... a 360° VIEW of The Mysteries Around Us...: Alien Technology

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Thursday, November 25, 2021

Close encounters! Pentagon is creating an official office to investigate unidentified aerial phenomena after a June report couldn't explain 143 of 144 UFO incidents dating back to 2004

The Pentagon is creating a group to study unidentified aerial phenomena
The Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group will be part of the office of Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security
In September, DailyMail.com reported the government may create a permanent office to study UAPs
In June, the Pentagon reported offered no explanation for 143 of the 144 UFO incidents dating back to 2004

In the wake of the woefully insufficient Pentagon report from June in which the U.S. government admitted it could not explain the vast majority of unidentified aerial phenomena, the Department of Defense is increasing its effort, creating an official group to study these events.

The announcement, made late Tuesday, will see the establishment of the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG), succeeding the U.S. Navy's Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force; it will be part of the office of Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security.

The AOIMSG will work across the Department of Defense and the entire U.S. government 'to detect, identify and attribute objects of interests in Special Use Airspace, and to assess and mitigate any associated threats to safety of flight and national security,' according to a press release issued by the DoD.

The move to formally establish the office was made the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security Ronald S. Moultrie, who was directed by Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.

In May, a video was released that appeared to show a UFO buzz a US stealth ship near San Diego before diving under the water back in July 2019

The Pentagon is creating a group to study unidentified aerial phenomena. The Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group will be part of the office of Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security

'Incursions by any airborne object into our SUA pose safety of flight and operations security concerns, and may pose national security challenges,' the release added.

'DOD takes reports of incursions – by any airborne object, identified or unidentified – very seriously, and investigates each one.'

The DoD said more guidance on who will be the director of the AOIMSG and other details about the office will be issued in the 'coming weeks.'

Nick Pope, a former employee and UFO investigator for Britain's Ministry of Defense, said he welcomes the move as it should make for better coordination between the interested parties.

'It further destigmatizes the issue by acknowledging the national security implications,' Pope said in an email to DailyMail.com.

Pope however, questioned the timing of the announcement: 'Putting this out just before Thanksgiving is also an indicator that the Pentagon is frustrated with the issue and doesn't want a wider public conversation on any of this.'

In September, DailyMail.com reported that the U.S. government was looking into creating a permanent office to study 'unidentified aerial phenomenon' (UAPs).

The move to formally establish the office was made the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security Ronald S. Moultrie, who was directed by Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks (pictured) and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines

Earlier this month, Haines made surprising comments that appeared not to rule out the presence of an intelligent civilization not of this Earth.

'There's always the question of "is there something else that we simply do not understand, that might come extraterrestrially?"' Haines said, when asked about the Pentagon report, according to The Hill.

As part of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act from the House of Representatives, there was a provision to create a permanent office under the Secretary of Defense to investigate reports of unidentified aerial phenomena, according to NextGov, which first reported the news.

The 5-page section of the 1,362 page report, which was included by Rep. Ruben Gallego, seeks to take on what the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force did with its report and make it permanent.

Included in the duties of the proposed office would be to:

'Developing procedures to synchronize and standardize the collection, reporting, and analysis of incidents regarding unidentified aerial phenomena across the Department of Defense.
Developing processes and procedures to ensure that such incidents from each military department are reported and incorporated in a centralized repository.
Establishing procedures to require the timely and consistent reporting of such incidents.
Evaluating links between unidentified aerial phenomena and adversarial foreign governments, other foreign governments, or nonstate actors.
Evaluating the threat that such incidents present to the United States.
Coordinating with other departments and agencies of the Federal Government, as appropriate.
Coordinating with allies and partners of the United States, as appropriate, to better assess the nature and extent of unidentified aerial phenomena.'

The section also proposes that a new UAP office deliver a report to Congress once a year for the next five years and even provide 'an update on any efforts underway on the ability to capture or exploit discovered unidentified aerial phenomena.'

The legislation was passed in late September night by a 316-113 vote.

The Senate Armed Services Committee's version of the act, however, does not include a permanent office for the investigation of UAPs.

In June, the Pentagon released its report on the subject of UAPs, however it offered no explanation for 143 of the 144 observations dating back to 2004.

On June 25, the long-awaited report from the Pentagon on the subject of 'unidentified aerial phenomenon' (UAPs) offered no explanation for 143 of the 144 observations dating back to 2004

In July, NASA Administrator and former astronaut Bill Nelson said it's likely that humans will get some kind of indication that intelligent life outside of our own exists in the universe.

