UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN

De meeste onderzoekers zijn ervan overtuigd dat er buitenaards leven is. Maar ja.. hoe vind je dat? We zetten negen methoden op een rij.

Zijn we alleen? Het is een vraag die de mensheid al heel lang bezighoudt. En hoe meer onderzoek we binnen en buiten ons zonnestelsel doen, hoe aannemelijker het bestaan van buitenaards leven lijkt te worden. Zo blijken bouwstenen voor leven veelvuldig in het universum voor te komen. Net als aardachtige planeten. En zelfs in ons eigen zonnestelsel zijn dankzij recente studies wel wat kandidaten voor buitenaards leven aan te wijzen. Zo lijken de omstandigheden onder de dikke ijskappen van Jupiters maan Europa bijvoorbeeld niet ongeschikt voor het ontstaan en instandhouden van primitieve levensvormen.

Al met al voldoende reden dus om – hetzij binnen of buiten ons zonnestelsel – actief te gaan zoeken naar aliens. maar ja..hoe doe je dat? We hebben negen methodes voor je op een rijtje gezet!

1. Jagen op radiosignalen…

Misschien wel de bekendste zoekmethode is die van het SETI-project, waarbij met radiotelescopen gezocht wordt naar radiosignalen, verzonden door intelligente aliens. Deze Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence is al decennialang bezig. Vooralsnog zonder resultaat.

Wow!
De zoektocht naar radiosignalen kent één toch wel opvallend resultaat en dat is het in de jaren zeventig waargenomen ‘wow-signaal’. Een sterk, smalbandig signaal dat onderzoekers nog altijd niet goed kunnen verklaren. De meeste wetenschappers zijn het er echter wel over eens dat het signaal waarschijnlijk niet afkomstig is van aliens.

2. …of laserpulsen

Naast radiosignalen kun je ook zoeken naar andere signalen die door intelligente aliens – bewust of onbewust – de ruimte in worden geslingerd. Zo wordt er binnen het Breakthrough Listen-project bijvoorbeeld gezocht naar laserpulsen. Ook die zoektocht heeft tot op heden niets opgeleverd.

3. Ga ter plaatse

De dichtstbijzijnde exoplaneet is Proxima b. De planeet bevindt zich op zo’n 4,2 lichtjaar afstand, wat betekent dat licht al meer dan vier jaar nodig heeft om van de aarde naar Proxima b te reizen. Even op en neer vliegen om te kijken of er leven is, zit er dan ook niet in. Maar in ons eigen zonnestelsel kunnen we wel ter plaatse naar aliens zoeken. Bijvoorbeeld op Mars. Daar rijden nu al een Chinese en Amerikaanse rover rond die actief zoeken naar sporen van (vergaan) leven.

4. Zoek naar biosignaturen

De atmosfeer van de aarde is relatief zuurstofrijk. Maar dat is niet altijd zo geweest. Miljarden jaren geleden herbergde de aardatmosfeer nauwelijks zuurstof. Daar kwam verandering in toen micro-organismen de fotosynthese onder de knie kregen en zuurstof gingen produceren. De zuurstofconcentratie in de atmosfeer steeg gestaag en daarmee werd ook het ontstaan van complexere levensvormen mogelijk. De hoge zuurstofniveaus in onze atmosfeer getuigen dus van de aanwezigheid van leven. Op een vergelijkbare wijze kan ook de atmosfeer van een andere planeet verraden of deze leven herbergt of niet. Het enige wat we moeten doen, is de atmosfeer van zo’n planeet uitpluizen én helder krijgen welke elementen of combinatie van elementen goede indicatoren van leven (oftewel: biosignaturen) zijn. Naar dat laatste wordt volop onderzoek gedaan. En aan een telescoop krachtig genoeg om de atmosfeer van exoplaneten uit te pluizen, wordt as we speak de laatste hand gelegd; de James Webb Space Telescope moet nog dit jaar gelanceerd worden.

5. Zoek de vervuiling

Wanneer we in de atmosfeer van een exoplaneet een hoge concentratie zuurstof aantreffen, kan dat wijzen op de aanwezigheid van leven. Maar dat hoeft geen intelligent leven te zijn. De zuurstof kan net zo goed geproduceerd worden door eenvoudige micro-organismen. Wie aan de hand van buitenaardse atmosferen specifiek wil zoeken naar complexe levensvormen kan het dan ook beter over een iets andere boeg gooien en zoeken naar technosignaturen. Dit zijn bijproducten van grootschalige industriële processen, zoals bijvoorbeeld stikstofdioxide. Dit komt bijvoorbeeld vrij tijdens het verbranden van fossiele brandstoffen en is dan ook zeer geschikt voor het opsporen van aliens met een voorliefde voor benzineauto’s of andere vervuilende vervoersmiddelen.

