Parker Solar Probe's Record-Breaking Journey, Mysterious X-ray Flares, and Solar Cycle's Weather Impact: S28E03

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[00:00:27] Das ist Spacetime, Serie 28, Episode 3, für Broadcast, auf 6 Jan. 2025.

[00:00:36] Wir haben auf Spacetime mehr, die Fastest Man-Made Objekt in History, die NASA Parker Solar Probe,

[00:00:43] die Mystery der Ultra-Luminous X-ray Sourcen,

[00:00:46] und die mögliche Link zwischen der Sun's Solar Cycle und der La Nina Wetter-Pattern.

[00:00:52] All das und mehr, auf Spacetime.

[00:00:56] Welcome to Spacetime with Stuart Gary.

[00:01:15] Mission operations teams have confirmed NASA's mission to touch the Sun

[00:01:20] has survived its record-breaking close approach to the solar surface on December 24.

[00:01:25] Breaking its previous record by flying just 6.1 million km above the Sun's surface,

[00:01:31] NASA's Parker Solar Probe hurtled through the solar atmosphere at a blazing 155,520 km per hour,

[00:01:40] faster than any man-made object has ever moved.

[00:01:43] A beacon tone received late on December 26 by NASA's Deep Space Communications Facility at Tidbinbilla near Canberra

[00:01:51] confirmed the spacecraft had made it through its close encounter safely and was operating nominally.

[00:01:56] The close flyby was the first of more to come at this distance,

[00:02:00] allowing the spacecraft to conduct unrivaled science measurements

[00:02:04] with the potential to change our understanding of our nearest star.

[00:02:08] By studying the Sun close up, scientists can better understand its impacts throughout the solar system,

[00:02:14] including that on technology which we use daily here on Earth and in space.

[00:02:18] It also allows astronomers to learn more about the workings of stars across the Universe

[00:02:23] in order to aid science's search for habitable worlds beyond our home planet.

[00:02:28] But it hasn't been an easy journey.

[00:02:30] Parker Solar Probe has spent the last six years setting up for this moment.

[00:02:35] Launched back in 2018, the spacecraft used seven flybys of Venus

[00:02:39] to gravitationally direct it ever closer to the Sun.

[00:02:42] And with its last Venus flyby, November the 6th, the spacecraft finally reached its optimal orbit.

[00:02:49] The oval-shaped orbit brings Parker to an ideal distance from the Sun every three months,

[00:02:54] close enough to study the star's mysterious processes

[00:02:57] but not too close to become overwhelmed by the Sun's heat and damaging radiation.

[00:03:02] The spacecraft will remain in this orbit for the remainder of its primary mission.

[00:03:07] Flying this close to the Sun, Parker relies on a crucial carbon-foam shield

[00:03:12] in order to protect it from the extreme heat of the upper solar atmosphere, or corona,

[00:03:16] which can exceed a million degrees Celsius.

[00:03:19] In the hot but low-density corona, Parker's shield is heated to about 1,000 degrees Celsius.

[00:03:25] The shield was designed to reach temperatures of 1,500 degrees Celsius

[00:03:29] that's hot enough to melt steel, while still keeping instruments behind it

[00:03:32] shaded at a comfortable room temperature of 21 degrees.

[00:03:36] By flying through the solar corona, Parker Solar Probe can take measurements

[00:03:40] that help scientists better understand how this region gets so hot.

[00:03:44] It can trace the origins of the solar wind,

[00:03:47] the constant flow of charged particles streaming out from the Sun,

[00:03:51] and it can discover how energetic particles are accelerated to almost half the speed of light.

[00:03:56] Previous passes have already aided scientists in understanding the Sun.

[00:04:00] When the spacecraft first passed into the solar atmosphere back in 2021,

[00:04:04] it found that the outer boundary of the corona was wrinkled with spikes and valleys.

[00:04:08] That's contrary to what was expected.

