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Secret underground alien base hold the answers to the vanishing of 20,000 people in the Alaska Triangle?
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By USH
Reports of alien abductions first became widespread during the 1960s and 70s. Alleged abductees frequently described undergoing experimental procedures performed by extraterrestrial beings. Some even claimed that these aliens had inserted unknown objects into their bodies.
In many cases, these so-called "alien implants" are metallic and have been reported to emit radio frequency waves. Often, they are found attached to nerve endings within the body.
One of the most prominent figures in this field of research was Dr. Roger Leir, who passed away on March 14, 2014. Along with his surgical team, Dr. Leir performed 17 surgeries on individuals who claimed to have been abducted by aliens, removing 13 distinct objects suspected to be alien implants.
These objects were subjected to scientific analysis by prestigious laboratories, including Los Alamos National Labs, New Mexico Tech, and the University of California at San Diego. The findings have been puzzling, with some comparisons made to meteorite samples, and isotopic ratios in some tests suggesting materials not of Earthly origin.
One such case is that of Terry Lovelace, a former Air Force medic, who kept a disturbing secret for 40 years. In 2012, a routine x-ray revealed a small square object about the size of a fingernail which was buried deep in Terry's right leg the doctor had never see anything like it.
Then Terry suddenly remembered the terrifying experience he had tried to forget - an event during a camping trip at Devil's Den State Park that he had never spoken of, knowing no one would believe him without proof. Yet the evidence had always been there: a strange metal object embedded in his leg, something that was not man-made.
In 1977, Terry and a friend had an extraordinary encounter at Devil's Den State Park, where they witnessed a massive triangular craft. This experience resulted in missing time and unexplained injuries. Years later, Terry was faced with a difficult choice: reveal his story of alien contact or remain silent. His decision led him into conflict with powerful forces and uncovered a conspiracy that extended beyond our world.
While some remain skeptical, believing these implants are man-made and part of a secretive human agenda, Dr. Leir’s work, along with Terry Lovelace's experience at Devil’s Den and the mysterious object found in his leg, suggests that 'alien' implants may not be mere fiction.
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By USH
The Colares UFO incidents refer to a series of unusual sightings and encounters that took place in 1977 on the Brazilian island of Colares. During this period, numerous residents from the Amazon River community of Colares reported being attacked by UFOs.
These mysterious objects allegedly descended from the sky, and in some cases, emerged from the water, emitting intense beams of light. The beams caused physical harm, including burn marks, puncture wounds, fatigue, and memory loss, affecting as many as 2,000 people.
In response to the alarming situation, the Brazilian Air Force initiated a thorough investigation. Years later, their findings were made public, revealing details of this bizarre chapter in UFO history.
Weaponized hosts Jeremy and George speak with Thiago Ticchetti, Brazil's leading UFO investigator and author, to discuss the Colares case and the once-classified military files.
According to Thiago, the Brazilian military captured remarkably clear film footage and photographs of the UFOs. However, he claims that this evidence was sent to the U.S. and has never been released to the public.
In this episode, they also explores various conspiracy theories and recent debunking efforts surrounding the topic of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).
The discussion on the Colares UFO incidents begins at the 37-minute mark in the video.
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By USH
The Department of Defense has appointed a new director to lead the AARO (All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office), which is responsible for investigating UFOs and UAPs. The choice of Dr. Jon T. Kosloski, a former NSA scientist, is notable. According to USAF whistleblower Dan Sherman, the NSA has been involved in tracking UFO and non-human intelligence (NHI) activity for decades. Additionally, there are claims that the NSA manages interstellar trade operations from a base in Antarctica.
Kosloski replaces Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the inaugural director of AARO, who faced criticism during his tenure. Many believed Kirkpatrick did little to support whistleblowers, hindering efforts to reveal critical information about UFOs and related phenomena.
One of the intriguing aspects of this story is the alleged NSA connection to Antarctica.
Eric Hecker a Raytheon contractor who worked at the Ice Cube Neutrino observatory at Antarctica from 2010-2011 said that this observatory constructed at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica is a huge air traffic control power station that monitors all interstellar craft that be operated by humans as well as non-humans.
The observatory is not the only station that tracks interstellar craft, reports from whistleblowers over the years have hinted at the presence of a vast underground military complex in the area. Allegedly, the NSA operates an office there, which also is involved in monitoring interstellar activity, possibly utilizing the Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory's facilities. In addition, this office is reportedly engaged in interstellar trade. According to Navy whistleblowers, the office is managed from the NSA headquarters at Fort Meade, Maryland, specifically on the sixth floor.
