Month: December 2019

Hundreds of UFO Enthusiasts Sign Up to Storm Top-Secret American Base Dubbed ‘Australia’s Area 51’

 

Article by Charlie Coe                           November 26, 2019                            (dailymail.co.uk)

• Pine Gap (seen above) is an American military intelligence base near Alice Springs, Australia. The mysterious satellite surveillance base has been dubbed the ‘Australian Area 51’. Now, a Facebook event reminiscent of last summer’s “Storm Area 51” in Nevada, several hundred people have signed up to storm the top-secret base in the middle of the Australian outback.

• The Facebook administrator writes: ‘Don’t worry my fellow Australians, you don’t need to travel to Nevada because we have our own Area 51! It’s the same as in America, the government is hiding shit from us. We need to rescue the aliens! Who’s with me? I say fuck the government and let’s storm that shit. They can’t arrest all of us.’

• Northern Territory agricultural official Gerry Wood warned that the base is a ‘secured site’, and people can get in trouble for storming it. Wood says that the alien-hunters would be disappointed to find there is no extraterrestrial life at Pine Gap. “I don’t think the Americans are worried about (people) finding aliens,” said Wood. “I think they’d be more worried about China and the Middle East.” “Besides, Alice Spring would be an uncomfortable place for aliens…it’s too hot.”

• More than two million people said on Facebook that they were ‘going’ to the event in the Nevada desert on September 20, and on the day just 75 people turned up at the facility.

 

UFO enthusiasts have signed up in their hundreds to storm a top-secret American base in the middle of the Australian outback.

Two Facebook events promising to invade the mysterious satellite surveillance base dubbed the ‘Australian Area 51’ have been set up – and so far more than 300 people are down as ‘going’.

Pine Gap, near Alice Springs, is used by the USA to gather military information and perform intelligence tasks.

One of the events entitled ‘Storm Pine Gap AKA Australian Area 51’ tells followers they had the opportunity to perform their own version of America’s viral craze from two months ago.

‘Don’t worry my fellow Australians, you don’t need to travel to Nevada because we have our own Area 51!’ the event administrator wrote.

‘It’s the same as in America, the government is hiding s**t from us.

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Mystery of Six-Minute ‘TV Broadcast From Alien’ Remains Unsolved on 42nd Anniversary

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Article by Michael Moran                             November 26, 2019                           (dailystar.co.uk)

• On Saturday November 26, 1977, during a routine broadcast of Southern TV’s 5 o’clock news, a mysterious six-minute message was broadcast across southern Britain from a being identifying himself as “Vrillon”, a representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command. The message was never repeated and never explained. (see 8:27 minute video below)

• In the news broadcast, newsman Andrew Gardner’s image suddenly wobbles strangely while a deep buzzing sound emerges. Then came the bizarre message: “This is the voice of Vrillon, a representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command, speaking to you. For many years you have seen us as lights in the skies. We speak to you now in peace and wisdom as we have done to your brothers and sisters all over this, your planet Earth. We come to warn you of the destiny of your race and your world so that you may communicate to your fellow beings the course you must take to avoid the disaster which threatens your world, and the beings on our worlds around you.”

• Explaining that the Earth was moving into a new era which could usher in an age of peace and harmony for all mankind, the voice warns that it was time to ban all weapons of mass destruction: “All your weapons of evil must be removed. The time for conflict is now past and the race of which you are a part may proceed to the higher stages of its evolution if you show yourselves worthy to do this. You have but a short time to learn to live together in peace and goodwill.”

• Vrillon adds, “We have watched you growing for many years as you too have watched our lights in your skies,” referring to UFOs. “There are more beings on and around your Earth than your scientists admit.”

• Warning not to listen to false leaders, Vrillon signs off saying that he and his colleagues at Ashtar Galactic Command are “now leaving the planes of your existence” as it is time for them to evolve into a higher form.

• A spokesman for Southern Television told reporters at the time “A hoaxer jammed our transmitter in the wilds of North Hampshire by taking another transmitter very close to it.” A spokesperson for The Independent Broadcasting Authority said that a hoax of this kind would take “a considerable amount of technical know-how”

• The alleged hoaxer never came forward to claim responsibility for the bizarre broadcast, and they have managed to keep their secret for 42 years. It’s possible that Vrillon really is out there watching over us and waiting for us to give up our nuclear weapons so they can welcome us into an interplanetary community.

 

On this day in 1977, a mysterious six-minute message was broadcast across southern Britain.

The chilling warning, from someone identifying themselves as “Vrillon, a representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command,” has never been explained.

It was on Saturday 26 November 26, during a routine broadcast of Southern TV’s 5 o’clock news, that viewers saw newsreader Andrew Gardner’s image wobble strangely while a deep buzzing sound came from their TV sets.

Then came the bizarre message: “This is the voice of Vrillon, a representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command, speaking to you.,” it said.

“For many years you have seen us as lights in the skies. We speak to you now in peace and wisdom as we have done to your brothers and sisters all over this, your planet Earth.

“We come to warn you of the destiny of your race and your world so that you may communicate to your fellow beings the course you must take to avoid the disaster which threatens your world, and the beings on our worlds around you.”

Explaining that the Earth was moving into a new era which could usher in an age of peace and harmony for all mankind the voice when on to warn that it was time to ban all weapons of mass destruction: “All your weapons of evil must be removed. The time for conflict is now past and the race of which you are a part may proceed to the higher stages of its evolution if you show yourselves worthy to do this. You have but a short time to learn to live together in peace and goodwill.”

8:27 minute video of Vrillion’s speech broadcasted in 1977 with subtitles (‘The A Files’ YouTube)

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Inside The Search For Another Habitable Planet Within 100 Light Years Of Earth

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Article by Jamie Carter                             November 25, 2019                               (forbes.com)

• The Habitable Exoplanet Hunting Project is a global attempt to discover potentially habitable exoplanets within 100 light years, involving a network of over 25 amateur astronomy observatories around the globe. It will focus on ten stars within 100 light years of Earth, all of which have confirmed transiting exoplanets within the so-called “habitable zone”.

