NASA's Kepler Comes Roaring Back

NASA's Kepler Comes Roaring Back with 100 New Exoplanet Finds

by Sarah Lewin, Staff Writer   

The artist's illustration shows NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft operating in its second-chance K2 mission. Credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T Pyle View full size image

KISSIMMEE, Fla. —
NASA's Kepler spacecraft has bounced back nicely from the malfunction that ended its original exoplanet hunt more than two years ago.

Kepler has now discovered more than 100 confirmed alien planets during its second-chance K2 mission, researchers announced today (Jan. 5) here at the 227th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS).

The $600 million Kepler mission launched in March 2009, tasked with determining how commonly Earth-like planets occur throughout the Milky Way galaxy. Kepler has been incredibly successful, finding more than 1,000 alien worlds to date, more than half of all exoplanets ever discovered.

The first five K2 campaigns, which each looked at a different part of the sky, "have produced over 100 validated planets," Ian Crossfield, an astronomer at University of Arizona, said today during a presentation at the AAS meeting. "This is a validation of the whole K2 program's ability to find large numbers of true, bona fide planets."

Crossfield said that Kepler observed more than 60,000 stars and found 7,000 transitlike signals during the first five 80-day observation campaigns. A validation process whittled some of these signals down to planet candidates, and then finally to validated planets, each of which has just a 1 percent chance of being a false positive, Crossfield added.

He also noted that K2 found more false positives among larger planets than small ones, and that more than half of the false positives were in multiplanet systems.

While planning K2, Kepler principal investigator Bill Borucki, who retired this past July after a 53-year NASA career, said the new mission could find "dozens, or maybe even hundreds" of exoplanets. Now, K2 has racked up more than 100, and lots of exciting extrasolar systems will likely be spotted in the future, Crossfield said.

"We're only a quarter or so of the way done, we hope," he said.

Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

Believe It Or Not: Archeologists discover Mythical Tomb of Osiris, God of the Dead, in Egypt

  aprilholloway

Archeologists discover Mythical Tomb of Osiris, God of the Dead, in Egypt

A Spanish-Italian archaeological team, in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, has made an incredible discovery in the necropolis of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, on the West Bank at Thebes, Egypt – an enormous ancient reproduction of the mythical Tomb of Osiris as described by Egyptian legend, complete with multiple shafts and chambers. Inside the tomb complex, researchers found a carving of Osiris and a room with a wall relief depicting a demon holding knives.

Entrance to the funerary complex of Osiris. Photo credit: MinProject (Archaeological Mission Canaria-Toscana).

According to the Spanish news agency EFE, the tomb embodies all the features of the tomb of Osiris, as told in ancient Egyptian legends, and is a smaller version of the design of the Osireion, built under Egyptian pharaoh Seti I  in the city of Abydos, Luxor.  Researchers believe the tomb complex dates back to the 25th dynasty (760 - 656 BC) or 26th dynasty (672 - 525 BC), based on a comparison to similar tombs that contain Osirian elements.

The complex consists of a large hall supported by five pillars. RTVE describes the structure as having a staircase from the north wall of the main room, leading down to the funerary complex, where there is a carving of Osiris, god of the dead, in the middle of a central vaulted temple.

To the west of the central temple is a funerary room with the reliefs of demons holding knives. The leader of the Spanish-Italian team that uncovered the tomb, Dr. María Milagros Álvarez Sosa, told EFE that the demons are there to protect the body of the deceased.

Opposite the statue of Osiris is a staircase with a 29.5 foot (9 meter) shaft leading to another chamber. Inside this chamber is a second shaft that descends 19.6 feet (6 meters) into two more rooms, which are currently full of debris.

“The symbolism of Osiris is very evident here, since all the elements recalling the mythical Osiris tomb are present,” writes Luxor Times Magazine, “a big staircase of 3.5 meter long with a 4 meter high ceiling at the bottom leading to the Netherworld and another one leading directly to the Osiris statue, which is therefore at a higher level and ideally isolated on ‘his island’; the Osiris statue itself; the empty corridor surrounding it which symbolizes the channel of water (see Osireion in Abydos); the expected burial chamber below the statue, thus identifying the deceased with Osiris.”

