ANCIENT ADVANCED CIVILIZATIONS & EXTRATERRESTRIAL MEMES: "One Of The Biggest Discoveries In History" - NASA Finds Evidence Of "Life On Mars"; Mars Curiosity Picks Up "Burps" Of Methane!

Mars Curiosity rover picks up 'burps' of methane — which could be evidence of life on the planet

December 16, 2014 - PLANET MARS - Evidence of life on Mars could have been found by Nasa's Curiosity Rover.

One of the instruments on the robot found mysterious spikes of methane that cannot easily be explained by geology or other theories. Scientists can’t be sure what is causing the spikes, but it is possible that it could be very small, bacteria-like living organisms.

If the gas is coming from living, breathing microbes then it would mark one of the biggest discoveries in history. On Earth, 95% of methane comes from microbial organisms.

Scientists have said that the rover now has to test and re-test the possibility of life, ahead of a manned mission in 2020 that would look for the source of the methane.

Certified organics! I detected organics for the 1st time on the surface of Mars #AGU14 http://t.co/TsMs5LEW8b pic.twitter.com/AVk5Wxp5G0
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) December 16, 2014

Previous satellite observations have detected unusual plumes of methane on the planet, but none as extraordinary as the sudden "venting" measured at Gale Crater, where evidence suggests water once flowed billions of years ago.

The laboratory onboard the rover has been sniffing methane in the atmosphere a dozen times in the last 12 months. In late 2013 and early 2014, the amount of methane flared up, and then receded.

Other possible explanations include the Sun's rays degrading organic material that was left behind by meteors, Nasa scientists said at the press conference announcing the news. But that explanation still relies on the original material being deposited, they said.

Possible ways methane might be added to and removed from Mars' atmosphere (NASA)

Curiosity, one of Nasa's two Mars Exploration Rovers, landed in the 96 mile-wide crater in August 2012 and has been exploring the region since.

Last year Nasa reported that Gale contained the remains of an ancient freshwater lake where there may have been a hospitable environment for life in the distant past.

The new discovery, reported in the journal Science, followed studies of gas samples by Curiosity's Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TAS), an instrument that uses intense light to carry out chemical analysis.

It revealed a low background level of methane which spiked 10-fold over a period of just 60 Martian days.

In four sequential measurements, Curiosity showed the methane level soaring from about 0.69 parts per billion by volume (ppbv) to 7.2 ppbv.

Mars Exploration Rover, Curiosity. After traveling 8 1/2 months and 352 million miles, Curiosity attempted a landing on Mars in 2012 NASA/AP

The spikes occurred within 200 to 300 metres of each other and less than a kilometre from where the lower readings were detected.

By the time Curiosity had travelled a further kilometre, the higher methane levels had disappeared.

In their paper, the US scientists led by Dr Chris Webster, from Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, wrote: "The persistence of the high methane values over 60 sols (Martian days) and their sudden drop 47 sols later is not consistent with a well-mixed event, but rather with a local production or venting that, once terminated, disperses quickly."

The wind direction indicated a source to the north of the rover.

Life is the chief producer of methane on Earth, but there are many non-biological processes that can also generate the gas.

The low background level of methane detected by Curiosity can be explained by the Sun's rays degrading organic material possibly deposited by meteors, said the Nasa scientists.

But the spikes of methane required an additional source, which was unlikely to be a recent impact by comet or asteroid. Such an object would have had to measure several metres across and would have left a large crater, no sign of which was visible.

The short time-scale of the methane spikes did not suggest that the gas was released from volcanic deposits trapped in ice, called clathrates. Nor did it appear to come from the release of gaseous methane that had become bound to the soil.

Mars as seen by the Curiosity rover (NASA)

The Nasa authors are cautious about jumping to conclusions, but conclude that "methanogenesis" - the formation of methane by microbial bugs known as methanogens - may be one answer to the riddle.

They wrote: "Our measurements spanning a full Mars year indicate that trace quantities of methane are being generated on Mars by more than one mechanism or a combination of proposed mechanisms - including methanogenesis either today or released from past reservoirs, or both."

Gale Crater, on the Martian equator, was created when a large meteor struck the planet 3.5 billion to 3.8 billion years ago.

At its centre is a high mountain, named Mount Sharp, that rises 18,000ft above the crater floor. Flowing water appears to have carved channels in the sides of the mountain and the crater walls.

Another major discovery by Curiosity was that of water bound in the fine-grained soil within the crater. Each cubic foot of Martian soil was found to contain around two pints of water, not freely accessible but attached to minerals.

The rover has reached the base of Mount Sharp and over the coming months will begin a slow climb. Scientists are especially keen to explore the mountain because its sedimentary layers provide tantalising snapshots of Martian history.

The question of whether there is, or was, life on Mars may finally be answered by the European Space Agency's ExoMars mission, which will land a 300kg rover on the Red Planet in 2019.

ExoMars will be equipped with a two-metre drill and the ability to detect biomarkers of life. It will not be heading for Gale Crater, however. Because it will land with less precision than Curiosity, the crater and its mountain are considered too potentially hazardous. - Mass UFO Sightings.

UFO SIGHTINGS: UFO Mystery Talk Of The Town In Amherst, Massachusetts?!

January 13, 2013 - UNITED STATES - A "flying saucer," signs of extraterrestrial life, or an unidentified flying object; whatever you call it, some people in Amherst say they saw it.