It may sound fantastical, but the NSA has been tracking UFO activity since its inception in 1952. The agency is believed to have developed capabilities to detect UFOs anywhere on Earth but keep quiet about it.
Now, as we look to the future, institutions that shape national security believe the U.S. needs to prepare the public for disclosure, as humanity's future may lie in space. Advanced propulsion systems, including anti-gravity and torsion field technologies, are being developed to construct fleets of spacecraft that can keep pace with extraterrestrial civilizations.
Furthermore, there is a large spaceport in Alabama, near the caverns around Huntsville, where pilots from around 30 nations are reportedly being trained to fly interstellar craft under supervision of a group of extraterrestrials known as the Nordics. It is said that this underground facility already houses hundreds of these craft.
Despite the ongoing UFO cover-up, with Dr. Kosloski now leading AARO, there is hope that in particular the NSA’s involvement in these operations will become more transparent and that further revelations may follow.
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By NASA
14 Min Read The Making of Our Alien Earth: The Undersea Volcanoes of Santorini, Greece
The expedition team and crew prepare to deploy Nereid Under Ice (NUI) into the sea. The following expedition marks the third installment of NASA Astrobiology’s fieldwork series, the newly rebranded Our Alien Earth, streaming on NASA+. Check out all three episodes following teams of astrobiologists from the lava fields of Holuhraun, Iceland, to the Isua Greenstone Belt of Greenland, and finally, the undersea volcanoes of Santorini, Greece. And stay tuned for the lava tubes of Mauna Loa, Hawaii in 2025.
THE VOYAGE BEGINS
My career at NASA has always felt like a mad scientist’s concoction of equal parts hard work, perseverance, absurd luck, and happenstance. It was due to this mad blend that I suddenly found myself on the deck of a massive tanker ship in the middle of the Mediterranean sea, watching a team of windburnt scientists, engineers, and sailors through my camera lens as they wrestled with a 5,000lb submersible hanging in the air.
The expedition team and crew prepare to deploy Nereid Under Ice (NUI) into the sea. “Let it out, Molly, slack off a little bit…” shouts deck boss Mario Fernandez, as he coordinates the dozen people maneuvering the vehicle. It’s a delicate dance as the hybrid remotely operated vehicle (ROV), Nereid Under Ice (NUI), is hoisted off the ship and deployed into the sea. “Tagline slips, line breaks… you’ve got a 5,000lb wrecking ball,” recounts Mario in an interview later that day.
How did I get here?
A few years ago I found myself roaming the poster halls of the Astrobiology Science Conference in Bellevue, Washington, struggling to decipher the jargon of a dozen disciplines doing their best to share their discoveries; phrases like lipid biomarkers, anaerobic biospheres, and macromolecular emergence floated past me as I walked. I felt like a Peanuts character listening to an adult speak.
Until I stumbled upon a poster by Dr. Richard Camilli entitled, Risk-Aware Adaptive Sampling for the Search for Life in Ocean Worlds. I was quickly enthralled in a whirlwind of icy moons, fleets of deep sea submersible vehicles, and life at sea.
Dr. Richard Camilli, principal investigator of a research expedition to explore undersea volcanoes off the coast of Santorini. “Are you free in November?”
“Absolutely,” I replied without checking a single calendar.
Five months and three flights later, I arrived at the port of Lavrio, Greece, as Dr. Camilli and his team were unloading their suite of vehicles from gigantic shipping crates onto the even more massive research vessel. I stocked up on motion sickness tablets, said a silent farewell to land, and boarded the ship destined for the undersea Kolumbo volcano.
Greece is a great place to study geology, because it’s a kind of supermarket of natural disasters.
Dr. Paraskevi NomikoU
University of Athens
The expedition sets out to sea as the sun sets in the distance. LIFE AT SEA
Documenting astrobiology fieldwork has taken me to some pretty remote and rough places. Sleeping in wooden shacks in Iceland without running water and electricity, or bundled up in a zero-degree sleeping bag in a tent while being buffeted by gale force winds in the wilderness of Greenland. But life at sea? Life at sea is GOOD.
Filmmaker Mike Toillion takes a selfie, holding up a peace sign with members of the science team. From left to right: NASA Astrobiology/Mike Toillion Mike Toillion, creator of Our Alien Earth, taking a selfie with members of the glider team. From left to right: Matt Walter and Gideon Billings of the autonomous sampling team inside the ship’s control room.