[00:04:11] Parker also pinpointed the origin of important zigzag-shaped structures in the solar wind,

[00:04:16] known as switchbacks, at the visible surface of the Sun, the photosphere.

[00:04:20] Since that initial pass into the Sun,

[00:04:22] the spacecraft's been spending more and more time in the corona,

[00:04:25] where most of the critical physical processes occur.

[00:04:28] Astronomers now understand the solar wind and its acceleration away from the Sun,

[00:04:33] and this close approach has given them more data to understand how it's accelerated closer in.

[00:04:38] Parker Solar Probes also made discoveries across the inner solar system.

[00:04:42] Observations showed how massive solar eruptions, called coronal mass ejections,

[00:04:47] vacuum up dust as they sweep across the solar system.

[00:04:51] And other observations have revealed unexpected findings about solar energetic particles.

[00:04:56] Flybys of Venus have documented the planet's natural radio emissions from its atmosphere,

[00:05:01] as well as the first complete image of its orbital dust ring.

[00:05:04] So far, Parker's still only transmitted that it's safe and operating nominally.

[00:05:09] But soon it will be far enough away from the Sun

[00:05:11] that it will be able to downlink all the data it's collected during this later solar pass.

[00:05:15] The data that will be coming down from the spacecraft will be fresh information about a place that we,

[00:05:21] as humanity, have never been, but which we rely on for our very existence.

[00:05:27] This report from NASA TV.

[00:05:29] In 1958, scientists put a vision that we need to fly a spacecraft within the atmosphere of the Sun.

[00:05:37] But it is so challenging, extremely difficult to realize,

[00:05:40] that it took us six decades to build a system that can fly safely and reliably within the atmosphere of a star.

[00:05:47] 3, 2, 1, 0.

[00:05:51] Lift off of the mighty Delta IV heavy rocket with NASA's Parker Solar Probe.

[00:05:57] A daring mission to shed light on the mysteries of our closest star, the Sun.

[00:06:03] It looked like we had a hit there for a second.

[00:06:07] Yes, Nick, I believe we do have a detection of Beacon Tone 1.

[00:06:17] There it is! See it? There it is!

[00:06:23] Parker Solar Probe is 3.8

[00:06:25] 3.8

[00:06:26] 3.8

[00:06:27] 3.8 million miles from the surface of the Sun.

[00:06:29] It is so incredible to just realize this is the moment that we designed this mission for.

[00:06:36] 3.8 million miles may not sound that close, but if I put the Sun and the Earth one meter apart,

[00:06:43] Parker Solar Probe would be four centimeters from the Sun.

[00:06:46] It's the closest human-made object to a star, and also the fastest,

[00:06:51] traveling at 430,000 miles an hour.

[00:06:55] I mean, we're flying through the atmosphere of a star.

[00:06:59] That's not easy to do.

[00:07:01] It's something we've never done before.

[00:07:04] This is our first close encounter with a star, and it's really just amazing.

[00:07:09] This area that Parker is going into is just so crucial to our understanding of the Sun and its impact on the Earth.

[00:07:15] That solar interaction, that space weather, those billions of tons of material that the Sun can throw at us,

[00:07:21] interacts with our power grids, can interact with our technology.

[00:07:24] So it's really important to understand them at their source and how they get all that energy.

[00:07:28] When we were thinking about designing a spacecraft to go to some place that had never been before,

[00:07:34] and it's actually going there to study the Sun, and so you're kind of saying,

[00:07:39] what am I designing? What are the environments it's designing for?

[00:07:41] It has to go from the deepest, coldest space to a very warm area and keep everything working at a little bit above-roof temperature.

[00:07:51] It's designed to go to such an extreme environment.

[00:07:54] You look at it, and it doesn't quite look like most other spacecraft.

[00:07:57] The whole thing is designed such that the heat shield is taking most of the brunt of the heat of the Sun.

