Bizarre Comet like Alien Planet Is First of Its Kind

by Charles Q. Choi, Live Science Contributor   |   June 25, 2015 12:19pm ET

                                  

A Neptune-size planet appears to be masquerading as a comet, with a gargantuan stream of gas flowing behind it like a comet's tail.

The bizarre find is the first of its kind ever discovered by astronomers. The strange, cometlike planet, known as GJ 436b, is orbiting a red dwarf star and is about 22 times as massive as Earth. Astronomers detected the giant gas cloud around the planet using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory.

"I was astonished by the mere size of the cloud of gas escaping from the planet," said study lead author David Ehrenreich, an astronomer at the observatory of the University of Geneva in Switzerland.  [The Strangest Alien Planets]

GJ 436b, located about 33 light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo, is a kind of world known as a warm Neptune. Such planets, at about 10 to 20 times the mass of Earth, are about the mass of "cold Neptunes" such as Uranus — and, naturally, Neptune — but they are as close, or closer, to their stars than Mercury is to our sun. With an orbit of only about 3 million miles (4.8 million kilometers), "GJ 436b is 33 times closer to its star than Earth is to the sun, and 13 times closer than Mercury," Ehrenreich told Space.com.

The cloud of gas around GJ 436b, made up mostly of hydrogen, has a circular head that surrounds GJ 436b, and a tail trailing behind the planet. The diameter of the head is about 1.8 million miles (3 million km), or five times the width of the host star, which is about half that of the sun, Ehrenreich said. The length of the tail is uncertain, because the research team's observations do not cover it entirely, but their computer models suggest it could be about 9.3 million miles (15 million km) long.

Although prior research has predicted that other gas giants should be blowing off cometlike tails, based on how hot they must be due to their proximity to their stars, "GJ 436b is the first planet for which a cometlike tail is confidently detected," Ehrenreich said. (A previous studyrevealed indirect evidence of a rocky world that appears to be disintegrating around its host star, creating a cometlike tail of material behind the planet. That study used data from NASA's Kepler space telescope, which observed scattering of the light from the planet's host star.)

The scientists estimated that GJ 436b is currently blowing off up to 1,000 tons of gas per second. This means that GJ 436b is currently losing about 0.1 percent of its atmosphere every billion years, which is far too slow a rate to deplete its atmosphere in the lifetime of its parent red dwarf star. However, when the star was more active in its infancy, the researchers estimated that GJ 436b could have lost 10 percent or more of its atmosphere during its first billion years.

Recently, another team of researchers suggested that GJ 436b might possess a helium-rich sky depleted of hydrogen. "However, in order to be really hydrogen-poor and helium-rich, the atmosphere of GJ 436b should have represented a very small fraction of the planet['s] initial mass, around one-thousandth," Ehrenreich said. "In such a case, the whole atmosphere would have been gone today, which as we measure is not the case."

Ehrenreich noted that the Kepler spacecraft, as well as NASA's upcoming TESS space mission and the European Space Agency's future CHEOPS and PLATO spacecraft "are poised to find thousands of system like GJ 436 in the coming years." This suggests that many other planets with cometlike tails could soon be discovered.

           

The scientists now plan to investigate less massive planets, such as "super-Earths" and "mini-Neptunes" to see if they might also have puffy atmospheres and cometlike tails.

"We're going to study one such object in the course of next year with Hubble, and have proposed to observe several more," Ehrenreich said.

The scientists detailed their findings online today (June 24) in the journal Nature.

