated shape of 1I/‘Oumuamua, the first confirmed interstellar object discovered in 2017, and its dusty successor 2I/Borisov, the confirmation that 3I/ATLAS displays measurable non-gravitational accelerations (the data in Farnocchia’s report can be found here) offers a good indication of cometary behavior driven by outgassing, making the interstellar visitor a valuable new sample of icy material from another star system.
However, not all scientists interpret the object’s non-gravitational accelerations as being further evidence of the object’s identity as an interstellar comet. Some have even suggested that such behavior around the time of perihelion could be a prime indicator of something more complex.
Watching for Signs of ET Signatures
Just before 3I/ATLAS reached perihelion, theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, in an appearance on NewsMax, said that if the object seemed to display an increase in energy as it neared the Sun, this could be interpreted as evidence that the object is something more than just a comet.
“If it picks up extra energy on its flyby, that would clinch it,” Kaku said. “That means there’s extraterrestrial intelligence involved.”
Kaku then offered a general explanation for what is known as the Oberth effect, a powered maneuver in which a spacecraft falls under the influence of an object’s gravity and then uses its source of propulsion to achieve further acceleration during its fall. The result is that the spacecraft achieves additional speed by using its passage within the gravitational well to gain kinetic energy, which is far more efficient than relying solely on its engines to provide thrust.
“The Oberth effect says that if you were to whip around the Sun, you would pick up extra energy in the process,” Kaku explained. “So we’re gonna watch for it. The energy in must equal the energy out, according to the ordinary theory. But if that’s not true—if there’s more energy going out than in—it means that there’s an energy boost coming from whipping around the Sun, and that requires intelligence.”
So, do the non-gravitational accelerations 3I/ATLAS has now been confirmed to have displayed around the time of perihelion point to signs of technology, as Kaku and others had been waiting to see?
Evidence of Aliens, or Mass Loss Through Evaporation?
Since the object’s discovery this summer, Harvard theoretical physicist Avi Loeb has provided ongoing speculations, in nearly a dozen scientific papers and in updates on his Medium page, about the anomalies 3I/ATLAS displays. While Loeb and his colleagues have at times conceded that the object is indeed most likely an interstellar comet, his ongoing championing of other possibilities has also led to pushback from some of his colleagues in the astronomical community.
Regarding the recent activity 3I/ATLAS displayed as it approached perihelion, Loeb notes that if its current motion is driven by gas outflow, it should lose roughly half its mass in about six months, meaning around 10% of its mass would evaporate during its month-long swing near the Sun. Such rapid mass loss should produce a large, observable gas plume around the comet in late 2025.
Loeb also says that such massive evaporation, which should be evident in future observations of 3I/ATLAS once it emerges from behind the Sun, might also explain phenomena like its “rapid brightening,” as described in a recent paper by Qicheng Zhang of the Lowell Observatory and co-author Karl Battams of the US Naval Research Laboratory.
However, there is another interpretation of the non-gravitational movement that Loeb offers, which remains in keeping with his more exotic speculations from recent weeks.
“Alternatively, the non-gravitational acceleration might be the technological signature of an internal engine,” Loeb wrote in a recent post on his Medium page. Loeb also argues that 3I/ATLAS’s unexpectedly blue color, which it began to display at perihelion, is unusual for a natural comet, as most would expect them to appear redder due to dust scattering and its cold surface temperature.
Based on this, Loeb suggests the anomaly could potentially stem from the presence of a hot engine or some source of artificial illumination. However, the Harvard astrophysicist also concedes that this odd coloration may simply be due to ionized carbon monoxide, a natural cometary process. In short, while the latest data is intriguing and invites continued scrutiny, the evidence still favors a natural cometary origin.
More Data on the Strangest Comet Ever Seen
New data continues to be collected about 3I/ATLAS, with the current number of observations detailed in Farnoccia’s report totaling 647 collected over a 167-day observation arc. This provides high confidence in the orbit determination of 3I/ATLAS, and ensures that the object poses no threat to Earth, with a minimum orbital intersection distance (MOID) of 0.363 AU.
With its confirmed interstellar origin and active cometary nature, it remains hard to argue against 3I/ATLAS’s identity as a natural space object, and one that offers a rare opportunity to study pristine foreign ices, dust, and organic compounds. Frustratingly, additional data that may have been obtained by NASA cameras like the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter remains inaccessible to the public as the recent U.S. government shutdown, already one of the longest in history, persists.
Fortunately, space agencies in several other nations, as well as the independent efforts of NASA researchers like Farnoccia, continue to collect new information on 3I/ATLAS that may potentially help to shed new light on the object and its unusual qualities, and more broadly, the chemical diversity of planetary systems beyond our own.
Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached atmicah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.
While most scientists believe it’s a natural comet, one Harvard astronomer has suggested its unusual features could hint at signs of alien technology.
On 1 July 2025, astronomers using the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, detected a faint, fast-moving object unlike anything seen before.
The discovery, officially named 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1), marks only the third confirmed interstellar object ever observed - after ʻOumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019.
But what exactly is 3I/ATLAS, where is it going, and could this strange visitor from another star be more than just a comet?
NASA has officially identified 3I/ATLAS as a comet and not an asteroid on Wednesday, following detailed telescope observations that revealed clear signs of activity.
Scientists observed an icy core enveloped by a coma, the luminous halo of gas and dust.
This outgassing and the release of dust, mean that 3I/ATLAS is composed primarily of frozen compounds, which is consistent with comet behaviour.
The interstellar object is currently traversing the solar system, offering researchers a rare opportunity to study material from beyond our cosmic neighbourhood.
Its name was derived from its origins: “3” for the third interstellar object found, “I” for interstellar, and “ATLAS” for the telescope network that spotted it.
What makes it extraordinary is where it came from. Its speed and trajectory show that it’s not gravitationally bound to the Sun - meaning it must have originated in another star system and wandered into ours by chance.
This NASA/ESA image shows interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, captured by Hubble on 21 July 2025, from 277 million miles away.Credit: NASA/European Space Agency via AP
How fast is it travelling and where is it going?
According to astronomers, 3I/ATLAS is racing through space at more than 200,000 km/h (around 61 km per second), and its speed is increasing as it approaches the Sun.
It’s following a hyperbolic orbit, which means that it’s moving too quickly to be captured by the Sun’s gravity.
“It’s going to kind of cruise through the inner solar system – in between Mars and Earth’s orbit – and then it will fly past the sun," Con Stoitsis, comet and meteor director at the Astronomical Society of Victoria, told The Guardian.
"This one is on what we call a hyperbolic orbit. So it’s not gravitationally bound to the sun. It’s travelling much too fast, and so it will just fly out the other side of the solar system," he added.
According to NASA, the closest 3I/Atlas will come to Earth is about 270 million kilometres.
Could it be something more than a natural object?
For most astronomers, 3I/ATLAS is an exciting but natural phenomenon. But one prominent scientist - Professor Avi Loeb, a theoretical astrophysicist at Harvard University - has advocated the need for a closer examination of the object.
Through the Galileo Project, which investigates potential evidence of extraterrestrial technology, Loeb has been asking provocative, eyebrow-raising questions about 3I/ATLAS’s origin.
In a series of scientific essays published on Medium, he argues that scientists should still consider whether the object could be an alien technological - an artificial probe or artefact from another civilisation.
In one essay titled “Does 3I/ATLAS Generate Its Own Light?”, Loeb questioned whether its brightness might stem from self-luminosity rather than reflected sunlight - a property unlike any known comet.
“The hypothesis in question is that the recent interstellar visitor to our Solar System, 3I/ATLAS1-10, is a technological artefact, and furthermore has active intelligence. If this is the case, then two possibilities follow: first, that its intentions are entirely benign, and second, they are malign, or somewhere in between," he wrote in a paper titled “Is the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS alien technology?”
"The consequences, should the hypothesis turn out to be correct, could potentially be dire for humanity, and would possibly require defensive measures,” he warned.
NASA has firmly rejected Loeb's perspective.
“It looks like a comet. It does comet things. It very, very strongly resembles, in just about every way, the comets that we know,” Tom Statler, NASA’s lead scientist for solar system small bodies, told The Guardian.
Loeb has since acknowledged in a blog post that “the simplest hypothesis is that 3I/ATLAS is a comet,” clarifying that his goal was to challenge assumptions rather than make firm claims.
“Let us instead maintain our childhood curiosity and seek evidence rather than pretend to be the adults in the room that know the answers in advance,” he wrote.
Will we be able to see 3I/ATLAS?
The comet will reach its closest approach to the Sun around 30 October, coming within 1.4 au (about 130 million miles), just inside Mars’ orbit.
Its size and physical properties are still being studied, but NASA says it should become visible again through ground-based telescopes in early December, once it re-emerges from behind the Sun.
This story was updated on 30 October with NASA's confirmation that it is a comet.
Cities and towns around the world could be plunged underwater in just 275 years, a new study has warned.
Scientists from Sorbonne University in Paris predict that up to 59 per cent of Antarctica's ice shelves could collapse by 2300.
If this happens, it will result in up to 10 metres (32ft) of irreversible global sea–level rise.
Here in the UK, Hull, Glasgow, and Bristol would be submerged, while over in the US, people living in Houston, New Orleans, and Miami would be forced to move inland.
This might sound like something from the latest science fiction blockbuster.
However, the experts say it could become a reality if greenhouse gas emissions continue to skyrocket.
