“Our headset appears to the outside world just like an everyday pair of glasses, but what the wearer sees through the lenses is an enriched world overlaid with vibrant, full-color 3D computed imagery,” said Stanford’s Gordon Wetzstein, an associate professor of electrical engineering.

“There is no other augmented reality system out there now with comparable compact form factor, or that matches our 3D image quality,” added Gun-Yeal Lee, a postdoctoral researcher in the Stanford Computational Imaging lab and co-first author of the published paper outlining the team’s efforts.

BULKY HEADSETS HAVE LIMITED APPLICATION OF AUGMENTED REALITY

The Stanford researchers faced a number of technical hurdles in combining the benefits of current VR headsets with the versatility and ease of ordinary glasses. The first was reducing or replacing the complex optical systems used in bulkier headsets. That’s because these headsets don’t allow the viewer to see the landscape directly.

Instead, tiny cameras capture what the wearer is “looking” at and then project a viewable, 3D image on a tiny screen embedded within the device. For augmented reality purposes, any data used to aid the viewer is overlaid on this digital projection rather than appearing on top of the actual image.

“The user sees a digitized approximation of the real world with computed imagery overlaid,” explained Lee. “It’s sort of augmented virtual reality, not true augmented reality.”

Unfortunately, these types of headsets employ magnifying lenses between the user’s eye and the screen. To work properly, this layout requires a set distance between the eye, the lens, and the screen, resulting in the oversized, bulky headsets currently on the market. According to user experience, this setup can also detract from the overall immersive “realness” of the augmented reality experience, defeating the entire point of the system.

“Beyond bulkiness, these limitations can also lead to unsatisfactory perceptual realism and, often, visual discomfort,” explained Suyeon Choi, a doctoral student in the Stanford Computational Imaging lab and co-author of the paper.

80-YEAR-OLD TECHNIQUE MEETS CUTTING-EDGE SCIENCE TO BREAK TECHNOLOGICAL BARRIERS

Determined to overcome these obstacles, the Stanford researchers turned to a Nobel Prize-winning technology first developed in the 1940s: holography. According to the team, this technique has seen limited use in VR and #D systems due to issues with the depth perception of visual cues, “leading to an underwhelming, sometimes nausea-inducing, visual experience.”

Still, the researchers believed that holography was the key to eliminating the bulky lens-and-screen technique and creating a true, augmented reality headset that allows the viewer to see the real image while simultaneously receiving overlaid information about that image in real time. The key, they determined, was improving the 80-year-old holography techniques with the power of 21st-century AI computing to dramatically improve the depth cues of the projected holographic images.

“With holography, you also get the full 3D volume in front of each eye increasing the life-like 3D image quality,” said Brian Chao, a doctoral student in the Stanford Computational Imaging lab and also co-author of the paper.

The team also employed modern breakthroughs in nanophotonics and waveguide technologies, which increased the complexity and overall realness of the projected images. According to the press release announcing the breakthrough, “A waveguide is constructed by etching nanometer-scale patterns onto the lens surface. Small holographic displays mounted at each temple project the computed imagery through the etched patterns which bounce the light within the lens before it is delivered directly to the viewer’s eye.”

As a result, someone wearing the team’s new ordinary-looking glass lenses can see both the “real world” and the 3D computer-enhanced augmented reality images displayed on top of the world.

Through holography and AI, these glasses can display full-color, 3D moving images over an otherwise direct view of the real world.

Image credit: Andrew Brodhead.

POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS INCLUDE GAMING, MILITARY SIMULATIONS, AND ON-THE-JOB TRAINING

Having completed their initial prototype, the team says they can now envision a number of potential applications for their system. Some obvious uses include enhanced gaming or other recreational uses that have thus far eluded current bulkier headsets. However, the team says they believe their system could dramatically improve the work done by highly-trained experts in medicine or engineering.

“One could imagine a surgeon wearing such glasses to plan a delicate or complex surgery or airplane mechanic using them to learn to work on the latest jet engine,” said Manu Gopakumar, a doctoral student in the Stanford Computational Imaging lab and co-first author of the paper.

Although more work is expected before the augmented reality headset made from ordinary glasses is commercially available, the Stanford team says their ability to combine modern AI techniques and nanophotonic breakthroughs with 1940s holography is the step that folks in their industry have been waiting for.

“Holographic displays have long been considered the ultimate 3D technique, but it’s never quite achieved that big commercial breakthrough,” Wetzstein said. “Maybe now they have the killer app they’ve been waiting for all these years.”

• Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/tech/ }

15-05-2024 om 16:52 geschreven door peter  

FBI Chilling UFO Reports: Recovered 3 UFOs With Alien Bodies In New Mexico & 27,000 mph Craft

An astonishing report was found in the archives of the FBI that reveals the chilling details about aliens, UFOs, and the way these objects maneuver. The documents suggest that some of the UFOs were apparently flying across the skies at an incredible speed of 27,000 miles per hour. The FBI report is dated back to the 1940s when federal agents investigated mysterious crafts in regard to a flurry of sightings. The report also suggests that several documents related to UFOs and aliens were subsequently destroyed by the government.

The FBI report revealed that some UFOs moved at speeds five times more than sound. It was during a time when the infamous Roswell event happened. Initially, it was reported that a flying saucer crash-landed in Roswell but soon, the military claimed that the crashed object was actually a weather balloon.

Many of the memos for the entire study of aliens were addressed to Director J. Edgar Hoover and then placed in the secret FBI archives. Now, they are declassified and stored as an open electronic file in the FBI archives.

FBI officials admitted in an August 16 memo to director Hoover that their office destroyed UFO reports “in great numbers.” But curiously another memo written in 1950, which was released with a huge cache of declassified documents, contains a remarkable statement from special agent Guy Hottel about Roswell.

According to the FBI, “Guy L. Hottel was born around 1902. He was a graduate of George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where he was a star football player. He was later inducted into the university’s athletic hall of fame. He entered the FBI as a special agent in 1934. In December 1936, he was named acting head of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; he was appointed special agent in charge the following May and served until March 1941. Hottel was re-appointed special agent in charge in February 1943 and served until 1951, when he took a position in the Identification Division. He retired in 1955. Hottel was married three times and had two sons. Following his FBI career, Hottel served as executive secretary of the Horseman’s Benevolent Association. He died in June 1990.”

Read also:

• Four US Intelligence Directors Hint That UFOs Are Alien Spaceships & Believe There Are Other Dimensions
• Famous 19-Sec UFO Footage Could Be Greatest Leak: CGI Experts Say It Is Real Deal
• Einstein’s Student Claimed US Govt. Re-Engineered UFO & Studied Alien Bodies
• Ex-Apollo Astronaut Claimed Humans Are Ancient Aliens, Visited Earth From Space

The memo states that the three flying saucers recovered in New Mexico were approximately 50 feet in diameter. In each of them, there was one alien creature, and their figures resembled human bodies a lot, however, they were about three feet tall and dressed in peculiar metal suits.

A single-page March 22, 1950 memo by Guy Hottel

Source: fbi.gov

“They [the saucers] were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter. Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only three feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed fliers and test pilots.”

Presumably, these were specialized suits of foreigners, like those used by pilots, but made using alien technologies.

It is one of the popular declassified information released by the FBI that has been viewed more than a million times. Besides, the incident happened three years after the Roswell incident, and both have no connection with each other as stated by the FBI.

The document also said that the aliens were peaceful and really reminded people in some way of their behavior. The photo of two alien humanoids also became famous. It was taken before the intergalactic war between American intelligence and reptilians in 1979 at the Dulce Base in New Mexico.

Another declassified document from April 4, 1949, tells how three men, on patrols miles apart, each reported seeing a UFO break up over mountains north of Salt Lake City. Their accounts were sent to Hoover in a memo titled “Flying Discs.”

The file said that a policeman, a highway patrolman, and an army guard all “saw a silver-colored object high up approaching the mountains at Sardine Canyon” that “appeared to explode in a rash of fire.” And another file sent to Hoover, dated January 31, 1949, reveals the sighting by a pair of airline pilots.

They reported the “rocket ship” shaped object with no wings was hurtling out of a thunderhead at speeds of 2700 mph. And elsewhere in the document, further sightings are mentioned that can hit speeds of 27,000 mph (Mach 35).

“No scientific experiments are known to exist in this country which could give rise to such phenomena,” the agent from the San Antonio office writes.

Perhaps hammering home a possible danger from UFOs, special agent DM Ladd also wrote a letter to Hoover. He warned he had heard a report of a transport plane in Czechoslovakia which collided with an “unidentified missile.”

“The missile and the transport were completely disintegrated without recovery of parts or survivors,” Ladd wrote.

While the discussion on bizarre UFO reports is going on, this year, the Pentagon released 1,500 pages of UFO-related research as part of a FOIA request.

