Alien Sightings with David Spergel
StarTalk Radio
Deep Dive
Why did NASA rebrand UFOs as UAPs?
UFOs were rebranded as UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) by the government to reflect a more neutral and scientific approach to the study of unexplained aerial events.
What percentage of UAP events remain unexplained?
Approximately 1% of UAP events reported by the military remain unexplained.
Who appointed the NASA UAP study team?
NASA appointed the UAP study team, not Congress, to advise on how NASA could contribute to advancing our understanding of UAPs.
What was the main recommendation of the NASA UAP study?
The main recommendation was for NASA to develop an app that would allow citizens to upload high-quality images and metadata of UAP sightings to a central database for analysis.
Why hasn't NASA developed the UAP app yet?
NASA has not developed the app yet due to budget constraints, as they had to cancel other programs last year.
What is the role of the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope?
The Nancy Grace Roman Telescope is designed to map the entire sky with the resolution of the Hubble Telescope, focusing on studying dark matter and dark energy.
What is the difference between the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope and the Vera Rubin Telescope?
The Nancy Grace Roman Telescope operates in space using infrared, while the Vera Rubin Telescope operates on the ground in visible light, making them complementary in their capabilities.
What is the latest understanding of dark matter?
Dark matter makes up about five times as much of the universe as ordinary matter, but its exact nature remains unknown. It is not black holes, neutrinos, or lost socks.
What is the Simons Observatory in Chile designed to study?
The Simons Observatory in Chile is designed to study the leftover heat from the Big Bang and detect gravitational waves from the early universe.
How does the Simons Observatory detect gravitational waves?
The Simons Observatory uses the early universe itself as a gravitational wave detector, observing how gravitational waves moved electrons 13.8 billion years ago.
- Government rebranded UFOs to UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena)
- NASA's UAP study focused on data analysis and verification
- Challenges in authenticating images due to Photoshop and AI
- Recommendation for an app to crowdsource UAP data
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