I was fortunate to have a personal cabin all to myself: a set of bunk beds, a small bathroom with a shower, and a small desk with plenty of outlets for charging my gear. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the mess hall. Aside from a freshly rotated menu of three hot meals a day, it was open 24/7 with a constant lineup of snacks to keep bellies full and morale high. This was luxury fieldwork. The ability to live, work, and socialize all in the same place would make this trip special in its own right, and allowed me to really get to know the team and capture every angle of this incredibly complex and multi-faceted expedition.
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The ship in the port of Lavrio, Greece. The team will spend two full days docked here while preparing for the voyage ahead. NASA Astrobiology/Mike Toillion SEARCHING FOR LIFE ON OCEAN WORLDS
“The goal of this program is cooperative exploration with under-actuated vehicles in hazardous environments,” explains Dr. Camilli as we stand on the bow of the ship, the sun beginning to set in the distance. “These vehicles work cooperatively in order to explore areas that are potentially too dangerous or too far away for humans to go.”
This is the problem at hand with exploring icy ocean worlds like Jupiter’s moon, Europa. The tremendous distance between Earth and Europa means we will barely be able to communicate and control vehicles that we send to the surface, and will face even more difficulty once those vehicles dive below the ice. This makes Earth’s ocean a perfect testbed for developing autonomous, intelligent robotic explorers.
“I’ve always been struck at how parallel ocean exploration and space exploration is,” says Brian Williams, professor from the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT. “Once you go through the surface, you can’t communicate. So, somehow you have to embody the key insights of a scientist, to be able to look and see: is that evidence of life?”
One of the gliders, an autonomous scouting vehicle equipped with multple sensors to map the seafloor and report back to the ship. NASA Astrobiology/Mike Toillion MEET THE FLEET
Exploring anywhere in space begins with a few simple steps: first, you need to get a general map of the area, which is typically done by deploying orbiters around a celestial body. The next step is to get a closer look, by launching lander and rover missions to the surface. Finally, in order to understand the location best, you need to bring samples back to Earth to study in greater detail.
“So you can think of what we’re doing here as being very parallel, that the ship is like the orbiter and is giving us a broad view of the Kolumbo volcano, right? Once we do that map, then we need to be able to explore interesting places to collect samples. So, the gliders are navigating around places that look promising from what the ship told us. And then, it looks to identify places where we might want to send NUI. NUI is very capable in terms of doing the samples, but it can’t move around nearly as much. And so, we finally put NUI at the places where the gliders thought that they were interesting.”
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The expedition team works into the night preparing NUI for its upcoming mission to the Kolumbo volcano. NASA Astrobiology/Mike Toillion THE SCIENTIST’S ROBOTIC APPRENTICE
As the espresso machine in the mess hall whirred away pouring out a much needed shot of caffeine, I sat with Eric Timmons, one of the expedition’s computer science engineers. Eric wears a few hats on the ship, but today we are discussing automated mission planning, the first step to true autonomy in robotic exploration.
“In any sort of scientific mission, you’re going to have a list of goals, each with their own set of steps, and a limited amount of time to achieve them. And so, Kirk works on automating that.” Kirk is the nickname of one of the many algorithms involved in the team’s automated mission planning. It’s joined by other algorithms, all named after Star Trek characters, collectively known as Enterprise, each responsible for different aspects of planning a mission and actively adapting to new mission parameters.
Dr. Richard Camilli explains further: “Basically, we have scientists onboard the ship that are feeding policies to these automated planners. [The planners] then take those policies plus historical information, the oceanographic context, and new information being transmitted by the vehicles here and now; they take all that information, and combine it to construct a mission that gets to the scientific deliverables, while also being safe.”
These are areas that humans aren’t designed to go to. I guess the best analogy would be like hang gliding in Midtown Manhattan at night.
Dr. richard camilli
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
OK, let’s recap the story so far: the ship’s sonar and other instruments create a general map of the Kolumbo volcano. That information, along with data from previous missions, is fed to Enterprise’s team of algorithms, which generates a mission for the gliders. The gliders are deployed, and using their sensors, provide higher-fidelity data about the area and transmit that knowledge back to the ship. The automated mission planners take in this new data, and revise their mission plan, ranking potential sites of scientific interest, which are then passed onto NUI, which will conduct its own mission to explore these sites, and potentially sample anything of interest.