Sketch showing the outline of the tomb of Osiris. Drawing of the tomb's architecture made by Raffaella Carrera, MinProject (Archaeological Mission Canaria-Toscana).

Part of the tomb was initially discovered by archaeologist Philippe Virey in the 1880s and some attempts were made to sketch out the main structure in the 20^th century. However, it was not until recently that the full extent of the structure was discovered through excavations. The funerary complex will continue to be explored and the chambers cleared of debris in the Autumn of this year.

Alvarez Sosa told EFE that the tomb is of "great importance" because “the burial chambers contain dead who slept their eternal sleep under the god of the dead, Osiris".

According to Egyptian mythology, Osiris, god of the underworld, was killed by Set, god of storms, disorder and violence, who shut Osiris in a coffin and threw it in the Nile river. After his body was recovered by Isis, Set tore his body into pieces and threw them back into the river. Isis collected all the pieces and bandaged the body together. This form of Osiris traveled to the underworld in a boat and became god of the dead.

The only body part Isis could not locate was the phallus, as it had been eaten by catfish.  Isis created a golden phallus and briefly brought Osiris back to life with a spell, which gave her enough time to become pregnant by Osiris before he returned to death. Isis later gave birth to Horus, who became seen as a representation of new beginnings and the destroyer of the evil Set.

Featured image: Inside the replica of the tomb dedicated to the god Osiris. Photo credit: MinProject (Archaeological Mission Canaria-Toscana).

By April Holloway

Read more: http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/archeologists-discover-mythical-tomb-osiris-god-dead-egypt-002525#ixzz3wbgX6tuN
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New species of human

Darren you were right.  No idea why but the original posting DID vanish!!

_____________________________________________________________________
"I told you so...."

Daily news

17 December 2015

New species of human may have shared our caves – and beds

As fire light flickered on the back of the cave, a group of people ate deer, porcupine and otter. Then a man solemnly took a large bone off the fire, broke it in half and sucked the bone marrow out. He then carefully painted the broken bone with red clay and buried it in the cave.

He observed this ritual because this bone belonged to another human species. One they shared not only the forest with, but also their beds.

This is the remarkable – though so far tentative – picture emerging from controversial discoveries from two caves in south-west China. If true, some think it could overturn our understanding of what it means to be human.

Among the discoveries appears to be a primitive human species, which most closely resembles the earliest human species, Homo habilis and Homo erectus.

But while these lived about 2 million years ago, this new species lived just 14,000 years ago, says Darren Curnoe of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, who lead the team behind the discoveries. This would make it the most recent human species to have gone extinct.

“If true, this would be rather spectacular and it would make the finds of truly global importance,” says Michael Petraglia at the University of Oxford, who wasn’t involved in the discoveries.

The work is excellent, he says, but is likely to leave many in the field unconvinced.

more plus map etc at: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28687-new-species-of-human-may-have-shared-our-caves-and-beds/

NASA Image Of Universe -ALL In One Image??

http://www.theguardian.com/world/us-news-blog/2012/mar/16/nasa-image-entire-universe 

Tom McCarthy

@TeeMcSee

Nasa releases images of entire universe – and we're over the moon

Image from Nasa is a mosaic of images covering the entire sky as observed by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer 

 

 

The Fermi paradox, named for the physicist Enrico Fermi, goes something like this: given how big and old the universe apparently is, there is bound to be alien life out there somewhere. But given that the universe is so big and so old, if there's alien life out there, why haven't we earthlings encountered it yet? The experiment certainly has run its course for long enough now.

The paradox may play in the mind of anyone who catches an astounding image released this week by Nasa of … the entire universe. The full-size image (and what warrants full size as much as an image of the universe?) is here.