'Our results show that current choices to change emission pathways could significantly affect the likelihood of the long–term loss of most Antarctic ice shelves,' the researchers explained.
'The viability of ice shelves strongly depends on the emission scenario, as only one ice shelf becomes likely or very likely non–viable by 2300 in the low–emission scenario compared with 59% in the high–emission scenario.'
Scientists from Sorbonne University in Paris predict that up to 59 per cent of Antarctica's ice shelves could collapse by 2300
Cities and towns around the world could be plunged underwater in just 275 years, a new study has warned. Pictured: impression of London underwater
Antarctica is home to 15 major ice shelves and many smaller ones.
As the floating margins of the Antarctic ice sheet, these ice shelves are crucial for controlling ice loss.
'As they restrain the ice flow from the grounded ice sheet to the ocean through so–called buttressing, they represent a safety band around Antarctica,' the researchers, led by Clara Burgard, explained in their study, published in Nature.
'Their thinning and eventual collapse hence accelerates ice discharge into the ocean.'
In their study, the team conducted simulations to understand how the melting of 64 ice shelves could change as emissions continue to rise.
Their results revealed that, under a low–emissions scenario in which global warming is kept below 2°C by 2300, only one of the 64 ice shelves would be at risk.
However, under a high–emissions scenario, we face a bleak future.
The simulation found that if global warming reaches 12°C by 2300, 38 (59 per cent) of the ice shelves could disappear – contributing to 10 metres (32ft) of sea–level rise.
The simulation found that under a high-emissions scenario, by 2300, 38 (59 per cent) of the ice shelves could disappear – contributing to 10 metres (32ft) of sea–level rise
If sea levels do rise by 32ft (10 metres), entire cities around the world will be plunged underwater, according to Climate Central's Coastal Risk Screening Tool
And though 2300 feels quite far away, we'd begin feeling the impacts much sooner, according to the researchers.
'The period between approximately 2085 and 2170 marks the period with the highest rate of ice shelves that would reach likely non–viability,' they explained.
While this all feels quite dramatic, the researchers actually say that their estimate is 'conservative'.
'This estimate is on the most conservative side, and actual thinning, retreat or collapse could occur sooner depending on the vulnerability of a given ice shelf to other processes such as damage, rifting, hydrofracturing or calving,' they added.
If sea levels do rise by 32ft (10 metres), entire cities around the world will be plunged underwater, according to Climate Central's Coastal Risk Screening Tool.
In the UK, people living in Portsmouth, Southend-on-Sea, Hull, Middlesbrough, Blackpool, Bristol, and Cardiff will be submerged.
Huge swathes of London along the River Thames will also be underwater, including Hammersmith, Greenwich, Southwark, and Westminster.
In Europe, the entire coast from Calais in France to Ringkobing in Denmark will be underwater, while Venice, Montpellier, Seville, and Lisbon will also be impacted.
In the US, the entire coast of Florida, Louisiana, and Texas faces life underwater if sea levels rise by 32ft (10 metres)
Over in Asia, much of Bangladesh will be affected, along with cities like Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh City, and Karachi.
And in the US, the entire coast of Florida, Louisiana, and Texas faces life underwater.
Overall, the researchers hope the findings will highlight the need for urgent action to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
'Our results show that current choices to change emission pathways could significantly affect the likelihood of the long-term loss of most Antarctic ice shelves,' they concluded.
Global sea levels could rise as much as 10ft (3 metres) if the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica collapses.
Sea level rises threaten cities from Shanghai to London, to low-lying swathes of Florida or Bangladesh, and to entire nations such as the Maldives.
In the UK, for instance, a rise of 6.7ft (2 metres) or more may cause areas such as Hull, Peterborough, Portsmouth and parts of east London and the Thames Estuary at risk of becoming submerged.
The collapse of the glacier, which could begin with decades, could also submerge major cities such as New York and Sydney.
Parts of New Orleans, Houston and Miami in the south on the US would also be particularly hard hit.
A 2014 study looked by the union of concerned scientists looked at 52 sea level indicators in communities across the US.
It found tidal flooding will dramatically increase in many East and Gulf Coast locations, based on a conservative estimate of predicted sea level increases based on current data.
The results showed that most of these communities will experience a steep increase in the number and severity of tidal flooding events over the coming decades.
By 2030, more than half of the 52 communities studied are projected to experience, on average, at least 24 tidal floods per year in exposed areas, assuming moderate sea level rise projections. Twenty of these communities could see a tripling or more in tidal flooding events.
The mid-Atlantic coast is expected to see some of the greatest increases in flood frequency. Places such as Annapolis, Maryland and Washington, DC can expect more than 150 tidal floods a year, and several locations in New Jersey could see 80 tidal floods or more.
In the UK, a two metre (6.5 ft) rise by 2040 would see large parts of Kent almost completely submerged, according to the results of a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science in November 2016.
Areas on the south coast like Portsmouth, as well as Cambridge and Peterborough would also be heavily affected.
Cities and towns around the Humber estuary, such as Hull, Scunthorpe and Grimsby would also experience intense flooding.
The Universe is full of mysteries. But the most interesting ones sometimes have a perfectly rational origin. Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, known for his unusual hypotheses, has once again surprised the scientific community. This time, he suggested that the recently discoveredsecond neighbor of Earthmay not be an asteroid, but a lost relic of Soviet cosmonautics.
The Zond-1, lost 60 years ago, may turn out to be a quasi-satellite of Earth. Illustration generated by Copilot AI
Mysterious quasi-satellite
In August, astronomers discovered object 2025 PN7, a small body temporarily orbiting the Sun in an orbit similar to Earth’s. Such objects are called quasi-satellites. However, Loeb offered a sensational explanation: it could be the remnant of the Soviet Zond-1 mission, launched to Venus in April 1964. The spacecraft, which was supposed to be the first landing module on Venus, disappeared into the depths of space due to technical malfunctions.
Restored photo of the Soviet spacecraft Zond-1. Photo: Wikipedia, processed by Copilot AI
To prove his theory, Loeb and his colleague Adam Giberd recreated the flight path of Zond 1. Comparing it with the orbit of 2025 PN7, the researchers concluded that they could be related. According to their version, the spacecraft, while attempting to reach Venus, entered a solar orbit and now, half a century later, has returned to Earth as a “secondary moon.” An alternative explanation is that it is the upper stage of the launch vehicle that carried Zond 1 into space.
Space relics
This idea is not as fantastical as it seems. In 2020, object 2020 SO, initially mistaken for an asteroid, turned out to be the upper stage of the Centaur rocket from NASA’s Surveyor 2 mission, launched in 1966. For more than 50 years, this man-made ghost traveled through the Solar System before it was identified.
Loeb suggests a simple way to test the hypothesis: conduct a spectral analysis of 2025 PN7. The chemical composition of the object’s surface will instantly reveal its origin: natural or technological. If it is indeed “Sonda-1,” we will have a unique opportunity to study an artifact from the early space age that has made a remarkable return home.
3I/Atlas: The Mysterious Interstellar Visitor That Sparked a Debate Between Science and Alien Theories
3I/Atlas: The Mysterious Interstellar Visitor That Sparked a Debate Between Science and Alien Theories
3I/Atlas: The Mysterious Interstellar Visitor Stirring Scientific Debate
When the faint glow of a fast-moving object appeared in telescopic images earlier this year, astronomers realized they were witnessing something extraordinary — an interstellar visitor entering our solar system for only the third time in recorded history. Designated 3I/Atlas, this enigmatic body has reignited debate about the origins of such cosmic travelers and whether any might be more than just natural debris.
A New Interstellar Arrival
Before 3I/Atlas, only two interstellar objects had been confirmed: 1I/‘Oumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019. Unlike ordinary comets from the distant Oort Cloud, interstellar bodies arrive on hyperbolic orbits — their speeds too high for the Sun’s gravity to capture. 3I/Atlas entered the solar system at roughly 130,000 miles per hour (210,000 km/h), a velocity that immediately marked it as an outsider. Its discovery excited astronomers and observers alike, not only for what it might teach us about other star systems, but also for its peculiar behavior and composition.
Avi Loeb’s Controversial Hypothesis
Harvard astrophysicist Professor Avi Loeb, known for proposing that ‘Oumuamua might have been alien technology, once again drew public attention by suggesting that 3I/Atlas could also be of artificial origin. Loeb urged NASA to release high-resolution images reportedly taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the James Webb Space Telescope, arguing that the data could clarify whether the object is natural or something more remarkable.
He has rated the possibility of alien technology at 4 out of 10 — not a firm claim, but enough to call for scientific transparency:
“The politics of the day should not sabotage science. They have the data. They should share it with scientists,” Loeb said in an interview.
The MUFON Panel: A Scientific Counterpoint
A detailed discussion hosted by MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) brought together astronomer Mark D’Antonio and astrophotographer Greg Cisco, who both argued that 3I/Atlas appears to be a comet, not a spacecraft. Their reasoning rests on several observational facts:
No artificial structure has been detected — only a bright, diffuse coma typical of comets.
No measurable acceleration (the “rocket effect” seen in active comets) has yet been confirmed.
The object’s chemical composition includes carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, cyanogen, and nickel — elements common in cometary materials, though in unusual ratios.
An apparent “forward-pointing tail” is explained by a known optical effect called an anti-tail, caused by the geometry of the Earth, comet, and Sun.