• The exoplanet known as Kepler 442b, which orbits a K-type star and could be even more habitable than Earth. M-type stars, or ‘red dwarfs’, are small, cool stars that are impossible to see with the naked eye, but they are by far the most common type of star in our region of the Milky Way. G, K and M-type stars are “the stars that are most likely to host exoplanets with water on their surface because they don’t flare,” says Alberto Caballero, an amateur astronomer at The Exoplanets Channel and the coordinator of the ‘Habitable Exoplanet Hunting Project’. “If a star flares, it can damage the atmosphere of the exoplanets.”

• The ideal exoplanet is a dense and rocky “super Earth” planet, almost seven times bigger than Earth, called LHS 1140 b, orbiting within the habitable zone of the red dwarf star LHS 1140 about 40 light years distant in the constellation of Cetus. Three other prime candidates would be:
Proxima Centauri b – an exoplanet orbiting an M-type red dwarf star 4.24 light years away in the constellation of Centauri;
Tau Ceti e – an exoplanet orbiting an M-type red dwarf star 11.9 light years away in the constellation of Cetus;
Teegarden b -an exoplanet orbiting an M-type red dwarf star 12 light years away in the constellation of Aries.

• Tau Ceti e is a “super Earth” exoplanet almost four times the mass of Earth. It is so massive that you can see Ceti in the constellation Cetus with the naked eye, level with Orion’s Belt in the northern hemisphere.

• The Project has been careful to ignore stars that have Jupiter-sized gas giant exoplanets in their habitable zones unless the star is so big that it may not adversely affect other exoplanets in the star’s orbit. “We’re trying to monitor the stars 24/7 for about two months,” says Caballero, “so it’s easier for us if we focus on M-type stars because any exoplanets would have really short orbital periods. But the most ideal ones are K-type stars.”

• NASA’s orbiting space telescope, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite or ‘TESS’ has already found 29 confirmed exoplanets. Caballero says, “So far (TESS has) not detected any potentially inhabited planets, but it’s only just starting on the northern hemisphere.” In the long term, Caballero thinks that studying an exoplanet’s ‘biosignature’ from its light spectrum with better instruments will yield the most potentially habitable exoplanets. Says Caballero, “[I]t’s all about having better technology.”

[Editor’s Note]  The Habitable Hunting Project might need to strike Proxima b off of their list. In March 2018, the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in the Chilean Andes, reported that the red dwarf star, Proxima Centauri, fired off a powerful “superflare” which could be seen from the Earth. (see Space.com article here) It briefly boosted the star’s brightness by a factor of 68. The astronomy team noted that “life would struggle to survive in the areas of Proxima b exposed to these flares.”

 

The search for extraterrestrial life is easily the most profound question in modern astronomy, but it’s hampered by a lack of both technology and time.

Is life possible beyond the solar system? If we’re ever to find out, we must study and categorise the stars to answer this one, simple question: if we had a spaceship we could send to the nearest Earth-like planet, which one would we send it to?

            Alberto Caballero

When astronomers find exoplanets, they put them on a list marked “potentially habitable” or else use them as clues that habitable exoplanets may lurk in their star system. Most of them are exceptionally far away. So far we’ve found three close exoplanets that orbit within a star’s so-called “habitable zone” where liquid water could exist on its surface.

If astronomers had to choose a planet in another star system to send a spaceship, these three would be prime candidates:

• Proxima Centauri b: an exoplanet orbiting an M-type red dwarf star 4.24 light years away in the constellation of Centauri.

• Tau Ceti e: an exoplanet orbiting an M-type red dwarf star 11.9 light years away in the constellation of Cetus.

• Teegarden b: an exoplanet orbiting an M-type red dwarf star 12 light years away in the constellation of Aries.

Where will we most likely find others? Though the vast majority of star systems remain unexplored, we know of plenty that contain planets not in the star’s habitable zone. These star systems are surely the best places to look.

Cue the Habitable Exoplanet Hunting Project, a global attempt attempt to discover potentially habitable exoplanets within 100 light years, and involving over 25 observatories.

What is the Habitable Exoplanet Hunting Project?

It’s a network of amateur astronomy observatories around the globe—from the U.S. and Uzbekistan to South Africa and Australia—that is studying 10 stars within 100 light years for signs of new, as yet unfound exoplanets. All of the stars that will be studied already have confirmed transiting exoplanets outside the so-called “habitable zone”. “We’ve chosen observatories in deserts or high regions or mountains because weather is always the main problem with projects like this,” says Alberto Caballero, an amateur astronomer at The Exoplanets Channel and the coordinator of the Habitable Exoplanet Hunting Project. “But we will need to find more observatories in the southern hemisphere.”

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NASA Alien Sighting: Astronaut Confirms UFO In Surprise Recording

Article by Lorraine Lorenzo                             November 25, 2019                             (ibtimes.com)

• Scott Waring at the ET Database has reported that a Russian astronaut on the International Space Station (shown above) was conducting a regular ‘check-in’ with NASA ground control when he pointed out a spaceship just as two unusual blips showed up on the live feed from the space station’s live camera feed. (see 5:06 minute video below) Waring says that at around two minutes into the video, the astronaut says “…a ship…” just as the blips showed up on the video. The ground control crewman then responds with “Copy all. We just clarified. It’s with you…thank you.”

• Waring thinks this was an alien sighting from the deck of the ISS. And Waring asserts that it sounded like NASA was already aware of the existence of this alien spaceship -cutting off further mention of it in the recorded conversation.

• Were the two blips truly spaceships or just a trick of the light reflecting off a surface, perhaps even off the surface of the earth at night time? And while it did sound like the operator from NASA was cutting off the astronaut in order to keep him from going further, that might not have been the whole story.