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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Battle of Los Angeles

Battle Of LA UFO: Stunning
New Photo Enhancements
Story and picture enhancements
by Steven Lacey
8-31-5

 

An alien craft flew over Los Angeles County in 1942, and the picture below proves it. Something very odd happened in the early mourning hours of February 25, 1942. An aircraft flew over LA County that sparked an air raid alert. Searchlights and Guns were locked onto the aircraft for about a an hour. That alert was unlike any other. We,ve all seen the images of the military action in Iraq. Pictures of batteries of antiaircraft guns firing in what look like random patterns are familiar to most of us. The picture below appeared in the LA Times in a story about the Battle of LA It clearly shows a night time defensive response to an air raid, but the situation is very different than that in Iraq. The men firing the guns weren't desperately searching the sky trying to find a target. They clearly had a focus for their efforts. This picture is the most convincing piece of evidence I,ve seen of an alien craft.           With a little effort using Adobe Photoshop I was able to clear up the image into something that clearly shows a classic saucer shaped craft right in the center of where all those searchlights are aimed. I enlarged the picture and I adjusted the brightness & contrast using the levels tool.   Check out the photo's below.

 

 

 

 

 

The picture clearly shows a saucer shaped craft in the area I've highlighted. The area outside of my highlight appears to be clouds of smoke from several large explosions that is being illuminated by the lights.   Look closely at the explosions. They don't look like they are actually coming in contact with the craft. Witnesses told LA Times reporters that the bombs exploded in rings around the craft. Could it be that the craft had SHIELDS that are very similar to the shields used by the imaginary craft of Star Trek? I added the red highlight to clarify what I was looking at. Coincidentally, it seems to mark the place where those shields seem to be having an effect.   The Battle of LA makes a very convincing argument for the presence of alien craft in our skies. The fact that something not of this Earth flew slowly over LA County is very clear. There were hundreds of thousands of witnesses to the craft as it traveled apparently without being in any hurry while our military tried very hard to knock it out of the sky. Once the craft had slowly traveled out of range of our guns the battle was over. Since Pearl Harbor had happened only a few months before it was easy to believe that the Japanese had made the flight. Now that theory simply doesn't make any sense. If the Japanese had aircraft that were immune to our antiaircraft guns then the war would have taken a very different path. Even 60 years later no country on Earth have aircraft that can continue to fly without any apparent damage after being hit with even opne antiaircraft shell. The aircraft that flew over LA County that night had to have been an alien craft.   The aircraft wasn't hostile. If the pilots of the craft had wanted to hurt someone they certainly had the chance. I can't say whether that craft was armed, but if humans had designed a craft that could take such punishment they would have designed it to be able to carry weapons. There wasn't any mention about the craft doing anything hostile in any of the news stories I,ve read. It didn't drop any bombs and it didn't fire back at the gun emplacements.   WHY would anyone human or alien make such a flight?   I see this flight as a kind of a show of force without using force. The craft flew very slowly along without taking any evasive action as our military threw everything it could at it. If this was an INTELLIGENTLY controlled vehicle then there is NO WAY that the pilots didn't notice the barrage of shells that were being directed at their craft. It's obvious that they weren't concerned that their craft would be harmed. The craft withstood the best we could do to it without showing any damage. It clearly says that the technology used to manufacture this craft is far superior to ours.   What happened suggests intent. They ignored the provocation of our attempt to destroy them. It might have been done to make a statement. I think the pilots of that craft were trying to say that we couldn't hurt them and that we shouldn't be afraid of them.   I don't believe the craft was designed with antiaircraft gunfire in mind. I think that it was built so strong because of another concern. Let's say that they have a way to propel a craft very fast in open space. There's a lot of room in space, but it isn't exactly empty. Space is filled with objects large and small. There are Billions of asteroids in our solar system. Most of them are orbiting the sun just like the planets. If this fast moving craft hit a piece of rock or metal the size of a dime it might destroy it. The energies involved would be tremendous. I think that this type of impact is what the craft was designed to withstand.   The Battle of LA happened long before the idea that an Unidentified Flying Object might be an alien craft was widespread. The Government simply said that the craft they were shooting at was unidentified. They let the public ASSUME that the craft had been Japanese. I wonder how many people even questioned the idea that the craft MUST have been Japanese.   I wonder what would have happened if they had brought that ship down? The Government has had enough trouble covering up what happened at Roswell. I don't think they would have been able to cover up a crashed alien craft the size of an apartment building in the middle of the city of LA   I wonder what would happen if our Government started shooting at an UNIDENTIFIED craft over a city today? What if it happened exactly the same way? The craft flies slowly over a city without firing a shot while we throw everything we have at it. Can you imagine seeing LIVE news coverage of the event being broadcast around the world? I wonder how many people would immediately conclude that the unidentified craft was an aircraft manufactured by beings NOT OF THIS EARTH? Can you imagine how fast the lid of secrecy would TRY TO come down on the story?   Alien craft are flying in our skies.   There is no doubt in my mind that one flew over LA County on a clear and cold night 60 years ago.   THE TRUTH IS RIGHT HERE