'If you have a universe that is 13.5 billion years - it is so big - is there another chance for another sun and another planet that has an atmosphere like ours?' Nelson said at the time.

'I would say yes, so I think we're gonna get some indication that there is intelligent life out there.'

He added that NASA has been 'involved for years' looking for life, referring to NASA's Astrobiology program.

'We're looking for life on Mars, on the other planets, in the cosmos, trying to determine other suns that have planets with a habitable atmosphere,' Nelson pointed out.

In June, former President Barack Obama said that if another civilization exists in space other than our own, it could upend most facets of life.

'And so I would hope that the knowledge that there were aliens out there would solidify people’s sense that what we have in common is a little more important,' Obama said in response to a hypothetical question that humanity has become aware of intelligent life beyond this planet, but is unable to get in touch with them.

'But no doubt there would be immediate arguments about like, well, we need to spend a lot more money on weapons systems to defend ourselves,' the 44th President continued.

'New religions would pop up. And who knows what kind of arguments we get into. We’re good at manufacturing arguments for each other.'

More than two-fifths of Americans said in August that they believed that UFOs are alien space craft, up from 33 percent in 2019.

A similar survey, published in July, said two-thirds of all Americans believe extraterrestrial life exists, but almost 90 percent believe they are not a threat.

One of the videos was captured off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, in 2015 (pictured)

The other video shows the notorious 2004 'Tic Tac' incident (pictured) that was recorded over the Pacific Ocean

The declassified June 25 report, which came from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, added that it lacks sufficient data to determine the nature of mysterious flying objects.

'In 18 incidents, described in 21 reports, observers reported unusual UAP movement patterns or flight characteristics,' the report reads.

'Some UAP appeared to remain stationary in winds aloft, move against the wind, maneuver abruptly, or move at considerable speed, without discernable means of propulsion. In a small number of cases, military aircraft systems processed radio frequency (RF) energy associated with UAP sightings.

'The UAPTF holds a small amount of data that appear to show UAP demonstrating acceleration or a degree of signature management. Additional rigorous analysis are necessary by multiple teams or groups of technical experts to determine the nature and validity of these data.

'We are conducting further analysis to determine if breakthrough technologies were demonstrated.'

The term UFO has been more recently replaced by unidentified aerial phenomenon, especially in light of the U.S. Pentagon declassifying three videos in April 2020.

Only one of 144 reports of UFOs - or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena as the government calls them - can be explained while the others can barely be classified

The government report says there are 144 reported UFOs - or UAPs - between 2004 and 2021.

These reports include a spherical flying object buzzing over Navy warships and disappearing into the Pacific ocean, a tic-tac shaped flying object mimicking Super Hornet pilots' maneuvers and pyramid-shaped flying objects.

The only one that can be explained with 'high confidence' is a deflated balloon.

Because the reported UAPs showed unusual flight characteristics and displayed a range of appearances and behaviors, the report groups the UAPs into five categories.

1. Airborne clutter - These objects include birds, balloons, recreational unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or airborne debris like plastic bags that muddle a scene and affect an operator's ability to identify true targets, such as enemy aircraft.

2. Natural atmospheric phenomena - Natural atmospheric phenomena includes ice crystals, moisture and thermal fluctuations that may register on some infrared and radar systems.

3. USG or U.S. industry developmental programs - Some UAP observations could be attributable to developments and classified programs by U.S. entities. The report states, 'We were unable to confirm, however, that these systems accounted for any of the UAP reports we collected.'

4. Foreign adversary systems - Some UAP may be technologies deployed by China, Russia, another nation, or a non-governmental entity but the report says the US is unaware that any nation has technology that's been reported.

5. A catchall 'other' bin - Most of the UAP described in the dataset probably remain unidentified due to limited data or challenges to collection processing or analysis and may require additional scientific knowledge and advances to categorize them. 'The UAPTF intends to focus additional analysis on the small number of cases where a UAP appeared to display unusual flight characteristics or signature management,' according to the report.

Thursday, May 18, 2017

NASA’s SOFIA Confirms Planetary System Similar to Ours

Last week, NASA announced that its flying observatory, SOFIA (short for Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) completed a study of a nearby planetary system that is very much like our solar system, centered on the star Epsilon Eridani, also known as Eps Eri.

SOFIA is the world’s largest airborne observatory and flies at altitudes between 39,000 and 45,000 feet, above more than 99% of the water vapor in the atmosphere, making it possible to obtain astronomical data that are impossible to access from telescopes on the ground.

Eps Eri is 10.5 light-years away, and is one of the closest stars to Earth that is of a similar type as Earth’s sun. It’s a little smaller and a little dimmer, but is comparable in terms of temperature, luminosity and mass.