 

Did a Russian astronaut confirm a UFO sighting during a recorded conversation with ground control staff from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)? According to a fringe website following unusual, possible extraterrestrial phenomenon, this was quite a convincing possibility.

ET Database released a report of what it says sounds like an astronaut pointing out a ship during one of the regular check-ins between ground control and the International Space Station (ISS). The conversation, which sounded like ground control staff from NASA checking in on a report from the ISS, heard the Russian make the mention of “a ship” just as two unusual blips showed up on the live feed from the space station’s live camera feed.

Report author Scott Waring finds it hard to believe that this was anything less than an affirmation of the possibility of an alien sighting from the deck of the ISS.

In a video, Waring outlines the important bits of the recording. Waring says that at around two minutes into the video, the astronaut says “…a ship…” just as the blips showed up on the video. The ground control crewman then responds with “Copy all. We just clarified. It’s with you…thank you.”

Perhaps even more amazing than the possibility of aliens, however, is Waring’s additional assertion that it sounded like NASA was already aware of the existence of this and similar phenomena–and cutting off the further mention of the same in a recorded conversation.

5:06 minute video of exchange between Russian astronaut and mission control
on 11-21-19   (ET DATA BASE YouTube)

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Aliens Smell Like a Fart

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Article By Eric Spitznagel                           November 25, 2019                        (popularmechanics.com)

• NASA’s roving Martian science lab, Curiosity, has detected dimethyl sulfide, methanethiol, and trace amounts of oxygen on Mars, along with the compounds we already know about, like nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. This is the same chemical composition as flatulence.

• Clara Sousa-Silva, a molecular astrophysics postdoctoral associate at MIT, agrees. “Most of my work in astrobiology looks at anaerobic environments, which have a lot in common with the environments that produce farts. So, yes, aliens are reasonably likely to smell like farts.”

• There are other examples of planets and other celestial bodies with theoretically pungent life forms. For instance, Saturn’s icy moon Titan holds lakes of liquid methane. Using data from the Cassini space probe, NASA was able to replicate the mixture of nitrogen, methane, and benzene found on Titan to learn that Titan smells like farts and gasoline.

• Sousa-Silva points out that the molecule phosphine could be the key to detecting life on other planets. Phospine needs to be manufactured by a process associated with biological life on the earth, because it won’t exist naturally in a mild climate. So if phospine is detected on a habitable planet, there is likely to be life there.

• Carrie Paterson, an LA-based artist and expert in the “cosmology of the senses” points out that there are olfactory receptors not only in our nose but in our skin and internal organs. She thinks there is a “distinct possibility that we might be able to communicate with aliens through our sense of smell”. “A ‘moldy’ smell is not just a smell”, Paterson says, “it’s a sensation our bodies have in the presence of fungus. Fresh’ isn’t just about air without pollution, but rather, how a clean environment is sensed by our skin.” What might smell ‘good’ or ‘bad’ to an alien would depend on their particular ‘corporeal composition’.

• In 1996 in Varginha, Brazil, sisters Liliane and Valquíria encountered a creature they thought might be the devil. When their mother went to investigate, she noticed a putrid odor of ammonia hanging in the air. Ammonia is a sulphurous gas, similar to a fart. And it is the predominant odor on the planet Uranus.

• Michael Menkin, a former technical writer for NASA, has heard firsthand from extraterrestrial abductees that aliens “really smell.” Menkin says that “their alien-human hybrids (also) stink because they never bathe.” But as much as an alien’s odor may offend us, our human scent, and the scents we find appealing, might be just as offensive to them. “Right now I have an abductee who stops aliens by spraying Lysol all over her house,” said Menkin. “So Lysol works as well as perfumes.”

[Editor’s Note]   I recall Stewart Swerdlow saying that reptilians smelled horrible, like ammonia and sulfur. And it felt good to the reptilians to spray Lysol disinfectant spray on their body’s skin. Maybe that helped a little with the smell?

But something doesn’t ring true here. NASA is said to have detected dimethyl sulfide and methanethiol on Mars, supporting the flatulent atmosphere theory. But they found only “trace amounts of oxygen on Mars”. Those who claim to have been on Mars have all said that that there is enough oxygen in the atmosphere for light breathing without an oxygen tank.  I have never heard anyone who has been on Mars say that the air smelled like farts.

Is NASA feeding universities such as MIT data to make people think that the Mars atmosphere is not only uninhabitable but disgusting, to discourage anyone from wanting to go there?

 

Sometimes it takes a child to point out the important questions.

My 8-year-old is a burgeoning amateur scientist, so he keeps up with the latest science news a little more closely than I do. He learned recently that Curiosity, NASA’s roving Martian science lab, has been detecting some rather interesting organic and chemical molecules on the red planet, some of which could be clues of life. So far it’s discovered dimethyl sulfide, methanethiol, and most surprisingly, trace amounts of oxygen.

                       Clara Sousa-Silva

Along with the compounds we already know about, like nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide, Mars has the same chemical composition of flatulence. Which led my son to one inescapable conclusion: If aliens exist, they probably smell like farts.

I don’t know enough about farts, Mars, or aliens to refute him, so I reached out to somebody who does: Clara Sousa-Silva, a molecular astrophysics postdoctoral associate at MIT.

“Your son is absolutely correct in his inference,” she told me. “Most of my work in astrobiology looks at anaerobic environments, which have a lot in common with the environments that produce farts. So, yes, aliens are reasonably likely to smell like farts.”

And at least according to Sousa-Silva, the answer to that question is: not especially pleasant. Even if Martians denied it, they most definitely supplied it.

But we don’t need to single out Mars. There are other examples of planets and other celestial bodies with theoretically pungent life forms.

Saturn’s icy moon Titan has gotten a lot of attention of late, thanks to data collected from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft over a 14-year mission. Its lakes of liquid methane, which may be filled with alien crystals, have raised questions about the “possibility of life,” as NASA planetary geologist Rosaly Lopes phrased it to Reuters last week.