Cisco noted that anti-tails have been recorded many times before and are purely a matter of perspective. D’Antonio added that the presence of nickel without iron, while unusual, does not necessarily imply a technological source — only that this comet formed under different conditions than most known comets.
What Makes 3I/Atlas Unique
Despite skepticism toward alien theories, 3I/Atlas remains scientifically fascinating. Its path through the solar system is highly unusual — entering almost parallel to the planetary plane, an orientation estimated to occur by chance only once in 200,000 events (0.0005% probability). This rare geometry means the object’s approach offers astronomers a chance to study interstellar materials under different light and gravitational conditions.
Moreover, its chemical profile stands out: higher concentrations of carbon dioxide and nickel than seen in most comets suggest it formed in a colder or metal-richer environment, possibly in the outer regions of another star system.
Debunking the Myths
As 3I/Atlas gained attention, social media filled with sensational claims — that it was accelerating faster than light, that it had six headlights, or that it was a cylindrical mothership photographed near Mars. Experts swiftly debunked these stories. The “cylinder” image, for example, was simply a time-exposure streak captured by the Perseverance Rover’s camera, not a solid object. And no object with mass can move at the speed of light without turning into pure energy — a basic consequence of Einstein’s relativity.
The Call for Open Data
Professor Loeb’s insistence on releasing all available imagery reflects a broader tension in modern science: public access versus institutional control. Loeb argues that withholding high-resolution data prevents independent researchers from performing peer review and slows discovery. Whether or not NASA is truly delaying data for political reasons, his call highlights the importance of transparency in astronomical research, especially for events that stir global curiosity.
Expert Consensus: Probably a Natural Visitor
After extensive analysis, both D’Antonio and Cisco concluded that 3I/Atlas behaves like a natural comet. Its brightness, tail structure, and lack of obvious propulsion or structure point to natural origins. They each rated the probability of an alien spacecraft as 1 out of 10, compared with Loeb’s more generous 4. Their conclusion echoes the cautious approach of mainstream astronomy: intriguing anomalies don’t automatically imply extraterrestrial technology.
Why 3I/Atlas Still Matters
Even if it proves entirely natural, 3I/Atlas provides a window into the chemistry of other solar systems. By studying its dust and gas emissions, astronomers can infer how distant planetary systems evolve, what materials form their planets, and how often solid bodies are ejected into interstellar space.
Objects like ‘Oumuamua, Borisov, and Atlas may be the first of many interstellar visitors we’ll encounter as survey technology improves. Each one carries clues about the wider galaxy — perhaps even precursors to future discoveries of genuine alien artifacts.
Conclusion
3I/Atlas reminds us that science often thrives in the space between mystery and evidence. While Avi Loeb’s provocative theories keep public imagination alive, the data so far paints a more grounded picture: a rare, unusually bright interstellar comet gliding past our Sun before disappearing into the void once again.
Whether natural or not, 3I/Atlas challenges us to look deeper, question boldly, and share knowledge openly — the true spirit of exploration that drives humanity’s search for understanding in the cosmos.
The mystery surrounding the interstellar visitor in our solar system has deepened after scientists spotted it making an unexpected maneuver as it approached the sun.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has recorded the object, largely believed to be a comet, displaying 'non-gravitational acceleration' as it reached itsclosest point to the sun on October 29.
Simply put, that means it appears to have been pushed by a mysterious force as it moves around the sun.
This push could not be explained by gravity, so something else appears to be speeding up the comet and nudging it off its expected path, which some scientists believe could be a sign the object is a spacecraft with its own engine.
According to the JPL readings, the interstellar object, known as 3I/ATLAS, experienced two main parts in this mysterious maneuver around our sun, one that pushed it away from the star and one which nudged it slightly to the side.
Most scientists have continued to call it an ordinary comet from a distant solar system with a unique chemical makeup that makes it appear different from space rocks that formed inside our solar system.
Harvard physicist Avi Loeb noted that most comets get a little push when their ice turns to gas and shoots out like a jet as they approach the sun, called the 'rocket effect.'
However, 3I/ATLAS is showing way more of a push than expected, adding to the growing list of strange occurrences astronomers have witnessed as the visitor swings around the sun.
The comet has been seen accelerating beyond the natural power of gravity as it moves around the sun
It made its closest approach to the sun on Wednesday, as seen by NASA spacecraft
The object has also been getting much brighter as it nears the sun, and did it approximately 7.5 times faster than normal comets.
Moreover, most comets turn red because their surface is so cold that they absorb blue light and bounce back mostly red light, just like a cold piece of metal glows red when you start heating it.
In the case of 3I/ATLAS, however, astronomers have watched the alleged comet turn bluer than the sun as it reached perihelion, its closest point to the star.
There still could be a natural explanation for these abnormalities, as Loeb said the comet might be losing a huge amount of mass as ice boils off violently during its journey.
To create this kind of color change, 3I/ATLAS would need to have lost about 10 percent of its weight in just one month, causing a giant cloud of gas around it, which telescopes should see in November and December.
However, Loeb said that the non-gravitational push and blue coloring could also come from a hot engine and artificial light beaming from inside the object.
'The observed features are surprising but could be explained in both natural or artificial scenarios,' Loeb told the Daily Mail on Friday.
'The blue color could be a signature of ionized carbon monoxide or a hot engine. The non-gravitational acceleration could be a result of cometary evaporation or technological propulsion,' the professor explained.
3I/ATLAS is expected to make its closest approach to Earth on December 19
3I/ATLAS is widely thought to be a comet, but scientists like Professor Avi Loeb maintain that unusual clues point to the object being a spacecraft
Loeb has called the latest strange readings from 3I/ATLAS the ninth anomaly detected as the object makes its way through our solar system.
The scientist said his first clue that something wasn't adding up was the sheer brightness of the object while it was still far away from our planet and the sun.
It also developed a backward 'anti-tail' that was facing the sun before it reached perihelion.
However, it then swiftly shifted to a normal tail behind the supposed comet as it moved closer, which some have suggested could be a sign of a spacecraft engine reversing thrust.
Its strange course taking it close to three planets and its unique chemical combination of nickel and carbon dioxide have all contributed to a growing belief that 3I/ATLAS is not a floating space rock.
Before discovering the ninth oddity, Loeb calculated that the odds of all these strange occurrences happening at the same time were one in 10,000,000,000,000,000 (that's ten quadrillion).
Loeb previously told the Daily Mail that those in the scientific community who have dismissed the more extraordinary possibilities are more concerned with being right and avoiding criticism than alerting the public to a potentially world-changing event.
'Here we are talking about a potential for something that could affect humanity in the future in a dramatic way, and so you shouldn't apply the same approach of being as conservative as possible,' Loeb explained.
The X-59 low-boom supersonic aircraft flies over California's Mojave Desert. (Credit: Lockheed Martin)
In partnership with NASA, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works has executed the first test flight of the X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft. This week's first flight was subsonic, but eventually the plane will demonstrate technologies aimed at reducing sonic booms to gentle thumps.
"We are thrilled to achieve the first flight of the X-59," OJ Sanchez, Skunk Works' vice president and general manager, said in a news release. "This aircraft is a testament to the innovation and expertise of our joint team, and we are proud to be at the forefront of quiet supersonic technology development."
Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy called the X-59 "a symbol of American ingenuity."
"The American spirit knows no bounds. It's part of our DNA – the desire to go farther, faster and even quieter than anyone has ever gone before," he said. "This work sustains America's place as the leader in aviation and has the potential to change the way the public flies."
The X-59 has been in the works for seven years, and is meant to blaze a trail for low-boom supersonic flight. Commercial supersonic flights over U.S. territory were banned in 1973 due to noise concerns, but in June, a presidential executive order called for lifting the ban.
The spiky X-59 prototype is 99.7 feet (30.4 meters) long with a wingspan of 29.5 feet (9 meters) and an expected top speed of Mach 1.4. The plane took off from Skunk Works' facility in Palmdale, Calif., at 8:14 a.m. PT Oct. 28 and made a 1-hour, 7-minute flight that ended at nearby Edwards Air Force Base, Aviation Week reported. Pilot Nils Larson reportedly took the plane to 12,000 feet and conducted basic handling checks at speeds of up to 250 knots while circling the base.
Lockheed Martin said the X-59 "performed exactly as planned, verifying initial flying qualities and air data performance on the way to a safe landing at its new home."
The plane's design – including its needle nose, shockwave-smoothing fuselage and top-mounted engine – is meant to minimize the intensity of a sonic boom. In the months ahead, Skunk Works will continue to lead the initial test campaign, working with NASA to expand the X-59's flight envelope and execute transonic and supersonic test flights. In later stages of the test program, NASA will operate the X-59 to measure its sound signature and gauge community acceptance.
Other companies are already going ahead with their own commercial supersonic projects. Boom Supersonic has conducted faster-than-sound tests of its subscale XB-1 aircraft and is targeting 2027 for the first flight of its full-scale Overture jet. Boom Supersonic says its jets will cruise high enough to make such flights "boomless" for people on the ground. Meanwhile, Spike Aerospace is developing a low-boom supersonic business jet called the S-512 Diplomat.
Two other startups – Aerion and Exosonic – had been working on concepts for supersonic aircraft but were forced to shut down due to a lack of funding.