Witnesses told the Daily Hampshire Gazette that on Tuesday night, an object the size of two or three cars was seen hovering over Belchertown Road in Amherst.  One woman said that it wasn't far from her car.
The unusual news was all the talk at the Black Sheep Deli on Main Street Thursday.

“If people saw something, they saw something. But I don't believe that an object in the sky was necessarily or was at all alien,” Amy Ware of Sunderland said. “I believe in it, because we are such a speck in the universe,” said Juliet Rose of Bernardston. “Who are we to think that we are the only ones?”

Police say they did receive one call, but didn't investigate. Westover Air Reserve Base has a radar tower in Amherst, they told the Gazette radars didn't pick up any aircrafts in the area at that time. - WWLP.

WATCH: Eye-witness report of the UFO.

MONUMENTAL EXTRATERRESTRIAL MEMES: "Another Earth" - A New Twin, Scientists Announce Most Earth-Like World Yet Found, Boosting Chances In Search For Alien?!

January 11, 2013 - SPACE - An alien planet spotted by NASA's Kepler space telescope is the best candidate yet for an Earth-like world beyond our solar system, Scientists claim.  The planet - whose existence is yet to be positively confirmed. has a radius that is just 1.5 times that of our own and orbits in the 'habitable zone' of a star similar to our own Sun.  That means the planet would likely have a similar amount of gravity as Earth and liquid water could exist on its surface - making it a prime candidate to host alien life.  

Scene from the movie "Another Earth".

'This was very exciting because it's our fist habitable-zone super Earth around a sun-type star,' said Nasa astronomer Natalie Batalha at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society this week.  The announcement comes after it was revealed at the same meeting that analysis of data from Kepler had shown there are 17billion planets in the galaxy that are Earth-like in size.  The possible planet is called KOI 172.02 - with the initial trio of letters standing for Kepler Object of Interest, a prefix given to all planetary candidates found by Kepler until their existence is confirmed.  Dr Batalha said the find had the potential to be the closest so far to an Earth-twin beyond the solar system. It orbits a G-type star that is only slightly cooler than our own Sun, she said.  'Previously the ones we saw were orbiting other types of stars,' she was quoted as saying by SPACE.com.  Analysis of Kepler's data indicates that the object takes 242 days to orbit its star, from which it is about three quarters as distant as the Earth is from the Sun.  Astrophysicist Mario Livio, of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, told SPACE.com that the find was a 'big deal'.  'It's definitely a good candidate for life,' he said.  Christopher Burke of the SETI Institute announced the discovery of the planet along with a batch of 461 new planet candidates spotted by Kepler since February last year.  Latest findings released by NASA show that since February last year there have been 461 potential new planets discovered.  These bring the total number of potential planets that have been identified by the Kepler mission to 2,740 and they orbit 2,036 stars.  

An artist's impression of Kepler-20e, one of the planets identified by the Kepler space telescope mission.

Among the most dramatic increases is in the number of Earth-sized and super Earth-sized planets.  Discoveries of Earth-sized planets increased by 43 per cent while those of super-Earths rose by 21 per cent.  Caltech planetary astronomer John Johnson said: 'We are showing that there is about one planet per star, and that gives us a total of about a hundred billion planets throughout our galaxy.  'The vast majority of those planets are orbiting stars that are very much different from our sun.'  Several of the planets being identified are in the same solar system, just as Earth is one of eight planets orbiting the Sun.  'The large number of multi-candidate systems being found by Kepler implies that a substantial fraction of exoplanets reside in flat multi-planet systems," said Jack Lissauer, planetary scientist at Ames.  'This is consistent with what we know about our own planetary neighborhood.'  The Kepler space telescope was launched by NASA in 2009 with the intention of finding Earth-like planets.  It pinpoints potential new planets by measuring the dimming of starlight as planets pass between stars and the telescope.  Not all dimming is caused by planets and it is only once dimming has been observed three times that it is formally attributed to a potential planet. 

A breakdown by size of potential planets identified by the Kepler mission.

Further measurements and observations are required to confirm the identification.  In the last year the number of confirmed planets pinpointed by Kepler has risen from 33 to 105.  Francois Fression of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center presented the latest Kepler findings at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, California, on Monday.  The Astrophysical Journal has accepted a paper detailing the research for publication.  Christopher Burke, a scientist at the SETI Institute which researches signs off extra-terrestrial intelligence, said that 58 planets found so far are believed to be in their host stars' habitable zones.  That means that any water on them has a chance of being in liquid form because the region is close enough to the star to be warm enough for ice to melt but not so close that it all evaporates.   Planets orbiting close to their suns are likely to be infernos while planets in distant orbits are likely to be icy, he said. Burke also analyzed the latest Kepler data.  The Kepler Space Telescope launched on March 7, 2009, and has been active for 3 years, 10 months and 1 day as of January 8, 2013.  The space observatory was named in honor of the 17th-century German astronomer Johannes Kepler.  Kepler is part of NASA's Discovery Program which runs relatively low-cost scientific research missions.  The observatory’s mission going forward is to find and document Earth-sized planets at greater distances.  The more planets discovered with Earth-like orbits in their habitable zones, the greater the chances of extra-terrestrial life, scientists say. - Daily Mail.

WATCH: NASA's announcement of the monumental discovery.

HIGH STRANGENESS: Weird Happenings In Argentina - Cattle Mutilations and Loud Fireball Explosion In Santiago del Estero, And Strange Lights Over Carlos Paz?!

January 07, 2013 - ARGENTINA - Strange deaths were a reason for surprise and uncertainty for a family of small livestock producers in Estancia El Retiro, located some 14 kilometers to the northeast of Frías.