A few years back, some of the gases and hydrocarbons collected by Cassini were used to create a recipe that replicated the “aromatic flavors” of Titan. Composed mostly of nitrogen, methane, and benzene (and a few other aromatics), NASA researchers were able to create in the lab what could be dubbed Eau de Titan, the cologne of choice for Titan aliens (should they exist).

What they discovered: Titan smells like farts and gasoline.

Does that mean Titan aliens could conceivably share the hearty stench of a garage filled with flatulent auto mechanics? Possibly … but probably not, says Sara Seager, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at MIT.

“If the alien life was producing hydrocarbons, that life would smell like gasoline,” she says. “Right now it sounds like the Titan atmosphere at large smells like gasoline, independent of life.”

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Russia Reopens 60 Year Old Probe of Mysterious Soviet Hiker Deaths

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November 25, 2019                           (stockdailydish.com)

• In February 1959, a group of Soviet graduate students were hiking 217 miles through extremely harsh terrain in the northern Ural Mountains of Russia known as the Dyatlov Pass. All were well-equipped, experienced hikers. They took pictures along the way and kept journals, describing the trip’s joyful atmosphere and other mundane things hikers do. All seemed like a typical trip to the mountains.

• But when the hikers failed to send a signal from the scheduled endpoint, a rescue team was dispatched to find them. The scene the rescuers stumbled onto was gruesome and puzzling at the same time. A tent was found empty, cut open from the inside. All belongings, including shoes, were left there intact. This led many to believe the students were forced to flee in terror, desperately trying to get out as quickly as they could.

• The first two shoeless hikers, dressed only in their underwear, were found lying under a pine tree about a mile from the tent. Three more bodies were located nearby. The last four victims were found several months later – buried under snow in a nearby creek. Four of the hikers had sustained massive internal injuries, skull fractures and chest damage. One woman had her eyes, tongue and part of her lips missing.

• A Soviet criminal probe could never establish why the hikers suddenly left the tent half-naked or explain the tragedy. The notes and photos made by the victims offered no clues. The final report only stated that everyone was killed by “an unknown overwhelming force.” Crime-related scenarios were discarded due to lack of evidence, say prosecutors. The case was shelved and by some accounts, even classified. More than 70 theories have been put forward on what may have caused the hikers’ deaths, ranging from secret military tests and radiation, to UFOs and paranormal activity.

• On November 22nd, a spokesperson for the Prosecutor General’s Office, Aleksandr Kurennoy, announced that investigators are officially reopening the case. Investigators and forensics experts will visit Dyatlov Pass in March to search for a plausible explanation for the incident. Said Kurennoy, the victims’ “relatives, media and the public want to know the truth.”

 

Army test, UFO or deadly blizzard? Russia reopens 60yo probe of mysterious Soviet hiker deaths Russian investigators are set to re-examine the chilling mystery of a deadly hiking trip made by group of Soviet students in 1959. The story spurred more than 70 theories and even inspired Hollywood thriller, ‘The Devil’s Pass’.

Known as the Dyatlov Pass incident the deaths of a Soviet student hiking group in a remote area in the Urals six decades ago remains one of Russia’s most chilling unsolved mysteries. It shocked and bewildered investigators right from the start. After the original probe failed to produce any results, the case was shelved and, by some accounts, even classified.

The eerie story inspired Hollywood director Renny Harlin to make the thriller Devil’s Pass in 2013. Now the authorities are determined to finally uncover what happened.

Investigators are officially reopening the probe, spokesperson for the Prosecutor General’s Office, Aleksandr Kurennoy, on Friday. The victims’ “relatives, media and the public want to know the truth,” he said.

A group, led by Igor Dyatlov, embarked on their last hiking trip in February 1959. They were mostly in their 20s, graduate students at a local technical university. All were well-equipped, experienced hikers. The plan was to trek 350km (217 miles) through extremely harsh terrain in the northern Urals.

One student had to drop the hike due to leg pains, returning home early. That decision saved his life. Others went on. They took pictures along the way and kept journals, describing the trip’s joyful atmosphere and other fairly mundane things hikers do. All seemed like a typical trip to the mountains.

The hikers failed to send a signal from the scheduled endpoint however and a rescue team was dispatched to find them. The scene the rescuers stumbled onto was gruesome and puzzling at the same time.

The tent was found on a slope, which translates to ‘The Mountain of the Dead’ in the local dialect. It was empty, cut open from the inside by a sharp object. All belongings, including shoes, had been left there, intact. This led many to believe the students were forced to flee in terror, desperately trying to get out as quickly as they could.

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Ufology: From Fringe to Serious Science

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Article by MJ Banias                          November 22, 2019                        (popularmechanics.com)

• In an interview with MJ Banias of Popular Mechanics, Richard Hoffman and Robert Powell discuss the creation of the ‘Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies’. Hoffman and Powell occupy two of the three seats on the non-profit’s governing board. The purpose of the ‘SCU’ is to establish a scientifically credible organization that will collect “multiple sensory data” on UAPs, such as radar tracks and video, which can be analyzed and studied by scientific experts, rather than to simply report and tally random UFO sightings. They intend to publish these studies in a biannual peer-reviewed journal set to begin next year.

• ‘Unidentified Ariel Phenomenon’ or UAP is the current rebranding of Unidentified Flying Objects because the term UFO carries too much cultural baggage.

• The SCU currently has 69 active members who are mostly scientists, former military officers, and former law enforcement personnel with technical experience and investigative backgrounds with companies and agencies such as Lockheed, NORAD, the U.S. Space Command, and NASA. Device physics expert Robert Powell says, “To date, there hasn’t been an extensive and well-funded scientific investigation of these phenomena using state-of-the-art investigative tools and a dedicated investigative team.” The SCU intends to change this.