Brutally Horrifying and Harrowing Real-Life Accounts from Halloweens Past
All of us are familiar with Halloween, even if we don’t celebrate it. For most people, it is a fun night of the year where people get dressed up in all manner of spooky costumes and attend parties, or gather a group of friends to watch scary movies, and, for the younger ones, venture outside Trick-or-Treating, collecting vast amounts of sweets and candy. There are, though, many accounts on record that are far from fun, and that have made Halloweens past, at least for those involved, a truly scary occasion.
While we will look at some of the more paranormal encounters shortly, it is perhaps best to start with some of the darker accounts on record, many of which were thought to be Halloween pranks but were found to be anything but. On October 15th, 2015, for example, the body of Rebecca Cade was found hanging from a fence in Ohio. For hours, people walked by assuming it was a Halloween display, until it was discovered to be real. Her injuries made it clear she had been murdered.
A similar incident occurred the previous year, on October 29th, 2014, in Long Island, New York. Witnesses saw a man drag a decapitated body into the street and kick the head to the opposite curb. Many mistook it for a Halloween stunt and continued on with their day until someone tried to move the body out of traffic and realized it was genuine. Police later identified the victim as 66-year-old professor Patricia Ward. She had been killed by her 35-year-old son, Derek, who reportedly had a history of mental illness and lived with her. After the killing, he died by suicide by stepping in front of a train.
There are many more similar Halloween encounters. For example, a 42-year-old woman in Delaware died by suicide on Halloween, hanging herself from a tree in her front yard. Her body remained there for five days because neighbors assumed it was part of the holiday decorations. In a similar case in Los Angeles, residents of an apartment building passed what they believed was a disturbingly realistic prop with severe facial damage; after several days, they discovered it was a man who had died by suicide from a gunshot. In 2012, in Pennsylvania, a 9-year-old girl was shot in the shoulder and arm by a relative who, in the dark, mistook her black-and-white Halloween costume for a skunk. In 1992, 16-year-old exchange student Yoshihiro Hattori was fatally shot while trying to attend a Halloween party. He and a friend went around to the back of the house upon arrival, leading the homeowner, Rodney Peairs, to mistake them for intruders and shoot Hattori.
As well as these accidental deaths and bodies mistaken for props, there have also been some dark, brutal murders committed on Halloween. On Halloween night in 2012, for example, Rebekah Gay answered the door to her mother’s fiancé, John White, a church minister in Michigan. He killed her, hid her body in nearby woods, then returned to dress her three-year-old son in his costume and drive him to his father’s home. White even asked his congregation to pray for Rebekah’s safe return. Her body was found about 20 hours later. He was convicted of her murder and later died by suicide in prison. White had a long history of violence against women. In 1981, he invited 17-year-old Theresa Etherton to see a racetrack he had built in his basement and then attacked her; she escaped, and he served two years in prison. In 1994, he killed a woman with whom he was having an affair and left her body in a wooded area. Because prosecutors could not prove intent, he was convicted of manslaughter.
Another chilling case occurred in 2011 in British Columbia. Eighteen-year-old college student Taylor Van Deist left home dressed as a zombie to meet a friend for trick-or-treating. She texted that she thought someone was following her and was later found near railroad tracks with serious injuries; she died in the hospital shortly afterward. Matthew Foerster was arrested, confessed during questioning, and was sentenced to life in prison for her murder.
Arguably, one of the most horrific Halloween crimes occurred on Halloween night in 1974, in Pasadena, Texas, when Ronald Clark O’Bryan laced candy with cyanide after he had taken out a huge life insurance policy on his own children. He dished out the poisonous sweets to his son, Timothy, his daughter, and several other children in the area. Timothy was the only one who ate the candy, tragically dying a short time later. O’Bryan was arrested and charged with his murder and was executed for his crimes a decade later.
While these accounts are indeed tragic and horrifying, there are others on record that are seemingly paranormal in nature.
Without a doubt, one of the strangest accounts to have unfolded around Halloween occurred in Provincetown, Massachusetts, in 1939, when multiple residents of the town reported having unsettling encounters with a “tall figure” wearing black clothes, and, according to some witness statements, had “glowing eyes”.
With Halloween approaching, Provincetown was beginning to quieten down as many of the “summer tourists” had left for the usual abodes in various places across America. On this particular evening, a local woman, Mary Costa, was walking past the town hall when something suddenly leaped out of the nearby bushes. According to the report she made later, this figure was at least eight feet tall, and had “pointed silver ears and glowing blue eyes”. This strange entity stared at Mary for several seconds before suddenly jumping, almost directly upwards, eventually disappearing. As soon as it had done so, Mary turned and saw the dim lights of a local coffee shop window, and she immediately ran towards it. She burst inside and blurted out what had happened to her. Several of the men inside the coffee shop immediately ran outside to see if there was any sign of the attacker, but their efforts were in vain.
Mary reported the incident to the local police, who recorded the incident but did little to follow it up in any serious way. However, during the days that followed, more and more reports of an almost identical nature were made to the police, forcing them to take this strange prankster more seriously. All of the details in each of the reports resonated with each other; the figure dressed in black from head to toe; it wore some kind of cape that covered its head and back, it had glowing eyes, which some witnessed reported as red, while others claimed they were a silver-blue color; it had pointed ears, and perhaps strangest of all, a “weird buzzing” sound often accompanied this menacing figure, a sound that some witnessed likened to a fly or a bee. Of even greater intrigue, this figure seemingly had the ability to leap at least ten feet into the air.
In fact, the police had their own encounter with this bizarre figure around the same time the reports began to increase. On the night in question, they received a call that the figure had been spotted in the playground of a local school. The school premises were surrounded by a tall fence, and the police saw an opportunity to trap and apprehend the culprit. Four police officers arrived at the school a short time after receiving the report, each with a flashlight in one hand and their gun in the other. Not long after they entered the school grounds, they saw the bizarre figure in front of them caught in their flashlight beams, with one officer stating that instead of a face, the figure had a “silver painted mask”. The officers ordered the figure to freeze or they would shoot. Rather than doing so, however, the curious entity leaped into the air, clearing the tall fence with ease.
As the reports increased, so did the media coverage of the encounters, and in turn, many different monickers were bandied around. Some referred to the attacker as The Provincetown Phantom, while others called him the Devil of the Dunes. Others still named him The Phantom Fiend, or The Black Phantom. However, it was The Black Flash that stuck, and quickly, all references to the bizarre encounters used this name.
Perhaps one of the strangest aspects of the reports made to the police was that on several occasions, they received reports of encounters with the Black Flash from two different locations at the same time. This suggested to police that there very well could be more than one menace to deal with, and, over the years, some researchers have even pondered if some kind of portal or teleportation device was utilized, making The Black Flash either an eccentric scientist-type figure, or something more supernatural in nature. Indeed, one particular report from a local teenager perhaps suggests just this. He claimed that he was making his way home from the library when the Black Flash appeared out of nowhere right in front of him. Most terrifying of all, though, the witness insisted that the figure had “spat blue flames” towards him from its mouth.
Despite this last report, although unsettling, none of the encounters were violent. More often than not, this figure simply leaped out of somewhere (although witnesses could rarely establish just where the figure had leaped from) in an effort to scare the witness. It would then simply leap into the air and disappear, with most encounters with the Black Flash lasting no longer than a few seconds. One witness, Charles Farley, even fired his gun at the figure, certain that he had hit it. However, rather than drop to the ground, the figure simply “laughed” back before leaping over a tall fence and disappearing into the night. Does this suggest some kind of bulletproof body armor, or is it another sign that the Black Flash has more of an otherworldly quality to it than many might wish to believe?
It is hard to ignore the similar details of the Black Flash encounters to those of Spring-Heeled Jack, who terrorized Victorian England a century earlier. This strange figure would often leap out of nowhere in an effort to startle people, with many of the witnesses stating it had glowing red eyes and blue flames coming from its mouth. Moreover, Spring-Heeled Jack had remarkable leaping ability, able to clear high fences and even two-story buildings in one jump. Although most of the sightings of Spring-Heeled Jack had slowed as the nineteenth century neared its close, there were tentative sightings in the early 1900s and 1940s, and even speculative reports from as recently as the 1970s. Might we consider that there is some kind of connection between Spring-Heeled Jack and the Black Flash of Provincetown, and if so, just what might that connection be?
Whatever the truth, sightings and reports of the Black Flash slowed dramatically as November unfolded, with at least one researcher, Theo Paijmans, claiming they ceased entirely. However, there are odd reports of this strange menace in the years that followed, with the last (known) reported sighting taking place one cold evening in December 1945. The account is detailed in the book Passing Strange by Joe Citro (it can also be found in Robert Cahill’s New England’s Mad and Mysterious Men), and states that on the night in question, four children from the Janard family were outside in the front yard when they suddenly noticed a strange figure heading in their direction coming out of the fog. Although their parents were not at home, they immediately ran inside the house to take cover from the menacing creature.
Suddenly, the sound of the doorknob of the front door being turned reached their ears as the Black Flash tried to gain entry to the property. For several minutes, each of the doors and windows rattled temporarily as the creature tried all potential points of entry. While three of the children hid behind furniture, the oldest boy, Allen, proceeded to fill a bucket with hot water. He then ventured up to the second floor of the property, opened the window, and peered outside. There, directly below him, was the Black Flash. He tipped the water out, watching as it drenched its target. The figure let out a “startled gasp” before it ran off back into the fog.