Cattle Mutilations Return to Santiago del Estero, Argentina.

The bones were found last Saturday by Raul Alberto Aguilera, one of the members of the family, at a small dry dam that is completely enclosed. EL LIBERAL visited the site yesterday afternoon, acting as the only news outlet in charge of documenting this strange event.  "On Thursday of last week, we left the animals in the dam because it still had a little water in it. When we went back on Saturday, we found their carcasses spread all over the place," said Raul. "What was strange was the absence of decomposing bodies, and all of their soft parts had been eating. No tracks of pumas or other predators who could've attacked the sheep were found in the area."  Only one animal is missing: a lamb. Locals say this is the first time such a thing has taken place in the area. For the moment, beyond the strangeness of the event, the event is not being ascribed to any particular real or mythical animal. Rather, they prefer to be cautious, endeavoring to determine the reasons behind what took place.

Yesterday morning, EL LIBERAL contacted Dr. Benancio Bonett, an experienced veterinarian residing in Frías for many years, offered his view from the scientific perspective. "First and foremost, a necropsy should have been performed the moment the animals were found. Secondly, if the only existing injury in in the throat, generally all predators chose that spot and particularly on lambs, because they are very helpless animals," he explained, adding: "When a perforation appears on the animals, vultures or crows devour their entrails and do it through that spot, getting inside and dragging off the soft parts, and leaving the skeleton with nothing but hide." He event went as far to suggest the possibility that these attacks were produced by dogs, since one of their traits is biting the throat. - Inexplicata.

Fireball And Explosion In The Skies Over Santiago del Estero.

The quiet of the morning was broken yesterday by a loud noise and explosion that was heard over a wide area of ​​the Alberdi department.

Some witnesses said that, previously, a fireball had streaked across the sky in a west to east direction. It is believed that it could have been a meteorite falling. - El Liberal [Translated].

Strange Light Over Carlos Paz.

Carlos Paz Vivo! (website) gained access to two videos taken onn 7 December 2012 from a residence in Barrio Becú. See images HERE. After 8:00 p.m. on that day, a woman and some children in a house of that neighborhood of western Carlos Paz saw a strange light in the sky at dusk.  They turned on their little camera and recorded two videos, one separated from the other by a few seconds difference. The first was recorded at 20:10:22 hours and the other at 20:11:32  A total of 82 seconds were recorded, showing the strange object that moves, appears and vanishes suddenly in the sky over the town of Carlos Paz. During the recording, one can hear the childrens' vocies, inquiring about the nature of the object they can see in the sky. - Inexplicata.

HIGH STRANGENESS: 8 Foot "Alien Being" Recorded In Taitung, Taiwan - Declared By Experts To Be Real?!

January 03, 2013 - TAIWAN - The following video features several media reports out of Taitung in Taiwan about the strange sighting of an "alien being". According to the translation from the original report, the sighting took place near Jiaming Lake. The Experts at the Taiwan Unidentified Flying Object Society (TUFOS) measures it at approxiametly 250 centimetres or 8.2 feet tall. TUFOS indicate that the being had webbed-like hands, almost transparent skin with an head similiar to that of a praying mantis. They concluded that it originated from an underground alien base near to the lake.

Here is the original translated report:

Taiwan alien trace it? Domestic ufology today announced a public Jiaming Lake in Taitung photographs, the original mountain scenery, actually had a body type similar to humans is unknown objects, the first minister like insects,hand there are webbed, and after repeatedly identified the photo has not been modified or fraud, so learn to a high degree of suspicion, this may be an alien. Whether it is inside the jungle, or hiding outside the windows, will spread people all over the world From time to time, shoot the alien sight, Taiwan also reported aliens show up. Photos of mountain views, at first glance nothing, but lo and behold, a shape similar transparent unidentified object on the hillside, close watchmen found the head like a mantis, webbed hands, push sentenced a height of about 250cm people last year, May 25 Jiaming Lake in Taitung, shooting photos, UFO Society of extreme suspicion, which is alien.

Looking for expert analysis of the photos, and have not found a photo fraud or manipulated now learn to plan with foreign research groups, analysis Apart from Taitung also reported, Taipei Qixingshan, turned left pyramid ruins. Is the top of a mountain, the pyramid-like appearance, in addition to the tetrahedral just aligned north, south, east, and west direction, there are around special magnetic field, but geological experts recognized as volcanic terrain line into processes polarized views, but the rumors Qixingshan is early Star transmitters station, although the true and false to be investigated, has let local add to the mystery of the "alien base". - TUFOS. [Translated].

WATCH: "Alien" seen in Taiwan.

UFO SIGHTINGS: Increased UFO Activity in Southeast Asia - UFOs Appear Many Times In Vietnam?!

December 24, 2012 - VIETNAM - More and more people in Vietnam have stated that they could see UFOs with their eyes, or could take picture of UFOs which they believed come from other planets. Most recently, an UFO appeared on the sky in the central province of Thanh Hoa. A picture showing a strange flying object was made public. The author of the picture was Le Khac Dat, 19, who lives in Hoang Ha Commune of Hoang Hoa district. Dat said the picture was taken at about 5 pm of December 9, 2012. Dat did not discover any strange thing when he took picture. However, later, when he reviewed the picture, he discovered an unfamiliar subject on the picture. The original picture of Dat has stirred up the public. Local people thought that this was really an UFO from another planet, who came to learn more about human beings. Meanwhile, others believed that Dat used his Photoshop skills to fabricate the story about UFO. However, the people, who saw the original picture, said they could not find any signs showing that the boy made some changes to the picture. People still have doubts about the phenomenon. The problem is that the UFO can be seen only on Dat’s picture, while no other person saw any flying object on the sky at that moment.

