Weekly Links and Videos

Super-Earths are bigger, more common and more habitable than Earth itself – and astronomers are discovering more of the billions they think are out there

https://theconversation.com/super-earths-are-bigger-more-common-and-more-habitable-than-earth-itself-and-astronomers-are-discovering-more-of-the-billions-they-think-are-out-there-190496

WEEk 4

American Airlines tries to explain creepy ‘moaning’ sounds heard over plane’s PA system

American Airlines says a mechanical issue was responsible for strange sounds coming from a plane’s public announcement system during a flight from LAX to Dallas.

A viral video posted on social media showed one passenger’s reaction to the strange sounds, describing it as “somewhere between an orgasm and vomiting.”

The video was posted by Emerson Collins and includes a message from a confused flight attendant who apologized for the “irritating sound.”

Moans, groans and other disturbing sounds heard on airplanes

“Please be patient with us, we know it’s a very odd anomaly, and none of us are enjoying it, so we do appreciate your attention just for a few more moments until we figure out how to turn it off,” the flight attendant can be heard saying over the PA system.

In the video, Collins theorizes that someone may have “broken into” the intercom system, a sentiment that is apparently shared by one of the flight attendants.

American, however, said that was impossible because the PA systems are not connected to the internet. Instead, the company said the cause was a lot less sinister, blaming it on a malfunctioning system.

SETI Institute is America’s only organization wholly dedicated to searching for life in the universe

The SETI Institute was incorporated as a 501(c)3 California Non-Profit Corporation on November 20, 1984. The inaugural officers of the Institute were CEO Thomas Pierson and SETI scientist Jill Tarter. The Institute began operations on February 1, 1985.

Prior to the inception of the SETI Institute, NASA was funding a small project in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. John Billingham, Chief of Life Sciences at NASA Ames Research Center and Bernard (Barney) Oliver, formerly of Hewlett-Packard invited Tom Pierson and others into discussions about maximizing the effectiveness of the funds, and ways of putting more money into the research and less into institutional overhead. These discussions led to the concept of a dedicated non-profit research organization focused on research and education around the factors of the Drake Equation. This vision was realized in the 1984 incorporation of the SETI Institute.

The newly-formed SETI Institute’s first Trustees were Frank Drake, Andrew Fraknoi, Roger Heyns, and William Welch. Over the years, such well-known figures as Carl Sagan, Lew Platt, and Nobel Prize winners Baruch Blumberg and Charles Townes have served on the Board of Trustees. Jill Tarter is currently a Trustee of the Institute.

The first grant-funded proposal at the Institute was for SETI research, led by Jill Tarter. Following shortly thereafter, the first astrobiology grant (then known as exobiology) was received, with Harold Klein as the Principal Investigator. Hundreds of research and education grants have been successfully managed at the SETI Institute since those first few awards.

Founder and CEO Tom Pierson helmed the SETI Institute from its inception until ill health overtook him in 2013. He passed away in 2014. Acting CEO Edna DeVore led the Institute until she was succeeded by President and CEO David Black in 2014, who served for a year.

Current President and CEO Bill Diamond took charge in June 2015. New directions for the SETI Institute have led to a restructuring of the operations of the Institute, folding the SETI research program into the larger science umbrella of the Carl Sagan Center. Nathalie Cabrol holds the position of Director of the Carl Sagan Center. Simon Steel is the Senior Director of Education and STEM Programs, while Pamela Harman and Rebecca McDonald are Director of Education and Director of Communications, respectively. Education and Public Outreach has always been an integral part of the Institute, including space science and astrobiology curricula for formal and informal education, the popular radio show/podcast Big Picture Science, the SETI Talks lecture series, public lectures by scientists, and popular science writing. Outreach to the general public via social media and other efforts has received new emphasis as the Institute looks forward to continuing its mission to explore the possibilities of life in the universe and share discoveries with the public

SETI YouTube Channel

SETI YouTube Channel -- FRB -- Fast Radio Bursts

Very Large Array in new mexico

The Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) is a centimeter-wavelength radio astronomy observatory located in central New Mexico on the Plains of San Agustin, between the towns of Magdalena and Datil, ~50 miles (80 km) west of Socorro. The VLA comprises twenty-eight 25-meter radio telescopes (twenty-seven of which are operational while one is always rotating through maintenance) deployed in a Y-shaped array and all the equipment, instrumentation, and computing power to function as an interferometer. Each of the massive telescopes is mounted on double parallel railroad tracks, so the radius and density of the array can be transformed to adjust the balance between its angular resolution and its surface brightness sensitivity.^[2] Astronomers using the VLA have made key observations of black holes and protoplanetary disks around young stars, discovered magnetic filaments and traced complex gas motions at the Milky Way's center, probed the Universe's cosmological parameters, and provided new knowledge about the physical mechanisms that produce radio emission