If we return to the previously mentioned Robert Cahill for a moment, when he traveled to the region decades later to speak with witnesses, he learned of the account of a local pool shark named Eight Ball Eddie. According to what Cahill learned, Eddie was dismissive of the sightings, convinced that the Black Flash was nothing but a man in costume. However, one evening as Eddie was returning home, he encountered the Black Flash for himself. Eddie, still insistent that the figure was merely a “tall man”, stood there looking at the figure, which wore a black hood and had glowing, silver eyes. After several moments, Eddie ordered the figure to get out of his way. The figure, though, lunged toward Eddie and struck him across the face, forcing Eddie to fall to the ground. At this point, Eddie was beyond unsettled by the incident, and after dragging himself to his feet, he turned and ran as fast as he could. The next morning, Eddie still had a “red handprint” where the figure had struck him.
There were, as we might imagine, many explanations put forward in the months and years that followed. Before we look at some of those, though, it is worth our time exploring the year 1939, in general, and how the entire New England area experienced a series of bizarre events. In January, for example, a bizarre “sea monster” washed up on the shore near Wood End. Although it was officially ruled to be a “decomposing basking shark”, many people claimed it bore a remarkable resemblance to an aquatic creature witnessed in 1886 by George Reedy. Whatever the truth, this was just the first of the bizarre events in the region that year. For example, it would eventually come to light through an annual police report that cases of “dog bites and stray cats” had reached an “all-time high” in 1939. Then, in September 1939, several arson attacks occurred, for which a local 40-year-old man was later arrested. In short, the mindset of the people of Provincetown was geared toward something out of the ordinary. Of course, whether this played a part in the sightings of the Black Flash that unfolded in October and November of that year remains very much open to debate.
One suggestion put forward was that the Black Flash was nothing more than four teenagers who were playing a Halloween prank on the town that carried on too long, by the Chief of Police, Anthony Tarvers. He even claimed that he knew the identity of one of the teenagers, although none of these statements were part of an official police press release. He claimed that the boys split into two groups of two, and then one stood on top of the other’s shoulders, using a black cape to cover themselves and using a flour sifter as a makeshift mask. It is interesting to note that he promised to speak with the teenager’s parents, and shortly after he made that statement, the sightings came to an abrupt stop.
The explanation, though, has several holes that can’t be ignored. Perhaps one of the most glaring of these is how the boys – if that is what they were – managed to scale such heights on one leap? Moreover, how did they manage to overpower their potential captors (on several occasions) without being uncovered? Even more glaring, how did the “boys” manage to withstand being shot from close range, and even stranger, how did they manage to pull off the illusion of glowing red or silver eyes and blue flames from the mouth?
With all of these questions in mind, we might consider whether Tarver was simply wide of the mark in his assessment, or whether that statement, an unofficial one, remember, was one he made to simply calm the townsfolk, as well as create the determination that the local police force had succeeded in stopping the infamous Black Flash.
It isn’t just strange creatures lurking in the shadows that have taken place on or around Halloween. On Halloween night 1963, for example, in the small town of Trancas in Argentina, three sisters witnessed a strange, otherworldly object up close. On the night in question, the three sisters were settling down at the Moreno family home, with Argentina and Jolie having traveled from the town of Rosario to see their sister, Yolanda, as well as their parents. They each had their young children with them, and each of their husbands was away on military service. On this evening, following the sudden failure of the electric generator, the family had eaten their evening meal earlier than usual, before settling down in their bedrooms not long after.
At around 9 pm, however, the live-in domestic worker, 15-year-old Dora Guzman, suddenly ran to the main part of the house, claiming there were “strange lights” moving along the railroad outside of the house. The sisters’ parents remained asleep, while Jolie was in the middle of feeding her baby. Argentina and Yolanda ventured to where Dora was, immediately noticing the look of concern on her face, something which was unusual in itself. When they asked her to explain to them what she had seen, she stated that there were some kind of “machines” near the tracks. There was frequent guerrilla activity in the area, and the two sisters contemplated whether that was what Dora had seen. Quietly and cautiously, the two sisters opened the front door of the property and, along with Dora, ventured outside to investigate.
With one sister holding a flashlight and the other a small handgun, the three young women made their way toward the railroad tracks, keeping themselves hidden within the crops. They could see the strange lights moving in the distance; now and then, a strange “beam” would shoot upwards into the night sky. They began to question if there had been a train crash or if a guerrilla group had targeted a passing train. Then, they saw what seemed to be “human silhouettes” moving close to the lights, causing them to stop their approach immediately. They remained where they were for several moments before deciding to carefully continue towards the tracks. The closer they got, they could eventually see that the lights were connected to a solid object – the underside of a disc-shaped craft. The craft appeared like one disc on top of the other, with a green beam of light running in between them, creating a “tunnel” effect. After several moments' pause, they decided to move closer.
Moments after they did so, however, a pair of “dim greenish” lights appeared directly in front of them. Moreover, they were heading in their direction. To begin with, despite the surreal nature of the events they had witnessed, they contemplated if the lights belonged to one of the farm workers’ (Rodriguez’s) pick-up trucks, but before they could contemplate anything more, the three young women were completely enveloped within the green glow. It was at this point that the trio looked upwards, immediately noticing a huge disc hovering directly over them. Everything around them, including their clothes and faces, glowed green. The craft turned slowly in the air as it continued to hover overhead. From this angle, the three witnesses could see several windows or portholes on the underside of the craft.
Then, a beam of “solid light” emerged from the middle of the craft’s underside and stretched to the ground, a light that the witnesses later described as somehow “solid”. Several moments later, Yolanda stepped forward and placed her hand into the strange light. The other two looked on as the light simply went straight through her hand, as opposed to stopping on it as a “normal” light would. Yolanda also stated that although she didn’t feel any pain when her hand was in the light, she could feel distinct heat coming from it. Then, without warning, the beam began upwards, back towards the craft. As it did so, the three young women became aware of a strange mist that had appeared directly underneath the object, each particle glowing green and seemingly visible in the glow of the light. This strange fog-like mist began to grow thicker as the three witnesses continued to stare at it in awe. It was several moments before the two sisters noticed that Dora appeared to be in some strange trance.
The two sisters did their best to free Dora of the apparent spell she was under, but she continued to stare blankly at the mist above her. Then, the green glow was replaced by a bright orange, while above them, several yellow lights were now spinning on the underside of the aerial vehicle. Also at this point, the craft began to rock from side to side before a sudden burst of flames appeared, the force of which forced all three of the young women to the ground.
By now, they feared they were under attack, and so quickly staggered to their feet and ran back to the house. Although they ran as fast as they could, they occasionally looked back to see if the object was following them. Although it wasn’t, it did appear to be moving over the farmland, as if carrying out some kind of visual survey of it. They were fast approaching the main house. However, just as they were about to go through the front door, the glow from the object suddenly vanished. They stopped and turned around, a little shocked that the object was nowhere to be seen, even though only a second earlier, it had clearly been moving across the land.
The three young women went inside the house, by which time, Dora had seemingly come out of her trance, and appeared to be suffering from delayed shock, screaming that she was burned. The sisters’ parents and their other sister all came running to the scene to see what had happened. Dora hadn’t been burned, but it took a considerable amount of time to calm her down. The sisters looked at the clock, realizing it was just after 10 pm, meaning the incident had lasted just short of an hour.
News of the incident soon spread, and with it came corroborating witnesses. One neighbor, for example, Francisco Tropiano, claimed that he witnessed strange lights over their home at around 10 pm on the night in question. He claimed they lit up the entire area before suddenly disappearing. Another witness, a local doctor, claimed he was driving his car when he witnessed “almost 50 strange lights” traversing the sky. Moreover, when investigators examined the area of the actual sighting, they discovered a “dusty white residue” that, when analyzed, showed it was not indigenous to the surrounding soil. This substance was only found at the alleged landing site and nowhere else.
Just what happened that Halloween night in Trancas in 1963 remains unexplained. Despite the three young women being asked repeatedly to speak of their encounter by various investigators and members of the press, they didn’t once waver from their version of events and, by and large, were considered reliable witnesses. And as bizarre as the encounter might have sounded, especially at the time, in the years that have followed, there have been many other witnesses to other UFO encounters that have described very similar details; the green glowing light, for example, or the solid, slow-releasing beam of light that came from the craft itself, not to mention the shape and dynamics of the craft.
Ultimately, while Halloween is a time for mischievous fun, watching horror movies with friends, attending parties, or even venturing to a scary location to “spook” themselves, on occasion, the pretend horror and frights are very real. Of course, while this is almost certainly just coincidence, after all, murders, accidental deaths, and even UFO sightings happen all year round, we should perhaps contemplate, if only in the back of our minds, if something about this time of year really does “thin the veil”, and perhaps influence humanity to act out such horrors, or simply unleash strange figures such as the Black Flash or strange vehicles from other worlds. It is certainly spooky food for thought, and perhaps something for us to keep in mind as we celebrate Halloween, both this year and in the future. Is it all fun and games? Not always.
Data show that unidentified lights in archival astronomy images were 68% more likely to be imaged 24 hours after a nuclear weapons test.
Transients studied by the VASCO project, which attempts to pin down the sources for these mysterious flashes of light seen in archival sky survey photographs.
(Image credit: Beatriz Villarroel et al 2025/CC BY 4.0 (DOI 10.1088/1538-3873/ae0afe))
In the 1950s, mysterious flashes of light were captured on photographic plates taken at the Palomar Observatory in California. Two new studies claim that these flashes were caused by reflective objects in high-Earth orbit connected to sightings of alleged unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), a new catch-all term for UFOs not only in the sky, but also in space or even that travel through water.
