TYB
Some black holes have a 'heartbeat' â and astronomers may finally know why
September 3, 2024
Black holes aren't alive, but it turns out that they can have a heartbeat â if they're consuming enormous amounts of gas. And new research has discovered just how that heartbeat works.
When black holes exist in a binary system â sharing an orbit with another star â they can pull in gas from a stellar companion.
When this happens, the gas compresses and heats up to incredibly high temperatures, emitting copious amounts of X-ray radiation in the process.
It's through this process that astronomers first identified black holes with the famous case of Cygnus X-1, one of the brightest sources of X-rays in our sky.
In the midst of this feeding frenzy, which can last for thousands to even millions of years, there can occasionally be a tremendous outburst.
This is a sudden flare of X-rays caused by the quick consumption of an enormous amount of material at once.
Astronomers have studied many such flares over the years, but detailed observations of these flares have occasionally revealed strange behavior.
In addition to the overall flare, there is a little bit of variability, a regular pulse of activity embedded within the flare event.
Astronomers call these pulses heartbeat flares, because their behavior resembles that of an EKG signal of a human heartbeat with a slow rise, a rapid decline, and then a return to normalcy.
A team of astronomers at the Key Laboratory of Particle Astrophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing have studied the most recent heartbeat flare and described the process that may fuel it in a paper published to the preprint database arXiv.
They submitted their work for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.
The flare they studied originated from IGR J17091-3624, a black hole sitting 28,000 light-years from Earth.
Using X-ray data taken with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) and Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) in 2022, the team found clear evidence of a heartbeat-like signal in the flare.
By studying the detailed properties of the heartbeat, they concluded that these kinds of pulses are due to interactions and instabilities within the material surrounding the black hole.
As material falls into a black hole, it not only compresses, but it forms a thin, rapidly rotating disk. The inner edge of this disk slants down toward the event horizon of the black hole, while the remainder of the disk glows in X-ray radiation.
This creates a highly unstable situation as radiation from the disk competes with the gravitational pull of the black hole.
To trigger a heartbeat, the disk temporarily fragments, losing its cohesion and sending a large clump of material down toward the black hole.
This releases an enormous amount of radiation, which begins the heartbeat pulse.
The radiation then heats up the gas, which temporarily prevents it from falling in.
Then the gas settles down before the process repeats itself, setting the stage for another heartbeat.
These heartbeat signals are incredibly rare â only two black holes among the hundreds known have shown it â but researchers hope to study more, as they give valuable insights into the relationships between black holes and their environments.
https://www.space.com/why-some-black-holes-have-heartbeats
https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.19388
Heaviest antimatter particle ever discovered could hold secrets to our universe's origins
September 2, 2024
Scientists have spotted the heaviest antimatter nucleus ever detected lurking in a particle accelerator.
The antimatter heavyweight, called antihyperhydrogen-4, is made up of an antiproton, two antineutrons and one antihyperon (a baryon that contains a strange quark).
Physicists found traces of this antimatter among particle tracks from 6 billion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York.
By studying the strange particle, physicists hope to discover some key differences between matter and antimatter, which may help explain why our universe is now filled with matter given that antimatter was created in equal amounts at the beginning of time.
The researchers published their findings Aug. 21 in the journal Nature.
"Our physics knowledge about matter and antimatter is that, except for having opposite electric charges, antimatter has the same properties as matter â same mass, same lifetime before decaying, and same interactions," study co-author Junlin Wu, a graduate student at the Joint Department for Nuclear Physics, Lanzhou University and Institute of Modern Physics, China said in a statement.
"Why our universe is dominated by matter is still a question, and we don't know the full answer."
According to the standard model of cosmology, after the Big Bang the young cosmos was a roiling plasma broth of matter and antimatter particles that popped into existence and annihilated each other upon contact.
Theory predicts that the matter and antimatter inside this plasma soup should have annihilated each other entirely. But scientists believe that some unknown imbalance enabled more matter than antimatter to be produced, saving the universe from self-destruction.
To investigate what could have caused this imbalance, the researchers behind the new study produced antimatter particles from a mini-Big Bang simulator.
The RHIC collider hurls billions of heavy ions (atomic nuclei stripped of their electrons) at each other, creating a plasma soup from which the primordial elements of our cosmos briefly emerge, combine and then decay.
To fish out new particles from the plasma sea, the physicists searched for the telltale tracks made as the ions decay, or transform into other particles.
By retracing the trajectories of these particles from billions of collision events, the researchers found roughly 16 antihyperhydrogen-4 nuclei.
Both hyperhydrogen-4 and its antimatter counterpart antihyperhydrogen-4 seem to wink out of existence very quickly, the researchers found.
But the physicists didn't find a significant difference between their lifetimes â indicating that our best models describing the two types of particles are correct.
"If we were to see a violation of [this particular] symmetry, basically we'd have to throw a lot of what we know about physics out the window," study co-author Emilie Duckworth, a doctoral student at Kent State University, said in the statement.