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Giant Cube Recorded By NASA, Bigger Than Earth, Near Sun On Dec 21st & 23rd. NASA Source, Alien Cube First Seen In 2011

Date of sighting: December 21, 2012

Location of sighting: Earths Sun

 

I was looking at the NASA/SOHO images and noticed that the black cube is back. This is on the NASA site right now so if you want to check for yourself please click the link below. This cube has been seen near the sun several times a month. Odd that it chose Dec 21, 2012. Sometimes this cube even is three dimensional so you can see it is really a cube. It is black because it is not hot like the sun is. They do have advanced tech millions or billions of years ahead of us so flying near the sun is not a fear of theirs, but what are they harvesting from the sun so often? Photo from SOHO EIT 284, writes Scott C. Warning, at UFO Sightings Daily. 

 

NASA Link: http://sohowww.estec.esa.nl/data/realtime/eit_284/512/

Date of sighting: December 23, 2012

Location of sighting: Earths Sun

 

I was looking at some sun images by NASA/SOHO when I saw the cube again. I say cube because a few times I have reported it while it was clearly visible as a 3d object. This time however what interests me the most is that this time it has one corner that has a gas cloud covering it. This is important because it validates that this is an actual object and not pixillation (computer glitch) or even a UFO that was deliberately covered by NASA. Instead this is undeniable proof that this object, may it be space station, (7X the size of Earth) or UFO, is an actual alien craft. It is even possible its a alien drone…because of its massive size it may be built for storage of energy harvested from our sun. Check out the actual photo at the link below. SCW

 

Sun image: http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov//data/REPROCESSING/Completed/2012/eit284/20121223/20121223_1306_eit284_1024.jpg

The cube first appeared in 2011.  

Giant Black Cube Orbiting The Sun Detected on NASAs SOHO photos, UFO Sighting News.

UPDATE: Aug 2011, Mike sent this to us. Great catch Mike.

Date of sighting: June 28, 2011
Location of sighting: Earth’s Sun

For the last few weeks I have been monitoring the SOHO photographs of the Sun. Why? Because I have been seeing the strangest things imaginable and I want to show you what I found. 

On June 28 I found what looked like a mistake in the photo, but looks more like a black cube that is in orbit around our sun. Sure, one photo mistake right? Wrong, NASA and SOHO have the most advanced telescopic equipment available. For a cube to be missing from the photo either it was cut out by NASA to hide something or…it is a cube flying in orbit around the sun? Crazy, I think not. How often do you look directly at the sun…never because it will damage you eyes. So it would go unnoticed, however scientists around the world have stated there are UFOs orbiting the sun many times larger than the earth.

I have recorded three instances of this cube flying around in different positions this month. Take a look at the photos and see what your think. 

Also I got this photo below from SOHO photos, this one looks 3D to me! They are UFO cubes.

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"Eye of The Earth" Created by Extraterrestrials?

ALIENS TAKE OVER SAHARA DESERT

This prominent circular feature in the Sahara desert of Mauritania has attracted attention since the earliest space missions because it forms a conspicuous bull's-eye in the otherwise rather featureless expanse of the desert. Described by some as looking like an outsized fossil in the desert, the structure, which has a diameter of almost 30 miles, has become a landmark for shuttle crews. Initially interpreted as a meteorite impact structure because of its high degree of circularity, it is now thought to be merely a symmetrical uplift that has been laid bare by erosion. Paleozoic quartzites form the resistant beds outlining the structure.

Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team 

Photos from outer space confirm that aliens have taken over The Sahara Desert.

A mysterious portion of the Sahara Dessert has been referred to as  The Richat Structure ( “Earth‘s bull’s eye”) for many years.  After a careful analysis by Extraterrestrial Experts from around the globe, it is now confirmed that aliens from Planet Zeeba have taken a vast area of the Sahara.

The Richat Structure is a nearly 30-mile across rock formation which is described as “somewhat mysterious” and “hypnotic”.  It was recently photographed  from the International Space Station and extraterrestrial experts from the United Nations have been analyzing the data and the photos.

“It’s definitely the work of the Zeebans.  The aliens from Planet Zeeba are peaceful aliens and it is easy to see from these formations that they are harmonious beings and are to help Earthlings,” said Dr. John Malley of the U.N. Panel on Extraterrestrials.

the structure, located in west-central Mauritania in West Africa was once thought to be an impact crater,  but its “flat middle and lack of shock-altered rock indicates that it was made by alien beings.

NASA, at first thought, that it was  ”caused by uplifted rock sculpted by erosion,” but the perfect circular formations strongly indicate that they were made by alien beings.

“Zeebans, to be specific,” said Dr. John Malley.

Many in Africa are now headed to The Richat Structure.  They feel that it could be a new start for human beings on Earth.  WWN is sending two of our reporters to the Sahara to examine it first hand.

That image is simply amazing, but now imagine seeing an eye on the surface of the Earth that is looking back at you.

This is what Astronauts see when they are looking down from space at the Richat Structure, an amazing add to the strange place collection.

The Richat Structure is a prominent circular feature  in the middle of the Sahara Desert of West-Central Mauritania. It is deeply eroded, and stretches 40 km in diameter.

Scientists originally thought it was a crater formed by a meteorite, but this was ruled out. The flat middle and lack of shock altered rock made it obvious to scientists that a rock from space did not form this structure.

Its perfectly circular shape is still a mystery today.

Advocates of the EU model claim that:
” craters like the Richat were not formed by impacts but were “machined” by electric discharges, Birkeland currents that rotate around a “sticking” point and excavate material by electrically accelerating it upwards without disturbing the surrounding or underlying strata, unless the whole area is raised in a fulgamite blister–hence Rampart Craters. Specific effects will depend on a wide variety of soil conditions including chemical composition, material type, density, moisture, and conductivity.  Discharge factors, including diameter, voltage, current, and duration will also affect the crater configuration.”
 All of these claims  sound nice and fancy, but what if it was all false?
What if this was the work of some being from a different planet?
Some alien believers have come to the conclusion that this “dome” was created by extraterrestrials as a target  for when they want to attack or land on Earth.
There is a theory that this “bulls-eye” was lasered into the Earth by aliens from another strange place.
The richat structure strange place
The Richat Structure resembles an eye
Astronauts have made it clear that it is the most visible part of Earths surface from space, and it has the most perfectly circular shape out of any landmass on Earth.
Sounds like a pretty nice target to me.

So since there are no definite facts about the creation of the Richat Structure, why not take all theories into consideration?

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The Enigmalith: A 100,000 year old electrical component found embedded in stone

According to researchers who have analyzed the artifact, it is a 100,000 year old electrical component embedded in stone

It is one of the artifacts that a few have heard of, yet its characteristics are incredibly interesting. There have been dozens of objects discovered through the years that do not fit into the mainstream view of history, archaeology and anthropology.

This discovery was made in 1998 when electrical engineer John. J. Williams found what appeared to be an electrical connector protruding form the ground in a hiking trip in North America. The object was found in the middle of nowhere, far way from human settlements, industrial complexes, airports, factories and electronic or nuclear plants. After digging further into the ground, Williams discovered a device with a triple plug, embedded into the rock.

Williams refused to give away the exact location where the object was found, which has led skeptics to conclude that this artifact is just another hoax. But is it?