DIVE, DIVE, DIVE
After a few days on the ship, the routine of donning my steel-toed boots and hard hat when walking around the deck has started to become second nature. My drone skills have greatly improved, as the magnetic field produced by the ship and its instruments forced me to take-off and land manually, carefully guiding the drone in and around the many hazards of the vessel. This morning, however, I’ve been invited to step off the ship for the first time to get a first-hand look at deploying the gliders. Angelos Mallios from the glider team leads me down into the bowels of the ship to the lower decks, as we arrive at a door that opens to the outside of the ship, waves lapping about six feet below. A zodiac pulls up to the door and we descend down a ladder into the small boat.
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Riding in the zodiac with the glider team, led by Angelos Mallios. NASA Astrobiology/Mike Toillion Meanwhile, the rest of the glider team is on the main deck of the ship, lifting the gliders with a large, motorized crane, and lowering them onto the surface of the water. The zodiac team approached to detach the glider and safely set it out into the sea, while I dipped a monopod-mounted action camera in and out of the water to capture the process. Unbeknownst to me at the time, this would become some of my favorite footage of the trip, sunlight dancing off the surface of the waves, while the gliders floated and dove beneath.
Angelos’ radio began to chatter. Eric Timmons was onboard the ship ready to command the gliders to begin their mission plan assigned by Enterprise. A moment passed and the yellow fin of the glider dipped below the water’s surface and disappeared.
Angelos Mallios from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, leans out of a zodiac to deploy a glider, an autonomous vehicle and the forward scout for the expedition. NUI VERSUS THE VOLCANO
The following day, it was time to see the star of the show in action; the expedition team was ready to deploy the aforementioned 5,000lb wrecking ball, NUI. The gliders had been exploring the surrounding area day and night, using their suite of sensors to detect areas of scientific interest. Since this mission is about searching for life, the gliders know that warmer areas could indicate hydrothermal vent activity; a literal hotspot for life in the deep ocean. Kirk, along with the science planner algorithm, Spock, determined a list of possible candidates that fit that exact description.
“There’s always a bit of tension in the operations, where, do you go strike out in an area that is unstudied and potentially come back with nothing? Or do you go to a site that you know and try to understand it a little bit more, that kind of incremental advance?” Dr. Camilli pauses to take a quick swig of sparkling water after a long day of diving operations, as he recounts a moment in the control room earlier that day. All the scientists onboard this expedition are extremely skilled and knowledgable, and this mission is asking them to put aside their instincts, and follow the suggestions of computer algorithms; a hard pill to swallow for some.
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Underwater footage from Nereid Under Ice, showing a thriving community on the sea floor, including a never before seen species. NASA Astrobiology/Mike Toillion and WHOI “We stuck with the Spock program, and it paid great dividends. And all of the scientists were amazed at what they saw. The first site that we went to was spectacular. The second site we went to was spectacular. Each of the five sites that it identified as interesting were interesting, and they were each interesting in a different way; totally different environments.”
Interesting, in this case, was quite the understatement. As the expedition team and I crowded into the ship’s control room to look at the camera feeds transmitted by NUI, now fully deployed to the seafloor, audible gasps erupted from multiple people. Bubbles filled the monitor as live fumaroles, active vents from the volcano, were pouring out heat and chemical-rich fluid into the water. Thick, microbial mats covered the surrounding rock, and multicellular lifeforms dotted the landscape. The expedition team had found a live hydrothermal vent, and life thriving around it.
SOUVENIRS FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR
“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” recalls Casey Machado, expedition lead and the main pilot for Nereid Under Ice (NUI). Casey is sitting in an office chair surrounded by glowing monitors, a joystick in their left hand, and a gaming controller in their right. Since NUI is a hybrid ROV, it can be controlled manually from the ship by remote, or receive autonomous instructions from the Enterprise mission planners. Today, the team plans on manually controlling NUI to retrieve samples from the first site of interest.
NUI is a strange looking vehicle. Only a small section of its body is watertight, where many of its critical components are housed. The remainder is fairly open, and upon arriving at the first site recommended by Spock, the front of the ROV opens up its front double doors to reveal a multi-jointed manipulator arm, stereo camera set, and other instruments. I’m instantly reminded of the space shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, which had a similar mechanism.