Interestingly, Eps Eri is one of two stars (the other was Tau Ceti) that were examined by Frank Drake in 1960 as his first radio astronomy observation, using the Tatel Telescope in West Virginia. Eps Eri and Tau Ceti were selected because of their proximity to Earth’s solar system, because of their similarities to Earth’s sun and because they are single stars thought likelier to be able to host a potentially habitable planet in a stable orbit.

Although Frank Drake did not observe a signal from Eps Eri during that first SETI observation, it continues to be the subject of various types of observations, including from SOFIA, focusing on Eps Eri ‘s circumstellar debris disk.

Debris disks are comprised of rocky or icy material orbiting a star that can be left behind after a planet has been formed. In Earth’s solar system, we have two debris disks: the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and the Kuiper Belt which is located beyond Neptune and includes Pluto, now reclassified as being part of the debris remaining after planetary formation.

In 1983, astronomer Fred Gillett found evidence for a Kuiper Belt-like debris disk around Eps Eri using data from the Infrared Astronomy Satellite, IRAS. In 2009, SETI Institute scientist Dana Backman, who worked with Gillett on analyzing the IRAS data and now manages SOFIA mission Outreach for the Institute, discovered a debris disk similar to the asteroid belt around Eps Eri using the NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. In fact, the Spitzer data indicated two asteroid belts around Eps Eri, one in approximately the same position as in Earth’s solar system, and a second between the first belt and the comet ring, at about where Uranus’s orbit would be in our system.

"The Eps Eri system probably looks a lot like ours did when life first took root on Earth," said Backman at the time. "The main difference we know of so far is that it has an additional, third, ring of leftover planet construction material."

Other observations of Eps Eri had previously revealed a planet similar in size to Jupiter at a similar distance from its parent star. Backman’s Spitzer observations indicated that the innermost debris belt around Eps Eri is made of silicate material, like our asteroid belt, and is located just inward of the Jupiter-like planet’s orbit, also like our asteroid belt. Subsequently, an alternative theory was put forth, suggesting that the planetary debris around Eps Eri wasn’t configured in two belts, but rather in a broad sheet, which would not correlate with the positions of planets.

Now, new observations from SOFIA, which has a larger telescope diameter than Spitzer – 100 inches vs. 33.5 inches and thus, 3x better spatial resolution – confirmed that Eps Eri’s debris disk is concentrated into at least one narrow belt of debris, similar to our solar system’s asteroid belt. This confirms Dana’s hypothesis that in the Eps Eri system, as in our solar system, the formation of large planets results in adjacent debris belts.

Full details about NASA’s announcement can be found here.

To learn about the SETI Institute’s other activities with SOFIA through its Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors (AAA) program, click here.

http://www.seti.org/seti-institute/NASA-SOFIA-Confirms-Planetary-System-Similar-Ours

Thursday, October 06, 2016

Proxima b 'may well' harbour life: New study claims 'second Earth' just four light years away has oceans and a thin gassy atmosphere

The planet, named Proxima b, orbits our closest star, Proxima Centauri
It is around 1.3 times the size of Earth
New study simulated water on the planet
Concluded it 'very well host liquid water on its surface, and therefore also some forms of life'
Hoped we could send a robotic explorer to the planet

A team including CNRS astrophysicists have calculated the size and surface properties of the planet dubbed Proxima b, and concluded it may be an 'ocean planet' similar to Earth.

Scientists announced Proxima b's discovery in August, and said it may be the first exoplanet—planet outside our Solar System—to one day be visited by robots from Earth.

The planet orbits within a 'temperate' zone from its host star Proxima Centauri, some four light years from us.

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An artist's impression of a view of the surface of the planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Solar System. A team including CNRS astrophysicists have calculated the size and surface properties of the planet dubbed Proxima b, and concluded it may be an 'ocean planet' similar to Earth.

It is estimated to have a mass about 1.3 times that of Earth, and orbits about 7.5 million kilometres (4.6 million miles) from its star—about a tenth the distance of innermost planet Mercury from the Sun.

'Contrary to what one might expect, such proximity does not necessarily mean that Proxima b's surface is too hot' for water to exist in liquid form, said a CNRS statement.

Proxima Centauri is smaller and 1,000 times weaker than our Sun, which means Proxima b is at exactly the right distance for conditions to be potentially habitable.

'The planet may very well host liquid water on its surface, and therefore also some forms of life,' the statement said.