Strange light stain in HCM City.
On July 26, 2011, a 26 second video clip showing a light stain that moved slowly and then faded out suddenly in HCM City was posted on YouTube. A lot of people believed that this was an UFO. The author of the clip said he recorded the images at about 0 am of July 25, and the place was an apartment block in district 3 in HCM City. The video clip then raised people’s curiosity, who tried to analyze it to find out if these were “artificial images.” However, the author of the clip said he himself was not sure if this was an UFO.

WATCH: Strange light stain in HCM City in 2011.

The photogenic UFO in capital city.
At 5 pm of October 28, 2010, Nguyen Xuan Vu in Hanoi recorded the images of a flying object which created stain of light on the sky. It looked like a burning object flying from the outer space through the earth’s atmosphere. However, Nguyen Duc Phuong from the Vietnam Astronomical Universe Society said on local newspapers that this was a civil airplane.

The UFO in Dong Nai in 1991.
A blogger has affirmed that an UFO once appeared in 1991 in a small village in Thong Nhat district of Dong Nai province. The blogger affirmed that on a day of the 1991’s summer, he saw a column of red fire rising above a tree tens of years old just for several seconds before it disappeared. Scientists have not given any explanation about the UFO in Dong Nai province. There has been no proof to say that this is an “artificial” UFO. The flying object appeared in a quiet and remote area, where material facilities are very poor, and it is nearly impossible to find fuel to create such a big column of fire, like the one created from a spaceship that is leaving the launching pad. - Vietnam Net Bridge.

UFO SIGHTINGS: Alien Armada - Melbourne Man Films Strange Flying Objects Not Visible to the Naked Eye?!

November 22, 2012 - AUSTRALIA - A man from Melbourne has recently uploaded a video clip of his UFO sighting using an infrared camera. The film reveals an eerie show of lights not visible to the naked eye. The clip states in its introduction that the sighting was captured in Melbourne, Australia on November 11 (Sunday) around noon time. Asked for the particular location, the video uploader reveals he took the video at Moonee Ponds.

A panel of scientists concluded, on June 29, 1998, that science has badly neglected the study of Unidentified
Flying Objects (UFOs), despite numerous reports and considerable public interest. “It may be valuable to
carefully evaluate UFO reports to extract information about unusual phenomena currently unknown to
science," the experts, headed by Stanford University physicist Peter Sturrock, wrote in a report released
on Monday. This photo depicts a possible UFO sighting, as reported by the Journal of Scientific Exploration.

The clip is titled, "UFO - '''SKY ARMADA'' Fleet - Yes, '''SKY ARMADA''' - Daylight IR - Australia. 11.11" It says in the intro: "5 groups of 'objects' same direction approx 10 minutes apart." In describing his video clip, Lou says: "One of the most amazing sights I have ever recorded. Objects not visible to naked eye." "'Invasion' may be the wrong title, but that's what I felt. I hope they are benevolent." What the video shows is a strange formation of hovering lights, among others. The lights come in groups, without a particular motion pattern. At least one frame features countless lights moving rather slowly relative to the others. The sight brings to mind an 80s space game where the computer blasts the oncoming lights before it creates any damage.

One video commenter said: "(T)here's many more than 2 lights in this video:) I counted 32 of them and may have missed a couple along the way because most of them are moving so fast. Please watch the video carefully again...this guy is the real deal." "Ty Lou ... I film wild things daily also ... not the things you have but I am open to what you have seen," another viewer commented. UFOs in infrared: What can't the naked eyes see? It is understood this is not the first time Lou has fixed an infrared video camera in the skies. "When I first started, I use to get a few captures per week, then everday, now multiple captures in one day. Whatever 'they' are, there are lots of them - all over the world," he writes in the comments section. "Invisible" UFOs: What are these unidentified flying objects visible only in IR? - IBT.

WATCH: "Sky Armada".

UFO SIGHTINGS: Mile High Mystery - Experts Declare That Objects Seen Over Denver Are Not Drones, Planes, Helicopters, Birds or Insects?!

November 22, 2012 - DENVER, UNITED STATES - It’s a story that’s captured worldwide attention. UFOs caught on camera that appear to be launching and landing in the Denver metro area. An aviation expert could not identify it but we’ve heard from hundreds of viewers who think they can. So we talked to more experts, and asked an entomologist to analyze the video, but the answer is still anything but clear.

We first told you about the strange sightings in the mile high skies, after a Denver man, who does not want to be identified, brought us his home video. The flying objects are too fast to see with the naked eye, but when we slowed down his footage frame by frame, we saw something there. Aviation expert Steve Cowell could not identify it. “That is not an airplane, that is not a helicopter, those are not birds … I can’t identify it,” he said. The images were captured on camera from a hilltop in Federal Heights, looking south toward downtown Denver. That location just off of 84th Ave. and Federal Blvd. has now become a popular place for UFO sightseers, “I wanted to come out and get some footage for myself,” Jon Gardner of Broomfield told us. And we have been inundated with phone calls and emails from across the country and as far away as Greece, Croatia, Japan and Korea.