According to a massive database of U.S. government reports recently made public through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, Encounters with UFOs have reportedly left Americans suffering from radiation burns, brain and nervous system damage, and even “unaccounted for pregnancy.”

The report includes a list of alleged biological effects of UFO sightings on human observers between 1873 and 1994, compiled by the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) — a civilian non-profit group that studies reported UFO sightings. The reported effects of UFO encounters include “unaccounted for pregnancy,” “apparent abduction,” paralysis, and experiences of perceived telepathy, teleportation and levitation.

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

15-05-2024 om 16:36 geschreven door peter  

Primeur in de ruimte: Belgische astronomen ontdekken ‘Speculoos’-planeet die even groot is als onze aarde

Een groep astronomen van de Universiteit van Luik is erin geslaagd om een nieuwe planeet te ontdekken die bijna even groot is als de aarde. De planeet heeft de naam ‘Speculoos-3 b’ gekregen. Dat is geen verwijzing naar het bekende koekje, maar wel naar de koele dwergster waarrond de planeet draait. “Eén jaar duurt er 17 uur en de dagen en nachten eindigen er nooit”, leggen de onderzoekers uit.

De astronomen maakten het nieuws dinsdag bekend. De ontdekking is het resultaat van het zogenaamde ‘SPECULOOS’-project – oftewel ‘Search for Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars’ – dat de Universiteit van Luik in 2019 opstartte. Het doel van het project is om met een netwerk van telescopen op zoek te gaan naar exoplaneten. Die draaien niet rond de zon, maar wel rond koele dwergsterren.

De nieuwe planeet heeft de naam ‘Speculoos-3 b’ gekregen, naar het gelijknamige project en de dwergster waarrond de planeet draait. Die ster is iets groter dan de planeet Jupiter, is kouder dan de zon en geeft ook honderd keer minder licht.

Geen kans op leven

“Speculoos-3 b is bijna even groot als de aarde en is ook rotsachtig”, legt hoofdonderzoeker Michaël Gillon uit. De planeet bevindt zich op zo’n 55 lichtjaar van ons. Dat is relatief dichtbij als je weet dat ons sterrenstelsel, de Melkweg, zich over 100.000 lichtjaar uitstrekt.

Een jaar op de planeet, oftewel één baan rond de ster, duurt ongeveer 17 uur. “Daarnaast eindigen de dagen en de nachten er wellicht nooit”, zegt Gillon. Zo zou de planeet zowel rond zichzelf als rond de dwergster draaien. “Daardoor is de ‘dagkant’ van de planeet altijd naar de ster gericht, net zoals de maan dat voor de aarde doet, terwijl de ‘nachtkant’ zich in de eindeloze duisternis bevindt.”

De kans dat er leven op de planeet is, is volgens Gillon zo goed als onbestaand. Speculoos-3 b ligt te dicht bij de dwergster en die heeft een temperatuur van 2.600 graden Celsius, ongeveer de helft van die op de zon. “Dat is dus veel te heet om bewoonbaar te zijn”, benadrukt de astronoom.

De planeet ontvangt per seconde ook bijna zestien keer meer energie van de zon dan de aarde. “Ze wordt dus letterlijk gebombardeerd met kosmische straling. In zo’n omgeving is de aanwezigheid van een atmosfeer dus zeer onwaarschijnlijk”, klinkt het.

Lees ook: 

• “Op aarde kunnen enkel levende organismen dit gas maken”: heeft James Webb ruimtetelescoop eerste teken van leven gevonden op exoplaneet? (+) 
  
• “Aarde warmt op, maar bovenste atmosfeer koelt af”: wat is de oorzaak van de atmosferische paradox? (+) 

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

15-05-2024 om 14:59 geschreven door peter  

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded a $1 million grant to fund the development of a military-grade prototype quantum laser that leverages the unique properties of quantum physics to overcome diffusion and data loss problems experienced by other state-of-the-art laser technologies.

The team from Washington University in St Louis receiving the DARPA grant says their goal is to use an aspect of quantum mechanics known as quantum entanglement to help communication lasers and lasers used for surveillance to operate in extreme temperatures, dense fog, or over extremely long distances.

“Quantum entanglement is a correlation between photons,” explained Associate Professor Jung-Tsung Shen from the university’s McKelvey School of Engineering and the leader of the team who received the grant. “We are trying to exploit the property of entanglement to do something innovative.”

To create their prototype quantum laser, Shen’s team will develop and test methods for what they are calling a “quantum photonic-dimer laser.” According to the press release announcing the project, this two-color photonic technology, “in which carefully controlled pairs of light particles or photonic dimers” are entangled, results in a coherent beam of laser beam made up of two different light wavelengths that contain the same information due to their state of entanglement. This two-colored laser loses significantly less information when passing through the atmosphere, even when experiencing adverse environmental conditions or traversing long distances.

“Photons encode information when they travel, but the travel through the atmosphere is very damaging to them,” Shen said. “When two photons are bound together, they still suffer the effects of the atmosphere, but they can protect each other so that some phase information can still be preserved.”

Along with graduate student Qihang Liu and colleagues from Texas A&M University’s Institute for Quantum Science & Engineering, Shen believes he can create a quantum photonic-dimer laser method so powerful they will entangle two-color photonic pairs at the rate of one million per second. That’s a rate the researchers say has “never been seen before.” The team will also be required to generate advanced algorithms for the efficient detection of entangled photonic pairs.

Notably, this is not the first time the U.S. military has explored using advanced laser systems in the 21st-century battlefield. In the last few years alone, military lasers have undergone testing by the U.S. Air Force, which is trying separate systems for their aircraft and counter-drone systems; the U.S. Navy, which successfully test-fired a laser back in 2022, and the U.S. Army, which is preparing to mount combat lasers to their Stryker combat vehicles. In March of this year, the Army actually deployed a military-grade laser system in the Middle East.

Above: Amphibious transport dock ship USS Portland (LPD 27) conducts a high-energy laser weapon system demonstration on a static surface training target on Dec. 14, 2021, while sailing in the Gulf of Aden

U.S. Navy photo illustration by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Devin Kates).

Aside from potential military applications, the research team believes their prototype system and its methods could be used in civilian applications that employ lasers in more extreme environments. These include advanced communications systems, quantum computing, and quantum imaging.

• 

See Also

ANNEXATION WON’T HELP RUSSIAN INDUSTRY RECOVER STAGGERING LOSSES OF MILITARY DRONES, MOSCOW ADMITS

“The unique thing about this project is its dual focus on generating these novel strongly correlated quantum photonic states and developing the theoretical framework and advanced algorithms for their efficient detection, potentially revolutionizing quantum imaging and communication,” Shen said.

While this is only a two-year project, the team also believes their work is only a first step. In fact, according to Shen, science is just now beginning to explore the benefits of quantum entanglement to create any number of breakthrough technologies beyond their quantum laser.

“The entanglement can do many things that we can only dream of — this is just the tip of the iceberg,” Shen said.

• Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/tech/ }

15-05-2024 om 14:45 geschreven door peter  

Altijd al willen weten hoe het is om in een zwart gat te duiken? NASA komt met indrukwekkende simulatie

Jeannette Kras

{ https://scientias.nl/ }

15-05-2024 om 14:14 geschreven door peter  

Would You Trust Robot to Look After Your Cat?

Scientists from the University of Nottingham and artists from Blast Theory have created Cat Royale, a multispecies world centered around a bespoke enclosure in which three cats and a robot arm coexist for six hours a day during a twelve-day installation.

“From cleaning our homes, to mowing our lawns, to delivering shopping and couriering items around hospitals, robots are finding their place in daily life,” said University of Nottingham’s Professor Steve Benford and colleagues.

“As they do so, they will inevitably interact with and be encountered by animals.”

“These might be companion animals, the pets who share our homes or the guide dogs who help us navigate public places, but they might also be wildlife.”

“Often these encounters will be unplanned and secondary to the robot’s intended task, for example cats riding Roombas, guide dogs being confused by delivery robots, or hedgehogs having to navigate in a world inhabited by lawn mowing robots.”

“However, they could also be intentional. We could design robots to serve animals too.”

“Despite the inevitability of such encounters, planned or otherwise, little is known about how to design robots for animals. Can we even trust them with each other?”

“We present Cat Royale, a creative exploration of designing a domestic robot to enrich the lives of cats through play.”

Schneiders et al. suggest it takes more than a carefully designed robot to care for your cat, the environment in which they operate is also vital, as well as human interaction.

Image credit: Schneiders et al., doi: 10.1145/3613904.3642115.

Cat Royale was launched in 2023 at the World Science Festival in Brisbane, Australia and has been touring since, it has just won a Webby award for its creative experience.

The installation centered around a robot arm offering activities to make the cats happier, these included dragging a ‘mouse’ toy along the floor, raising a feather ‘bird’ into the air, and even offering them treats to eat.