In a study to be published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, an international team led by researchers at the Marseille Astrophysics Laboratory (CNRS / Aix-Marseille Université) has determined its dimensions.

The size of exoplanets are generally calculated by measuring how much light they block out, from Earth's perspective, when they pass in front of their host star.

But no such transit of Proxima b has yet been observed, so the team had to rely on simulations to estimate the planet's composition and radius.

What Proxima b xould look like: From left to right: Proxima b with the smallest attainable radius (65% metallic core surrounded by a rocky mantle separated into two phases), Earth (ditto with 32.5% core) and b with the Proxima maximum authorized range (50% of rocky mantle surrounded by a layer of water in solid and liquid form).

They calculated the radius was between 0.94 and 1.4 times that of Earth, which is 6,371 kilometres on average.

Assuming a minimum radius of 5,990 km, the planet would be very dense, with a metallic core making up two-thirds of the entire planet's mass, surrounded by a rocky mantle.

If there is surface water, it would not contribute more than 0.05 percent to the planet's total mass, the team said—similar to Earth, where it is about 0.02 percent.

In the larger planet scenario, with a radius of 8,920 km, Proxima b's mass would be split 50-50 between a rocky centre and surrounding water.

WHAT MAKES PROXIMA B SO UNIQUE

Distance: This is the closest Earth-like planet we could ever find.

Orbiting our nearest star, the planet is only four light years away.

Missions to send spacecraft to the planet to examine for signs of life are already in planning, and could happen within decades.

Composition: The planet is rocky and a similar size to Earth.

Temperature: It lies in the 'habitable zone' of its star, which means there could be liquid water on its surface - a key ingredient for alien life.

The temperature on the surface of the planet could be between -90° and 30° Celsius (-130 and 86 Fahrenheit).

Atmosphere: If Proxima b has an atmosphere, the simple ingredients - water, carbon dioxide, and rock - that are needed for the formation of biochemical cycles that we call life, could all be present and interacting on the planet's surface.

'In this case, Proxima b would be covered by a single, liquid ocean 200 km deep,' said the CNRS.

'In both cases, a thin, gassy atmosphere could surround the planet, like on Earth, rendering Proxima b potentially habitable,' it concluded.

Earlier this year, a group of researchers, using the European Southern Observatory (ESO) telescopes, have named the exciting world Proxima b.

Thousands of exoplanets have been discovered before, but unlike the others, this planet is within our reach.

While four light years is a long way - more than 25 trillion miles - future generations of super-fast space craft could conceivably travel to the planet within the next few decades.

If there is surface water, it would not contribute more than 0.05 percent to the planet's total mass, the team said—similar to Earth, where it is about 0.02 percent.

A comparison of several exoplanets. Curves correspond to specific compositions used in the model of internal structure. The existing area of Proxima b is drawn in gray and takes into account the uncertainty of its mass and its different possible compositions.

Much further in the future the planet may even be colonised by space travellers from Earth.

One possible obstacle to life evolving and flourishing on the planet is the way it hugs its parent star.

Proxima b is only 4.6 million miles (7.5 million km) from the star, 5 per cent of the distance between the Earth and the sun, and takes just 11.2 days to complete one orbit. It is around 1.3 times as massive as Earth.

But because Proxima Centauri is a dim red dwarf star radiating much less heat than the sun, it still occupies the 'habitable zone' where temperatures are mild enough to permit liquid surface water.

The temperature on the surface of the planet could be between -90° and 30° Celsius (-130 and 86 Fahrenheit).

On the other hand, the planet is blasted by powerful ultraviolet rays and X-rays from the star. Any life that evolved on its surface would have to be hardened against the radiation.

But the prospect of finding life on Proxima b has excited scientists.

'Many exoplanets have been found and many more will be found, but searching for the closest potential Earth-analogue and succeeding has been the experience of a lifetime for all of us,' Dr Guillem Anglada-Escudé, lead author of the paper, said.

'Many people's stories and efforts have converged on this discovery. The result is also a tribute to all of them. The search for life on Proxima b comes next.'

Two separate papers were published , describing the habitability of Proxima b and its climate.

The papers find the existence of liquid water on the planet today 'cannot be ruled out'.

This means water may be present over the surface of the planet. But it would only be in the sunniest regions, either in an area in the hemisphere of the planet facing the star.

The way Proxima b rotates, strong radiation from its star and the formation history of the planet makes its climate quite different from that of the Earth.

It is unlikely that Proxima b has seasons. But if liquid water does exist on the planet, it could mean alien life might thrive there.

If this is the case, we could discover it within decades, experts have said.