6. Ga op jacht naar de schaduw

Het meest voorkomende meercellige organisme op aarde is de boom. Het lijkt niet ondenkbaar dat ook op andere planeten zulke grote meercellige, rechtopstaande levensvormen te vinden zijn. En als dat zo is, kunnen we ze volgens recent onderzoek misschien wel opsporen aan de hand van hun schaduw. Het enige wat we nodig hebben, zijn krachtige telescopen die deze schaduw kunnen spotten.

7. Probeer ze zover te krijgen dat ze ons contacteren

We zoeken dus al decennialang naar aliens, maar zonder resultaat. Voor sommige mensen voldoende reden om de rollen om te draaien en in plaats van naar aliens te zoeken, heel luidruchtig aan alle eventuele aliens te laten weten dat we er zijn. Dat wordt ook wel METI – Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence – genoemd. Hierbij wordt een boodschap de ruimte ingestuurd, in de hoop dat aliens die oppikken en naar aanleiding daarvan contact met ons opnemen. Niet iedereen is echter heel enthousiast over die aanpak. Zo vertelde radioastronoom Heino Falcke een aantal jaren geleden aan Scientias.nl er heel weinig heil in te zien. “We weten uit de geschiedenis dat een botsing tussen twee beschavingen altijd uitvalt in het voordeel van de beschaving met grotere resources en betere technologieën. In dit geval zou dat de beschaving zijn die de ander kan bezoeken.” En dus lijkt het erop dat we bij voorbaat al aan het kortste eind trekken. “Waarom zou je willen communiceren met iemand die ons wel kan bezoeken, maar waar wij niet naar toe kunnen?”

8. Houd de moederster in de gaten

Als aliens een beetje ambitieus zijn, veranderen ze niet alleen hun atmosfeer, maar ook de nabije ruimte. Zo kun je je voorstellen dat ze satellieten rond hun planeet plaatsen. Of een hitteschild – om klimaatverandering tegen te gaan. Of ze leggen een megastructuur rond de moederster aan om de energie daarvan op te slokken en naar eigen inzicht te kunnen gebruiken. Het zijn allemaal aanpassingen die we zouden kunnen waarnemen als we langdurig naar de moederster turen. Zowel de hitteschilden als satellieten zouden we wellicht kunnen detecteren als de planeet voor die moederster langs beweegt en – door alle toeters en bellen eromheen – voor een wat vreemde dip in de helderheid van de ster zorgt. En ook de megastructuur rond de moederster zou een detecteerbare impact hebben op de helderheid ervan.

9. Houd ook in het zonnestelsel de ogen open

Als er aliens bestaan en deze net zo nieuwsgierig zijn als wij, kunnen we niet uitsluiten dat ze ons al ontdekt hebben. Zo wees recent onderzoek uit dat aliens in theorie vanaf honderden relatief nabije planeten zouden kunnen vaststellen dat op de aarde leven te vinden is. Als aliens weten dat er leven op aarde is, is het niet ondenkbaar dat ze onbemande sondes naar ons zonnestelsel sturen om onze planeet en omgeving stiekem van ietsje dichterbij te bekijken. Een goede reden om ook in ons zonnestelsel uit te zien naar deze verkennende sondes, zo stelden onderzoekers recent.

Zo zijn er dus behoorlijk wat manieren om aliens te ontdekken. Of we ze binnenkort op één van deze manieren ook daadwerkelijk gaan vinden, blijft afwachten. Maar de meeste onderzoekers zijn optimistisch over onze kansen. Zeker met de komst van de volgende generatie telescopen – zoals de al genoemde James Webb, maar ook de in aanbouw zijnde Extremely Large Telescope – hebben we straks eindelijk instrumenten tot onze beschikking waarmee we gericht naar aliens kunnen gaan zoeken. Het lijkt dan ook niet ondenkbaar dat we ergens in de komende decennia het bewijs vinden waarmee we het vermoeden dat we in dit enorme universum toch niet moederziel alleen zijn, kunnen staven.