Today the artifact is referred to as the Petradox, a device that has the undeniable aspect of an electrical component which ended up embedded into solid granite, stone composed of quartz and feldspar, with small traces of mica. There is a huge amount of secrecy surrounding the object. Williams has received offers up to 500,000 dollars for the device but has refused to sell it. Williams stated that the artifact however, is available to any researchers for analysis. So far, only a few individuals have taken time to study the mysterious object, resembling without a doubt, an electrical component.

The Petradox is not an accretion, concretion, pumice or a fossil. It does not contain any known resins, cements, glues, adhesives, limestone, mortar, or other non-rhyolite / non-granite binding agents. It is very hard.

The component itself is about 8 mm in diameter; the pins of the device are about 3 mm high, and the spacing between the pins is approximately 2.5 mm while the pin thickness is about 1 mm.

According to Williams, who has consulted an engineer and geologist to examine the object, the electronic component embedded in the granite reveals no trace of having been glued or welded in any known form, it is clear that the object already existed at the time of the formation of the rock. According to geological analysis, researchers believe that the “rock” is at least 100,000 years old, something impossible if you believe that the object is of artificial origin. Conventional understanding of technological development of mankind tells us that there is no way humans could have made something like this at that time in history.

The device has been compared by some researchers to an electronic XLR connector or similar component. The artifact has a weak magnetic attraction, Ohmmeter readings indicate either open-circuit or very high impedance between the pins. The artifact does not seem to be made out of wood, plastic, metal, rubber, or any other recognizable material. Williams has not allowed the object to be broken in half for analysis but X-ray tests have shown that the artifact has a mysterious “opaque internal structure” in the center of the stone.

According to Williams, melted blobs of a metallic-like material on the component’s periphery indicate that some metal object near the Petradox was subjected to such high temperatures to cause metal melting and molten metal splashing or sputtering onto the embedded component.

Skeptics firmly believe that this 100,000 year old electrical component is a manufactured hoax, but Williams does not agree. He is convinced that he has found a genuine artifact that belonged to an advanced ancient civilization or an extraterrestrial race. Williams is willing to let researchers authenticate the artifact under certain conditions: that he is present during the analysis and that the rock remains unharmed.

There are some of us who believe that science does not have interest in these object because they are afraid of what they might find out. The artifact has two possibilities. While scientific analysis could confirm it as being an elaborate hoax, it could also radically change our understanding of the history of mankind and change the way we look at history and our origins.

In 1998, electrical engineer John J. Williams discovered what looked like an electrical connector sticking up out of the ground. He began digging and found that that the three-pronged plug was embedded in a small rock.

According to Williams, the curious stone was unearthed during an excursion in a rural location in North America, far from human settlements, industrial complexes, airports, factories, and electronic or nuclear plants. While it may hurt the credibility of his discovery, Williams refuses to give the exact location of his find, for fear that the site might be plundered of other mysterious relics.

Known as the “Enigmalith” (a combination of the words enigma and monolith) or” Petradox,” the device presents the undeniable appearance of an electronic component embedded in a naturally formed, solid granite stone composed of quartz and feldspar (including very small percentages of mica.)

Due to the secrecy surrounding the find, its $500,000 price tag, and an extraterrestrial theory surrounding the object, many from the scientific community have categorized the Enigmalith as a hoax manufactured solely for the fame and fortune for its owner.

However, Williams explains that his unusual stone is available to any researcher for analysis. Scientists have so far shied away from testing the rock, despite the open invitation.

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Life on Mars – the evidence mounts

Methane plumes of unknown origin and carbon-based molecules in sandstone rocks have recently been detected on Mars. Both findings add weight to the case that Mars could once and may still support life.  Elizabeth Finkel reports.

A view from the Curiosity mast camera shows the dramatic buttes and layers on the lower flank of Mount Sharp in the middle of Gale crater. The different layers of exposed rocks are revealing the planet’s geological history.

Ever since 1877 when Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli pointed his telescope at the red planet and saw channels, Earthlings have been titillated by the possibility of life on Mars. The NASA missions of the ’60s and ’70s dispelled those notions. Definitely no canals; not even a trace of liquid water. Even the geology appeared dead, with its gigantic but long-silent volcanoes.