Many people have sent us pictures of similar looking objects. Others believe they have “solved our mystery.” The top 3 answers we have received are: remote controlled aircraft, military drones or insects. A remote controlled aircraft seems like a possible explanation, but the man who shot the video has spent several days in the area near 56th Ave. and Clay St. where the UFOs appear to be launching and landing. He hasn’t seen anyone flying a remote controlled toy, nor have any of the neighbors. Aviation expert Steve Cowell also suspected we had captured military drones until he watched the video, “I don’t think it’s a drone,” he said. He has never seen an unmanned aircraft that flies so erratically. In order to fly drones, the FAA must issue a certificate of authorization. The FAA has issued hundreds of COAs to the University of Colorado to fly drones north of Boulder, but it says no drones are authorized to fly over the Denver metro area. But by far the most popular theory is bugs. Many of you wrote to tell us the object in our video is most likely a fly. We showed the footage to entomologist, or insect expert, Mart Ann Hamilton. “This is a toughie. I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said. Hamilton watched the video over and over again, then she gave us her professional opinion. “After watching the various shots, I do not believe it’s an insect. The shape is inconsistent with an insect,” she said. But that won’t convince skeptics, like Bret Dallas. “The UFOs aren’t UFOs anymore, we’ve identified them as insects,” he said. - KDVR.

WATCH: Experts still can't identify mysterious UFOs flying over Denver.

ALIEN INVASION: Kelly-Hopkinsville Close Encounter - Did Extraterrestrials Attack a Kentucky Town?!

November 21, 2012 - UNITED STATES - A mysterious event back in 1955 inspired some of Hollywood's most famous movies, including E.T. and Poltergeist. The event? A Kentucky family claimed to have been visited by aliens from outer space. LEX 18's Adam Winer took a trip back the the scene of this alleged alien encounter for LEX 18's Mystery Monday. They said that for four hours, they fought off the aliens by shooting at them. Back in 1955, everyone thought the Sutton family was crazy.

The family claimed to have been visited by a flying saucer and creatures they described as small goblins. And the Sutton story has never wavered - even 55 years later. Geraldine Sutton Stith wasn't yet born when her father had the unexplained encounter. "They were keeping it hid from us if you want to know the truth about the whole thing," she said. It happened, her father Elmer Lucky Sutton one day explained to her, on the night of August 21, 1955. "The family actually battled with something for that long a period of time," said Stith. They battled for several hours. They ran to Hopkinsville to get help. Then they battled again until 5:15 in the morning.

"It was like a horror movie. These little suckers were like being shot and being hit and coming back," she said. Word spread like wildfire all over the area that a spaceship from Mars loaded with aliens had landed in the yard of the Sutton home on the northeast side of Kelly. Local historian William Turner was a teenager at the time, and says the story turned the town upside down. "The media descending upon Hopkinsville," said Turner. "The involvement the military via Fort Campbell. The participation by the state police." The story gripped the imagination of the country, says Turner. But is it true? Geraldine says of course it is. "These were quiet people that didn't want nobody messing in their business," she said. "And, something happened. Something visited them that night.' Police said there was no evidence the family had been drinking, and no evidence ever proved their story wrong either. - NBC Kentucky.

WATCH: Investigation into the 1955 close encounter case.

MASS UFO SIGHTINGS: Eight Reports of UFO Sightings From Five American States in 11 Hours!

November 19, 2012 - UNITED STATES - It was a busy night for UFO sightings on November 16 through November 17, 2012 as eight witnesses from five different states reported seeing flying crafts over an 11-hour period.  The objects were first seen in Pennsylvania on November 16 just before 5:00 p.m. and were last sighted at 4:00 a.m. on November 17 in Indiana according to the Examiner.  The first witness in Pennsylvania was driving west on I-422 and reported seeing three glowing objects that came together and formed a triangle. They stayed in the triangular shape and hovered for 6 to 10 minutes until they faded from sight.  Under an hour later and 250 miles to the east near Southampton, Pennsylvania, a woman saw three objects about 5:30 p.m. on November 16. She was driving home from work and noticed three sets of five bright lights in a close formation flying low to the ground. 

Low flying UFO reports seem to be more common in 2012 as one 11-hour reporting period seems
to suggest as eight cases are filed from five states. Credits: Google Maps.

In Old Saybrook, Connecticut, about 190 miles northeast along Long Island Sound at 5:55 p.m. on November 16 a witness driving in a car noticed a streaking light moving so fast that the object created a trail of light.  At 7:03 p.m. on November 16 in Mount Clemens, Michigan, about 650 miles to the east of Old Saybrook, a witness saw a bright orange, tulip-shaped object, coming from the northwest. The object was described as being orange and in the shape of an airplane but much larger.  Then at 7:25 p.m. on November 16 in Indianapolis, Indiana, about 300 miles southwest of Mount Clemens, a witness reported three strange objects flying in the sky.  "I noticed a star-like object blinking as it soared through the sky," the witness stated. "I know it wasn't a shooting star. I looked for several minutes and noticed two more of the same star-like objects chasing each other on the opposite side of the sky and their lights were also blinking simultaneously."  Then at 9:00 p.m. on November 16 a witness in Rochester, New York, about 560 miles northeast of Indianapolis, reported a burning orb-like object flying about 100 feet overhead.  At midnight on November 16 a witness in Alto, Michigan, about 430 miles directly west of Rochester, reported three lights moving in a triangle formation and were brightly colored. 