Accounts of alien abductions have been around for a while, and they always serve to amaze, stir debate, and raise eyebrows. Some such accounts can definitely be more bizarre than others, and one of the truly outlandish ones comes to us from a supposed alien contactee in the U.S. state of New Mexico, who has a very amazing, and some might say unbelievable, story to tell. The rather bizarre tale here begins in July of 1987, when a woman named Christa Tilton had an inexplicable bout of missing time, with three hours of her life simply gone and with no reasonable explanation. After suffering from nightmares and finding herself constantly pondering why she had lost this time, Tilton underwent hypnosis and this was where she would find her lost memories surging into her consciousness, and would weave an outlandish account of alien abductions, secret underground bases, and strange experiments.

Under hypnosis, Christa would remember being approached by two small humanoid creatures, who grabbed her by the arms and somehow rendered her unconscious. When she awoke, she found herself lying on a table within a small craft, where she was approached by what she calls a “guide.” This guide gave her some sort of liquid to drink, which immediately woke her up and energized her, after which he took her outside onto what appeared to be a small hill. She would say of what happened next:

It was dark, but I saw a faint light near a cavern. We walked up to this area and it is then that I saw a man, dressed in a red military-type jump suit [like a pilot would wear]. My guide seemed to know this man as he greeted him as we came closer. I also noticed he wore some type of patch and was carrying an automatic weapon. When we walked into the tunnel, I realized we were going right into the side of a large hill or mountain. There we were met with another guard in red and I then saw a computerized check-point with two cameras on each side. To my left was a large groove where a small transit vehicle carried you further inside.

To my right it looked like a long hallway where there were many offices. We took the transit car and went for what seemed to be a very long time to another secured area. It was then that I was told to step onto some type of scale-like device that faced a computer screen. I saw lights flashing and numbers computing and then a card was issued with holes punched into it. I would later realize it was used as identification inside a computer. I asked my guide where we were going and why. He didn’t say too much the whole time except that he was to show me some things that I need to know for future reference. He told me that we had just entered Level One of the ‘facility’. I asked what kind of facility it was and he did not answer.

The guide then wordlessly took her to a large elevator that had no door and they descended, with him merely remarking that they were going to “Level 2.” Here she says there were offices and people walking about, all of them human and seemingly oblivious to her presence, just going about their business as if she wasn’t there. It all looked rather like a normal office building other than for the armed guards in colored jumpsuits interspersed throughout, and at one point they passed what looked like a huge factory of some sort, which had what looked like “small alien-type craft” parked there. As she looked at this factory and the strange craft, she saw what looked like typical “grey-type aliens” going about some sort of maintenance on the craft, which also ignored her as if she had every right to be there in the world. After this she was taken to another elevator to “Level 5,” where she was asked to change clothes. By this point she was starting to feel terrified, but her guide assured her that nothing bad would happen to her. She put on a hospital gown and was weighed and scanned with some sort of electrical device, after which she was led past another guard station and down another hall. It was here where she says she was suddenly hit with a wave of overpowering stench that smelled to like what she thought might be formaldehyde, something she knew from her days as a former nurse. The guide reassured her that everything was alright but the smell was oppressive, and she says of what happened next:

We came to a large room and I stopped to look inside. I saw these huge large tanks with computerized gauges hooked to them and a huge arm-like device that extended from the top of some tubing down into the tanks. The tanks were about 4 feet tall so standing where I was I could not see inside them. I did notice a humming sound and it looked as if something was being stirred inside the tanks. I started to walk closer to the tanks and it was at that time that my guide grabbed my arm and pulled me roughly out into the hall. He told me that it wasn’t necessary to see the contents of the tanks; that it would only complicate matters. So we went on down the hallway and then he guided my arm into a large laboratory. I was amazed because I had worked in a laboratory before and I was seeing machines that I had never seen before. It was then I turned and saw a small grey being with his back turned doing something at a counter. I heard the clinking of metal against metal. I had only heard this when I was preparing my surgical instruments for my doctor in surgery.

Christa was then told to sit on a table in the middle of the room, and she was now getting the very strong sense that something wasn’t right, the fear beginning to grip her more tightly. As she sat there wondering what to do and what was going on, a human doctor then entered the room, greeted the guide, and turned his gaze to her. She explains the next part of her very odd tale:

My guide smiled at me and told me he would be waiting outside and I would only be there for a few minutes. I began to cry. I cry when I get scared. The grey alien looked at me and turned around to continue what he was doing. The doctor called for more assistance and it was then that one other grey alien came in. The next thing I knew I was very drowsy. I knew I was being examined internally and when I lifted my head, I saw this horrid grey alien glaring at me with large black eyes. It was then I felt a stabbing pain. I screamed and then the human doctor stood next to me and rubbed something over my stomach. It was cold. The pain immediately subsided. I could not believe this was happening to me all over again.