• Richard Hoffman is a 25-year information technology expert on contract with the U.S. Army’s Material Command at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. Hoffman notes that “The scientific community still has to deal with the decades of stigma associated with what they see as pseudoscience or fringe science.” “Many scientists do have interests in the phenomena, but are most often discouraged by others to embrace it so they hide it.”

• While the SCU doesn’t suppose that non-human intelligence is responsible for UFOs, some scientists have starting to ask more questions in the wake of revelations by the US Navy that UAPs having “capabilities…beyond any known technology” exist, and that the Pentagon ran an Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program to study UFOs. The organization has suggested that “the public release of all Navy records associated with (the Nimitz ‘tic tac’ UFO) incident to enable a full, scientific and open investigation is strongly recommended.”

• Still, contemporary ufology makes many academics and scientists nervous. For as long as humans have claimed to have seen UFOs, the established scientific community has been conditioned to consider them nonsense. And the decades-long taboo surrounding UFOs can still kill a professional career. When physical evidence or data has been presented, the well-established ufological conspiracy and myth-making machines set out to discredit that data.

• In 1953, the Robertson Panel was formed at the behest of the government to look at UFO reports after a string of odd aerial objects were seen over Washington, D.C. the previous year. The panel concluded that UFOs posed no risk to national security. Furthermore, it proposed that the National Security Council actively debunk UFO reports and make them the subject of ridicule. The Panel even recommended that UFO investigative and research groups be monitored by intelligence agencies for subversive activity. (see Robertson Panel Report here)

• In 1969, the US Air Force and the University of Colorado produced the Condon Report to close down Project Blue Book (see Condon Report here). A controversial memorandum surfaced that revealed that the report itself had to “trick” the public into thinking the study was objective, but would ensure that the final and official position is that all UFO incidents were hoaxes, delusion and human error. (see memorandum here) UFOs were lumped in with stories of space men from Venus, alien bases in Antarctica, and a subculture of people claiming to be alien channelers, time-traveling ambassadors, and new-age UFO prophets.

• Other UFO study organizations include Project Hessdalen in Norway that monitors strange light phenomena, and the UFO Data Acquisition Project that is designing computer software to monitor and track aerial phenomenon as well as provide metadata that can be analyzed. Alexander Wendt is a political science professor at the Ohio State University who sits on the board of UFOData which also tracks anomalous phenomena in the skies. According to Wendt, neither the government nor the established scientific community are going to fund UFO research. Says Wendt, “I don’t get the sense the scientific community is any more interested or open than it was before. The solution seems to be crowdfunding or finding private donors to invest in these projects.

• In the end, we are simply left to wonder, “What if?” Could the source of some of these data-rich UFO incidents be secret government technology, an alien intelligence, or something fundamentally beyond our physical and philosophical understanding?

[Editor’s Note]  While the purported intention of this article is to bring the UFO community the good news that “real” scientists have stepped forward to conduct “serious” study of the UFO phenomenon, the underlying design of the article, as is typical of this writer, MJ Banias, is to create ‘limited disclosure’ by separating scientifically worthy UFO data from the “conspiracy theories” that deserve to remain on the fringe. I suspect that Banias’ assertive use of the term UAP rather than UFO is also a subconscious cue to treat UAPs as legitimate and UFOs as crazy talk. Soon they will draw a hard line of demarcation as to the type of UFOs that people should pay attention to, and the type that people should not.

The clever Banias employs the mention of past official efforts to stymie UFO research to make his writing seem fair and objective, as if he is “fighting the stigma”. Banias ends the article with the open-ended question “what if” to make it appear that his limited disclosure camp would actually consider that these UFOs might be associated with intelligent extraterrestrial sources interacting with our world – which he doesn’t. MJ Banias can barely wrap his head around the Navy authenticating UFOs with unknown technology. He can’t even bring himself to use the term UFO. To Banias, the existence of anything beyond nebulous UAP sightings is still impossible, belonging to the realm of kooky science fiction rather than mainstream science. Banias maintains the same old dictum: ‘extraterrestrials do not exist, therefore it can’t be extraterrestrials’ while the deep state grins.

 

For as long as humans have claimed they’ve seen UFOs—and it’s been a long, long time—the established scientific community has more or less considered them to be nonsense. While that hasn’t changed much, even as we’re in the midst of a modern ufological renaissance, some renegade scientists are fighting to bring academic rigor to UFO research.

Take Richard Hoffman, a 25-year information technology expert on contract with the U.S. Army’s Material Command at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. As a Senior Lead Architect, he keeps the Army’s digital infrastructure running and safe from attack.

             Richard Hoffman

He’s also a UFO researcher.

“The scientific community still has to deal with the decades of stigma associated with what they see as pseudoscience or fringe science,” Hoffman tells Popular Mechanics. “Many scientists do have interests in the phenomena, but are most often discouraged by others to embrace it so they hide it.”

Hoffman is one of three board members who run a nonprofit scientific organization known as the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU). Unknown or unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) is the current rebranding of unidentified flying objects (UFO), a term that many believe to carry too much cultural baggage.

                        Robert Powell

“There are very few UFO organizations remaining today,” Hoffman says. “Of the few that do remain, they each have their unique contributions to the phenomena, but most are in data collection roles versus long term scientific study of cases.”

The difference with the SCU—and it’s a big one—is that it collects data that can be analyzed and studied by scientific experts, subsequently generating peer-reviewed papers published in journals and on websites, says Hoffman. The SCU doesn’t collect day-to-day UAP sighting reports, but rather, digs into the more complex cases where multiple sensory data like radar tracks and video may exist.

 

An Objective of Legitimacy

The SCU played a significant role in studying the Nimitz UFO Encounter, when it released a nearly 300-page report on the incident. The requisite refresher: Two year ago, the New York Times posted a story about Navy pilots who intercepted a strange object off the coast of San Diego in November 2004 and captured video of the object with their F-18’s gun camera.

Earlier this month, Popular Mechanics published a story about several other military personnel who also witnessed the Nimitz encounter on their radar systems and over their ship’s video system.