[00:08:03] The heat shield will be at about 1800 degrees Fahrenheit, and it's protecting the spacecraft.

[00:08:09] So the spacecraft's actually basically at room temperature.

[00:08:12] This is such a great feat of engineering, and it really shows how capable we are in space.

[00:08:18] This is something that we've been wanting to do since 1958 when it was first mentioned,

[00:08:24] and the technical problems that had to be overcome in order to achieve it,

[00:08:29] it's just monumental to be able to get a spacecraft this close to the Sun.

[00:08:33] To get close to the Sun is not easy. It looks like from Earth to the Sun, not that far.

[00:08:42] The key issue is energy. In order for Parker to get close to the Sun,

[00:08:48] we needed to lose a lot of Parker's speed, possessed at Earth's orbit.

[00:08:54] Fortunately, I was able to create a trajectory with seven Venus flyby.

[00:09:01] The mission uses Venus in order to actually change its angular momentum and slow down to actually go closer and closer to the Sun.

[00:09:10] Over the course of about six years and the seven flybys, we were able to move closer to the Sun,

[00:09:16] and each time unraveling a little bit more of the mysteries of the Sun as we get data from places that no spacecraft has ever been before.

[00:09:24] It's the only star in our galaxy that we can actually go visit, and that's what makes it so magical.

[00:09:30] By flying within the atmosphere of the Sun, we are basically tracing the fingerprints of the physical mechanisms of the Sun.

[00:09:39] We now view the Sun in a different way.

[00:09:41] When you look at images from Parker Solar Probe, oh my goodness, they are extremely, extremely complex.

[00:09:49] And that complexity for us, it's a new science that we need to investigate, we need to understand.

[00:09:55] The things that we've learned over the years that Parker has been in orbit have been amazing.

[00:10:01] They've challenged our ideas about how the solar wind is made, about how the Sun works, about some of these fundamental things that are going on.

[00:10:09] There's a lot of pride and excitement for this closest approach.

[00:10:14] So much effort and so many people have worked on this.

[00:10:18] I think it really took the teamwork and synergy of engineers and scientists and administrators and a lot of different people to think this mission up.

[00:10:27] And in that report from NASA TV, we heard from Parker Project scientist Noor Wawafi from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory,

[00:10:35] NASA's Science Mission Directorate Chief, Nicky Fox,

[00:10:38] NASA's Heliophysics Director, Joseph Westlake,

[00:10:41] Kelly Korek, also from NASA Heliophysics,

[00:10:44] and from Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory,

[00:10:47] Lead Heat-Short Engineer, Betsy Cogden,

[00:10:49] Mission Systems Engineer, John Wurtzberger,

[00:10:52] and Parker Mission Engineer, Yamping Gao.

[00:10:55] This is Space Time.

[00:10:57] Still to come,

[00:10:58] astronomers detect unusual flaring activity in a mysterious object known as an ultraluminous X-ray source

[00:11:04] and a possible link between the Sun's solar cycle and Earth's La Nina weather patterns.

[00:11:09] All that and more still to come on Space Time.

[00:11:29] Astronomers studying a mysterious object known as an ultraluminous X-ray source have detected strange flaring activity.

[00:11:35] First discovered back in the 1980s by the Einstein Observatory,

[00:11:39] ultraluminous X-ray sources are point sources of intense X-ray energy.

[00:11:43] They're less luminous than active galactic nuclei which are caused by feeding supermassive black holes,

[00:11:49] but consistently more luminous than any known stellar process.

[00:11:53] Although the Milky Way galaxy has no known ultraluminous X-ray sources,

[00:11:57] most galaxies that have been studied so far have at least one, and some have several.

[00:12:01] Astronomers use the XMM-Newton, Newstar, Chandra and Swift space telescopes

[00:12:07] to observe an ultraluminous X-ray source known as X7.