Artist's impression of an Earth-like exoplanet. The still nameless planet is believed to be Earth-like and orbits at a distance to Proxima Centauri that could allow it to have liquid water on its surface - an important requirement for the emergence of life

PROXIMA CENTAURI

Just over four light-years from the solar system lies a red dwarf star.

Because it is the sun's closest neighbour, the star has been named Proxima Centauri.

This cool star in the constellation of Centaurus is too faint to be seen with the unaided eye and lies near to the much brighter pair of stars known as Alpha Centauri AB.

A team called Pale Red Dot is behind the discovery, which includes researchers from the University of Hertfordshire, Queen Mary University of London, the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía in Granada, Spain and the University of Göttingen in Germany, among others.

The researchers used the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS), an instrument on the European Southern Observatory's 3.6-metre La Silla telescope in Chile's Atacama Desert.

The telescope measured light from Proxima, the fingerprints that reveal what the star is made of.

Small shifts in the frequency of the starlight can be used to work out tiny movements of the star in response to an orbiting planet's gravitational pull.

OTHER 'SECOND EARTHS' THAT HAVE BEEN FOUND ACROSS THE UNIVERSE

Nasa's Kepler telescope has also been busy in the hunt for alien life, finding over 4,000 new planets outside our solar system over the past three years.

Earlier this month a team of astronomers has narrowed down this list to those with the most potential to have liquid water, or even life.

They pinpointed 20 out of the 4,000 that are most likely to be like our own, and are starting to look more closely at these candidates.

These 'second Earths' are much further away than Proxima b, so are harder to explore.

216 Kepler planets are located within the 'habitable zone' - an area around a star in which an orbiting planet's surface could hold liquid water.

Of those, they list 20 that are the best candidates to be habitable rocky planets like Earth.

The list includes Kepler-186 f, Kepler-62 f, Kepler-283 c and Kepler-296 f.

'The first hints of a possible planet were spotted back in 2013, but the detection was not convincing,' said Dr Anglada-Escudé.

'Since then we have worked hard to get further observations off the ground with help from ESO and others. The recent Pale Red Dot campaign has been about two years in the planning.'

The Pale Red Dot data, when combined with earlier observations made at ESO observatories and elsewhere, revealed the clear signal of an exciting result.

At times Proxima Centauri is approaching Earth at about 3 miles (5km) per hour and at times it is receding at the same speed.

This pattern of changing velocities repeats with a period of 11.2 days, meaning that is how long it takes to orbit its sun.

The orbit of the planet around Proxima Centauri (Proxima b) with the same region of the Solar System.

Careful analysis of the tiny light shifts showed the planet has a mass at least 1.3 times that of the Earth, orbiting about 4.3 million miles (7 million kilometres) from Proxima Centauri.

Some questions about whether life could exist are left unanswered, however.

'If Proxima b has an atmosphere and if there is water there, and these are big 'ifs', it is intriguing to think that the simple ingredients - water, carbon dioxide, and rock - that are needed for the formation of biochemical cycles that we call life, could all be present and interacting on the planet's surface,' said Dr Mikko Tuomi, from the Centre for Astrophysical Research at the University of Hertfordshire.

COULD WE TRAVEL TO THE PLANET?

The true test would be to go there. Using conventional space technology (either manned or unmanned) and some clever slingshot manoeuvres, it would take at least 15,000 years to reach Proxima Centauri.

But the ambitious Starshot Project aims to send tiny robots to this star system, propelled by powerful Earth-based lasers.

They are estimating that it would only take about 20 years to get there in this manner, travelling at a speed of approximately 60,000 km per second (or 135m miles per hour).

Those robots could relay back data about the system, and potentially even close-up pictures of Proxima b.

Source: Martin Archer, Space Plasma Physicist, Queen Mary University of London, writing for The Conversation.

'But we do not really know. We need to study this system a lot more over the coming decades in order to be able to start answering such questions.

'However, it is a great place to start looking for life outside the solar system and it is a very exciting discovery.'

'It certainly seems possible that we could find something out of this world within our lifetime,' said Martin Archer, Space Plasma Physicist, Queen Mary University of London, writing for The Conversation.

At least some additional information about the environmental conditions on Proxima Centauri b should come sooner rather than later, the researchers say.

Now that the planet has been detected, there is an opportunity for follow-up observations.

A possible detection of life, or at least of conditions suggestive of the presence of life, is likely to be decades off

But these observations provide opportunities to learn about a planet around the most common type of star in our galaxy – with lessons that are interesting in their own right, for astronomers seeking a systematic understanding of planet formation in our home galaxy.