The SCU paper examined the available public data and testimony available regarding the case and concluded that the “results suggest that given the available information, the AAV’s capabilities are beyond any known technology.”

To be clear, the SCU hasn’t concluded that some non-human intelligence is responsible. Fully aware of the significant gaps in data, the organization has suggested that “the public release of all Navy records associated with this incident to enable a full, scientific and open investigation is strongly recommended.”

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Alien Territory: The Rise of UFO Tourists

Listen to “E179 Alien Territory: The Rise of UFO Tourists” on Spreaker.
November 21, 2019                   (national geographic.co.uk)

• UFO-themed tourism has become big business. From Roswell, New Mexico to Sri Lanka, Chile, Russia, Japan and Australia, tourists are booking UFO hot spots for their vacations.

• After the “Storm Area 51” Facebook challenge that went viral this past summer, the Area 51 military facility where many believe spaceships, alien artifacts, and even the remains of alien bodies are stored has become another “must see” for the UFO tourist. Nate Arizona seized the moment and started an Area 51 guided tour where he brings clients to the gates of Area 51, under the constant scrutiny of security cameras and “cammo guys” wearing mirrored sunglasses and driving white SUVs. “Don’t worry,”says Nate. “[A]s long as we don’t enter the base proper, we’ll be absolutely fine.” Nate’s ‘Paranormal Tour of the US Southwest’, which also takes in the nearby Extraterrestrial Highway and the town of Rachel, Nevada, eight miles from Area 51, recently became one of Airbnb’s official ‘experiences’, and bookings are landing quickly.

• Airbnb’s head of Adventures, Caroline Boone, says the company is “delighted” with the demand for Nate’s paranormal tours. But it is the committed conspiracy theorists that’s driving the current trend — causing a rise in bookings both in Rachel and other UFO hotspots. Cody Theising, the manager of the ‘Little A’Le’Inn’ in Rachel, says that she has also seen an uptick in bookings. “There’s definitely been an increase in business out here in the last couple of years. We’re seeing a lot more tours… coming through.”

• Armando Martinez from Denver says he ‘absolutely loved’ Nate’s Nevada tour. Armando thinks paranormal tourism is growing for one simple reason — more people are believing in it. “Improvements in technology, particularly mobile phones, means there’s far more evidence of the paranormal being collected. There’s so much documentation out there now that you have to really step back and re-evaluate things, and tours like this are great for that kind of perspective.”

• Roswell, New Mexico is the site of perhaps the most famous UFO crash in July 1947, and what many believe is the mother of all government cover-ups. UFO tourism has kicked into hyperdrive of late and the ‘grey dollar’ is being spent as never before. Dennis Balthaser runs extraterrestrial-themed tours in Roswell, twice daily, five days a week. “By the end of this year I’ll have cleared 300 tours,” says Dennis who books visitors from the UK, China, Australia, South Africa and Japan, as well as most US states.

• Other UFO hot spots in the US include the Pacific Northwest, where the National UFO Reporting Center received three times the annual average of reported UFO sightings in 2018; Kecksburg, Pennsylvania where a car-sized, acorn-shaped metal object covered in hieroglyphics fell to earth in a fiery blaze in 1965; and Sedona, Arizona which hosts some of the most frequent UFO sightings in the world.

• In 2008, Chile opened a UFO Trail near the town of San Clemente, an ET hub that’s generated hundreds of sightings. Arguably the best way to experience it is with one of the local horse-riding operators, which carry telescopes in their saddle bags and teach you about the stars while discussing the Earth-bound craft that supposedly came from them. These extra-terrestrial sightseeing expeditions typically end with an intergalactic debate over pisco sours around a campfire.

• Sri Lanka’s UFO tourism focuses on ‘alien mystery tours’ in the North Central Province. Japan’s own UFO tourism capital is Asuka, a tiny village famed for its mysterious carved granite monoliths including the Rock Ship of Masuda, a 15ft-tall, 800-tonne block with a straight central ridge and two one-metre square holes cut from it.

• The self-proclaimed UFO capital of Australia is Wycliffe Well, locate in the Northern Territory where there is a recorded UFO sighting every couple of days, on average. Visitors can stay in cabins at the Wycliffe Well Holiday Park where the walls are covered in newspaper clippings of UFO sightings. Stay more than 48 hours and you’re ‘guaranteed’ a sighting of your own.

• Russia’s answer to Area 51 is the remote village of Molyobka, 600 miles east of Moscow. Here in the foothills of the Urals, locals have reported seeing a range of phenomena, including hovering lights, strange symbols written across the sky, and even translucent beings. There are persistent rumors of people developing enhanced intelligence or superhuman powers after visiting the area.

 

From the gate, Area 51 looks deserted. It would be so easy to simply step over the dotted line in the road here, to enter America’s most mysterious military installation. But Nate Arizona knows better.

“Don’t even think about it,” warns my previously jovial guide, brow furrowing under his neon-coloured bandana. “You’d be face first in the dirt with a gun to the back of your head before you knew what was happening.”

    Rachel, Nevada’s ‘Little A’Le’Inn’

For alien enthusiasts, this is ground zero. The secret air force base in Nevada has been at the centre of extra-terrestrial speculation since the 1940s. Many believe UFO wreckage from the infamous Roswell Incident of 1947 is hidden inside this perimeter — along with the remains of its intergalactic pilots. Others speculate that the facility is dedicated to the reverse engineering of recovered alien technology, or even time travel. Whichever way you cut it, an awful lot of people believe that if the truth is out there, it’s probably in here.

               Roswell’s UFO Museum

The ‘Storm Area 51’ Facebook joke, which went viral earlier this summer (with two million people signing up for the mass invasion of the facility in order to ‘see them aliens’) put this highly classified military base firmly back in the public eye. But another trend has been growing out here too: that of UFO tourism.