The image is actually a mosaic of the images covering the entire sky as observed by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (Wise). Wies is an unmanned satellite carrying an infrared-sensitive telescope. As with a flat map of the Earth's surface, the right and left edges of this oval shape are the same location in the sky. The bright belt is the Milky Way galaxy. Nasa explains:

The Milky Way is shaped like a disc and the solar system is located in that disc about two-thirds of the way out from the centre. So we see the Milky Way as a band running through the sky. As we look toward the centre of the Galaxy we are looking through more of the disc than when we are looking at large angles away from the centre, and you can see a noticeable increase in stars (coloured blue-green) toward the centre of the image … Residuals of the planets Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter are visible in this image as bright red spots off the plane of the galaxy at the 1.00, 2.00 and 7.00 positions, respectively.

The Space Sciences Laboratory at Berkeley has helpfully labeled some of the heavenly bodies visible in the image. Our favorites include Andromeda Galaxy, The Pleiades, Sombrero Galaxy, Heart and Soul Nebula and, of course, the Fornax Cluster. Just look at that up there. Look at that.

Looking For Aliens? Astronomers Unveil New Technique To Measure Pull Of Gravity

Damn but looking for alien civilizations is getting personal.  Now scientists are trying to work how obese aliens on a planet might be.....I think I got that right?

The Huffington Post UK  |  By Nitya Rajan 

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2016/01/04/alien-life-astronomers-unveil-new-technique-to-measure-pull-of-gravity_n_8910232.html 

 

 

Discovering Alien Life May Be Possible As Astronomers Unveil New Technique To Measure Pull Of Gravity

 

Astronomers have discovered a new technique to measure the pull of gravity, which could help us find alien life.

According to a team from the University of Vienna, this latest advance helps scientists better determine whether distant stars could be harbouring life.

"If you don't know the star, you don't know the planet," said study co-author, Professor Jaymie Matthews.

"The size of an exoplanet is measured relative to the size of its parent star.


"If you find a planet around a star that you think is Sun-like but is actually a giant, you may have fooled yourself into thinking you've found a habitable Earth-sized world.

"Our technique can tell you how big and bright is the star, and if a planet around it is the right size and temperature to have water oceans, and maybe life."

What they are essentially measuring is the surface gravity of a star - an indication of how much you would weigh on that star.

The technique has been dubbed, "auto correlation function timescale technique” and it uses subtle variations in the brightness of distant stars recorded by satellites like Canada's MOST and NASA's Kepler missions.

By understanding the nature of other stars, we might be able to "find other planets like our Earth,” explained lead author Thomas Kallinger from University of Vienna.

WHY Do I Work Alone?

I really do need to get some rest. Let's not get into the wildlife side of things too much here!

I have to say that I am very disappointed that no one has so far come forward to give their first hand account of observing a British wild-man.  I contacted a couple of people about their alleged photographs but no responses. 

What I find even more disappointing is how many people involved in this see a couple of fallen tree branches and THAT is evidence of a wild-man.  A sound of snapping twigs in the woods -a wild-man.  To date, my file contains not one piece of evidence in favour of a wild-man existing in the UK countryside.  As I have written before, however, I am keeping the file open until 31st January then I go with what is available.

I also find it sad that most UFO and paranormal groups seem to be TV obsessed.  Investigations I am seeing nothing about but talking about UFO, Bigfoot or paranormal programmes seems the main priority and a great many inaccuracies are creeping into these subjects because people are believing what they see and hear on entertainment TV shows. "This program is intended for entertainment only" is a give-away and "based on" like-wise.  They are not serious documentaries.

But the inaccuracies and false 'facts' are now almost filling up books on the subject.  People -including people on "serious groups"- are reading these and accepting them as fact.

It does not bode well because, as I have already found, the current generation of people involved in these fields are passing the false 'facts' on to the next and if you try to correct them, no matter how politely, you get screeched at as a skeptic or "fool".

Why do I work alone?

Get Them While You Can

As I have been unable to find any "Strange Phenomena" events this year to try to set up shop to sell the books, it seems likely they will be deleted.

The books are fun to put together and I have my copies so I'll just make them redundant at the end of January.  It's no major loss since I think that, from 2010 to today, only about five copies have sold and that was after I priced them so low I would have only got 50p from a sale.  Who is going to miss them?