[00:12:11] It's one of two ultraluminous X-ray sources, the other designated X10,

[00:12:15] located in the intermittent spiral galaxy NGC 4559,

[00:12:20] some 29 million light years away in the constellation Coma Berenczes.

[00:12:24] A report on the pre-pressed physics website Archive.org says X7's long-term X-ray light curve

[00:12:30] shows flux variations by up to a factor of 6 over just a few hours.

[00:12:35] Now, this sort of activity wasn't seen in any earlier X-ray observations of X7,

[00:12:39] and it manifests only when the source is at its highest observed luminosities.

[00:12:44] During the peak of these flares, the luminosity was a factor of 3 higher than pre-flare luminosity.

[00:12:49] That indicates the maximum variability of the source can span almost an order of magnitude.

[00:12:55] Right now, astronomers think that most ultraluminous X-ray sources are in fact background quasars,

[00:13:01] powerful jets produced by feeding supermassive black holes.

[00:13:05] But another source could be feeding intermediate-mass black holes,

[00:13:09] while a third possibility are unusually bright supernova remnants, at least on short timescales.

[00:13:15] This is space-time.

[00:13:16] Still to come a possible link between the Sun's solar cycle and Earth's Leninia weather patterns,

[00:13:22] and later in the science report,

[00:13:24] the discovery of a spectacular 166-million-year-old dinosaur trackway in Oxfordshire.

[00:13:30] All that and more still to come on Space Time.

[00:13:47] We are Teresa and Nemo, and therefore we have to Shopify changed.

[00:13:51] The platform, the we used for Shopify, has used regularly updates,

[00:13:55] which have sometimes been brought to the shop that didn't work.

[00:13:59] Endly makes our Nemo Boards shop a good figure.

[00:14:02] And the illustrations on the boards come now much clearer,

[00:14:06] what is important to us and what our brand also makes us look out.

[00:14:10] Start your test today for 1€ per month on Shopify.de.

[00:14:19] A new study shows a correlation between the end of the Sun's 11-year solar cycle

[00:14:23] and a switch from El Niño to La Niña weather patterns in the Pacific Ocean.

[00:14:29] The findings reported in the journal Earth and Space Sciences suggest that

[00:14:33] solar variability may be driving seasonal weather variability here on Earth.

[00:14:38] Now, if this connection holds up,

[00:14:40] it could significantly improve the predictability of the largest El Niño and La Niña weather events.

[00:14:45] These have major seasonal climatic effects on Earth.

[00:14:49] For example, eastern Australia becomes drier and more drought-prone during an El Niño,

[00:14:54] while it becomes wetter and more flood-prone during a La Niña event.

[00:14:58] And the southern United States tends to be warmer and drier during La Niña,

[00:15:03] while the northern U.S. tends to be colder and wetter.

[00:15:06] The Sun's 11-year solar cycle involves a regular polarity flip

[00:15:10] of the Sun's magnetic field at solar minimum.

[00:15:13] The magnetic north pole becomes magnetic south,

[00:15:15] and the magnetic south pole becomes magnetic north.

[00:15:18] And this coincides with a steady increase in sunspot activity,

[00:15:22] solar flares and coronal mass ejections on the Sun's surface.

[00:15:26] These climax around solar maximum, about five and a half years after solar minimum.

[00:15:32] The violent upheaval then gradually dissipates as the Sun moves back to solar minimum

[00:15:36] and the start of the next solar cycle.

[00:15:39] The appearance and disappearance of sunspots,

[00:15:42] the outwardly visible signs of solar variability,

[00:15:44] have been observed by humans for hundreds of years.

[00:15:48] The waxing and waning of the number of sunspots takes place over approximately 11-year cycles.

[00:15:53] But these cycles do not have distinct beginnings and ends.

[00:15:57] This fuzziness in the length of any particular solar cycle

[00:16:01] has made it challenging for scientists to match up the 11-year solar cycle

[00:16:05] with changes happening on Earth.