For the past few years, astronomers including Beatriz Villarroel, of Nordita, Stockholm University, have been scrutinizing photographic plates exposed in the years before the Space Age began, as part of the Vanishing and Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations (VASCO) project. The aim of VASCO is to use archival data, now digitized, to search for new astrophysical transients, which are objects that brighten or fade, sometimes dramatically. These objects can appear as a spot of light in one image of the sky or space, only to vanish in the next.
Villarroel and study co-author Stephen Bruehl, a professor of anesthesiology from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, say their data show a statistical correlation between these flashes of light and reported sightings of unidentified objects. “We speculate that some transients could potentially be UAP in Earth orbit that, if descending into the atmosphere, might provide the stimulus for some UAP sightings,” they write in one of the new studies.
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When VASCO launched, it had the stated aim of looking for stars that had vanished, which could for example signal a massive starcollapsing into black hole without exploding as a supernova. VASCO could potentially also reveal new types of variable stars, active galactic nuclei, stellar flares or even brand new phenomena.
Sometimes the transients VASCO studies are unexplained, which has previously led Villarroel to a startling conclusion: that some of the objects detected on the plates are metallic objects in high Earth-orbit, before the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957.
“Today we know that short flashes of light are often solar reflections from flat, highly reflective objects in orbit around the Earth, such as satellites and space debris, but the photographic plates analyzed in VASCO were taken before humans had satellites in space,” Villarroel said in a statement.
Transients studied by the VASCO project, which attempts to pin down the sources for these mysterious flashes of light seen in archival sky survey photographs. (Image credit: Beatriz Villarroel et al 2025/CC BY 4.0 (DOI 10.1088/1538-3873/ae0afe))
VASCO researchers analyzed 106,000 transients that look like stars that appeared and swiftly disappeared in a single exposure between the years 1951 and 1957. In particular, the appearance of the unidentified transients were 68% more likely to occur the day after a nuclear weapons test in Earth’s atmosphere than on other day, Bruehl added in the statement.
“The magnitude of the association between these flashes of light and nuclear tests was surprising, as was the very specific time at which they most often occurred – namely, the day after a test,” said Bruehl. “What they might represent is a very fascinating question that needs further investigation.”
In their study, Villarroel and Bruehl also found that the transients captured by the photographic plates increased by an average of 8.5% for each UAP sighting that was reported.
In a second study, which also included researchers from Algeria, India, Nigeria, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United States, they found that one anomalous transient coincided with a cluster of flying saucer sightings over Washington, D.C., on 27 July 1952. This particular transient, along with several others, was an instance where multiple flashes of light were seen along a narrow band. This, says Villarroel, suggests flat, reflective objects in motion high above Earth that were reflecting sunlight – a hypothesis supported by the fact that the number of mystery transients drops off in parts of the sky in Earth’s shadow, where sunlight can’t reach.
“You don’t get those kinds of solar reflections from round objects like asteroids or dust grains in space, which leave streaks during a 50-minute exposure, but only if something is very flat and very reflective and reflects the sunlight with a short flash,” said Villarroel.
Transients studied by the VASCO project, which attempts to pin down the sources for these mysterious flashes of light seen in archival sky survey photographs. (Image credit: Beatriz Villarroel et al 2025/CC BY 4.0 (DOI 10.1088/1538-3873/ae0afe))
Villarroel and Bruehl propose another possible explanation, however: that nuclear weapons tests triggered some unknown atmospheric phenomenon that went unnoticed at the time. But Villarroel and Bruehl are skeptical that such a phenomenon would stand still in the atmosphere for 24 hours between the weapons test and when the plate was exposed at Palomar in California. The transients do not seem to be particles of nuclear fallout that have drifted down onto the photographic plate either, since such particles would produce foggy, diffuse spots, not pinpoint, star-like objects.
The explanation Villarroel and Bruehl focus on most in their papers is that these transients are UAP of some kind. Their study connects the nuclear tests to sightings, which have been reported in the vicinity of nuclear sites for decades. "Significantly more UAP sightings were reported within nuclear weapons testing windows (test date + /- 1 day) than outside of testing windows," they report in their study.
There are, of course, many caveats. Critics have claimed that the transients could be photographic defects, or contamination, especially as the plates are quite old and were stored away for many decades before being digitized.
Villarroel and Bruehl perhaps also give too much credit to reports of UFO sightings. Their reported correlation of 8.5% between the appearance of the transients and flying saucer sightings is only relevant if it can be assumed those UAP sightings are credible in the first place. There may also be an observation bias – the 1950s were the heyday of UFO sightings, so it is perhaps not too surprising that there were sightings coinciding with the appearance of transients, since UAP sightings were reported on many different days.
Ultimately, correlation does not necessarily mean causation, and Villarroel and Bruehl do acknowledge this in their study.
In SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, researchers tend to assume that any unexplained phenomena isn’t aliens, and to exhaust every possible natural explanation before invoking an extraterrestrial one. This approach would be helpful here, although what those alternative explanations might be are not yet certain.
Because of the nuclear test-ban treaty there is, quite rightly, no way to test the hypothesis that the transients are related to atmospheric phenomena caused by nuclear explosions, of which there were at least 124 above the ground between 1951 and 1957.
For now, the discovery of the transients remains an intriguing puzzle. One possible way forward that has been suggested is to try and repeat the observations on the modern day sky. If geosynchronous satellites that we know about produce similar patterns of transients on photographic plates, then that would strengthen the hypothesis that the transients on the Palomar plates could depict metallic objects reflecting sunlight in high orbit.
A mysterious interstellar visitor has emerged from behind the sun, glowing in a way that has left scientists stunned.
The comet, which is not visible from terrestrial telescopes, appears to have unusual chemistry. It passed through solar conjunction with Earth - meaning it was hidden behind the sun - on October 21.
It is exciting for scientists because, unlike other comets, it does not orbit the sun.
The object, named as 3I/ATLAS, made its closest approach to it on Wednesday, observed by three NASA spacecraft.
Data showed that it brightened at a rate about seven times faster than typical comets as it reached the sun.
Researchers who captured the observations noted: 'The reason for 3I/ATLAS's rapid brightening, which far exceeds the brightening rate of most Oort cloud comets at similar distances from the sun, remains unclear.'
Even more puzzling, the comet now appears distinctly bluer, a reversal from its previously reddish hue.
Scientists speculate that the blue glow likely comes from gas emissions, including carbon molecules (C2) and other compounds, rather than just sunlight reflecting off dust.
The object made its closest approach to the sun on Wednesday, as seen by NASA spacecraft
The study, conducted by researchers from the Lowell Observatory in Arizona and the US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, pulled data from the STEREO‑A (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) and SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory).
They also used a weather satellite, called GOES‑19, carrying a coronagraph, a device which helped capture the comet's brightness and color while it was hidden behind the Sun from Earth-based telescopes.
It detected a glowing plume extending nearly 186,000 miles around the object, comparable to the carbon dioxide halo observed months earlier.
The satellite revealed that 3I/ATLAS is enveloped in a huge, fuzzy coma, roughly half as wide as the full moon.
Ground-based telescopes had trouble observing 3I/ATLAS. At the same time, it was very close to the sun, but radio observations were able to detect emissions from the comet, showing it was producing huge amounts of water-related molecules.
The production rate of these molecules increased sharply as the comet approached the Sun, following a pattern similar to the rapid brightening observed in optical images.
The comet is expected to return to visibility in twilight and night skies during November and December, allowing ground-based telescopes to study it in much greater detail.
Early analysis suggests 3I/ATLAS will emerge considerably brighter than before.
Its light was increasing at an unusually rapid pace, which could be due to its chemical make-up
Scientists still do not fully understand why it brightened so fast, but it may be related to unusual activity from gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O), or unique properties of the comet's nucleus, such as its composition, shape, or structure.
Observations from spacecraft also show that 3I/ATLAS has a large, fuzzy coma about half the size of the full moon, and its light is distinctly bluer than the sun, likely due to gas emissions from molecules like C2 and Amino groups, rather than just reflected sunlight from dust.
Its brightness increased much faster than typical comets, with a measured rate far exceeding the standard for Oort cloud comets, and the post-perihelion behavior remains uncertain; it could continue brightening, level off, or fade quickly.
Harvard professor Avi Loeb, who has been studying the object for months, said: 'This unfavorable geometry, a possible hint of design, placed the comet within the fields of view of several space-based solar coronagraphs and heliospheric imagers, allowing continuous observation during its final approach to perihelion.'
Residents in Nevada have been scared after hearing thunderous and disturbing sounds echoing through the canyons around Lake Mead.
Dozens of reports have flooded in to local police near the Redstone Picnic Area, a popular spot for camping.
This area sits in the desert of Nevada, just a short 30-mile drive from Las Vegas and next to the iconic Hoover Dam.
However, the peace was broken by rumbling booms that sounded like a giant metal door groaning in the distance.
They boomed throughout the day last Tuesday, with videos capturing the noises being shared online.
Many viewers had speculated the sounds were caused by fracking, the process of injecting high pressure liquid into the ground to extract oil or gas, but the local gas company told the Daily Mail they were not carrying out any work at that time.
One woman posting the incident on social media said the sounds woke her up and scared her enough to call for help.
'I just called 911 and they said they'd gotten over 50 calls about it,' the witness posted on TikTok.