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Casey Machado, pilot of the hybrid ROV Nereid Under Ice (NUI), pilots the manipulator arm to take a rock sample. NASA Astrobiology/Mike Toillion Casey deftly maneuvers each joint of the arm to approach a rock covered in microbial mats. The end of NUI’s arm is equipped with two sampling instruments: a claw-like grabbing mechanism and a vacuum-like hose called the “slurp gun”. The end of the arm twists and turns as Machado aligns it with the rock, eventually opening and closing it around the target. With a gentle pull, the rock comes loose, and with a few more careful manipulations places it delicately into NUI’s sample cache. I offer a high-five, which Casey nonchalantly returns like the whole task was nothing.
TEACHING A ROBOT TO FISH
At this point, the expedition team has collected dozens of samples and achieved multiple engineering milestones, enough to fill years’ worth of scientific papers, but they are far from finished. A true mission to an ocean world will have to be pilotless, as Dr. Gideon Billings from MIT explains: “They need to operate without any human intervention. They need to be able to understand the scene through perception and then make a decision about how they want to manipulate to take a sample or achieve a task.”
Gideon sits in the control room to the left of the piloting station, working alongside Casey as they prepare to demonstrate NUI’s automated sampling capabilities. His laptop screen shows a live 3D-model of the craft, its doors open, arm extended. Projected around the craft is a 3D reconstruction, or point cloud, of the seafloor created from the stereo camera pair mounted inside the vehicle. Similarly to how our brains take the two visual feeds from both of our eyes to see three-dimensionally, a stereo camera pair uses two cameras to achieve the same effect. By clicking on the model and moving its position in the software, NUI performs the same action thousands of meters under the ocean.
Shared autonomy between the automated sampling team and the ROV Nereid Under Ice. “That is shared autonomy, where you could imagine a pilot indicating a desired pose
for the arm to move to, but then a planner taking over and coming up with the path that the arm should move to reach that goal. And then, the pilot just essentially hitting a button and the arm following that path.”
Over the course of multiple dives, Gideon tested various sampling techniques, directing the manipulator arm to use its claw-like device to grab different tools and perform a variety of tasks. “We were able to project the point cloud into that scene, and then command the arm to grab a push core and move it into a location within that 3D reconstruction. We verified that that location matched up. That showed the viability of an autonomous system.” This seemingly small victory is a huge step towards exploring planets beyond Earth. Since this expedition, the engineering team has not only improved this shared autonomy system, but has also implemented a natural language interface, allowing a user to use their normal speaking voice to give commands to the ROV, further blurring the lines between reality and science fiction.
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The sun rises over the Mediterranean Sea on the final day of the research cruise. NASA Astrobiology/Mike Toillion SOMEWHERE BEYOND THE SEA
I cannot help but envy the life of those who chose to make the ocean their place of work. The time I’ve spent with oceanographers has me questioning all my life choices; clearly they knew something I didn’t.
Watching the sunrise every morning, peering through the murky depths of the deep sea, unlocking the secrets of Earth’s final frontier. All in a day’s work for Dr. Richard Camilli and his team of intrepid explorers.
Watch Our Alien Earth and The Undersea Volcanoes of Santorini, Greece on NASA+ and follow the full story of this incredible expedition.
Watch Our Alien Earth on NASA+
Panorama of a sunrise at sea. View the full article
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By NASA
4 Min Read The Summer Triangle’s Hidden Treasures
The ‘Dumbbell nebula,’ also known as Messier 27, pumps out infrared light in this image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Planetary nebulae are now known to be the remains of stars that once looked a lot like our sun. Credits:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Harvard-Smithsonian CfA August skies bring the lovely Summer Triangle asterism into prime position after nightfall for observers in the Northern Hemisphere. Its position high in the sky may make it difficult for some to observe its member stars comfortably, since looking straight up while standing can be hard on one’s neck! While that isn’t much of a problem for those that just want to quickly spot its brightest stars and member constellations, this difficulty can prevent folks from seeing some of the lesser known and dimmer star patterns scattered around its informal borders. The solution? Lie down on the ground with a comfortable blanket or mat or grab a lawn or gravity chair and sit luxuriously while facing up. You’ll quickly spot the major constellations about the Summer Triangle’s three corner stars: Lyra with bright star Vega, Cygnus with brilliant star Deneb, and Aquila with its blazing star, Altair. As you get comfortable and your eyes adjust, you’ll soon find yourself able to spot a few constellations hidden in plain sight in the region around the Summer Triangle: Vulpecula the Fox, Sagitta the Arrow, and Delphinus the Dolphin! You could call these the Summer Triangle’s “hidden treasures” – and they are hidden in plain sight for those that know where to look!