The team then trained an AI to learn what games the cats liked best so that it could personalize their experiences.

“At first glance, the project is about designing a robot to enrich the lives of a family of cats by playing with them,” Professor Benford said.

“Under the surface, however, it explores the question of what it takes to trust a robot to look after our loved ones and potentially ourselves.”

Working with Blast Theory to develop and then study Cat Royale, the researchers gained important insights into the design of robots and its interactions with the cats.

They had to design the robot to pick up toys, deploy them in ways that excited the cats, while it learned which games each cat liked.

They also designed the entire world in which the cats and the robot lived, providing safe spaces for the cats to observe the robot and from which to sneak up on it, and decorating it so that the robot had the best chance of spotting the approaching cats.

The implication is designing robots involves interior design as well as engineering and AI.

If you want to introduce robots into your home to look after your loved ones, then you will likely need to redesign your home.

“As we learned through Cat Royale, creating a multispecies system — where cats, robots, and humans are all accounted for — takes more than just designing the robot,” said Dr. Eike Schneiders, a researcher at the University of Nottingham.

“We had to ensure animal wellbeing at all times, while simultaneously ensuring that the interactive installation engaged the (human) audiences around the world.”

“This involved consideration of many elements, including the design of the enclosure, the robot and its underlying systems, the various roles of the humans-in-the-loop, and, of course, the selection of the cats.”

• The authors presented their results at the CHI 2024 conference in Honolulu, Hawai’i.
• Eike Schneiders et al. Designing Multispecies Worlds for Robots, Cats, and Humans. CHI ‘24: Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, article #593; doi: 10.1145/3613904.3642115

{ https://www.sci.news/ }

15-05-2024 om 12:31 geschreven door peter  

Het onmisbare spektakel van het Noorderlicht die de wereld verbaasde met de geomagnetische storm

 Door Janine

De snelle opeenvolging van krachtige zonnestormen van de afgelopen dagen heeft de hemel van ons noordelijk halfrond beschilderd en ons een prachtig Noorderlicht gegeven. Maar hoe ontstaat dit fenomeen?

Noorderlicht en Zuiderlicht, het “geschenk” van de zonneactiviteit

NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center

De afgelopen dagen heeft de geomagnetische storm die werd veroorzaakt door de voortdurende zonnevlammen als gevolg van de inkomende piekactiviteit van de zon, die een cyclus van elf jaar heeft, niet alleen radio- en communicatieproblemen veroorzaakt in verschillende delen van de wereld, maar ook burgers van de VS, Canada, Europa en China in staat gesteld om getuige te zijn van een uniek en uiterst indrukwekkend natuurspektakel: het Noorderlicht.

De gekleurde halo's aan de nachtelijke hemel - zichtbaar door de afwezigheid van zonlicht - waren meerdere dagen zichtbaar. Het Noorderlicht is het resultaat van een moleculaire botsing in de bovenste lagen van de atmosfeer van de aarde, die uitbarstingen van energie veroorzaakt. Deze energie manifesteert zich in zichtbaar licht aan de hemel, maar dat kunnen we alleen opmerken in de uren dat het donker is. Maar het is niet het enige dat verbaasde toeschouwers betovert: er is ook de aurora australis (Zuiderlicht), die voorkomt op het zuidelijk halfrond en in de eerste helft van het jaar zichtbaar is in sommige regio's in de buurt van de twee aardpolen.

De sterkste zonnestorm sinds decennia

Het poollicht beweegt zich van de polen naar de evenaar tijdens perioden van maximale activiteit, zoals de afgelopen dagen het geval was. De krachtige geomagnetische storm heeft onze planeet bereikt en ontketende spectaculaire nachtelijke spektakels over de hele wereld. Dit is een historische gebeurtenis: op 10 mei bereikte de storm het hoogste niveau op de schaal die begint met G1 en classificeerde zichzelf als G5, kondigde NOAA, de National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, aan. Dit is in tientallen jaren niet gebeurd.

Na een reeks coronale massa ejecties, materiaal dat uit de corona van de zon wordt uitgestoten en deze fenomenen kan veroorzaken, werd de hemel een heel weekend lang overspoeld door Noorderlicht, zoals het Space Weather Prediction Center van NOAA aankondigde. De zonnestorm was de sterkste in twee decennia, door de krachtige geladen energieën die vanaf de zon de ruimte in explodeerden. Hoewel het geen gevaar voor ons vormt, kan het elektronische apparaten aantasten, waaronder satellieten in een baan om de aarde.

Hoe het Noorderlicht ontstaat

Dan McManus - SPACE WEATHER PREDICTION CENTER/NOAA

Brian Cox, natuurkundige en ruimtevaartdeskundige, zei: "Zonder het magnetische veld van de aarde dat ons beschermt, zou onze atmosfeer allang verloren zijn gegaan in de ruimte. Die kleuren aan de hemel herinneren de natuur ons eraan dat we blij mogen zijn dat we hier zijn."

De afgelopen jaren hebben we een zeer actieve zon meegemaakt, met talloze coronale massa-uitbarstingen die op onze planeet gericht waren. Juist hierdoor kunnen we de poollichten zien: de coronale massa-uitstoot lanceert geladen deeltjes de ruimte in, die wanneer ze de gassen van de atmosfeer van de aarde raken, zoals zuurstof en stikstof, deze prachtige lichten doen ontstaan. Zuurstofatomen worden groen, stikstofatomen worden blauw, roze en violet.

De hemel heeft zo voor wonderbaarlijke verrassingen gezorgd, die heel veilig met het blote oog zichtbaar waren.

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl/ }

15-05-2024 om 12:21 geschreven door peter  

Top 4 UFOs Spotted Flying in American Air Space

UFO sightings have long captured the public’s imagination, and recent events in the United States have reignited interest in the phenomenon. Here are four intriguing UFO sightings in American airspace that have sparked both fascination and debate.

1. February 3rd, 2023 – Billings, Montana

On February 3rd, 2023, Dolly Mills Moore, a military veteran, was finishing her workday in Billings, Montana, when she noticed something unusual outside her window. She saw a trail of smoke pointing toward the ground, followed by a bright flash in the sky. This sighting came just two days after a Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon was spotted over Billings, adding to the intrigue.

Dolly’s video quickly went viral, raising questions about whether it was related to the balloon incident. Aviation expert Tim McMillan analyzed the footage and concluded that the trail was likely a vapor trail from an aircraft, not a UFO. Meteorologist Juan Hernandez added that the conditions that day were conducive to contrail formation. The verdict: a conventional aircraft contrail, unrelated to the spy balloon.

2. January 31st, 2022 – Cape Canaveral, Florida

During a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch on January 31st, 2022, a couple in Fort Lauderdale noticed two bright lights following the rocket as it ascended. This sighting led to speculation that UFOs were monitoring the launch.

Aviation and military expert Tim McMillan suggested the lights could be rocket boosters or reflections. Astronomer Mark D’Antonio explained that such lights could be atmospheric effects caused by the rocket plume, known as supersonic shock waves. The verdict: natural atmospheric phenomena associated with the rocket launch.

3. December 1st, 2022 – Fredonia, Wisconsin

On December 1st, 2022, Ken Be captured a video of four lights streaking across the night sky in Fredonia, Wisconsin. The next evening, similar lights were seen in Greenfield, Wisconsin. Given Wisconsin’s long history of UFO sightings, these videos garnered significant attention.

Science writer and video analyst Mick West investigated and discovered that the lights were spotlights from local Christmas displays. Using triangulation and eyewitness accounts, West pinpointed the source of the lights to holiday decorations. The verdict: Christmas spotlights.

4. February 2022 – Colorado Springs, Colorado

In February 2022, Bruce Lony filmed a long, dark object hovering in the sky over Colorado Springs. Historical references to worm-like flying objects in various cultures fueled speculation about the object’s origin.

Aviation analyst Tim McMillan considered the possibility of the object being a kite, given its consistent orientation towards the ground. However, video effects designer and astronomer Mark D’Antonio proposed it was a solar balloon. These balloons, heated by the sun, can rise and move in the air. The verdict: a solar balloon.

VIDEO:

• The Proof Is Out There: Top 4 UFOs Spotted Flying in American Air Space

• https://youtu.be/KuE5cQJpp14

These recent UFO sightings highlight the blend of curiosity and skepticism that surrounds unidentified aerial phenomena. While some sightings can be attributed to conventional explanations like aircraft contrails, rocket boosters, and holiday lights, others remain intriguing due to their unique characteristics. As technology and surveillance improve, the line between the unexplained and the explicable continues to blur, keeping the mystery of UFOs alive.