[00:16:06] In this new study, the authors rely on what they're describing

[00:16:10] as a more precise 22-year clock for solar activity.

[00:16:13] This 22-year cycle begins when oppositely charged magnetic bands

[00:16:17] that wrap around the Sun appear near the star's polar latitudes.

[00:16:21] Now over the cycle, these bands migrate towards the solar equator,

[00:16:26] causing sunspots to appear as they travel across mid-latitudes.

[00:16:29] The cycle ends when the bands meet in the middle,

[00:16:32] mutually annihilating one another in what the authors are calling a terminator event.

[00:16:37] And it's these terminators which provide exact guideposts

[00:16:41] for the end of one solar cycle and the beginning of the next.

[00:16:44] The authors then impose these terminator events

[00:16:47] over sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific, stretching back to 1960.

[00:16:52] Amazingly, they found that the five terminator events

[00:16:55] that occurred between that time and 2010-2011

[00:16:57] all coincided with a flip from an El Niño,

[00:17:00] when the Central Eastern Pacific sea surface temperatures are warmer than average,

[00:17:04] to a La Niña, when the Central Eastern Pacific sea surface temperatures

[00:17:07] are cooler than average.

[00:17:09] And the end of the most recent solar cycle, 24, in 2019,

[00:17:13] also coincided with the beginning of a La Niña event.

[00:17:16] The authors then undertook a number of statistical analyses

[00:17:19] to determine the likelihood that this correlation was just a fluke,

[00:17:23] finding there was only one in 5,000 chance, or less,

[00:17:26] of all five terminator events included in the study

[00:17:28] randomly coinciding with the flip in ocean temperatures.

[00:17:32] Now that a sixth terminator event

[00:17:34] and the corresponding start of the new solar cycle 25 in late 2019

[00:17:38] also coincided with a La Niña event,

[00:17:41] the chances of it all being a random occurrence becomes even more remote.

[00:17:45] While the authors haven't determined what causes this apparent correlation,

[00:17:48] they're looking at the influence of the Sun's magnetic field

[00:17:51] on the amount of cosmic rays that penetrate the solar system

[00:17:54] and ultimately bombard the Earth.

[00:17:56] However, a robust physical link between cosmic ray variations and climate

[00:18:00] has yet to be determined.

[00:18:02] This is Space Time.

[00:18:18] We are Teresa and Nemo.

[00:18:21] And that's why we switched to Shopify.

[00:18:22] The platform, the we used before Shopify,

[00:18:25] has used regularly updates,

[00:18:27] which have sometimes led to the lead to that the shop didn't work.

[00:18:30] End of course makes our Nemo Boards Shop

[00:18:31] also on mobile devices a good figure.

[00:18:34] The illustrations on the boards come now very clearly,

[00:18:37] what is important to us and what our brand is also made out.

[00:18:41] Start your test now today for 1€ per month on Shopify.de.

[00:18:50] And time now to take a brief look at some of the other stories making news in science this week

[00:18:54] with a science report.

[00:18:55] A new study has found increases in ambient air pollution, especially if sustained for several days,

[00:19:02] appears to correlate with a higher risk of hospitalization for people suffering from schizophrenia.

[00:19:07] The findings, reported in the journal of the American Medical Association,

[00:19:11] looked at over 800,000 hospitalizations for schizophrenia in 250 Chinese cities

[00:19:16] and short-term increases in a range of air pollutants.

[00:19:20] Scientists found the link was strongest for nitrogen dioxide pollution,

[00:19:24] which could account for over 6% of hospitalizations.

[00:19:27] The authors say that these short-term relative increases,

[00:19:30] rather than only absolute concentrations of air pollution,

[00:19:34] should be factored in when targeting intervention strategies.

[00:19:39] A new study suggests that eating more fruits and vegetables could help reduce depression.

[00:19:44] Although the benefits of high fruit and vegetable intake has previously been reported,

[00:19:48] few studies have focused on adults aged over 45.