Lastly, at 4:00 a.m. in Reelsville, Indiana on November 17 a witness saw three lights moving east across the sky. He said it wasn't an airplane and it was traveling in a zigzag pattern.  Just what was going on in the north eastern skies for over 11 hours? Were these flying crafts studying the region or just looking things over trying to decide on where to land? Since the objects were seen in so many states by total strangers no one can say that all these incidents didn't really happen. Could all of these people have mistaken a helicopter or an airplane for a UFO?  Each witness described their encounter the same way; spotting three objects with brightly colored lights taking the shape of a triangle.  Since so much activity went on during an 11-hour period through so many states maybe it's time for the government to form some kind of committee made up of military personal, government officials, scientists, and regular citizens to discuss and try to understand just what is going on in the skies.  This group could try to figure how to tell the public about these strange flying objects and have them understand and made to feel comfortable that there isn't anything to fear until, and if, something actually happens.  The governments of the world might be afraid that if a space craft does land the world would most likely be terrified but if everyone is included in deciding what to do in case of an emergency chances are greatly improved that any kind of fear would not lead to rampage in the streets.  Something big was obviously going on a couple of nights ago, but what and are the people of this world ready just in case an object does actually land one day? There have been too many sightings during hundreds of years to lead people to believe that aliens have not landed already. The world has to be prepared.  Keep those eyes to the skies because something could be flying above. - Gather.

MASS UFO SIGHTINGS: The Symbols of an Alien Sky, Man-Made or Natural Phenomena - The Latest UFO Sightings And Aerial Anomalies Around the World?!

November 16, 2012 - WORLDWIDE UFOs - Here are several of the latest unidentified flying objects (UFOs) seen recently across the globe.

Davis, California, United States - 2nd of October, 2012.

Rotorua, New Zealand - 8th of November, 2012.

International Space Station - 16th of November, 2012.

San Antonio, Texas, United States - 17th of November, 2012.

Sydney, Australia - 17th of November, 2012.

UFO SIGHTINGS: Stunning Giant UFO Spotted Exiting Mexico's Popocateptl Volcano - Secret Alien Base Under the Mountain?!

November 18, 2012 - MEXICO - Footage has emerged online of a one kilometer-long UFO flying rocket out of a volcano in Mexico. Your mind will be blown by this video. It might forever change the way you think about the paranormal.

Locals have been monitoring the volcano in Popocateptl, Mexico for some time, because they are convinced there is a secret alien base under the mountain. Don't laugh. Anything is possible in this crazy universe. Because of the openings at the top, the natural wonders make ideal locations for underground extraterrestrial bases. Massive flying saucer activity has also been reported for years around the Sakurajima volcano, on an island at the southern tip of Japan.

There is a live cam streaming at Popocateptl, and amazingly, it picked up imagery Thursday of an elongated UFO zooming out of the tip of the volcano at an incomprehensible rate of speed. The craft is estimated to be nearly one kilometer long, equal to a whopping eleven football fields! UFO encounters have been increasing south of the border lately, perhaps because people are nervous about the Mayan calendar prophecy, and are more attuned to the paranormal. Popocateptl has always played a big role in Mayan and Aztec lore, so maybe this is the place where the apocalypse will commence. - Gather.

WATCH: UFO exits Popocateptl volcano.

MASS UFO SIGHTINGS: The Symbols of an Alien Sky, Man-Made or Natural Phenomena - The Latest UFO Sightings And Aerial Anomalies Around the World?!

November 16, 2012 - WORLDWIDE UFOs - Here are several of the latest unidentified flying objects (UFOs) seen recently across the globe.

Tijuana, Mexico - 13th of November, 2012.

Melbourne, Australia - 11th of November, 2012.

Orlando, Florida, United States - 11th of November, 2012.

Longmont, Colorado, United States - 6th of November, 2012.

Sydney Australia - 18th of October, 2012.

Midlothian, Scotland - 10th of October, 2012.

UFO SIGHTINGS: Mysterious Oval-Shaped Craft Hovers Over Perthshire, United Kingdom!

November 14, 2012 - UNITED KINGDOM - A UFO investigation has been launched after a chef filmed a mystery oval-shaped object hovering over a wood.  Adrian Musat, 40, of Pitlochry, Perthshire, saw the white light floating over Clunie Wood in Perthshire. 

UFO: Adrian Musat spotted the white light.

He recorded the mysterious light, before sending the tape off to supernatural investigators, the British UFO Research Association (BUFORA).  The father, who lives with his wife Nicoleta and two-year-old son Alex, said: "I have never seen anything like it.  "I watch out the window every day and we have a beautiful view, but I have never seen such a strange thing. It didn't make any noise."  Adrian first saw the unexplained sight from his home at 7.30am on the morning of Bonfire Night before it reappeared ten hours later.  He said the flashing UFO, which was flying above the woodland near Loch Fiskally, was about five metres wide and its colours were constantly changing. 

Since then, Adrian has peered out of his window every day hoping for another sighting, but to no avail.  It is not the first mysterious object that has been seen in Pitlochry.  On August 4, 1990, two men saw a large UFO hovering for ten minutes in the nearby village of Calvine.  Matt Lyons, of BUFORA, said they have launched an investigation into Adrian's footage and will be speaking to Adrian in the near future to gather a wider understanding of the incident.  He said: "Investigation has commenced and I will be contacting the witness shortly."  A fortnight before Mr Musat's sighting an Aberdeenshire family were left terrified after a UFO invaded the skies above their home for nearly five hours.  Grandmother Morag Ritchie, 50, awoke suddenly at 2am on Saturday to see strange lights circling in the distance a few hundred yards from her rural property near Fraserburgh — about 100 miles north of Pitlochry.  In the video, taken by her daughter's fiancee, Scott Bower, a row of flickering lights can be seen hovering in the sky, before one of the lights moves off to the right and disappears. - STV News.