Beyond the Visible: The Story of the Very Large Array

Breakthrough Listen

Breakthrough Listen is the largest ever scientific research program aimed at finding evidence of civilizations beyond Earth. The scope and power of the search are on an unprecedented scale:

The program includes a survey of the 1,000,000 closest stars to Earth. It scans the center of our galaxy and the entire galactic plane. Beyond the Milky Way, it listens for messages from the 100 closest galaxies to ours.

The instruments used are among the world’s most powerful. They are 50 times more sensitive than existing telescopes dedicated to the search for intelligence.

The radio surveys cover 10 times more of the sky than previous programs. They also cover at least 5 times more of the radio spectrum – and do it 100 times faster. They are sensitive enough to hear a common aircraft radar transmitting to us from any of the 1000 nearest stars.

We are also carrying out the deepest and broadest ever search for optical laser transmissions. These spectroscopic searches are 1000 times more effective at finding laser signals than ordinary visible light surveys. They could detect a 100 watt laser (the energy of a normal household bulb) from 25 trillion miles away.

Listen combines these instruments with innovative software and data analysis techniques.

The initiative will span 10 years and commit a total of $100,000,000.

A Tour of the Green Bank Observatory and Breakthrough Listen

Lecture: Is Anyone out There: The Hundred-Million Dollar "Breakthrough: Listen" Project

Week 6

UFOs and Nuclear Weapons

Mystery Wire ATIP AAWSAP BASS

Mystery Wire - Dr. James Lacatski, Dr. Colm Kelleher, George Knapp

Malmstrom Air Force Base

Interview with Robert Sala

“It Was Definitely A UFO That Shut Down Our Missiles” Aliens Stop Nukes?

Nick Pope investigates the story of nuclear missiles shutting down unexpectedly at the same time UFOs appear above an Air Force base.

UFO Hunters: Military vs. UFOs -- The RAF Bentwaters Incident

RAF Woodbridge

Rendlesham Forest

UFO Hunters: Military vs. UFOs (S1, E5)

Rendlesham Forest UFO Incident -- Real evidence & witnesses

Interview with Nick Pope

The Message Received at Rendlesham Forest

Received by Jim Peneston

In 1980 around Christmas time people in England were reporting lights in the sky and triangular craft landing in the forest near the Woodbridge and Bentwater air-bases in Suffolk, England.

This airbase was being leased to the United States Air Force and the base was right on the edge of the forest as well.

Some sentries saw lights go down in the forest near the base. Unsure of what it was they thought they should investigate it. As they got closer they had to investigate on foot and move through the forest.

This is were things start getting very interesting.

The patrolmen reported a “strange glowing object" in the woods. The object was triangular in shape, metallic, and approximately three meters across and two meters in height. The whole forest was glowing with white light as well. The UFO had a reddish light on top and blue lights on the bottom. It appeared it was hovering or that it was standing on landing equipment. They also reported that the farm animals nearby were very anxious and acting crazy like.

One of the patrolmen Sgt. Jim Penniston touched the air craft. When he did this he claimed he could neither see nor hear. Once his senses returned the ship turned a bright white and he thought it would exploded so he backed away but instead the ship lifted off and disappeared very very quickly.

The next morning the Sgt. began seeing binary code in his head. Binary code is 1s and 0s and is how computers “think” so to say. So the arrangement of the 1s and 0s determines what a word is. 01000001 is an A and 01000010 is B etc. Anyways he wrote out the code he was seeing in his head.

This is what we got

Fourth Coordinate Continuout UQS CbPR BEFORE

16.763177N 89.117768W Benque Viejo del Carmen, Cayo, Belize

34.800272N 111.843567W Sedona, Arizona, USA

29.977836N 31.131649E Giza Desert, Egypt

14.701505S 75.167043W Just outside Nazca, Peru

36.256845N 117.100632E China, Shandong,Taian

37.110195N 25.372281E The Temple of Apollo, Portara, Naxos 843 00, Greece