I begged for them to let me go, but they just kept on working very fast. After they were finished, I was told to get up and go into this small room and change back into my other clothes. I noticed blood, as if I had started my period. But, I continued to get dressed and when I came out I saw my guide speaking to the doctor in the corner of the room. I just stood there… helpless. I felt more alone then than I ever had in my life. I felt like a guinea pig. After we left that laboratory I was silent. I was angry at him for allowing this to happen to me ‘again’. But he said it was necessary. Told me to forget. I see more aliens pass us in the hall. Again, it is as if I was a ghost. I asked my guide to please explain this place to me. He told me it was a very sensitive place and I would be brought back again in the next few years. I again asked where I was and he told me I could not be told for my own safety.

She then got into a sort of transit car with her guide and they moved on to what she considers to be the most unsettling thing she saw during the whole weird encounter, saying:

I saw what looked to me to be people of all different types standing up against the wall inside a clear casing-like chamber. I went closer and it looked ‘as if they were wax figures. I could not understand what I was seeing. I also saw animals in cages. They were alive. They looked as if they were in suspended animation. I went up to the clear casings that they were being held in. I put my hands on the casing and leaned towards them to see if I could get some kind of a response. I did not. I could not discern whether they were dead or alive at that point in time. They were just not moving, and I could not see whether or not there was any fluid. I think that the casings were free of any fluid in this particular case.

She says that after this, her guide took her back outside to the waiting alien craft that had abducted her, and she was taken back to where they had found her and her memory was wiped. Remembering this experience through the hypnosis marked the beginning a nearly obsessive search for answers as to what had happened to her. Although she was never explicitly told where she had been taken, she would come to the conclusion that she had likely been brought to a secret underground base beneath the town of Dulce, New Mexico, a place that has been at the center of all manner of conspiracy theories since at least the 1970s and is a hotbed of UFO activity, cattle mutilations, and talk of top secret underground bases. In addition to this, Christa claims that after this initial experience she would be abducted on numerous other occasions and taken to different underground facilities, which she claims the government keeps a network of across the country. She explains of this:

I am aware of many, many, many underground facilities or bases that are being used for different purposes. Most of the underground bases are being used for covert purposes or otherwise purposes involving governments who are doing certain types of testing that they consider would be safer to do underground. And then there are the bases, one in particular north of Tucson, Arizona, where I’m almost positive I was taken to, it goes under the cover or name of “Evergreen Aviation”. They have all the planes there and everything, but what I found during my ten years of research is that this is a CIA-backed or based facility. I got very, very close to the facility, I climbed over the wired fence and sneaked in with a pilot friend of mine not long ago and got some great photographs of some black helicopters. These black helicopters were unmarked. There were other types of aircraft there, and so we really believe that there are many many bases in many states. I’ve heard of bases in almost every state here in the United States.

Christa has written a book of her experiences at Dulce, rather straightforwardly called Underground Alien Bio Lab At Dulce, and has been very vocal about these underground bases and aliens in general. Her stories have gotten increasingly eye-brow raising over the years, with her claiming to be an alien hybrid, and she has written extensively on her encounters with various types of alien beings, including what she calls “Light Beings,” Reptilians, blonde-haired humanoid Nordics, and more, with agendas that from range strict non-interventionists to imperialistic factions who want to conquer Earth. Then there are of course the Greys, which she has made abundantly obvious she doesn’t care much for. She has not minced words when she has said of the Greys:

The Greys seem to do things like a massive collective consciousness. I’ve noticed that they do things together, there is almost no discussion among themselves. They seem to be working on projects or on certain things that are given to them by higher-ups, or higher alien beings and/or humans. I can tell you right now that the main weakness of the Greys is that they have no soul, they are soulless. Do not allow them to tell you otherwise. Some of them have been known to try to impart some type of false religious philosophies on people that they’ve abducted, and the thing is you have to realize that these aliens have their own agenda, and its not something that I feel is a positive one really. Certainly I have to believe that the Greys are, the only way I can describe it is that they are an empty, empty case… There’s nothing there other than a superior technology type of brain apparatus up in their skull area. Otherwise they are of no use to us really, they are really of no use. They are used to impart different technologies and give us information, but as far as trusting them, I do not trust them as far as I could throw them.

It is hard to know what to do with this rather spectacular case, and with all of the added details and science fiction-sounding claims made over the years, Tilton has gained just as many skeptics and detractors as believers. It is all certainly a compelling and oddball case, but is there anything to it all? Whatever you might think, it manages to stand on the fringe end of alien abduction cases, and true or not it manages to point out just how deep the rabbit hole can go.