Witnesses in Nevada recorded disturbing noises that were similar to construction equipment in the Lake Mead area this month, but the source could not be found
Witnesses couldn't find the exact source of the echoing booms, but continued to suspect that it was coming from somewhere in the nearby valley, possibly tied to the Kern River gas pipeline that runs through the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
One local on Instagram who tried to find the source claimed the answer was the sound of gas being released from the pipeline, like a massive pressure valve letting off steam.
A file photo of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Boulder City, Nevada, on June 26, 2022.
John Locher/AP
In a statement, the Kern River Gas Transmission Company confirmed to the Daily Mail that they did not release any gas from its pipelines on the dates in question.
According to the company, a request was filed for an 'on- and off-system balancing' on the Kern River Line on October 29, but this also appears unrelated to the sounds heard more than a week earlier.
This isn't the first time eerie sounds have been heard echoing through the region, with some claiming they've heard the wailing voices of ghosts along the Colorado River and unexplained footsteps coming from Hoover Dam.
Some on social media claimed the noise was being caused by secret projects drilling underneath the Nevada desert.
'The noise was so powerful it rattled windows and shook the wildlife for miles,' one person on Instagram said.
'The fact that it's in rhythm, and in intervals, makes me believe it's man-made. Sounds like a big jackhammer or something,' another Instagram user commented.
Lake Mead (Pictured) has become notorious for unusual and unexplained noises since the lake began to hit record-low water levels in recent years
Before this month's disturbing sounds, there had been a string of reports over the years from campers and boaters around Lake Mead who heard strange rumbles and groans in the area.
This has been especially true since the early 2010s, when the water level at Lake Mead started dropping.
In 2022, as the lake hit record-low levels, visitors claimed to have heard loud metallic clangs and deep hums coming from the newly exposed shorelines.
Experts have mostly dismissed the noises as wind echoing through canyons, small earthquakes shaking rocks, or vibrations from the Hoover Dam and nearby construction sites.
However, some conspiracy theorists online have claimed that all the sounds rattling through this area are likely tied to classified government projects, with the mysterious Area 51 sitting just over 100 miles away.
The infamous base has been tied to extraterrestrial lore for decades, with UFO researchers and conspiracy theorists claiming that secret government experiments have been conducted at Area 51 since the 1950s.
Area 51 sits on the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) and is less than 140 miles from the site of the new noises recorded at the Redstone Picnic Area.
'It's the construction of the underground city they are building [to] prepare for what's coming to Earth,' one person on TikTok alleged.
Astronomers have released a spectacular new image of the Milky Way, providing a glimpse of our galaxy in unprecedented detail.
The photograph, which took 18 months and over 40,000 hours to construct, is the largest low–frequency radio colour image of the Milky Way ever assembled.
It captures the Southern Hemisphere view, revealing it across a wide range of radio wavelengths – or 'colours' of radio light.
And it provides astronomers with new ways to explore the birth, evolution and death of stars in our galaxy.
The stunning picture was created by astronomers from the International Centre of Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR).
'This vibrant image delivers an unparalleled perspective of our galaxy at low radio frequencies,' Silvia Mantovanini, a PhD student at the Curtin University of ICRAR said.
'It provides valuable insights into the evolution of stars, including their formation in various regions of the galaxy, how they interact with other celestial objects, and ultimately their demise.'
Ms Mantovanini constructed the image with the help of supercomputers which processed and compiled data from two extensive surveys carried out by the Murchison Widefield Array telescope in Western Australia.
The new spectacular image of the Milky Way, providing a glimpse of our galaxy in unprecedented detail
The photograph, which took 18 months and over 40,000 hours to construct, is the largest low–frequency radio colour image of the Milky Way ever assembled
It provides astronomers with new ways to explore the birth, evolution and death of stars in our galaxy
The astronomers focused on radio waves because they reveal a different part of the universe that visible light cannot show – allowing them to see through gas and dust clouds to observe the birth of stars and the structures of galaxies.
When compared to images constructed from visible light, the radio frequency photograph reveals the galaxy in much clearer, more colourful detail.
The new image offers twice the resolution, 10 times the sensitivity and covers twice the area compared to a previous radio wavelength image released in 2019.
This significant improvement in resolution, sensitivity and sky coverage allows for a more detailed and comprehensive study of the Milky Way, the team said.
Ms Mantovanini's research focuses on supernova remnants, the expanding clouds of gas and energy left behind when a star explodes at the end of its life.
Although hundreds of these remnants have been discovered so far, astronomers suspect that thousands more are waiting to be found.
The image allows them to distinguish between the gas surrounding new stars and that left behind by dead ones, revealing clearer patterns in the cosmic landscape.
'You can clearly identify remnants of exploded stars, represented by large red circles,' she said. 'The smaller blue regions indicate stellar nurseries where new stars are actively forming.'
Left: The centre of our Milky Way in radio colour. Right: The same area of sky as seen in visible light
Antennas from the MWA telescope, on Wajarri Country in Western Australia, which carried out the two extensive surveys
The image may also help unravel the mysteries surrounding pulsars in our Galaxy.
By measuring the brightness of pulsars at different GLEAM–X frequencies, astronomers hope to gain a deeper understanding of how these enigmatic objects emit radio waves and where they exist within our galaxy.
Associate Professor Natasha Hurley–Walker from the same ICRAR team, who is the principal investigator of the GLEAM–X survey, emphasised how this is a big step forward in studying the Milky Way's structure.
'This low–frequency image allows us to unveil large astrophysical structures in our Galaxy that are difficult to image at higher frequencies,' she said.
'No low–frequency radio image of the entire Southern Galactic Plane has been published before, making this an exciting milestone in astronomy.'
A star discovered in 2018 is thought to be one of the oldest in the Milky Way.
Scientists at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) in Spain believe that it might have formed about 300 million years after the 'Big Bang'.
IAC researcher Jonay González Hernández said: 'Theory predicts that these stars could form just after, and using material from, the first supernovae, whose progenitors were the first massive stars in the Galaxy.'
Researchers hope the star, known as J0815+4729, which is in line with the Lynx constellation, will help them learn more about the Big Bang, the popular theory about the galaxy's evolution.
IAC director Rafael Rebolo said: 'Detecting lithium gives us crucial information related to Big Bang nucleosynthesis. We are working on a spectrograph of high resolution and wide spectral range in order to be able to measure (among other things) the detailed chemical composition of stars with unique properties such as J0815+4729.'
While most scientists believe it’s a natural comet, one Harvard astronomer has suggested its unusual features could hint at signs of alien technology.
On 1 July 2025, astronomers using the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, detected a faint, fast-moving object unlike anything seen before.
The discovery, officially named 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1), marks only the third confirmed interstellar object ever observed - after ʻOumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019.
But what exactly is 3I/ATLAS, where is it going, and could this strange visitor from another star be more than just a comet?
3I/ATLAS is largely believed to be a comet - it has a tail, is brightening as it approaches the Sun, and shows signs of dust and gas being released.
Its name was derived from its origins: “3” for the third interstellar object found, “I” for interstellar, and “ATLAS” for the telescope network that spotted it.
What makes it extraordinary is where it came from. Its speed and trajectory show that it’s not gravitationally bound to the Sun - meaning it must have originated in another star system and wandered into ours by chance.
This NASA/ESA image shows interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, captured by Hubble on 21 July 2025, from 277 million miles away.Credit: NASA/European Space Agency via AP
How fast is it travelling and where is it going?
According to astronomers, 3I/ATLAS is racing through space at more than 200,000 km/h (around 61 km per second), and its speed is increasing as it approaches the Sun.
It’s following a hyperbolic orbit, which means that it’s moving too quickly to be captured by the Sun’s gravity.
“It’s going to kind of cruise through the inner solar system – in between Mars and Earth’s orbit – and then it will fly past the sun," Con Stoitsis, comet and meteor director at the Astronomical Society of Victoria, told The Guardian.
"This one is on what we call a hyperbolic orbit. So it’s not gravitationally bound to the sun. It’s travelling much too fast, and so it will just fly out the other side of the solar system," he added.
According to NASA, the closest 3I/Atlas will come to Earth is about 270 million kilometres.
Could it be something more than a natural object?
For most astronomers, 3I/ATLAS is an exciting but natural phenomenon. But one prominent scientist - Professor Avi Loeb, a theoretical astrophysicist at Harvard University - has advocated the need for a closer examination of the object.
Through the Galileo Project, which investigates potential evidence of extraterrestrial technology, Loeb has been asking provocative, eyebrow-raising questions about 3I/ATLAS’s origin.
In a series of scientific essays published on Medium, he argues that scientists should still consider whether the object could be an alien technological - an artificial probe or artefact from another civilisation.
In one essay titled “Does 3I/ATLAS Generate Its Own Light?”, Loeb questioned whether its brightness might stem from self-luminosity rather than reflected sunlight - a property unlike any known comet.
“The hypothesis in question is that the recent interstellar visitor to our Solar System, 3I/ATLAS1-10, is a technological artefact, and furthermore has active intelligence. If this is the case, then two possibilities follow: first, that its intentions are entirely benign, and second, they are malign, or somewhere in between," he wrote in a paper titled “Is the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS alien technology?”
"The consequences, should the hypothesis turn out to be correct, could potentially be dire for humanity, and would possibly require defensive measures,” he warned.
NASA has firmly rejected Loeb's perspective.
“It looks like a comet. It does comet things. It very, very strongly resembles, in just about every way, the comets that we know,” Tom Statler, NASA’s lead scientist for solar system small bodies, told The Guardian.