But since 2004, better instruments and wide-ranging rovers on Mars’ missions have started painting a different picture. There was once abundant flowing water, and ice still exists in pockets at the poles – and possibly elsewhere. The latest findings from the Curiosity rover reported on 16 December at the meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, upped the ante. The planet emits mysterious whiffs of methane, a result published online in Science the same day. Considering most methane on Earth is produced by microbes, this tantalising finding was widely aired by the world’s media. Less reported was a second result, soon to be published in the Journal of Geophysical Research. Curiosity unearthed evidence of complex mixtures of carbon-based (organic) molecules in sandstone rocks.

Neither the methane nor the organic molecules in the rock are evidence of life. They could have come from interstellar dust particles or been carried aboard meteorites, and some methane was probably locked into the planet’s mantle when it formed. But the possibility that these complex carbon compounds were produced by life, however unlikely, cannot for now be excluded. Indeed they strengthen the simmering case that life could once have existed on Mars – or perhaps still does below the punishing Martian surface.

And therefore, “it’s worth coming back”, says John Grotzinger, the Caltech-based leader of Curiosity’s on-board science lab. Indeed that is NASA’s plan. In 2020, the next-generation Rover will be equipped not only to look for the possibility of life but for life itself.  Newly miniaturised, Mars-proof instruments such as  the SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals), will point a beam at slabs of rock to locate promising deposits of organic compounds. Those deposits will be extracted and bought back to Earth to be examined more closely.

 And while Rover 2020 will be a robot, NASA is pushing ahead with a plan to send humans by 2030. On 5 December a test launch and sea-landing of Orion took place – it is a bell-shaped module much like the one that took Apollo astronauts to the Moon. Orion was launched by a commercial Delta IV rocket but the real mission to Mars will need the more powerful NASA Space Launch System to lift the orbiter and landing model. If NASA can keep public and political enthusiasm on the boil, we are all set for the manned exploration of Mars.

The 2004 Spirit and Opportunity rovers beamed back images of carved valleys, imprints of meandering streams, and pebbly rocks. Mars had once been wetter and warmer. On 5 August, 2012, Curiosity was gently lowered by sky crane on to Bradbury landing (named after American sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury, author of the The Martian Chronicles) with the Mars science laboratory on board to examine the case for life on Mars. The lab’s instruments include a quadrupole mass spectrometer, a gas chromatograph and a tunable laser spectrometer that can identify minute traces of complex molecules. On Earth, such sophisticated equipment can take up whole labs. On Curiosity’s back, they are suitcase sized.

Finding methane on Mars is intriguing, but it’s not the first time plumes have been reported wafting from the planet. 

Curiosity’s landing site within the 154 kilometre-wide Gale Crater was chosen because orbiting cameras spied different layers of exposed rocks. It was hoped that, like the layers in the Grand Canyon, they might reveal something of the planet’s geological history. The hunch paid off. After exploring a kilometre or so and analysing different types of rocks, the data spoke. A year ago, Science magazine published a paper: “A Habitable Fluvio-Lacustrine Environment at Yellowknife Bay, Gale Crater, Mars”.

Gale crater, with Mount Sharp at its centre, was once a water-filled lake. Curiosity’s landing zone is circled with its progress marked by the light blue line.CREDIT: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/ESA/DLR/FU BERLIN/MSSS

It reported that Gale crater was once a water-filled lake that could have lasted for millions of years. Just why it evaporated along with all Mars’s surface water is a mystery that instruments on board NASA’s orbiter, Maven, are trying to solve. Maven arrived last September together with India’s Mars orbiter mission (as reported on the COSMOS news blog). In contrast to the fast water that carved the Martian valleys, the water in Gale Crater could have existed for long enough to support life. Moreover the paper claimed, “We can envisage many combinations of terrestrial microbes that would be suited to form a Martian biosphere … at Yellowknife bay”. So the scene was well set for the latest discovery of methane and complex carbon-based molecules in the petrified mud and sands deposited in Gale Crater.