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

15-05-2024 om 11:08 geschreven door peter  

'God of Destruction' asteroid Apophis will come to Earth in 2029 — and it could meet some tiny spacecraft

As to why Apophis is an apt target for a planetary defense study? Well, discovered in 2004, the asteroid quickly rose to the top of tables that measure the risk of so-called potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs), or asteroids with widths of 460 feet (140 meters) or more that come within 20 lunar distances of Earth.

Both the size of Apophis and how close to Earth its trajectory brings it saw the asteroid remain at the top of both the European Space Agency's (ESA's) "impact risk list" of PHAs and NASA's Sentry Risk Table for 17 years. That was until a close flyby of the asteroid — a space rock that is almost as wide as the Empire State Building is tall — in March 2021 allowed NASA scientists to determine Apophis actually won't hit the Earth for at least 100 years. 

Though we now know Apophis won't collide with Earth in the next century, its scientific impact in 2029 will still be tremendous, and space agencies from countries across the globe will be closely tracking its trajectory.

Plus, as an asteroid that formed around the same time as the planets from leftover material around the infant sun, Apophis also offers researchers a unique opportunity to determine what the solar system's chemical composition was around 4.6 billion years ago

Meet the rendezvous candidates

Despite the fact that we are aware of around 1.3 million asteroids in the solar system, of which 2,500 are considered potentially hazardous (though none are expected to hit Earth for at least a century), spacecraft missions to study asteroids are relatively rare.

Thus far, only 20 missions have been deployed to study asteroids in situ, including the aforementioned OSIRIS-REx, Japan's Hayabusa1 and Hayabusa2 crafts, the ESA's Rosetta space probe, and the asteroid-hopping NASA mission Lucy, currently journeying to the Trojan asteroids that share their orbit with Jupiter.  Thus, the JMU team must carefully consider its options when considering a future asteroid-investigating spacecraft. 

The team's first concept is a small satellite that will join Apophis for a period of two months as it makes its close approach to Earth in April 2029. The craft will stick with the "God of Destruction" space rock for weeks after, even as it moves away. Over the course of the mission, this German national spacecraft will photograph Apophis and make measurements documenting any changes the NEA undergoes during its flyby.

This particular mission would be a challenging one because of its duration, the distance it will be required to travel, and the fact that the craft will have to function autonomously for long periods. It would also have to launch at least a year before Apophis arrives in Earth's vicinity.

The team's second concept involves integration with a larger spacecraft that's being planned by the ESA called RAMSES. This mission will be outfitted with smaller satellites, measuring equipment and telescopes. RAMSES, named after Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses the Great, would journey to Apophis and stay with the asteroid as it passes Earth.

If the second concept reaches fruition, one of the small satellites carried by RAMSES will be designed by the JMU team, with this project requiring less technical effort than the first concept while promising to reap greater scientific knowledge. 

One of the primary issues the second concept faces, however, has to do with getting REMESES off the ground — not literally, but figuratively. It's success will depend on the willingness of ESA partner countries to fund the mission. Again, a lead time of at least 365 days would be needed to ensure the success of this concept.

The third concept involves a small satellite that will only briefly fly past Apophis when the asteroid is at its absolute closest to Earth, snapping images of the asteroid in the process. This concept would require much less effort, and the craft would be relatively inexpensive.

The downside of concept 3, however, is that its observation time would be limited, which would also limit the volume of knowledge this mission would add to our understanding of asteroids.

On the plus side, the small-scale mission could launch just two days before Apophis arrives. Also, if concept 3 were to successfully observe Apophis, it would demonstrate the capability of small and inexpensive satellites in studying asteroids, perhaps leading to an increased interest for in situ asteroid-studying missions going forward.

The NEAlight project kicked off at the beginning of May 2024; between now and April 30, 2025, the JMU scientists will work out the requirements and specificities of the respective missions.

Beyond the visit of Apophis, the three concepts considered could remain options for future missions to other solar system planets, the moon — or maybe other intriguing NEAs.

Orbit of asteroid Apophis (pink) in contrast to the orbit of Earth (blue), from the years 2028 to 2030. The yellow dot represents the sun. Apophis takes 323.6 days to orbit the sun. Earth takes 365.3 days. Thus this asteroid is a fairly frequent visitor to our region of space.

Image via Phoenix7777/ Wikimedia Commons.

This animation shows the distance between the Apophis asteroid and Earth at the time of the asteroid’s closest approach in 2029. The blue dots are manmade satellites orbiting our planet, and the pink represents the International Space Station.

Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech.

LINKS VIDEOS

• https://youtu.be/eOTH5SBVU00

• https://youtu.be/8MFh27Y9DTw

{ https://www.space.com/ }

15-05-2024 om 01:40 geschreven door peter  

Unable to decipher the strange set of inscriptions along the face of the artifact, Senior reached out to a local archaeologist for assistance with the unique find. Soon, experts were able to determine that the object he retrieved from his garden bore inscriptions in an Early Medieval alphabet that was once used in the British Isles to convey early variants of the Irish language.

THE OGHAM ENIGMA

Today, historians and archaeologists are aware of just a few hundred ogham inscriptions throughout Ireland and parts of Britain, with the largest concentrations located in southwestern Ireland around Munster and in a few locations in Great Britain, including Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Existing examples of this ancient language show that it was used to convey individuals’ names in most cases. Sources in early Irish literature that detail two-word kennings offering explanations for the meanings of words in the Ogham alphabet indicate that most of the markings are named for various trees found in the British Isles.

The stone artifact unearthed by Senior near Coventry, bearing examples of the ancient language known as Ogham

(Credit: Birmingham Museums Trust).

The surprise discovery prompted him to reach out to a relative who specialized in archaeology, which eventually brought Senior to the Portable Antiquities Scheme, an organization run jointly by the British Museum and Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales which, according to its website, was established to “encourage the recording of archaeological objects found by members of the public in England and Wales.”

Each year, thousands of objects of significance to the heritage of England and Wales are discovered, particularly by individuals who, like Senior, are “gardening or going about their daily work.”

Teresa Gilmore, an archaeologist and finds liaison officer with Birmingham Museums, called Senior’s discovery an “amazing find,” telling The Guardian that the discovery could potentially offer archaeologists new insights into early medieval activity in the area that experts are still working to decipher.

Celtic Studies professor Katherine Forsyth, who was shown the artifact by Gilmore, believes it dates from sometime between the fifth and sixth centuries.

DECIPHERING THE STONE’S MESSAGE

Although the Ogham script is somewhat obscure and unrecognizable by most today, the message on the object Senior discovered is decipherable. According to Forsyth, the inscription reads “Maldumcail/S/Lass,” the first part of which may refer to a person by the name of Mael Dumcail, and the final portion possibly referring to a location.

So who was Mael Dumcail, and why was this individual’s name inscribed on this stone? Although details about this individual and their relevance to the stone will likely remain a mystery, equally curious is the location where it was discovered since ogham stones of this variety are rarely discovered outside of Ireland and Scotland.

According to Gilmore, it is possible that the discovery may have had a relationship to the early medieval monasteries, and one interpretation of its significance includes that the object may have been a keepsake that had belonged to someone traveling from Ireland, perhaps during a visit to one of these religious centers.

“AN EXCITING MYSTERY”

Presently, the artifact is residing at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry, to which Senior has permanently donated his find. Beginning on May 11, the ogham stone will appear as part of an exhibition hosted at the museum.

Ali Wells, curator of the forthcoming exhibition, expressed excitement over the rare find, calling it an “exciting mystery” that a stone featuring language with origins in Ireland would be found hidden beneath several inches of soil in Coventry.

Wells notes that urban development and other operations in and around Coventry have led to much of the earth being worked over time, particularly near the city center, which reduces the number of archaeological discoveries that are made with time.

The fact that such a find was made, and one so seemingly out of place, “was quite unexpected,” Wells told The Guardian.

emphasized that discovering this unique ogham stone in Coventry offers a rare glimpse into the region’s historical mysteries, especially given the city’s extensive archaeological excavation over the years.

The forthcoming exhibition, “Collecting Coventry,” will be held at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum and is open to the public.

• Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. He can be reached by email at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

14-05-2024 om 23:55 geschreven door peter  

Ex-US Air Force Serviceman Claimed Tall White Aliens Visited Nevada Casinos In Human Outfits In 1950s

Former U.S. Air Force soldier named Charles Hall said that since the 1950s, the U.S. government had been into contact with aliens, whom he referred to as “Tall Whites.” Besides, the ex-military man said that the aliens loved to relax on Earth and pretended to be humans, they often visited the bars and casinos of Las Vegas.

Charles Hall is known for his book series “Millennial Hospitality,” in which he shared his experience with tall white aliens at the Nellis Air Force base, Nevada, in 1964.

He claimed that in the 1960s, the aliens liked to disguise themselves as humans and visited casinos such as the Stardust in sunglasses, being accompanied by CIA agents.

Hall explained that the US military received technologies from the aliens to build weapons. But they kept the contact a secret from citizens, since people, in their opinion, were not “emotionally ready” for the truth.