Mid-August offers views of the Summer Triangle with stars Deneb, Vega and Altair in the constellations Cygnus, Lyra, Aquila respectively. Constellations Vulpecula, Sagitta, and Delphinus are also visible, along with some of jewels – namely Messier 27, Messier 71, Caldwell 42 and Caldwell 47. Stellarium Web Vulpecula the Fox is located near the middle of the Summer Triangle, and is relatively small, like its namesake. Despite its size, it features the largest planetary nebula in our skies: M27, aka the Dumbbell Nebula! It’s visible in binoculars as a fuzzy “star” and when seen through telescopes, its distinctive shape can be observed more readily – especially with larger telescopes. Planetary nebulae, named such because their round fuzzy appearances were initially thought to resemble the disc of a planet by early telescopic observers, form when stars similar to our Sun begin to die. The star will expand into a massive red giant, and its gases drift off into space, forming a nebula. Eventually the star collapses into a white dwarf – as seen with M27 – and eventually the colorful shell of gases will dissipate throughout the galaxy, leaving behind a solitary, tiny, dense, white dwarf star. You are getting a peek into our Sun’s far-distant future when you observe this object!
This spectacular NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a bright scattering of stars in the small constellation of Sagitta (the Arrow). This is the centre of the globular cluster Messier 71, a great ball of ancient stars on the edge of our galaxy around 13 000 light-years from Earth. M71 is around 27 light-years across. Globular clusters are like galactic suburbs, pockets of stars that exist on the edge of major galaxies. These clusters are tightly bound together by their gravitational attraction, hence their spherical shape and their name: globulus means “little sphere” in Latin. Around 150 such globular clusters are known to exist around our Milky Way, each one of them containing several hundred thousand stars. Messier 71 has been known for a long time, having been first spotted in the mid eighteenth century by Swiss astronomer Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux. Cheseaux discovered a number of nebulae in his career, and also spent much time studying religion: one posthumously published work attempted to derive the exact date of Christ’s crucifixion from astronomical events noted in the Bible. Despite being a familiar object, Messier 71’s precise nature was disputed until recently. Was it simply an open cluster, a loosely bound group of stars? This was for many years the dominant view. But in the 1970s, astronomers came to the view that it is in fact a relatively sparse globular cluster. The stars in Messier 71, as is usual in such clusters, are relatively old, at around 9 to 10 billion years, and consequently are low in elements other than hydrogen and helium. This picture was created from images taken with the Wide Field Channel of the Advanced Camera for Surveys on Hubble. It is a combination of images taken through yellow (F606W — coloured blue) and near-infrared (F814W — coloured red) filters. The exposure times were 304 s and 324 s respectively. The field of view is about 3.4 arcminutes across. ESA/Hubble and NASA Sagitta the Arrow is even smaller than Vulpecula – it’s the third smallest constellation in the sky! Located between the stars of Vulpecula and Aquila the Eagle, Sagitta’s stars resemble its namesake arrow. It too contains an interesting deep-sky object: M71, an unusually small and young globular cluster whose lack of a strong central core has long confused and intrigued astronomers. Your own views very likely won’t be as sharp or close as this. However, this photo does show the cluster’s lack of a bright, concentrated core, which led astronomers until fairly recently to classify this unusual cluster as an “open cluster” rather than as a “globular cluster.” Studies in the 1970s proved it to be a globular cluster after all – though an unusually young and small one! It’s visible in binoculars, and a larger telescope will enable you to separate its stars a bit more easily than most globulars; you’ll certainly see why it was thought to be an open cluster!
Delicate Delphinus the Dolphin appears to dive in and out of the Milky Way near Aquilla and Sagitta! Many stargazers identify Delphinus as a herald of the fainter water constellations, rising in the east after sunset as fall approaches. The starry dolphin appears to leap out of the great celestial ocean, announcing the arrival of more wonderful sights later in the evening. With a large telescope and dark skies, you can pick out globular clusters Caldwell 42 and Caldwell 47.
Want to hunt for more treasures? You’ll need a treasure map, and the Night Sky Network’s “Trip Around the Triangle” handout is the perfect guide for your quest!
Originally posted by Dave Prosper: August 2022
Last Updated by Kat Troche: April 2024
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