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LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky city has come up with an out-of-this-world campaign to promote tourism. The Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau used an infrared laser to beam a message into space to invite extraterrestrial travelers. “The first thing you’ll notice as you descend through Earth’s atmosphere above Central Kentucky is the lush green countryside that surrounds Lexington’s vibrant city center. It goes on to describe gentle rolling hills, horse farms and bourbon before suggesting places to stay and eat and shop. “We included imagery representing the elements of life, our iconic Lexington rolling hills, and the molecular structure for water, bourbon, and even dopamine … because Lexington is fun!”It could take a while to get an answer though.

Persons: Robert Lodder, “, Andrew Byrd Organizations: —, Lexington Convention, Visitors Bureau, Lexington, Extraterrestrial Intelligence, FAA Locations: LEXINGTON, Ky, Kentucky, Central Kentucky, Lexington

☆ NASA installs new chief of UFO research after expert panel report
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Joey Roulette | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"The mission of NASA is to find out the unknown," Nelson said. The NASA panel, comprising experts in scientific fields ranging from physics to astrobiology, issued the report after holding its first public meeting in June. NASA said the new director of UAP research will handle "centralized communications, resources and data analytical capabilities to establish a robust database for the evaluation of future UAP." The report said defense and intelligence analysts lacked sufficient data to determine the nature of some of the objects. The NASA panel studying UAPs held its first public meeting in June, comprising experts in scientific fields ranging from physics to astrobiology.

Persons: Joe Skipper, Bill Nelson, Nelson, UAPs, Joey Roulette, Will Dunham Organizations: NASA, Vehicle, Kennedy Space Center, REUTERS, Rights, UAP, National Intelligence, Navy, U.S, East, Pentagon, Thomson Locations: Cape Canaveral , Florida, U.S, West

☆ Congress's UFO hearing shows the hardest part of discovering alien life may be announcing it. Here's how NASA might break the news.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

An illustration of the CoLD scale for determining confidence in a detection of alien life. The discovery of extraterrestrial life is likely to be a slow build-up, rather than an explosive eureka moment. The president or other countries could be involved in announcing extraterrestrial life existsPresident Joe Biden speaks at Delaware State University. Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesAnnouncing the existence of alien life would be an "administration-level" affair, Glaze said, referring to the US presidency. Needless to say, any discovery of alien life would likely lead to chaos — at least in public discourse.

Persons: NASA isn't, David Grusch, Randall Hill, UAPs, Elon Musk, John Locher, Karine Jean, Pierre, we've, Lori Glaze, Glaze, James Webb, Jean, Philippe Arles, It's, Aaron Gronstal, Mary Voytek, Joe Biden, Anna Moneymaker, Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Stephen Hawking, I'm, we're Organizations: Service, NASA, Beijing, Reuters, Department of Defense, Associated Press, AP, White House, Navy, US Department of Defense, JPL, Caltech, Delaware State University Locations: Wall, Silicon, South Carolina, Surfside Beach , South Carolina, US, Alaska, Canada, Lake Huron, Rachel , Nevada, Bugarach, France

☆ Rare ‘Trojan’ world may share the same orbit as another planet
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Astronomers may have found a rare “sibling” that shares the same orbit of a Jupiter-like planet around a young star. Two Jupiter-like planets, known as PDS 70b and PDS 70c, are already known to orbit the star. Evidence for Trojans beyond our solar system — specifically Trojan planets — has been sparse until now. The signal suggested a cloud of debris with a mass of about twice that of our moon, which could be a Trojan planet or a planet in formation. A cloud of debris (circled by a yellow dotted line) may be a newly forming planet in the same orbit as the planet PDS 70b.

Persons: ”, Olga Balsalobre, Lucy, “ Exotrojans, Jorge Lillo, Itziar De Gregorio, Monsalvo, “, Ruza, ALMA Organizations: CNN —, Astrophysics, Madrid’s, Astrobiology, IAU, Southern, Science, NASA Locations: ALMA, Chile

☆ Ancient pendants made from giant sloth bones suggest humans were in Americas earlier than thought
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

While G. phoenesis was thought to have been a relatively small species of giant sloth, some ancient sloth species were so big that their fossilized burrows are now caves in southern Brazil that humans can walk through. One of the three pendants made from giant sloth bone. However, Pansani said the team dated other material — sediment, charcoal and other giant sloth bones — from the same layer as where the artifacts were recovered. Many experts are skeptical that humans occupied the Americas any earlier than 16,000 years ago, the study noted. For the new study, Pacheco said the team hadn’t considered the possibility of trying to extract genetic material from the sloth-bone pendants.