WATCH: UFO sighting over Perthshire, UK.

EXTRATERRESTRIAL NARRATIVE: UFO Sightings on the Rise - MUFON Received Over 7,000 Reports in the First Ten Months of 2012!

November 10, 2012 - UNITED STATES - Ufology is alive and well in the United States and the field appears to be fast growing along with strong growth in witness testimony, according to statistics compiled through early November 2012 with the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON).

A November 4, 2012, story published in The Telegraph was one of several media outlets reporting on a statement made by Dave Wood, chairman of the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena (ASSAP). Wood said a meeting had been called to address a crisis in the UFO subject to consider whether or not the subject was "a thing of the past."  Wood cites UFO groups who have gone under and a decline in interest and reports on UFOs.  Reached at his Cincinnati headquarters office today, MUFON Executive Director David MacDonald said ufology was alive and well.  "The fact is that MUFON is receiving on average more than 700 cases a month," MacDonald said. "Furthermore the evidence is there. We have it. There are people in prison right now, some on death row, convicted on less evidence then what we have to support our belief that UFO's are real. We have eyewitness testimony, sworn affidavits, physical trace evidence, photographs and videos."  MUFON is comprised of about 3,000 members and is the largest UFO investigation group organized on the planet.  While the witness database of reports appears to be growing by about 30 percent annually, here are some annual numbers of total reports from Robert Powell, MUFON's Director of Research: 2007, 2,203 reports; 2008, 4,220 reports; 2009, 4,990 reports; 2010, 4,534 reports; 2011, 5,137. During the first 10 months of 2012, MUFON has received a total of 7,272 reports.

Fletcher Gray is MUFON's deputy director of investigations, the STAR Team manager, and chief investigator for Texas. He disagrees with any decline in the amount of data available and believes there is a continuing interest in the subject.  "In 2006 there were 1,733 cases filed with MUFON," Gray said. "This is an average of 144 cases a month over a 12-month period. Here we are in 2012 and the year has not ended and MUFON's average caseload for the United States is more than 700 cases per month. In the last 10 months 7,272 cases have been filed with MUFON. That's a large increase in sighting reports. Granted that most of these cases are explainable, but I think the question that we need to ask is whether the public is no longer interested in ufology due to the lack of physical evidence? Collection of physical evidence is hard to come by." 

Stanton Friedman is a regular columnist for the monthly MUFON UFO Journal and a strong voice in ufology.  "As a retired nuclear physicist who has since 1967 lectured on subjects such as Flying Saucers Are Real or Flying Saucers and Science in all 50 U.S. states, all 10 Canadian Provinces and 18 other countries, I have learned a lot about the public's attitude about flying saucers. First I have had only 11 hecklers in over 700 lectures. Two of them were drunk. When I ask at the end of my lectures how many believe they have seen a UFO, typically 10 percent raise their hands. But 90 percent of them did not report their sightings. Almost invariably the reason is fear of ridicule. Military men who raise their hands typically claim they cannot talk about what they saw. I have seen no diminution in the 45 years I have been speaking. The great majority of my audiences have been college or professional groups.  The claim that 98 percent of sightings can be explained as conventional phenomena is clearly contradicted by every large scale study. For example, in Blue Book Special Report 14, the largest unclassified study ever done by the Air Force, it was found that 21.5 percent of the 3,201 sightings investigated could not be explained completely separate from the 9.3 percent listed as insufficient information. The better the quality of the sighting, the more likely to was unidentifiable. A statistical comparison showed that the probability that the UNKNOWNS were just missed knowns was less than 1 percent. The University of Colorado study found that 30 percent of the cases studied in detail could not be identified.  In The UFO Evidence, 18 percent of 4,500 cases could not be identified. The response to my five books clearly indicates that the public is interested in facts and data, not nonsense. My team won a debate about UFO reality at the Oxford University Debating Society getting 60 percent of the vote. I won two debates on Coast to Coast Radio getting 80 percent of the vote in one case, 57 percent in another. It is time the press did its homework on this very important subject." - Examiner.

UFO SIGHTINGS: Mile High Mystery - Stunning UFO Land and Launches Over Denver!

November 9, 2012 - DENVER –  It’s a mile high mystery in the skies over Denver.  Strange objects caught on camera flying over the city and nobody can explain it.  We first learned about these sightings when a metro area man, who does not want to be identified brought us his home video. He captured the images on his digital camera from a hilltop in Federal Heights looking south toward downtown Denver.

He said, “The flying objects appear around noon or 1:00 p.m. at least a couple of times a week.” The strangest part is they are flying too fast to see with the naked eye, but when we slowed down the video, several UFOs appear.  We altered the color contrast to make it easier to see. You can take a look for yourself by watching the video clip.  We wanted to verify the video we saw was legitimate and not doctored in anyway. So our photojournalist set up his camera in the same spot, and shot video from just before noon until just after 1:00 p.m. He also captured something unexplained on video.  Aviation expert Steve Cowell is a former commercial pilot, instructor and FAA accident prevention counselor.  He thought he would have a logical explanation, until he watched the video. “That is not an airplane, that is not a helicopter, those are not birds, I can’t identify it,” he said. He also told us the objects are not insects.  