So here you go.

The Red Paper: Canids -Foxes, Wolves, Jackals and Coyotes in the UK

 One for those interested in Wildlife -or cryptozoology!

  

 Terry Hooper

The Red Paper: Canids

Paperback, 

A4 (21 x 30cms)

202 Pages 

Photographs, illustrations and maps

Price: £10.29

Ships in 3–5 business days

 

 

By the 1700s the British fox was on the verge of extinction and about to follow the bear and wolf having been hunted for sport for centuries. 

 

The answer was to import thousands of foxes per year for sport. But foxes kept dying out so jackals were tried. Some were caught, some escaped. Even wolves and coyote were released for hunting and "country folk" were very far from "happy" -some even threatening local hunts -one intending to release a wolf for a hunt- with legal and other consequences.

 

The summation of over 40 years research by the noted naturalist and former UK police forces exotic wildlife consultant reveals the damnable lie of "pest control" hunting but also reveals the cruelty the animals were subject to and how private menageries as well as travelling shows.

 

Private menageries, or single exotic "pets" as well as travelling shows helped provide the British and Irish countryside with some incredible events such as the 1905 "vampiric" sheep killer of Badminton, the mystery hounds of Cavan and Coyotes of Epping Forest. 

 

The Girt Dog of Ennerdale is also dealt with in detail -was it a tiger? A Tasmania Thylacine? This book gives the exact facts and details for the first time.

Up-dated 2013 edition includes a section on sarcoptic mange in foxes and treatment plus a list of wildlife sanctuaries and rescue centres in the UK.

http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/the-red-papercanines-vol1/paperback/product-20492038.html

Some Things Strange & Sinister (2013 -up-dated)

A4 Format

B&W

Paperback

358 pages

Heavily illustrated

Price: £15.00

Ships in 3–5 business days

http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/some-things-strange-sinister/paperback/product-14958906.html 

 

 

After more than 40 years as an investigator and more than fifty as a naturalist,the author has opened some of the many files he has accumulated dealing with such things as.. 

 

The Terrifying Events At The Lamb Inn, The Ghosts Of All Saints Church, Dead Aquatic Creatures of Canvey Island, captured bigfoot like creatures in India -all exclusively presented for the first time and with new added research previously unseen. 

 

PLUS a vastly expanded section on Spring-heeled Jack! 

 

Photographs, maps, line drawings and up-dated to make 358 pages looking at Things truly Strange and Sinister. 

 

Cryptozoologist,Ghost Hunter,Ufologist or Fortean:this book has something for everyone -including the just plain inquisitive! 

 

Contents

Foreword by Travis L. Whitehurst

Introduction

1.     de occultis non judicat ecclesia                                                                     
2.     The Bristol Rocking Horse
3.     The Terrifying Events At The Lamb Inn
4.     The Coonian Ghost
5.     The Ghosts Of All Saints Church
6.     His Luminous Chamber
7.     The Late Reverend Dr. Blomberg
8.     And More Ghost Stories
9.     The Thomas B. Cumpston Case
10.     The Chupacabra
11.     The Strange Case Of The Gotherington Gargoyle
12.     What’s Tall,Hairy And Vanishes?
13.     Mystery Beasts Of Ireland
14.     The Creature Of The Dump
15.     The Strange Creature Of Repton Woods
16.     The Bizarre Legends,Crimes And Truth About Spring Heeled Jack
17.     The Black Beast Of Darmstadt
18.     The Nameless Thing Of Berkley Square
19.     The Terrifying Case Of The U.S. Naval Transport
20.     The Case Of The Ghost Lear Jet
21.     Ghost Planes,Crashes And Dead Aquatic Creatures
22.     The Mitchison Loch Ness Monster Video
23.     From The Deep Below To The Air Above –USOs
24.     Aerial Encounters Over Austria
25.     A Crashed UFO In 1790?
26.     Angel Hair
27.     Quimper-Corentin:Where “Thunder Fell”
28.     Strange Aliens From Space
29.     The Llandrillo ‘Saucer’ And Other Crash Retrievals
30.     Transient Lunar Phenomena,Alien Structures And Moon Vegetation
31.     Whiddon Down-Saint-Jean-du-Guard:Impossible Correlations?
32.     The Venezuelan Horror

A Final Word.