Persons: —, Thais Pansani, Federal University of São Carlos, phoenesis, Thaís Pansani, Pierre Gueriau, Mírian Pacheco, Pacheco, ” Pansani, Pansani, “, ” Pacheco, hadn’t, ” Organizations: CNN, Federal University of São, Paleobiology, Royal Society Locations: Brazil, Santa, Americas, South America, New Mexico, Russia

☆ Saturn's icy moon Enceladus harbors essential elements for life
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The discovery was based on data collected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, the first to orbit Saturn, during its 13-year landmark exploration of the gaseous giant planet, its rings and its moons from 2004 to 2017. The same team previously confirmed that Enceladus' ice grains contain a rich assortment of minerals and complex organic compounds, including the ingredients for amino acids, associated with life as scientists know it. Another is Jupiter's larger moon Europa, which also is believed to harbor a global ocean of liquid water beneath its icy surface. "This key ingredient could be abundant enough to potentially support life in Enceladus' ocean," said co-investigator Christopher Glein, a planetary scientist at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. "Whether life could have originated in Enceladus' ocean remains an open question," Glein said.

Persons: NASA's Cassini, Read, Frank Postberg, Cassini, Christopher Glein, Glein, Steve Gorman, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: NASA's, Nature, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL, Free University, Southwest Research Institute, Thomson Locations: German, Los Angeles, Berlin, Europe, Japan, San Antonio , Texas

☆ Key building block of life found on ocean world orbiting Saturn
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —A key chemical building block of life has been found on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. An ocean exists beneath the thick, icy surface of Enceladus, and plumes of material regularly release from geysers at the moon’s south pole. “Previous geochemical models were divided on the question of whether Enceladus’ ocean contains significant quantities of phosphates at all,” Postberg said. “This key ingredient could be abundant enough to potentially support life in Enceladus’ ocean; this is a stunning discovery for astrobiology.”Some of the additional ocean world moons around Jupiter and Saturn include Europa, Titan and Ganymede. Although the building blocks of life and conditions for habitability exist on Enceladus, no actual life has been detected yet.

Persons: ”, Frank Postberg, ” Postberg, Fabian Klenner, “, Postberg, Christopher Glein, Cassini, Linda Spilker, Spilker, ” Spilker, ” Glein, ” “, Nozair Khawaja, Mikhail Zolotov, Zolotov Organizations: CNN, Cassini, NASA, JPL, Space Science, Freie Universität, ATP, University of Washington, Southwest Research Institute, Clipper, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Freie Universität Berlin, Arizona State University Locations: Freie Universität Berlin, San Antonio , Texas, Europa, Pasadena , California

☆ NASA team to issue report on unidentified phenomena in July
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —A team of 16 experts and scientists assembled by NASA aims to publish its first report on unidentified anomalous phenomena, also known as unidentified flying objects, or UFOS, by midsummer. “We’re trying to assess whether those phenomena pose any risks to safety and we’re doing it using science,” Evans added. Unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP, “are events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena from a scientific perspective,” according to NASA. Instead, the team’s approach has been outlining how to evaluate and study unidentified anomalous phenomena using data and technology. But since being announced in June 2022, members of the independent study team have faced online harassment.

Persons: CNN —, ”, Dan Evans, “ We’ve, ” Evans, “ We’re, Evans, UAPs, Scott Kelly, David Spergel, Kelly, ” Spergel, “, Sean Kirkpatrick, Kirkpatrick, ” Kirkpatrick, Spergel, astrobiology, Katie Hunt, Michael Conte, Jackie Wattles Organizations: CNN, NASA, UAP, National Defense, US Navy, Simons, US Department of Defense, Pentagon Locations: New York City

WASHINGTON, May 31 (Reuters) - A NASA panel formed last year to study what the government calls "unidentified aerial phenomena," commonly termed UFOs, was due to hold its first public meeting on Wednesday, ahead of a report expected in coming weeks. The focus of Wednesday's four-hour public session "is to hold final deliberations before the agency's independent study team publishes a report this summer," NASA said in announcing the meeting. The panel represents the first such inquiry ever conducted under the auspices of the U.S. space agency for a subject the government once consigned to the exclusive and secretive purview of military and national security officials. The NASA study is separate from a newly formalized Pentagon-based investigation of unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs, documented in recent years by military aviators and analyzed by U.S. defense and intelligence officials. "There is no evidence UAPs are extraterrestrial in origin," NASA said in announcing the panel's formation last June.