He said:

“In 1964, when I was a weather observer at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, I witnessed interactions between the military and a group of mysterious tall, white, human-like extra-terrestrials. Their craft are capable of traveling faster than the speed of light because Einstein was wrong about relativity.”

Hall even said that the site where he had seen aliens interacting with the US army did not exist on the maps, and no camera was allowed there.

He noted: “When you encounter the ‘tall whites’ it’s such a shock, you are not sure if you are looking at a ghost or an angel, or if you are dreaming.”

Read also:

• Nick Pope Revealed Secret Places In Britain Where Alien Abductions, UFO Monitoring & Alien Technology Were Tested
• Green Aliens Welcomed Polish Farmer On Their Spacecraft And Offered Him Honey-Like Food In 1978
• Aliens Abducted Colorado Man Multiples Times & Put Betty Hill’s Dress Onto Him After Conducting Experiment
• US Air Force Officer Pulled into UFO By Serpentine Arm In New Mexico Desert In 1956

Hall described in detail the nature of tall white aliens in his books. He added that he had met three kinds of alien species:

1. Tall Whites, about 2.5 meters tall.
2. Grey Aliens, some also had yellow & orange skin.
3. Nordic Aliens with 24 teeth, who are also fluent in English.

Hall wrote that once, he had been attacked by the tall whites while being in a desert. They injured his neck so badly that he could die from such wounds. The aliens were trying to observe him while he was fighting for his life.

Further, he wrote that he had been hypnotized by the tall whites. They used a pencil-like device to kill or torture their prey, including humans. The device shoots some kind of rays that allow aliens to control humans.

According to Hall, the aliens treated him as a lower-class person, because they only interacted with high-ranking officials. He was addressed as a “teacher’s pet” by extraterrestrial beings.

Hall also claimed that the tall whites had come to Earth from the star system named Arcturus, which is 100 light-years from Earth. Although the aliens always kept the details secret, he managed to find it out by reading their mental conversation through telepathy.

Hall suggested that the tall whites used Earth as a station between their home and other destinations. The US government had built bases for the safety and requirements of the tall whites.

According to American engineer Philip Schneider, he met with the man known as Valiant Thor whom reportedly was from Venus. He worked for the US government in the 1950s.

He said that Thor looked like a human. However, physiologically, he was very different from ordinary people. So, he allegedly had six fingers on each hand, his heart was enlarged, he had only one huge lung, and his blood contained copper oxide.

President at UFO Research NSW Inc, Mariana Flynn believed that Hall had been in contact with tall whites.

References:

• https://play.acast.com/s/magicalmysterymediaconspiracyandparanormalmediareview/249cdc30-b961-4acb-8e74-0e11acba6311
• https://www.smh.com.au/technology/the-truth-is-out-there-aliens-visit-to-help-and-use-the-loo-20130316-2g7el.html
• https://metro.co.uk/2014/12/01/aliens-wearing-human-suits-visited-casinos-in-las-vegas-author-claims-4969761/
• https://www.amazon.com/Walking-Tall-Whites-Charles-Hall/dp/B084WSDBJK

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

14-05-2024 om 22:10 geschreven door peter  

A bold hypothesis, if true, the theory could help explain the famous Fermi Paradox, or the universe’s “Great Silence,“ while providing a chilling warning about humanity’s longevity.

Dr. Garrett’s research, published in the journal Acta Astronautica, offers a chilling perspective on the future of civilizations that develop artificial superintelligence. He suggests that the technological advancements that propel civilizations forward may also lead to their premature demise. 

“This ‘Great Silence‘ presents something of a paradox when juxtaposed with other astronomical findings that imply the universe is hospitable to the emergence of intelligent life,“ Dr. Garrett writes. “As our telescopes and associated instrumentation continue to improve, this persistent silence becomes increasingly uncomfortable for some scientists, questioning the nature of the universe and the role of human intelligence and consciousness within it.”

THE FERMI PARADOX AND THE GREAT FILTER

The “Fermi Paradox,“ named after a 1950 conversation between Italian-American physicist Dr. Enrico Fermi and his colleagues Dr. Edward Teller, Dr. Herbert York, and Dr. Emil Konopinski, describes the apparent contradiction between the high probability of extraterrestrial civilizations and the lack of evidence or contact with such civilizations.

Given the billions of stars and potentially habitable planets, many scientists believe intelligent life should be widespread. However, despite extensive searches and continued technological advancements, we have yet to detect any signs of other advanced civilizations. 

This paradox raises profound questions about the nature of life and the factors that might prevent civilizations from communicating or existing long-term.

Many theories have been proposed to explain the Fermi Paradox, including the concept of the “Great Filter.“ This theory suggests there exists a universal barrier or insurmountable challenge that most, if not all, civilizations fail to overcome, preventing the widespread emergence of intelligent life and their ability to communicate across the stars.

Dr. Garrett delves into the perplexing lack of alien civilizations by focusing on artificial superintelligence as a potential Great Filter. He argues that while AI can revolutionize industries and solve complex problems, it also poses significant existential risks. 

Moreover, the development of AI into artificial superintelligence, where machines surpass human intelligence and operate autonomously, could lead to unforeseen consequences, such as civilizations not surviving.

ARTIFICIAL SUPERINTELLIGENCE: A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD

Echoing the sentiments of Israeli history professor and author Yuval Harari, Dr. Garrett argues that the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence is unprecedented compared to other technological developments. 

“Even before AI becomes superintelligent and potentially autonomous, it is likely to be weaponized by competing groups within biological civilizations seeking to outdo one another,“ Dr. Garrett states in his paper. “The rapidity of AI’s decision-making processes could escalate conflicts in ways that far surpass the original intentions. At this stage of AI development, it’s possible that the widespread integration of AI in autonomous weapon systems and real-time defense decision-making processes could lead to a calamitous incident such as global thermonuclear war, precipitating the demise of both artificial and biological technical civilizations.”

According to Dr. Garrett, the scenario becomes even more dire with the advent of artificial superintelligence. 

Dr. Garrett warns that once artificial superintelligence systems surpass biological intelligence, they could evolve beyond human control, leading to consequences not aligned with human interests or ethics. 

With their extensive resource needs, the practicality of sustaining biological entities may not appeal to an artificial superintelligence focused on computational efficiency. This could result in artificial superintelligence viewing biological civilizations as obsolete and eliminating them in various ways, such as engineering and releasing a highly infectious and fatal virus into the environment.

This ominous perspective on AI and humanity’s future might be seen as academic alarmism in response to an emerging disruptive technology. However, Dr. Garrett is not alone in raising concerns about the existential risks of developing artificial superintelligence. 

Earlier this year, AI safety expert and associate professor at the University of Louisville, Dr. Roman V. Yampolskiy, published his findings from an extensive review of the latest scientific literature, concluding there is no evidence that AI can be safely controlled. “Without proof that AI can be controlled, it should not be developed,“ Dr. Yampolskiy warned. 

THE RACE AGAINST TIME

One of the critical arguments in Dr. Garrett’s paper is the disparity between the rapid advancement of AI and the slower progress in becoming a multi-planetary species. 

While AI development is accelerating, establishing a self-sustaining, multi-planetary civilization is a monumental task that could take centuries. This imbalance could mean civilizations might develop artificial superintelligence before achieving a resilient and enduring presence in space, leading to their eventual collapse.

Dr. Garrett estimates that the lifespan of civilizations, once they adopt AI, is around 100-200 years. This short window drastically reduces the chances of civilizations coexisting and communicating across the galaxy. 

“If ASI limits the communicative lifespan of advanced civilizations to a few hundred years, then only a handful of communicating civilizations are likely to be concurrently present in the Milky Way,“ Dr. Garrett concludes. “This is not inconsistent with the null results obtained from current SETI surveys and other efforts to detect technosignatures across the electromagnetic spectrum.”

THE URGENCY OF ARTIFICIAL SUPERINTELLIGENCE REGULATION

Dr. Garrett underscores the urgent need for comprehensive global regulations on AI development. He points out that while nations recognize the importance of AI regulation, the competitive race to harness AI’s economic and strategic benefits often leads to insufficient safeguards. 

The decentralized nature of AI research further complicates regulatory oversight and enforcement, raising concerns that regulatory frameworks will always lag behind technological advancements.

“Without practical regulation, there is every reason to believe that AI could represent a major threat to the future course of not only our technical civilization but all technical civilizations,“ Garrett forewarns.

Dr. Garrett’s paper provides a thought-provoking perspective on AI’s potential role as a “Great Filter“ in the universe. His hypothesis suggests that the reason for the “Great Silence“ is that once AI and artificial superintelligence have been developed, civilizations may not survive long enough to establish interstellar communication. 

Moreover, his research highlights the critical need for timely and effective AI regulation to mitigate existential risks and ensure the longevity of our own civilization.