Nate’s own tour, which also takes in the nearby Extraterrestrial Highway and the tiny town of Rachel — a hub of purported paranormal activity — recently became one of Airbnb’s ‘experiences’, and bookings are landing faster than the Martian invasion force in HG Wells’ classic sci-fi novel The War of the Worlds.

Kecksburg’s ‘acorn’ UFO replica

“People get very excited about coming out to Area 51, but once we arrive at the gates, they realise how serious the whole thing is,” says Nate as we march along the perimeter, looking for a better vantage point. “The US government didn’t even officially admit this place existed until 2013, after all. There are motion sensors and cameras everywhere, and they follow your every move. Don’t be under any illusion — there are multiple guards watching us right now.”

   alien monument near Molyobka, Russia

Those guards are what ufologists call ‘camo guys’ — the real-life equivalent of the Men in Black from the Hollywood film. I’ve heard these defenders of the Earth drive unmarked white SUVs, sitting sphinx-like behind mirrored sunglasses as they trail visitors from a discreet distance. Sure enough, as we approach another gate, Nate spots a white SUV parked on a bluff, which flashes its headlights as we approach.

“The camo guys are just letting us know they’re there,” says Nate. “Don’t worry — as long as we don’t enter the base proper, we’ll be absolutely fine.”

Under these watchful eyes, we continue our exploration, Nate pointing out satellite towers, barracks and even a bizarre mirrored pyramid visible within the perimeter. As we pass, mounted cameras grind and whir in our direction and the inscrutable SUV maintains its vigilant watch.

    the Rock Ship of Masuda in Sri Lanka

Shadows slowly lengthening, we finally retreat to Rachel — a dusty, one-horse town a bumpy, eight-mile drive from Area 51. At its only motel, the appropriately monikered ‘Little A’Le’Inn’, manager Cody Theising says they too have seen a noted uptick in bookings as UFO tourism has taken off.

“There’s definitely been an increase in business out here in the last couple of years; we’re seeing a lot more tours like yours coming through,” says Cody, as I sip one of the Little A’Le’Inn’s signature ‘Spiced Abduction’ cocktails next to a sign that reads ‘Earthlings Welcome’.

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Alien Life Will Be Found ‘Within the Next Few Decades’, Claims NASA Study

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Article by Jasper Hamill                       November 23, 2019                        (metro.co.uk)

• A NASA-backed study (see here) proposes that a 126 antennae array observatory be established on the far side of the Moon that would scan the sky and look for habitable planets capable of sustaining extraterrestrial life. The FARSIDE array, which stands for Farside Array for Radio Science Investigations of the Dark Ages and Exoplanets, would scour the sky for planets having a magnetic field like our own, which is considered ‘a key ingredient for planetary habitability’, as well as looking for gases and other ‘biosignatures’ indicating the presence of alien organisms.

• In addition to searching for exoplanets within the ‘habitable zone’ of distant star systems, the Moon observatory could also aid in the search for ‘Planet 9’, a mysterious and as-yet-undiscovered world believed to be lurking in the furthest reaches of the solar system. It could also aid in trying to find ‘dark matter’, a substance believed to make up a large proportion of all the matter in the universe. The FARSIDE array can also study ‘coronal mass ejections’ from the surface of distant stars and explore the evolution of the universe itself.

• The placement of the FARSIDE observatory on the back of the Moon would shield it from both radio frequencies from the Earth and ‘noise’ created by the Sun’s solar wind.

• Authors of the FARSIDE observatory proposal include scientists from NASA as well as academics from various American universities. They write that: “The discovery of life on a planet outside our solar system is at the heart of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. … Such a discovery may arrive within the next few decades and is the focus of a number of planned and concept NASA missions.”

• While NASA has not actually committed to building FARSIDE,optimistic scientists have claimed that alien life could be found on an ‘exoplanet’ outside our own system ‘within a few decades’.

[Editor’s Note]   Considering that a previous report titled: ‘Final Report: Design of a Lunar Far Side Observatory’ was written in 1989, NASA hasn’t put a lot of effort into making an observatory on the far side of the Moon a reality. It is likely that NASA has never had any real intention of establishing a public presence on the far side of the Moon.  For if they did, it would expose that the back of the Moon is a veritable beehive of activity, with spacecraft flying to and from a number of lunar bases occupied by a variety of extraterrestrial species, including the Lunar Operations Command – a large base located on the back of the Moon at the ten o’clock position (from our point of view), that serves as US military alliance headquarters with many subsurface levels. The LOC was originally built by German Nazis in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, and was then modernized and expanded through a formal alliance of the American military industrial complex with the Nazis in the 1950’s, which continues to the present day.

 

Humanity could be on the verge of answering the biggest question in the universe.

A Nasa-backed study has claimed that alien life could be found on an ‘exoplanet’ outside our own system within a few decades.

Researchers have just published a proposal paper calling for an observatory to be placed on the dark side of the moon.

The proposed FARSIDE instrument (Farside Array for Radio Science Investigations of the Dark ages and Exoplanets) would scan the sky and look for habitable planets capable of sustaining extraterrestrial organisms.

It would also search for Planet 9, a mysterious and as-yet-undiscovered world believed to be lurking in the furthest reaches of the solar system, as well as trying to find dark matter, a substance believed to make up a large proportion of all the matter in the universe.

As well as these impressive ambitions, the overachieving instrument would ‘explore how the universe began and evolved’ and look for ‘coronal mass ejections’ – outbursts from the surface of stars.

But the goal which is likely to get the most attention is the search for exoplanets capable of sustaining life.

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Expert Claims Aliens Predicted End of World in Terrifying Encounter

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Article by Gerrard Kaonga                            November 20, 2019                           (express.co.uk)

• The Apophis asteroid, (a 1,210 foot-diameter rock) is due to arrive in the vicinity of the Earth in 2029. NASA has deemed it a ‘Potentially Hazardous Asteroid’, but is confident that it is ‘highly unlikely’ that the asteroid will hit the planet.