Alleged piece of crashed UFO from Berwyn Mountains, Wales.

 Some More Things Strange & Sinister 

Terry Hooper-Scharf

Paperback,
A4
327 Pages 

Heavily illustrated

Price: £15.00

Ships in 3–5 business days

http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/some-more-things-strange-sinister/paperback/product-18763730.html

Follow-up to the hugely successful Some Things Strange & Sinister.

For those interested in Ufology, cryptozoology, hominology, unusual natural history, ghosts and mysteries in general.

The secret history of gorillas in the UK -before they were officially  'discovered'. The history of  the Wild men of Europe, the UK and US: something that in the 1800s become very "pop culture"  Very pop culture and totally forgotten today!

Hominology. Sasquatch and Bigfoot -is there evidence for their existence?  No sitting on the fence here -the Patterson-Gimlin film is looked at as well as other evidence.  The Author's conclusions? You might be surprised.

Giant snakes. Amazons. The Giant serpent of Carthage. The Girt Dog of Ennerdale -another big cult 'creature' amongst paranormal and cryptozoological circles. The Beast of Gevaudan -what was it and were there really descendents of the creature in the 19th century -one of which was actually brought to London? 

 Believe it or not more than one incident of historical crocodiles cases in the UK.  In fact, far more than even the Author had thought .

And, after more than a century of claims by 'researchers' that it no longer exists: The Silent City of Alaska and the near legendary 'lost' photograph taken of it.

 This and much more. Updated with extra pages and photographs.

Pursuing The Strange And Weird -A Naturalist's Viewpoint (2014 up-date)

Terry Hooper-Scharf
Paperback, 

A4

249 Pages

Price: £15.00

Ships in 3-5 business days.

 http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/pursuing-the-strange-weirda-naturalists-viewpoint/paperback/product-21307125.html

UP DATE -From Dead Aquatic (Humanoid) Creatures, the giant squid and yet undiscovered sea creatures; submarine and ships crews encountering true leviathans.

There is a fully expanded section which also refers to the so-called ‘Ningen’ sightings and video footage.

Extinct animals at sea that have been re-discovered. The subject of Sasquatch and other mystery Hominids around the world is dealt with including a look at the “Sasquatch-killer”, Justin Smeja.

Dr. Bryan Sykes and his DNA test results for TVs The Bigfoot Files as well as the controversial Erickson Project and Dr. Melba Ketchum’s Even more controversial Sasquatch DNA test results.

Also included are two early French UFO entity cases that still baffle. Ghosts, strange creatures and the Star-Child hoax. All dealt with by the naturalist and pursuer of the strange and weird 

  The Bizarre Legends, Crimes And Truth About Spring Heeled Jack (2014

 

Terry Hooper-Scharf

Paperback, 

53 Pages 

 Dimensions (centimetres) 20.98 wide x 29.69 tall  (A4)

fully illustrated and referenced

Price: £7.00

Ships in 3–5 business days

 http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-truth-about-spring-heeled-jack/paperback/product-21259526.html

 

 

The terror and mystery created by “Jack The Ripper” has been the subject of countless books, magazine articles as well as movies and TV documentaries. Ask anyone if they have ever heard of Jack The Ripper and it is doubtful anyone would respond with a “no idea.” 

By that same token, ask people who “Spring-heeled Jack” was and you would be lucky to find anyone who had ever heard of him. 

Spring-heeled Jack was the subject (loosely) of a film The Curse of the Wraydons (1946) and Dominic Keating also appeared as Spring Heeled Jack in the 2010 film Sherlock Holmes by The Asylum film company. The character has also featured in both American and British comic books and a number of books, for both children and adults. 

But the fact that the Springald held the country –not just London– in a grip of terror much longer that the Ripper did is all but forgotten except for some half-truths and fanciful theories. 

Now be prepared to read the full story of Spring Heeled Jack