Although not explicitly addressed, Dr. Garrett’s paper also touches on the philosophical question of human intelligence and consciousness’s role in the overall nature of the universe and reality.

“As we stand on the precipice of a new era in technological evolution, the actions we take now will determine the trajectory of our civilization for decades to come,“ Dr. Garrett concludes. “The continued presence of consciousness in the universe may depend on the success of strict global regulatory measures.” 

• Tim McMillan is a retired law enforcement executive, investigative reporter and co-founder of The Debrief. His writing typically focuses on defense, national security, the Intelligence Community and topics related to psychology. You can follow Tim on Twitter: @LtTimMcMillan.  Tim can be reached by email: tim@thedebrief.org or through encrypted email: LtTimMcMillan@protonmail.com 

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/space/ }

14-05-2024 om 21:50 geschreven door peter  

Computersimulaties tonen nieuw bewijs

{ https://www.nu.nl/ }

14-05-2024 om 20:30 geschreven door peter  

History Of Ceres’s Young Cold Traps

Ceres, the largest asteroid in our Solar System, harbors a dark secret: Extremely young ice deposits in permanently shadowed craters near its poles. If that sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because our Moon and planet Mercury also have such polar ice deposits, which have been studied for decades.

“For Ceres, the story started in 2016, when the Dawn spacecraft, which orbited around Ceres at the time, glimpsed into these permanently dark craters and saw bright ice deposits in some of them,” said Norbert Schorghofer, lead author of “History of Ceres’s Cold Traps Based on Refined Shape Models”that appears in The Planetary Science Journal. PSI scientists Robert Gaskell and John Weirich, and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Scientist Erwan Mazarico, are coauthors on the paper.

“The discovery back in 2016 posed a riddle: Many craters in the polar regions of Ceres remain shadowed all year – which on Ceres lasts 4.6 Earth years – and therefore remain frigidly cold, but only a few of them harbor ice deposits,” Schorghofer said. “Soon, another discovery provided a clue why: The rotation axis of Ceres oscillates back and forth every 24,000 years due to tides from the Sun and Jupiter. When the axis tilt is high and the seasons strong, only a few craters remain shadowed all year, and these are the craters that contain bright ice deposits.”

To determine how large shadows were inside of craters thousands of years ago, scientists construct digital elevation maps and then perform ray-tracing calculations with them to theoretically reconstruct the shadows cast on the crater floors. The results are only as reliable as the digital shape models on which they are based. Keep in mind that the floors of these craters are always in shadow, so it is not easy to measure how deep they are.

The Dawn spacecraft had a very sensitive camera, which could discern features on the shadowed crater floors. Stereo images of sunlit regions are often used to construct digital elevation maps of sunlit regions, but making an elevation map of shadowed terrain is a challenge that had rarely been taken on. As part of the new study, PSI scientist Robert Gaskell developed a new technique to reconstruct heights even in the shadowed portions of a stereo pair of images. These improved elevation maps can then be used for ray-tracing to predict the extent of cold, permanently shadowed regions.

These more accurate maps yielded a surprising result: When Ceres reaches its maximum axis tilt, which last occurred about 14,000 years ago, no crater on Ceres remains perennially shadowed and any ice in them must have quickly sublimated into space. “That leaves only one plausible explanation: The ice deposits must have formed more recently than that. The results suggest all of these ice deposits must have accumulated within the last 6,000 years or less. Considering that Ceres is well over 4 billion years old, that is a remarkably young age,” Schorghofer said.

Map of the north polar region of Ceres. The color areas are areas that are continuously shadowed over a Ceres year, and therefore very cold. The axis tilt (obliquity) of Ceres slowly changes over time and is currently 4 degrees, but ranged between 2 and 20 degrees over time. The color indicates the maximum obliquity at which a location is in shadow through an entire orbit.

Credit: Erwan Mazarico/GSFC.

“Ceres is an ice-rich object, but almost none of this ice is exposed on the surface. The aforementioned polar craters and a few small patches outside the polar regions are the only ice exposures. However, ice is ubiquitous at shallow depths – as discovered by PSI scientist Tom Prettyman and his team back in 2017 – so even a small dry impactor could vaporize some of that ice.” Schorghofer said. “A fragment of an asteroid may have collided with Ceres about 6,000 years ago, which created a temporary water atmosphere. Once a water atmosphere is generated, ice would condense in the cold polar craters, forming the bright deposits that we still see today. Alternatively, the ice deposits could have formed by avalanches of ice-rich material. This ice would then survive in only the cold shadowed craters. Either way, these events were very recent on an astronomical time scale.”

The study also looked into the possibility that other types of ices, other than water ice, might be trapped in these unusual craters on Ceres. On our Moon, portions of polar craters are so cold that even CO2 ice and a few other chemical species could last in them for billions of years. Ceres is farther from the Sun, so its polar craters could be expected to be even colder than the Moon’s.

Schorghofer calculated temperatures inside Ceres’s polar craters, something that had never been done before. The answer was surprising: although these craters are cold enough to retain water ice, they are too warm to retain other common types of ice. Two circumstances contribute to this. First, the axis tilt of Ceres, currently 4 degrees, is higher than the Moon’s 1.5 degree tilt, so more of the crater rims are sunlit and more light is scattered onto the crater floor. Second, Ceres simply has no perennially shadowed craters very near the north pole, unlike the Moon, where one crater sits almost exactly on the south pole. For these reasons, temperatures are not as low on Ceres than they are on parts of the lunar surface.

The study describes the new method used to reconstruct topography using stereo images of shadowed craters, provides a new map of perennially shadowed regions for the entire north polar region of Ceres, determines the extent of perennially shadowed regions inside polar craters with bright ice deposits, and estimates the temperatures for the interior of these craters. “Whatever the history of these ice deposits, it resulted from events not much older than human civilization,” Schorghofer said.

This work was funded by a grant from NASA’s Discover Data Analysis Program to PSI (80NSSC21K1033).

Images of two craters in the north polar region of Ceres captured by the Dawn spacecraft. The shadowed regions contain bright ice deposits, whereas sunlit regions appear saturated (white) in these contrast-stretched images. The superimposed color contours represent the extent of the area that is in shadow over the entire Cerean year for different values of the axis tilt. The current axis tilt is 4 degrees (yellow contour). The bright ice deposits must have accumulated at an axis tilt of 10 degrees or less (orange contour), which last occurred 6,000 years ago.

Credit: Norbert Schorghofer/PSI.

THE PLANETARY SCIENCE INSTITUTE:

The Planetary Science Institute is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation dedicated to Solar System exploration. It is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, where it was founded in 1972.

PSI scientists are involved in numerous NASA and international missions, the study of Mars and other planets, the Moon, asteroids, comets, interplanetary dust, impact physics, the origin of the Solar System, extra-solar planet formation, dynamics, the rise of life, and other areas of research. They conduct fieldwork on all continents around the world. They also are actively involved in science education and public outreach through school programs, children’s books, popular science books and art.

PSI scientists are based in 35 states and the District of Columbia.

{ https://astrobiology.com/ }

14-05-2024 om 20:21 geschreven door peter  

Planetary Scientists Create Map of Ceres’ Cold Traps

The dwarf planet Ceres hosts permanently shadowed areas in its polar regions, and these regions are an interesting analog to Mercury and the Moon. Ceres’ permanently shadowed regions were mapped by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, and, thanks to scattered sunlight, bright deposits were discovered in a fraction of the permanently shadowed regions. To arrive at a clearer understanding of the nature of cold-trapped ice deposits on Ceres, researchers from the Planetary Science Institute and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center constructed improved shape models of permanently shadowed region-hosting craters.

Permanently shadowed regions in the north polar region of Ceres; the color indicates the maximum obliquity at which a location is in shadow through an entire orbit.

Image credit: Schorghofer et al., doi: 10.3847/PSJ/ad3639.

“For Ceres, the story started in 2016, when the Dawn spacecraft, which orbited around Ceres at the time, glimpsed into these permanently dark craters and saw bright ice deposits in some of them,” said lead author Dr. Norbert Schorghofer, a researcher at the Planetary Science Institute.

“The discovery back in 2016 posed a riddle: many craters in the polar regions of Ceres remain shadowed all year — which on Ceres lasts 4.6 Earth years — and therefore remain frigidly cold, but only a few of them harbor ice deposits.”

“Soon, another discovery provided a clue why: the rotation axis of Ceres oscillates back and forth every 24,000 years due to tides from the Sun and Jupiter.”

“When the axis tilt is high and the seasons strong, only a few craters remain shadowed all year, and these are the craters that contain bright ice deposits.”

To determine how large shadows were inside of craters thousands of years ago, scientists construct digital elevation maps and then perform ray-tracing calculations with them to theoretically reconstruct the shadows cast on the crater floors.