[00:19:51] The new research by the University of New South Wales assessed associations

[00:19:56] between fruit and vegetable intake and depressive symptoms over 11 years

[00:20:00] in 3,483 twins from Australia, Denmark, Sweden and the United States.

[00:20:06] The findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports,

[00:20:09] show that higher intakes of both fruit and vegetables

[00:20:12] were associated with lower symptoms of depression over time.

[00:20:16] A low intake of fruit on average is considered to be 0.3 serves per day,

[00:20:20] while a low intake of vegetables is considered to be 0.5 serves daily,

[00:20:25] whereas high fruit intake was 2.1 serves per day,

[00:20:28] and high vegetable intake was 2 serves daily.

[00:20:31] Interestingly, the total fruit and vegetable consumption in the high category

[00:20:34] still fell notably below the dietary recommendations for most countries.

[00:20:41] Paleontologists have released details of a 166 million-year-old dinosaur trackway

[00:20:46] uncovered in an Oxfordshire limestone quarry.

[00:20:49] The footprints belonged to a Herbivorous Cetisaurus Cerepod

[00:20:53] and a Megalosaurus Theropod carnivore

[00:20:55] and were made in what was once a warm, shallow lagoon.

[00:20:59] They were discovered by a quarry worker clearing clay with a jigger.

[00:21:03] Scientists have now unearthed around 200 large footprints

[00:21:06] in five separate trackways in the quarry stretching up to 150 metres in length.

[00:21:12] Well, it seems a much-anticipated United States Congressional hearing

[00:21:16] into evidence for the existence of unidentified anomalous phenomena

[00:21:19] has turned out to be a major flop

[00:21:21] with nothing but third-person hearsay and vague unsubstantiated claims.

[00:21:26] It was meant to be the big reveal

[00:21:29] where those behind all the UFO claims

[00:21:31] and those exposing the cover-up would come forward and tell all

[00:21:35] under congressional protection from prosecution.

[00:21:37] Hope for actual hard evidence,

[00:21:39] such as the presentation of actual alien technology

[00:21:42] or first-person testimony, was non-existent.

[00:21:46] Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptic says

[00:21:48] E41 isn't surprised.

[00:21:50] This is the latest hearing in the US Congress.

[00:21:53] The House Review Committee always sort of interviews

[00:21:55] all these different sort of government departments

[00:21:57] and most countries have these and they say,

[00:21:59] how are you going?

[00:22:00] Are you spending money correctly?

[00:22:01] Blah, blah, blah.

[00:22:01] And so this one's popped up about UFOs,

[00:22:03] same as one last year popped up about UFOs

[00:22:06] with people who are reasonable authorities,

[00:22:08] at least in their proper career jobs.

[00:22:11] Not the people who sound good.

[00:22:12] Retired Rear Admiral, I think was one of these.

[00:22:14] Speaking to this Congress Committee about the UFO

[00:22:17] or UAP as it's called these days,

[00:22:19] work that's being undertaken by the government.

[00:22:21] And these people are always saying

[00:22:23] that the government's covering up,

[00:22:24] they've got the technology,

[00:22:25] if worst case, they've got the alien bodies, etc.

[00:22:27] and they're developing all these products

[00:22:29] and one day all of this is going to be revealed.

[00:22:31] And the trouble is,

[00:22:32] these people who do front up to Congress hearings, etc.

[00:22:35] I don't think they've ever seen it,

[00:22:37] but they've heard about it.

[00:22:38] And so it's all third-party, third-person testimony.

[00:22:40] They don't, but I know someone who did

[00:22:42] or I know someone and they know someone

[00:22:43] has seen an alien body or something.

[00:22:45] UFO proponents have been talking this way for 70 years.