Finding methane on Mars is intriguing, but it’s not the first time plumes have been reported wafting from the planet. In 2003 NASA’s infrared telescope at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, detected methane plumes in the northern hemisphere during the Martian spring and summer. It was reminiscent of the stores of methane wafting out as methane clathrates (methane of microbial origin trapped in a cage of frozen water molecules) thaw out beneath the sea floor  or as the tundra melts on Earth’s northern hemisphere each summer. In 2004 a spectrometer on the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter also spied the signature of methane – at levels ranging from 0-30 parts per billion across the surface. But these off-planet measures were plagued by uncertainty as the detected levels were at the limit of the instrument’s sensitivity.

Curiosity’s readings from the surface were deemed far more reliable. Initially, however, it was a disappointing result. It registered methane levels at around 0.7ppb – but that was within the measurement error so it could have been nothing. Over the next 20 months, its tuneable laser spectrometer kept sniffing the atmosphere. In November 2013, Curiosity’s scientists got a surprise. “It was an ‘oh my gosh moment’,” recalls Chris Webster from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The reading was 5.5ppb. Over the next few weeks, the level peaked at 9ppb. Then two months after the first high reading, the levels fell back to where they’d been, near zero.

There are many possible ways that methane might be added to Mars' atmosphere (sources) and removed from the atmosphere (sinks). NASA's Curiosity rover has detected fluctuations in methane concentration in the atmosphere, implying both types of activity occur in the modern environment of Mars.CREDIT: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/SAM-GSFC/UNIV. OF MICHIGAN

The source of the methane plume remains a mystery. It does not appear to correlate with Martian seasons, or pressure changes or asteroid impacts that might have loosened buried stores of methane. But, in the words of Sushil Atreya, director of the University of Michigan’s Planetary Science Laboratory, whether the source is geological or biological in origin, “it tells us Mars is currently active”.

Besides sniffing the atmosphere, Curiosity was also busy drilling shallow holes in four different types of rock, cooking the grindings and testing the identity of the volatiles in its science lab. Three of the sites produced no reading, but the fourth did.  It was drilled within the Cumberland mudstone – a fine-grained rock containing clays that, based on Earthly experience, are good for preserving organics. Three organic compounds were detected here: dichloromethane, dichlorobenzene, and high levels of chlorobenzene. Though a chemical leak previously caused a bit of trouble for the on-board lab, MIT geobiologist  Roger Summons (previously with Geoscience Australia) who presented the results at the  San Francisco meeting, says those problems do not detract from the findings. He pointed out the tests were repeated multiple times for each site, and the readings before and after the Cumberland site were negative. Just what the original identity of the molecules were, is hard to say.  They were likely altered during the cooking process, since Martian rock contains a chemical called calcium perchlorate which, when heated, reacts with and alters organic structures.

And what if the Cumberland mudstone does contain complex carbon-based molecules?  At the least, says Summons, it shows there are niches on Mars where organic molecules can exist without being destroyed by cosmic rays. They may have nothing to do with life. For instance meteorites such as the Murchison meteorite that hit Earth in 1969 are rich in organic compounds including amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, and the nitrogen-containing bases (adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine) that are used to code DNA. And Mars’ sheer atmosphere is constantly pierced by small meteorites . But then again the organics might have originated from microbes at the bottom of Yellowknife bay. On Earth microbes can survive in acid pools, in volcanic vents and under thick sheets of ice. So why not on Mars? “It’s even worse on Mars,” say Summons, but adds “still, we can’t imagine all the strategies life might invoke to survive in weird places”.

For Helen Maynard Casely, a planetary scientist based at Australia’s Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, the findings are exciting no matter the origin.  “My money is on a geological source, as much as I’d like there to be little green monsters on Mars.”

Elizabeth Finkel is editor-in-chief of COSMOS.