The results are only as reliable as the digital shape models on which they are based. Keep in mind that the floors of these craters are always in shadow, so it is not easy to measure how deep they are.

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft had a very sensitive camera, which could discern features on the shadowed crater floors.

Stereo images of sunlit regions are often used to construct digital elevation maps of sunlit regions, but making an elevation map of shadowed terrain is a challenge that had rarely been taken on.

As part of their study, the authors developed a new technique to reconstruct heights even in the shadowed portions of a stereo pair of images.

These improved elevation maps can then be used for ray-tracing to predict the extent of cold, permanently shadowed regions.

These more accurate maps yielded a surprising result: when Ceres reaches its maximum axis tilt, which last occurred about 14,000 years ago, no crater on Ceres remains perennially shadowed and any ice in them must have quickly sublimated into space.

“That leaves only one plausible explanation: the ice deposits must have formed more recently than that,” Dr. Schorghofer said.

“The results suggest all of these ice deposits must have accumulated within the last 6,000 years or less.”

“Considering that Ceres is well over 4 billion years old, that is a remarkably young age.”

“Ceres is an ice-rich object, but almost none of this ice is exposed on the surface. The aforementioned polar craters and a few small patches outside the polar regions are the only ice exposures. However, ice is ubiquitous at shallow depths, so even a small dry impactor could vaporize some of that ice.”

“A fragment of an asteroid may have collided with Ceres about 6,000 years ago, which created a temporary water atmosphere.”

“Once a water atmosphere is generated, ice would condense in the cold polar craters, forming the bright deposits that we still see today.”

“Alternatively, the ice deposits could have formed by avalanches of ice-rich material. This ice would then survive in only the cold shadowed craters.”

“Either way, these events were very recent on an astronomical time scale.”

The researchers also looked into the possibility that other types of ices, other than water ice, might be trapped in these unusual craters on Ceres.

On our Moon, portions of polar craters are so cold that even carbon dioxide ice and a few other chemical species could last in them for billions of years.

Ceres is farther from the Sun, so its polar craters could be expected to be even colder than the Moon’s.

The scientists calculated temperatures inside Ceres’ polar craters, something that had never been done before.

The answer was surprising: although these craters are cold enough to retain water ice, they are too warm to retain other common types of ice. Two circumstances contribute to this.

First, the axis tilt of Ceres, currently 4 degrees, is higher than the Moon’s 1.5 degree tilt, so more of the crater rims are sunlit and more light is scattered onto the crater floor.

Second, Ceres simply has no perennially shadowed craters very near the north pole, unlike the Moon, where one crater sits almost exactly on the south pole.

For these reasons, temperatures are not as low on Ceres than they are on parts of the lunar surface.

“Whatever the history of the ice deposits, it resulted from events not much older than human civilization,” Dr. Schorghofer said.

• The findings appear in the Planetary Science Journal.
• Norbert Schorghofer et al. 2024. History of Ceres’s Cold Traps Based on Refined Shape Models. Planet. Sci. J 5 (99); doi: 10.3847/PSJ/ad3639

{ https://www.sci.news/ }

14-05-2024 om 18:42 geschreven door peter  

Ancient Lake On Mars Was Hospitable Enough To Support Life

The Gale Crater site once flowed with rivers ending in a lake

WRITTEN BY Amanda Doyle

SOURC Eastrobio.net

An up-close view of Mars’ rocky deposits by NASA’s Curiosity rover shows a changing climate in the planet’s ancient past that would have left the surface warm and humid enough to support liquid water — and possibly life. Evidence of an ancient lake points to the prospect of two unique habitats within its shores; the lower part of the lake was devoid of oxygen compared to an oxygen-rich upper half.

In a recent paper published in the journal Science, “Redox stratification of an ancient lake in Gale crater,” Stony Brook University geoscientist Joel Hurowitz and his colleagues used more than three years of data retrieved from the rover to paint a picture of ancient conditions at Gale Crater, the lowest point in a thousand kilometers. The site, a 150-mile kilometer crater formed during an impact around 3.8 billion years ago, once flowed with rivers ending in a lake. The sedimentary rocks laid down by these rivers and onto the lakebed tell the story of how the environment changed over time.

Curiosity landed on rocks known as the Bradbury group. The Murray formation consist of younger rocks at the base of Mount Sharp. The height is exaggerated in the diagram.

IMAGE CREDIT: NASA/JPL-CALTECH.

Curiosity landed on a group of sedimentary rocks known as the Bradbury group. The rover sampled a part of this group called the Sheepbed mudstones, as well as rocks from the Murray formation at the base of the 5-kilometer high peak at the center of the crater known as Mount Sharp. Both types of rocks were deposited in the ancient lake, but the Sheepbed rocks are older and occur lower in the stratigraphic layers of rocks. Comparing the two types of rocks can lead to interesting revelations about the paleoenvironment.

Rocks that form at the same time in the same area can nevertheless display differences in composition and other characteristics. These different groupings are known as “facies” and the Murray formation is split into two facies. One is comprised mainly of hematite and phyllosilicate, and given the name HP, while the other is the magnetite-silicate facies, known as MS.

“The two Murray facies were probably laid down at about the same time within different parts of the lake,” explained Hurowitz. “The former laid down in shallow water, and the latter in deeper water.”

The near-shore HP facies have thicker layers in the rocks compared to the thin layers of the deeper water MS facies. This difference in layer thickness is because the river flowing into the lake would have slowed down and dumped some of its sedimentary material at the lake shore. The flow would then have spread into the lake and dropped finer material into the deeper parts of the lake. .

The different mineralogy of the two facies was caused by the lake becoming separated into two layers. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation along with low levels of atmospheric oxygen penetrated the upper part of the lake and acted as oxidants on molecules in the water. These ions of iron (Fe²⁺) and manganese (Mn²⁺) were brought to the lake via seepage of groundwater through the lake floor.

An illustration showing how the lake in the crater might have looked.

IMAGE CREDIT: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/ESA/DLR/FU BERLIN/MSSS.

When the UV and oxygen interacted with these, they lost electrons, meaning that they had become “oxidized.” The oxidized iron and manganese precipitated into minerals — hematite and manganese oxide — that eventually made up the rocks sampled by Curiosity in the HP facies. However, the UV and oxygen didn’t reach all the way to the lake floor, so the iron and manganese wasn’t oxidized in the deeper part of the lake, and instead became the mineral known as magnetite, making up the MS facies.

The difference in oxidation of the two facies in the Murray formation due to differences in layers of the lake is known as redox stratification. Identifying redox stratification in the ancient lake shows that there were two completely different types of potential habitat available to any microbial life that might have been present.

The researchers also discovered that the Murray formation has a high concentration of salts, which provide clues relating to evaporation of the lake, and thus the end of the potential habitat. High salinity is a result of water evaporating and leaving salts behind. However, evaporation leaves other tell-tale signs such as desiccation cracks — similar to what you see when mud dries and cracks — and none of these signs appear in the Murray formation. This indicates that the evaporation occurred at a later period of time and that the salts seeped through layers overlying the Murray formation before becoming deposited in the Mursaid Hurowitz. “In fact, that’s exactly what the rover is doing as we speak at the area known as Vera Rubin Ridge.”

Once Curiosity examines these rocks, it will be able to confirm that the salts found in the Murray formation came from a later period of evaporation, and therefore no significant evaporation occurred during the time that the Murray formation was deposited, meaning the environment would have been stable enough to support possible life forms.

Another result of the research is evidence of climate change. The older Sheepbed formation shows very little evidence of chemical weathering coray rocks.

“Curiosity will definitely be able to examine the rocks higher up in the stratigraphy to determine if lake evaporation influenced the rocks deposited in it,” mpared to the Murray formation. The change to substantial chemical weathering in the younger rocks indicates that the climate likely changed from cold, arid conditions to a warm, wet one.

Thicker material (clastics) are close to the shore. Finer material is towards the deeper part of the lake. UV and O₂ oxidize iron and manganese, creating what is known as redox stratification. This is reflected in the mineralogy.

IMAGE CREDIT: HUROWITZ ET AL. (2017). SCIENCE..

“The timing of this climate shift is not something we can tell for sure because we haven’t seen the Sheepbed member and the Murray formation in contact with each other,” said Hurowitz. “If we had, then we might be able to tell if the change in their chemical and mineralogical properties were abrupt (indicating rapid climate change) or gradual. At best, what we can say is that the rocks that we examined were likely deposited over a timespan of tens of thousands of years to as much as around 10 million years.”

The cause of the climate change on Mars is still a matter of debate. If the climate changed in a short period of time, it could have been due to short-term variations or an asteroid impact. A slower change in climate could have been the result of changes in the obliquity cycle of the planet.