[00:22:48] Any day now, the evidence is going to be revealed

[00:22:50] and everyone would be shocked at the government cover-up

[00:22:53] and that they really do have spaceships under the Nevada desert

[00:22:55] or something like that.

[00:22:57] And it hasn't happened.

[00:22:58] And this was no better.

[00:22:59] This was the great day for the big reveal

[00:23:01] and nothing was revealed.

[00:23:02] It's just claims,

[00:23:03] including some of the people who were there

[00:23:04] supposedly going to have the big reveal,

[00:23:06] were pointing out that,

[00:23:07] yeah, there's unidentified things out there,

[00:23:10] but maybe they'll be identified.

[00:23:11] And that's the whole problem.

[00:23:12] That's what UFOs and UAPs are.

[00:23:14] They're unidentified.

[00:23:15] And the only reason they're being called up as aliens

[00:23:17] is because we don't know what they are.

[00:23:18] They very well might be identified one day

[00:23:20] and most of these things are identified,

[00:23:22] the vast majority.

[00:23:23] But yeah, some will probably remain unidentified,

[00:23:26] not enough witness testimony,

[00:23:27] a bit unreliable, no records of them,

[00:23:29] et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:23:30] Or just unclear,

[00:23:31] a vague sort of thing that couldn't be identified,

[00:23:34] unidentified.

[00:23:35] This was a big thing.

[00:23:36] A UFO community is saying,

[00:23:38] fantastic, it's all going to be revealed.

[00:23:39] Someone's going to drop the information

[00:23:41] on the desk in front of Congress

[00:23:42] and say, here you go,

[00:23:43] here's the evidence,

[00:23:44] here's where it's at,

[00:23:45] or the photos or whatever.

[00:23:47] No, didn't happen.

[00:23:48] It didn't happen last year.

[00:23:49] It hasn't happened.

[00:23:50] Anything definitive,

[00:23:51] anything that hasn't been questioned

[00:23:53] for 70 years.

[00:23:54] And yet they keep saying,

[00:23:55] any day now,

[00:23:56] any day now,

[00:23:57] it'll be revealed within 12 months.

[00:23:59] And I've heard UFO people say that all the time.

[00:24:01] And they always find excuses,

[00:24:03] mainly because the government cover up is very good

[00:24:05] or people are frightened to reveal

[00:24:07] the truth that they know

[00:24:08] because they're going to be sacked

[00:24:09] or intimidated or laughed at,

[00:24:11] whatever.

[00:24:11] That might be true.

[00:24:12] It also might be true

[00:24:13] that they don't know anything.

[00:24:14] And there are people who are making wild claims

[00:24:16] that they haven't been just substantiated.

[00:24:18] Journalists are saying,

[00:24:19] it's off the record

[00:24:20] or I don't want to reveal my sources.

[00:24:22] For Australian journalists

[00:24:23] who's been doing this for a couple of years,

[00:24:25] pointing out that there's 11,

[00:24:26] 12, 13 enormous spaceships

[00:24:28] buried around the earth,

[00:24:30] often with a big building on top of them.

[00:24:32] People are wondering where,

[00:24:33] which buildings, etc.

[00:24:34] They did say not in the US,

[00:24:36] so it might be under the Sydney Opera House

[00:24:37] or something,

[00:24:38] or CERN in Europe or the Vatican

[00:24:40] or who knows what.

[00:24:41] And all you have to do is ask,

[00:24:42] well, where are they?

[00:24:43] Surely we can sort of put a little hole down

[00:24:45] and find this.

[00:24:46] You're saying,

[00:24:46] oh no, I can't do that

[00:24:47] because we'll reveal the sources.

[00:24:49] Don't reveal the sources,

[00:24:50] just tell us where it is

[00:24:51] and then we can go and have a look.

[00:24:52] Is this enormous,

[00:24:53] I mean, yeah, really enormous,

[00:24:54] you know, building-sized flying sources

[00:24:55] are buried somewhere.

[00:24:57] They should be pretty easy to find.