Loeb has since acknowledged in a blog post that “the simplest hypothesis is that 3I/ATLAS is a comet,” clarifying that his goal was to challenge assumptions rather than make firm claims.
“Let us instead maintain our childhood curiosity and seek evidence rather than pretend to be the adults in the room that know the answers in advance,” he wrote.
Will we be able to see 3I/ATLAS?
The comet will reach its closest approach to the Sun around 30 October, coming within 1.4 au (about 130 million miles), just inside Mars’ orbit.
Its size and physical properties are still being studied, but NASA says it should become visible again through ground-based telescopes in early December, once it re-emerges from behind the Sun.
A pair of space probes cruising the solar system may be able to pass throughthe tail of the mysterious Manhattan-sized comet hurtling towards Earth — but only if the scientists operating them act fast to divert-course.
The probes — Hera and Europa Clipper — are both speeding on separate missions, but a new paper being published in the Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society found they are perfectly poised to pay a visit to the remains of 3I/ATLAS being dispersed across the solar system.
Both probes will be flying “downwind” of 3I/ATLAS as it cruises through the cosmic neighborhood in the next few weeks and leaves a trail of particles in its wake, Live Science reported, giving researchers the opportunity to fly directly through a comet’s tail for first time in history.
The probe Europa Clipper is on the way to Jupiter’s moon, but could pass through the comet’s tail if scientists act fast.
Nasa
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope observed interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on Aug. 6, with its near-Infrared spectrograph instrument.
NASA/James Webb Space Telescope
The probes wouldn’t be flying straight through the tail, however, but across a field where its particles are expected to be blown into space by the Sun’s solar wind.
That dispersal field would be about 5 million miles from the comet itself, but would still be plenty close for the probes to collect invaluable information from the particles it leaves behind.
3I/ATLAS has left scientists puzzled since it was first spotted in June. Though few have disputed that it is anything but a comet, its irregular behavior and make-up have some like Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb speculating it could be an intelligently-operated alien probe.
It is expected to fly closest to the Earth by the end of October, but will be hidden behind the sun and impossible for Earthen telescopes and cameras to get a good look at it.
The object is also ejecting a nickel alloy only ever found in human manufacturing, and previously emitted an “anti-tail” from its front that Loeb speculated could be some kind of “braking thrust” system.
The mysterious 3I/ATLAS is believed to be a comet, but some speculate it could be an alien probe.AP
Hera and Europa Clipper could be science’s best bet to gather information from the object.
But they will only be in that position over the next two weeks, and scientists would need to act immediately to send them on course to meet the comet’s tail, according to Live Science.
Hera may not even be able to be of much help. The probe is currently headed to study an asteroid and isn’t equipped with instruments that could do much reading of 3I/ATLAS’ particles.
But Europa Clipper — which is on the way to analyze ice on Jupiter’s moon Europa — has exactly the kind of instruments the job would call for.
'Son of Concorde' takes flight! NASA's 100-foot, $247million supersonic jet that can travel from London to New York in under 4 hours takes to the skies for the first time
After nearly a decade in development, NASA's supersonic jet dubbed 'Son of Concorde' has successfully completed its first test flight.
The 100-foot, $247million plane, built by Lockheed Martin for NASA, took off from Palmdale Regional Airport in Californiaat about 10:15 EDT on Tuesday.
After about an hour performing oval-shaped loops, the plane landed safely at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center 25 miles further northeast.
Its peak altitude during the flight was 12,000 feet (3,660 meters) – which is under half that of a commercial plane at cruising altitude – but experts hope it will be able to reach 55,000 feet (16,800 metres).
Officially known as X-59, the manned aircraft is designed to pave the way for faster air travel at 'supersonic' speeds of up to 925mph.
At such as speed, it could transport paying passengers from London to New York in under four hours – revolutionizing the industry and freeing up time for busy businesspeople and holidaymakers.
'We are thrilled to achieve the first flight of the X-59,' said OJ Sanchez, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works division.
'This aircraft is a testament to the innovation and expertise of our joint team, and we are proud to be at the forefront of quiet supersonic technology development.'
Lockheed Martin, in partnership with NASA, successfully completed the first flight of the X-59, a quiet supersonic aircraft designed to pave the way for faster commercial air travel
The 100-foot, $247million plane, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, took off from Palmdale Regional Airport in California at about 10:15 EDT on Tuesday
According to Lockheed Martin, X-59 performed 'exactly as planned' prior to its safe landing at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center.
However, the single-engine jet only reached speeds of 230mph, which is nowhere near its top speed of 925mph – much faster than the speed of sound (767mph).
Further test flights in the coming months will 'expand the X-59's flight envelope' and get closer to the plane's top flying speed, the aerospace company said.
Despite being short of the all-important speed threshold, experts hailed this latest milestone as 'a new era in supersonic flight'.
Sean Duffy, Secretary of the Department of Transportation and acting NASA administrator, called the experimental plane 'a symbol of American ingenuity'.
He said: 'The American spirit knows no bounds. It's part of our DNA – the desire to go farther, faster, and even quieter than anyone has ever gone before.
'This work sustains America's place as the leader in aviation and has the potential to change the way the public flies.'
X-59 is dubbed 'Son of Concorde' because it would be the first passenger plane to fly at supersonic speeds (faster than the speed of sound) since the days of the retired Anglo-French liner over 20 years ago.
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On its first flight, NASA's experimental quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft takes off from Runway 7 at Palmdale USAF Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, October 28
Once airborne, the single-engine jet reached speeds of 230mph, which is nowhere near its top speed of 925mph - faster than the speed of sound (767mph)
Further test flights in the coming months will 'expand the X-59's flight envelope' and get closer to the plane's top flying speed
X-59: Key specs
Manufacturer: Lockheed Martin
Length : 99.7 feet (30 metres)
Wingspan: 29.5 feet (9.0 metres)
Max. airspeed: 925 mph
Program cost: $247.5m (£187.5m)
First flight: October 28, 2025
One of the issues with Concorde that led to its retirement in 2003 was the 'sonic booms' it emitted as it flew.
Described as sounding somewhere between a thunderclap and an explosion, sonic booms happen when shock waves from an object travelling through the air faster than the speed of sound merge together before they reach the ground.
Concorde's sonic booms were often described as unsettling by members of the public on the ground below, which meant Concorde never replaced slower, more conventional aircraft.
In contrast, X-59’s thin, tapered nose accounts for almost a third of its length and breaks up the shock waves that usually result in a sonic boom, instead producing a quieter 'thump'.
Due to X-59's odd configuration, the cockpit is located almost halfway down the length of the aircraft – and the craft does not have a forward-facing window.
Instead, it's fitted with the 'eXternal Vision System', a series of high-resolution cameras feeding a 4K monitor in the cockpit.
Eventually, NASA – which will be the primary user – will fly the aircraft over cities across the US, which are yet to be selected.
It will collect feedback about the sound the X-59 generates and how people perceive it before providing the data to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Dubbed 'son of Concorde', the agency's new 100-foot-long plane is capable of cruising at 1.4 times the speed of sound, or 925 miles per hour
X-59 has been developed by American aerospace firm Lockheed Martin after being awarded the $247.5 million design contract by NASA in 2016
However, if supersonic flight proves to be feasible, bulkier next-gen versions fitted out with passenger seats could transport paying passengers just like Concorde did.
For 50 years, the US prohibited supersonic flights because of disturbance caused by sonic booms to communities below, which was why Concorde was largely restricted to flights over the Atlantic – namely Paris to New York and London to New York.
The legendary plane was the world’s first supersonic airliner and operated for 27 years, but it was grounded in October 2003 largely due to high fuel costs, concern over its noise and a preference for lower fares over speed.
Ever since, no government or manufacturer has since been able to build a commercial plane that can travel faster than the speed of sound – although Lockheed Martin is not the only one trying.
Another American company called Boom Supersonic is working on its own supersonic craft, called Overture, which is eyeing commercial passenger flights in 2029.
Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger jet that was operated from 1976 until 2003.
It had a maximum speed over twice the speed of sound at Mach 2.04 (1,354mph or 2,180k per hour at cruise altitude) and could seat 92 to 128 passengers.
It was first flown in 1969, but needed further tests to establish it as viable as a commercial aircraft. Concorde entered service in 1976.
It is one of only two supersonic transports to have been operated commercially. The other is the Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-144, which ran as a passenger aircraft only for a few years in the 1970s due to safety issues.
Concorde was the world’s first supersonic airliner and operated for 27 years, but it was grounded in October 2003. Pictured is British Airways Concorde G-BOAB taking off with its landing gear still extended over the Cotswolds town of Fairford, Gloucestershire on July 20, 1996, during the annual RAF Fairford airshow
Concorde was jointly developed and manufactured by Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) under an Anglo-French treaty. Concorde's name, meaning harmony or union, reflected the cooperation on the project between the UK and France.
Concorde was retired in 2003 due to a general downturn in the commercial aviation industry after its only crash in 2000, the September 11 attacks in 2001, and a decision by Airbus, the successor to Aérospatiale and BAC, to discontinue maintenance support.
It wasn't the first plane to break the sound barrier, however; that achievement was managed by the Bell X-1, piloted by Chuck Yeager, in October 1947.
The legendary rocket engine-powered aircraft, designed and built in 1945, achieved a speed of 700 miles (1,127 kilometers) per hour.
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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 75 jaar jong.
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