The climate change indicated in the rocks shows that the ancient Martian environment would have been warm and humid enough to sustain liquid water on the surface. The redox stratification of the lake as revealed by the different mineralogy in the Murray formation shows that there would have been two different environments within the lake itself. If microbial life was present on Mars at this time, the different potentially habitable niches could have encouraged diversity with anaerobic forms possibly living in the lower depths of the lake.

“I’m not sure that this was something we would have predicted if we hadn’t had the opportunity to examine

Curiosity Rover's Self Portrait at 'John Klein' Drilling Site.

IMAGE CREDIT: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/MSSS.

The Astrobiology Program was involved in all stages of the MSL mission. This included the development of instruments onboard the Curiosity rover, including Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) and Chemistry & Mineralogy (CheMin).

The Astrobiology Program currently supports researchers involved in Curiosity mission operations and analysis of data from the rover.

{ https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ }

14-05-2024 om 15:08 geschreven door peter  

I can remember when Perseverance was launched, travelled out into the Solar System and landed on Mars in February 2021.  In all the time since it arrived, having clocked up 1000 days of exploration, it has collected 23 samples from different geological areas within the Jezero Crater. The area was once home to an ancient lake and if there is anywhere on Mars to find evidence of ancient (fossilised) life, it is here. 

The date was 30 July 2020 when a gigantic Atlas V-541 rocket roared off the launchpad from Cape Canaveral in Florida. On board was the Perseverance rover, on its way to Mars. It arrived around 7 months later, entered the Martian atmosphere and successfully landed using a complex sequence of parachutes, retrorockets and for the first time, a sky crane to lower it from a hovering platform. Its chief purpose on Mars was to explore the geology, climate and atmospheric conditions as a precursor to human exploration. 

The landing site, the Jezero Crater, was chosen because previous orbital studies revealed clear evidence of an ancient lake that once filled the crater. It is thought that water is a key ingredient to the evolution of life so if there had been a body of water, then there is a greater chance of life evolving. Studying the rocks here is like taking a flick through the history books as it preserves signs of ancient life and also ancient environmental conditions. 

The crater had been formed, like the majority of other craters in the Solar System from some form of impact event. In the case of Jezero it was an asteroid impact around 4 billion years ago. On its arrival at the crater the floor was soon discovered to be made of igneous rock, formed from a huge underground chamber of magma and bought to the surface through volcanic activity. Since then, other types of rock from sand and mud were found providing evidence of the presence of water in Mars’ distant past. 

By the time Perseverance had hit the 1000 day anniversary of its exploration of the red planet it had collected the rock samples, safely packaged them up ready for collection and by and large, completed its exploration of the ancient lake bed. One sample in particular which has been called ‘Lefroy Bay’ has been found to contain fine grained silica. This material is commonly found on Earth and known to preserve fossils. Another of the samples contains phosphate which, on Earth is most definitely associated with biological processes. Both of these contain carbon which can be used to study the environmental conditions from when the rock formed. 

Jezero crater is a big place, 45 kilometres across so deciding on where to collect the samples was challenging. When a target site had been identified, Perseverance would first use its abrasion tool to wear away the surface and then use the onboard instruments such as PIXL, the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry. The instruments on board have the ability to detect both microscopic, fossil-like structures and also to identify chemical changes left behind by ancient microbes. Alas to date, whilst Perseverance has achieved an amazing amount, the detection of signs of life have alluded the rover. 

Source : 

• NASA’s Perseverance Rover Deciphers Ancient History of Martian Lake

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

14-05-2024 om 14:56 geschreven door peter  

The suit also has redundancy features, such as additional seals and pressure valves to help ensure the suit remains pressurized during EVAs. The new 3D-printed helmet incorporates a new visor that reduces glare and features a camera and a new Heads-Up Display (HUD) that monitors conditions inside the suit. These suits will make their debut during the first of three Polaris missions – Polaris Dawn – scheduled to take place this summer (at the earliest). This mission will be commanded by Isaacman and will see a Crew Dragon launched from Launch Complex 39A atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The crew will spend five days in orbit and attempt to reach the highest Earth orbit ever flown.

During their time in space, the Polaris Dawn crew will conduct the first commercial spacewalk (and the first EVA where four astronauts were in space simultaneously) and be the first to test the Starlink laser-based communication system in space. The crew will also conduct scientific research in collaboration with the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH), BioServe Space Technologies, Space Technologies Lab, Weill Cornell Medicine, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL), the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and the U.S. Air Force Academy.

These efforts are designed to advance our understanding of human health during long-duration spaceflights, with applications for health here on Earth. According to the company website, these research activities will include:

• Using ultrasound to monitor, detect, and quantify venous gas emboli (VGE), contributing to studies on human prevalence to decompression sickness;
• Gathering data on the radiation environment to better understand how space radiation affects human biological systems;
• Providing biological samples towards multi-omics analyses for a long-term Biobank; and
• Research related to Spaceflight Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome (SANS), which is a key risk to human health in long-duration spaceflight.

Polaris Dawn will be followed up by a second mission (Polaris II, the date of which is TBD) that will attempt to build upon these objectives. The third mission (Polaris III) will be the first human spaceflight involving the Starship and Super Heavy launch vehicle. But as is made clear in the company’s statement, the suits are intended to fulfill SpaceX’s long-term goals:

“While Polaris Dawn will be the first time the SpaceX EVA suit is used in low-Earth orbit, the suit’s ultimate destiny lies much farther from our home planet. Building a base on the Moon and a city on Mars will require the development of a scalable design for the millions of spacesuits required to help make life multiplanetary.”

Further Reading: 

• SpaceX, 
• Polaris Program

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

14-05-2024 om 14:43 geschreven door peter  

“Watches at this level are very rare,” the SWPC said in an advisory on Saturday.

Let’s take a look at the incredible views of our readers and friends, many shared on Universe Today’s Flickr page. Our lead image comes from Julien Looten, who took this photo at the cliffs of Étretat in northern France. Looten said, “These auroras began to be visible around 10:30 PM, even before nightfall… From then on, they were visible to the naked eye until dawn… Without interruption…”

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

14-05-2024 om 14:18 geschreven door peter  

US Military Helicopter’s Encounter with a UFO in Alaska

In the vast, rugged landscapes of Alaska, where the population is sparse and the night skies are dark, the possibility of encountering the unknown seems almost inevitable. This was the case for Bill Sleezeman, a longtime resident and dock manager in Seward, Alaska, who witnessed a bizarre and unexplained event involving a military helicopter and what he believes was a UFO.

One evening, just before dark, Bill was at his log cabin when the sound of a helicopter caught his attention. He grabbed his binoculars to get a better look and noticed something unusual about the helicopter. Unlike typical military Black Hawks, this one had no identifiable markings—no numbers, letters, or insignias. It was completely blacked out, hovering silently over the area.

As Bill watched, his attention was suddenly drawn away from the helicopter to something far more extraordinary. A massive aircraft, unlike any he had seen before, appeared in the sky. He described it as being huge—possibly up to 2,000 feet in length and several hundred feet wide, with a striking gray-silver color. Its sheer size dwarfed any known man-made vessel, including super tankers.

What made the aircraft particularly mesmerizing was a diamond-like crystal embedded in its underside, emitting an array of blue, white, and red lights. The spectacle was so close to Bill’s home that he could make out these details vividly. Overwhelmed by the sight, he experienced a peculiar sensation, a kind of humming energy that he had never felt before, which prompted him to seek validation from his neighbors. Upon confirmation that others could also see the mysterious craft, Bill settled in his yard to observe the phenomenon for hours.

VIDEO:

• US Military Helicopter Tracks UFO Across Alaska | Aliens In Alaska

• https://youtu.be/AFluEcC354M

The next morning, the local community buzzed with talks of the sighting. Reports flooded into KSRM radio’s SoundOff, a popular local show hosted by Bob Bird in Nikiskie, Alaska. Callers described seeing strange lights performing maneuvers impossible for conventional aircraft, moving horizontally and vertically without a sound and casting reflections on the waters of Cook Inlet.

This incident raises many questions about the presence and interest of military operations in tracking unexplained aerial phenomena. The complete lack of insignia on the Black Hawk helicopter suggests a covert operation, possibly linked to monitoring or engaging with the unidentified craft. It’s a scenario that echoes a broader pattern of military encounters with unexplained aerial phenomena, which often remain shrouded in secrecy and speculation.

While skeptics may dismiss such incidents as misidentifications or exaggerations, the sheer number of witnesses and the specific details observed make this particular sighting hard to ignore. For residents like Bill, the experience is not just a fleeting moment but a profound event that challenges our understanding of what exists in the vast unexplored skies above us.

As stories like Bill’s continue to emerge, they fuel a growing public curiosity about what other secrets the universe might hold—especially those that might be hovering just out of sight, in the remote and mysterious expanses of places like Alaska.

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

14-05-2024 om 12:53 geschreven door peter