[00:24:58] But no, 70 years,

[00:24:59] no evidence put forward,

[00:25:01] always going to be any day now

[00:25:02] that excuse is used every time

[00:25:04] to raise journalists

[00:25:06] or raise the interest of newspapers

[00:25:08] and shock jocks

[00:25:09] and that sort of stuff.

[00:25:09] It would be great.

[00:25:10] Of course, the latest ones

[00:25:11] are the drones flying over US bases

[00:25:13] that have been in the headlines of late.

[00:25:15] I looked at those pictures

[00:25:17] and straight away I said,

[00:25:18] well, that's a high-flying airliner,

[00:25:20] an Airbus or a Boeing 737 or something.

[00:25:24] And lo and behold,

[00:25:25] a week later,

[00:25:26] Mick West comes out

[00:25:27] with exactly the same conclusion.

[00:25:28] So...

[00:25:29] Yeah, yeah.

[00:25:29] Mick West is very useful.

[00:25:30] He did the same with the famous Pentagon videos.

[00:25:33] Yeah, yeah.

[00:25:33] They were these top-secret videos

[00:25:35] that everyone knew about

[00:25:35] and they were the famous

[00:25:36] that I released them

[00:25:37] and said, here they are,

[00:25:38] this is what some of our pilots have seen.

[00:25:40] And I think Mick West

[00:25:40] spent about five minutes on each of them

[00:25:42] and explained what they were.

[00:25:43] So he's very much worth seeking out,

[00:25:45] Mick West.

[00:25:46] And...

[00:25:46] The reason the Pentagon don't want

[00:25:47] to admit anything,

[00:25:48] because what it does,

[00:25:49] it shows just how inefficient

[00:25:51] the most advanced optical technology

[00:25:53] we have

[00:25:54] on our most advanced fighter jets

[00:25:55] really is.

[00:25:56] Yeah, that's right.

[00:25:57] Yeah.

[00:25:58] It picks up a lot of things

[00:26:00] which they should know better

[00:26:01] as to what they are.

[00:26:02] But the truth is out there.

[00:26:03] And it's amazing, actually,

[00:26:04] some of these people

[00:26:04] in this latest Congress hearing

[00:26:06] said exactly that.

[00:26:07] The truth is out there.

[00:26:08] All we have to do is find it.

[00:26:09] Well, maybe the truth is not out there.

[00:26:11] By saying this exists

[00:26:12] but I have no evidence for it

[00:26:13] doesn't mean it exists.

[00:26:14] It just means that you don't know

[00:26:15] what you're talking about.

[00:26:16] One thing I've found

[00:26:17] through my many years

[00:26:18] on this planet

[00:26:19] studying you people

[00:26:20] is that most politicians

[00:26:21] and most senior bureaucrats

[00:26:24] aren't playing some

[00:26:25] four-dimensional

[00:26:26] Machiavellian chess game.

[00:26:27] They really aren't that bright

[00:26:29] and they really are just doing

[00:26:31] the first thing that comes to mind.

[00:26:32] Yes, that's right.

[00:26:33] I mean, the people asking the questions.

[00:26:35] At these Congress things

[00:26:36] you get both sorts.

[00:26:37] People asking with a wry smile

[00:26:38] is this what you're claiming

[00:26:40] and someone else with their eyes

[00:26:41] wide open saying

[00:26:42] wow, this must be true.

[00:26:43] They do.

[00:26:44] They run a gamut of brightness

[00:26:45] or lack of brightness

[00:26:46] and the people they're interviewing

[00:26:47] people who are presenting

[00:26:49] giving evidence

[00:26:49] tend to have a bit better qualifications

[00:26:51] than the politicians do.

[00:26:52] So naturally the politicians

[00:26:53] believe them.

[00:26:54] That's Tim Mendham

[00:26:55] from Australian Skeptics.

[00:27:12] And that's the show for now.

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