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NASA Spots Pyramid-Like Structure on Mars

NEW YORK:  Fuelling speculation that advanced civilisation once thrived on Mars, NASA's Curiosity rover has found a pyramid-like structure on the Red Planet, media reports said.

This image that bears an uncanny resemblance to the Great Pyramid in Egypt was captured by Mastcam: Right on-board NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on May 7.

Estimated to be the size of a small car, it could also be the capstone of a much larger pyramid buried beneath the Martian sand, Exopolitics reported.

This "pyramid" image has stargazers believing that intelligent life exists or once thrived on Mars, Starpulse.com said.

What stands out about the photograph is the straight-line geometry and symmetry of the structure.

A telltale sign that differentiates a natural formation from a manmade one is its angles and lines. In this case, the picture resembles smooth angular shapes that are equivalent in scope.

The pyramid is among the clearest photographic evidence collected so far that artificial structures exist on Mars built by an earlier civilisation, the Exopolitics report said.

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Robotic rover discovers likely ancient nitrogen on Martian surface

After already finding evidence of water on Mars, NASA’s Curiosity rover has discovered another key element necessary for life on the Red Planet.

NASA said Tuesday that the robotic rover has, for the first time, detected nitrogen on the Martian surface. The nitrogen – found in the form of nitric oxide – could be released during the natural breakdown of nitrates, which are molecules that contain the type of nitrogen that can be used by living organisms.

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The discovery does not mean there is life on Mars.

NASA scientists don't believe the nitrogen discovered was created by life on Mars. The nitrogen is likely ancient and could have been deposited there by meteorite impacts and lightning.

The discovery provides scientists with another piece of the puzzle suggesting that ancient Mars once was capable of supporting life.

The detection of nitrogen is a milestone for Curiosity, which was sent to Mars for the sole purpose of finding out if the planet was ever capable of supporting life, even in microbial form.


"Finding a biochemically accessible form of nitrogen is more support for the ancient Martian environment at Gale Crater being habitable," said Jennifer Stern of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, in a statement. "Scientists have long thought that nitrates would be produced on Mars from the energy released in meteorite impacts, and the amounts we found agree well with estimates from this process.”

Evidence has begun to pile up about Mars holding key elements, such as oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen, needed to support life as we know it on Earth.

Soon after landing on the Martian surface in August 2012, Curiosity discovered evidence that there had been ancient water flows on the planet’s surface. Scientists suspect that there was once a steady stream of water running about knee deep.

Curiosity, after drilling into Martian rocks, discovered other elements needed for life -- carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur.

In December, Curiosity detected a spike in methane, another potential sign of life since it can be produced by bacteria or microbes. Scientists reported at the time that if there’s methane on Mars, there could have been – or could be – life there.

Now the discovery of nitrogen can be added to the list.

According to NASA, nitrogen is critical for life on Earth. It’s used in the building blocks of larger and critical molecules, like DNA and RNA, which hold the genetic instructions for life.

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'Aliens Are Out There - And They Look Like Us'

Aliens resembling humans must have evolved on other planets, a leading biologist has claimed.

Evolutionary biologist Simon Conway Morris says it is surprising we have not already discovered extra-terrestrials that look like us - given the growing number of Earth-like planets now discovered by astronomers.

He based his claim on evidence that different species will independently develop similar features which means that life similar to that on Earth would also develop on equivalent planets.

The theory, known as convergence, says evolution is a predictable process which follows a rigid set of rules.

"I would argue that in any habitable zone that doesn't boil or freeze, intelligent life is going to emerge, because intelligence is convergent," he said.

"One can say with reasonable confidence that the likelihood of something analogous to a human evolving is really pretty high.

"And given the number of potential planets that we now have good reason to think exist, even if the dice only come up the right way every one in 100 throws, that still leads to a very large number of intelligences scattered around, that are likely to be similar to us."

The argument is put forward in his new book The Runes Of Evolution.

He has previously claimed that aliens would resemble earthlings with limbs, heads, and bodies.

And he goes further in the new book, claiming any Earth-like planet should also evolve predators like sharks as well as mangroves, and mushrooms, among many other things.

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