• The famed Swiss extraterrestrial contactee, Billy Meier, was warned by his alien friends in 1981 of the destruction that will occur with the passing of the Apophis ‘God of Chaos’ asteroid, according to Meier’s representative, Michael Horn, including a ‘split’ in the earth’s crust from the North Sea down to the Black Sea (in Eastern Europe), spewing forth hot lava and resulting in the creation of a new continent. The lava and gasses coming from within the earth will create a “deadly sulfurous wall, which, drifting westward, will cover the land and with that create an additional death-zone,” says Horn.

• Horn noted that Meier’s ‘space travelers’ have far more knowledge on the subject than does NASA. “To prove it, they gave Meier more than 250 specific examples of prophetically accurate scientific information decades before our own scientists discovered it,” he said. Horn also referenced the 2013 graphic novel “The Adventures of Billy Meier” in which Meier discovers the Apophis asteroid before NASA does (in 2004).

• In an interview with Express,co,uk, Horn related that extraterrestrial beings told Meier how to deflect the asteroid and save the planet: “The most highly recommended means is to detonate a nuclear charge in the proper proximity as to just deflect and nudge the ‘God of Chaos’ asteroid Apophis off its trajectory.”

• Asteroid researches, spacecraft engineers, and asteroid specialists from the NASA, the European Space Agency, and around the world gathered in Rome this past September to discuss how to best deal with asteroids heading towards earth. They came up with a project called HERA that would use two spacecraft to physically push the asteroid off of its deadly trajectory. They plan to test their technique on an unsuspecting asteroid.

 

Michael Horn, research scientist and representative for ufologist Billy Meier, said Mr Meier believed he was contacted by aliens to warn of the dangers of the ‘God of Chaos’ Apophis asteroid. During an interview with Express.co.uk, Mr Horn revealed the claims of alien life wanting the world to come together to deflect the asteroid. NASA has insisted the space rock is highly unlikely to strike the planet in its next flyby.

Although NASA remains confident that the asteroid will not hit the planet in its next fly by the planet in 10 years time, they have deemed it a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA).

                                                     Billy Meier

Mr Horn said: “Fortunately as far back as 1981 when Meier was given this information by these people and he documented it.

“They said here is the recommended means of averting impact.

“They said look there are things such as solar sales and other means they might want to try.

“They may also want to try to blow up the asteroid but that is not recommended.

“The most highly recommended means is to detonate a nuclear charge in the proper proximity as to just deflect and nudge ‘God of Chaos’ asteroid Apophis off its trajectory.”

When asked why Mr Horn’s team and Billy Meier’s conclusions differ from NASA’s he said: “The space travellers’ technologies greatly exceed NASA’s.

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There’s Water on Jupiter’s Moon Europa

 

Article by Mihai Andrei                            November 19, 2019                             (zmescience.com)

• NASA has confirmed that Jupiter’s moon Europa contains liquid water, making it one of the most promising places we know for extraterrestrial life. Astronomers have previously observed plumes of water emerging from Europa reaching hundreds of kilometers high.

• More recently, researchers at the W. M. Keck Observatory, atop the dormant Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii, found a clear signature of water molecules on the moon. Its earthbound spectrograph was able to detect water on Europa by meticulously removing the signatures of water molecules and other “contaminants” within the earth’s atmosphere.

• While “Essential chemical elements…are found all over the solar system,” says NASA scientist Lucas Paganini, liquid water is somewhat hard to find beyond Earth.” Forty years ago, the Voyager snapped a photo of a cracked and shifting geology on Europa, indicating tectonic drifts or even a sub-surface ocean with slabs of ice moving on top of it.

• Avi Mandell, a Goddard planetary scientist on Paganini’s team, said, “[E]ventually, we’ll have to get closer to Europa to see what’s really going on.” In 2025 he and his fellow astronomers will get their wish. NASA’s Clipper mission will launch toward Jupiter to analyze Europa’s habitability, chemistry, and geology. The mission will also help NASA select a landing site for its future Europa lander. The European Space Agency plans to launch its ‘Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (or “JUICE”) in 2022 to analyze Jupiter’s Galilean moons: Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. Might these explorers detect life in a moon’s slushy ocean?

 

NASA has confirmed that Jupiter’s moon Europa contains liquid water, making it one of the most promising places we know for extraterrestrial life.

At first glance, not much is happening on Europa. A small, frozen world orbiting Jupiter doesn’t seem like the most interesting place out there. But 40 years ago, the Voyager snapped an intriguing photo of the satellite: its frozen surface wasn’t stale and monotonous, it was cracked and sliced by different features, suggesting active and recent phenomena. Subsequent missions showed even more exciting things.

Despite being undoubtedly bombarded by meteorites, Europa’s surface is largely devoid of craters. This means that something must have erased or eroded them, suggesting some active geology. Not only is Europa active — it has some form of tectonics, and more impressively, it seems to have liquid water. The liquid water isn’t on the surface but rather beneath the frozen surface. The pattern of the cracks observed on Europa’s surface suggest that the frozen surface of the planet is not locked to the rest of the interior, which is exactly what you’d expect to happen if a layer of liquid were to exist beneath the surface.

To make things even more tantalizing, astronomers have observed something which seems to be plumes of water emerging from Europa. Some of the plumes are hundreds of kilometers high, adding even more evidence to the case for water on Europa.

Now, that case is essentially proven. Researchers looking from the W. M. Keck Observatory, atop the dormant Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii, found a clear signature of water molecules.

“Essential chemical elements (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur) and sources of energy, two of three requirements for life, are found all over the solar system. But the third — liquid water — is somewhat hard to find beyond Earth,” said Lucas Paganini, a NASA planetary scientist who led the water detection investigation. “While scientists have not yet detected liquid water directly, we’ve found the next best thing: water in vapor form.”

1:46 minute video on ‘Water Plumes on Europa” (NASA Goddard youTube)

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