Persons: Joey Roulette, Steve Gorman, Robert Birsel Organizations: NASA, U.S, Pentagon, UAP, Thomson Locations: U.S, Washington, Los Angeles

☆ Earth-size exoplanet may be covered in volcanoes
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Instead, the exoplanet, called LP 791-18 d, is likely covered in volcanoes and may experience eruptions with the same frequency as Jupiter’s moon Io, the most volcanically active place in our solar system, according to researchers. LP 791-18 d is located about 90 light-years from Earth in the Crater constellation, where it orbits a small red dwarf star. And astronomers believe the massive planet LP 971-18 c might be contributing to the newly detected exoplanet’s possible volcanism. As the two objects orbit their star, LP 971-18 c and the newfound exoplanet LP 791-18 d closely pass each other, allowing the gravitational pull of the larger planet LP 971-18 c to tug on planet d and reshape its orbit. The discovery of LP 971-18 d points to the importance of data collected by space telescopes.

☆ The UFO shoot-downs show the hardest part of discovering alien life may be announcing it. Here's how NASA might break the news.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Extraterrestrial life likely wouldn't show up as flying objects, but finding it could cause similar chaos. An illustration of the CoLD scale for determining confidence in a detection of alien life. The president or other countries could be involved in announcing extraterrestrial life existsPresident Joe Biden speaks at Delaware State University. Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesAnnouncing the existence of alien life would be an "administration-level" affair, Glaze said, referring to the US presidency. Needless to say, any discovery of alien life would likely lead to chaos — at least in public discourse.

☆ NASA's UFO panel convenes to study unclassified sightings
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Oct 24 (Reuters) - A first-of-its-kind panel organized by NASA opened a study on Monday of what the government calls "unidentified aerial phenomena," commonly termed UFOs, bringing together experts from scientific fields ranging from physics to astrobiology. The 16-member panel, convened with little fanfare, will focus its inquiry entirely on unclassified sightings and other data collected from civilian government and commercial sectors, according to NASA. The team's inquiry is separate from a newly formalized Pentagon-based investigation of unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs, reported by military aviators and analyzed by U.S. defense and intelligence officials. Announcing the formation of its panel in June, NASA said: "There is no evidence UAPs are extraterrestrial in origin." "Understanding the data we have surrounding unidentified aerial phenomena is critical to helping us draw scientific conclusions about what's happening in our skies," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate NASA administrator.

☆ Scientists shot tardigrades out of a gun at more than 2,000 mph to see if the critters could survive
▼ + stars: | 2021-05-22 | by ( Aylin Woodward | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Tardigrades can survive in extreme environments, but a new study shows they're not indestructible. Scientists found these creatures couldn't survive speeds above 2,000 mph when shot out of a gun. The researchers shot canisters full of tardigrades out of a high-speed gun at various speeds to see whether the creatures could survive the pressure of each resulting impact. After being shot out at speeds under 900 meters per second (about 2,000 mph) — that's faster than your average bullet — the tardigrades could be revived. But if tardigrades can't survive the pressures of a collision with our moon, it's unlikely they could survive a meteorite impact with another planet, the study authors wrote.

Persons: Alejandra Traspas, Traspas, Megumu Tsujimoto, tardigrades Organizations: Service, Queen Mary University, of, NASA Locations: Wall, Silicon, London, Israeli

☆ Ce mesaje a trimis omenirea până acum extratereștrilor?
▼ + stars: | 2021-03-28 | by ( ) www.jurnal.md time to read: +5 min

Sursa foto: ShutterstockCe mesaje a trimis omenirea până acum extratereștrilor? Așadar, ce mesaje a trimis omenirea până acum extratereștrilor? „Un instantaneu al ființelor umane în limbajul matematicii și al științei”Următorul mesaj trimis extratereștrilor a fost mult mai ambițios. A fost ca un panou publicitar uriaș pe o autostradă, însă a ajuns undeva pe un câmp”, a precizat Shostak. Sondele Voyager 1 și 2 au fost lansate în 1977 pentru a explora marginile Sistemului Solar și a spațiului interstelar.

Persons: Joseph Johann Von Littrow, Von Littrow, ., Lenin, Frank Drake, Carl Sagan, Messier, Arecibo, Douglas Vakoch, Extratereștrii, Seth Shostak, Omenirea, Wells, Jensen, Jensen . Organizations: International Journal, Messier, Universitatea Cornell, Live, Voyager, Doritos, Universitatea Bowling Green Locations: Sahara, Sovietice, Puerto Rico, Arecibo, SUA, Klingon, klingoniană, Olanda, Ohio

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