He said he knows of no aircraft that flies as fast. He did tell us there is one other possibility. “Perhaps there’s some sort of debris that is being raised up by some of the atmospheric winds.”  But in his professional opinion, “As it fits the definition, it’s an unidentified flying object.”  The FAA tracks all air traffic in Colorado and across the country. The FAA sent us a statement that says, “We`ve checked with air traffic control and no one has had any reports of the activity you described…nor have any of our employees observed anything of this nature either visually or on their radar displays.”  The North American Aerospace Defense Command is located in Colorado Springs. It keeps an eye on the skies in case of an air attack against the United States.  NORAD sent us this statement, “Our Command Center reviewed their records and they did not have any noted air activity in the Denver area during the times you indicated.”  The man who brought the video to our attention believes the UFOs are launching and landing near 56th Ave. and Clay Street in Denver. A Map shows only homes in the area.  So are they UFOs? A secret military test? Floating debris? - KDVR.

WATCH: Mile High mystery - UFO sightings in sky over Denver.

EXTRATERRESTRIAL NARRATIVE: Getting Very Close - "Super-Earth" Alien Planet May Be Capable Of Supporting Life!

November 9, 2012 - EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY -  Astronomers have detected an alien planet that may be capable of supporting life as we know it — and it's just a stone's throw from Earth in the cosmic scheme of things.  The newfound exoplanet, a so-called "super-Earth" called HD 40307g, is located inside its host star's habitable zone, a just-right range of distances where liquid water may exist on a world's surface. And the planet lies a mere 42 light-years away from Earth, meaning that future telescopes might be able to image it directly, researchers said. HD 40307g is one of three newly discovered worlds around the parent star, which was already known to host three planets. The finds thus boost the star's total planetary population to six.

Finding new signals in the data
The star HD 40307 is slightly smaller and less luminous than our own sun. Astronomers had previously detected three super-Earths — planets a bit more massive than our own — around the star, all of them in orbits too close-in to support liquid water.  In the new study, the research team re-analyzed observations of the HD 40307 system made by an instrument called the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher, or HARPS.  HARPS is part of the European Southern Observatory's 11.8-foot (3.6 meters) telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. The instrument allows astronomers to pick up the tiny gravitational wobbles an orbiting planet induces in its parent star. The researchers' new analysis techniques enabled them to spot three more super-Earths around the star, including HD 40307g, which is thought to be at least seven times as massive as our home planet.  HD 40307g may or may not be a rocky planet like Earth, said study lead author Mikko Tuomi, also of the University of Hertfordshire.  "If I had to guess, I would say 50-50," Tuomi told Space.com via email. "But the truth at the moment is that we simply do not know whether the planet is a large Earth or a small, warm Neptune without a solid surface."

A jam-packed extrasolar system
HD 40307g is the outermost of the system's six planets, orbiting at an average distance of 56 million miles (90 million kilometers) from the star. (For comparison, Earth zips around the sun from about 93 million miles, or 150 million km, away.)  The other two newfound exoplanets are probably too hot to support life as we know it, researchers said. But HD 40307g — which officially remains a "planet candidate" pending confirmation by follow-up studies — sits comfortably in the middle of the star's habitable zone.  Further, HD 40307g's orbit is distant enough that the planet likely isn't tidally locked to the star like the moon is to Earth, researchers said. Rather, HD 40307g probably rotates freely just like our planet does, showing each side of itself to the star in due course.  The lack of tidal locking "increases its chances of actually having Earth-like conditions," Tuomi said.  The new study has been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Super-Earths have been spotted in other stars' habitable zones before. For example, a team using NASA's prolific Kepler Space Telescope announced the discovery of the potentially habitable world Kepler-22b in December 2011.  Kepler-22b lies 600 light-years away, which is not terribly far considering that our Milky Way galaxy is about 100,000 light-years wide. But HD 40307g is just 42 light-years from us — close enough that future instruments may be able to image it directly, scientists say.  "Discoveries like this are really exciting, and such systems will be natural targets for the next generation of large telescopes, both on the ground and in space," David Pinfield of the University of Hertfordshire, who was not involved in the new study, said in a statement. - MSNBC.

WATCH: Super-Earth may have liquid water.

MYSTERY: The Symbols of an Alien Sky, Man-Made or Natural Phenomena - The Latest UFO Sightings And Aerial Anomalies Around the World?!

Here are several of the latest unidentified flying objects (UFOs) seen recently across the globe.

Moscow, Russia - 20th of June, 2012.

Redford, Michigan, United States - 9th of June, 2012.

Bawsey Kings Lynn, England - 19th of June, 2012.

British Columbia, Canada - 6th of June, 2012.

MYSTERY: The Symbols of an Alien Sky, Man-Made or Natural Phenomena - The Latest UFO Sightings And Aerial Anomalies Around the World?!

Here are several of the latest unidentified flying objects (UFOs) seen recently across the globe.

Shanghai, China - June, 2012.

Shenzhou-9 Program Launch, China - 16th of June, 2012.

San Jose, California, United States - 17th of June, 2012.

Vichy, France - 16th of June, 2012.

Colorado, United States - 9th of June, 2012.

Winnipeg, Canada - 15th of June, 2012.

Buffalo, New York, United States - June, 2012.

MYSTERY: The Symbols of an Alien Sky, Man-Made or Natural Phenomena - The Latest UFO Sightings And Aerial Anomalies Around the World?!

Here are several of the latest unidentified flying objects (UFOs) seen recently across the globe.

Chelmsford, England - 6th of June, 2012.

Mexico City, Mexico - 20th of May, 2012.

Taranto, Italy - June, 2012.

Salonica, Greece - 14th of June, 2012.

Moon - June, 2012.

Port Colborne, Canada - 13th of June, 2012.