The scientists' next step will be to compare the masses of the antiparticles and their particle opposites, which they hope could reveal some clues as to how our matter-heavy universe came to be.
https://www.space.com/heaviest-antimatter-particle-could-hold-secrets-of-universe-origins
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07823-0.epdf
China launches new set of classified Yaogan-43 satellites
September 3, 2024
China launched a second group of classified Yaogan-43 satellites late Monday, adding to a group of nine satellites already in orbit.
A Long March 4B rocket lifted off from the inland Xichang Satellite Launch Center, southwest China, at 9:22 p.m. Eastern, Sept. 2 (0122 UTC, Sept. 3), rising above fog-shrouded hills surrounding the spaceport.
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC) confirmed launch success within an hour of launch. The announcement revealed the mission to be Yaogan-43 (02).
No details regarding the satellites were released. The satellites were described by CASC and Chinese state media as âmainly used for carrying out tests on new technologies of low orbit constellations.â
The terse description was similar to that issued for the launch of the Yaogan-43 (01) group launched in August.
The lack of transparency suggests a dual-use or military nature of the group.
The mission patch for the previous mission indicated nine stars, with nine satellites later cataloged in orbit by U.S. Space Forceâs Space Delta 2.
The patch for Mondayâs launch contained six stars. In Chinese, the character for âstarâ is often used interchangeably with âsatellite.
The Yaogan-43 (02) satellites were developed by CASCâs Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST).
Official social media posts suggest that GalaxySpace, a commercial satellite manufacturer and operator, and HITSAT, under the Harbin Institute of Technology, may have been involved in the mission.
IAMCAS under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and MinoSpace, a commercial spacecraft maker, were believed to be involved in the prior mission.
SAST also provided the Long March 4B hypergolic launcher for the mission.
The launcher used a wider, 4.2-meter-diameter payload fairing, as with the previous launch.
The objectives and uses of the satellites are unclear.
The Yaogan-43 (01) satellites are in similar, roughly circular 500-kilometer-altitude low Earth orbits with inclinations of 35 degrees as Yaogan-35, 36, 39 and 42 series satellites.
Yaogan (âremote sensingâ) satellites are thought to be for users including military customers. Few details, if any, are available about the satellites.
They are typically described as being for purposes including land survey, crop yield estimation, environmental management, meteorological warning and forecasting, and disaster prevention and reduction or âelectromagnetic environment detection and related tests.â
In general, the various series of Yaogan satellites are understood to include optical imaging, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and electronic intelligence (ELINT) satellites.
This combination provides high-resolution imagery and all-weather and all-day and night imagery, along with the collection of electronic signals from radar, communication systems and other electronic devices, with coverage of both land and sea.
Mondayâs launch was the 39th Chinese orbital launch attempt of 2024.
It follows last weekâs third Ceres-1 commercial solid rocket sea launch.
CASC stated early this year that it targeted launching around 70 times across 2024.
A further 30 launches were planned by commercial actors, however only six have so far been conducted.
The unintended liftoff of a Tianlong-3 first stage during a static fire test in June may have impacted the sector.
A Long March 6 series rocket could launch from Taiyuan in the coming days.
The debut of the new Long March 12 launcher is expected from a new commercial pad later in September.
https://spacenews.com/china-launches-new-set-of-classified-yaogan-43-satellites/
ESA delays BepiColombo orbital insertion because of thruster problem
September 2, 2024
The European Space Agency is adjusting the trajectory of its BepiColombo mission to Mercury, delaying its insertion into orbit around the innermost planet by nearly a year to compensate for reduced performance from its electric thrusters.
ESA announced Sept. 2 that the spacecraft, a joint mission with the Japanese space agency JAXA that launched in 2018 and since made several flybys of the Earth, Venus and Mercury, will take a slightly different trajectory during its next flyby of Mercury on Sept. 4.
The spacecraft will pass just 165 kilometers from Mercuryâs on this flyby, 35 kilometers closer than previously planned.
The change is part of a revised trajectory for the mission after ESA discovered a problem with the spacecraftâs thrusters in April.
When controllers turned on the thrusters then for a maneuver, they found that the thrusters were not getting enough power.
Engineers were able to restore the thrusters to 90% of their original thrust, but that was not enough for maneuvers needed to get the spacecraft into orbit around Mercury in December 2025.
An investigation found what ESA called âunexpected electric currentsâ between solar arrays on one part of BepiColombo, the Mercury Transfer Module (MTM), and a power distribution unit.
Those currents reduced the power available for the electric thrusters and prevent the mission from carrying out its original trajectory.
âFollowing months of investigations, we have concluded that MTMâs electric thrusters will remain operating below the minimum thrust required for an insertion into orbit around Mercury in December 2025,â Santa Martinez, BepiColombo mission manager at ESA, said in a statement.
The mission developed an alternative mission profile that retains the upcoming flyby, the fourth of six planned for the mission, and the following two in December and January.
The spacecraft will fly a different trajectory to compensate for the reduced thrust, though, delaying its arrival into orbit from December 2025 to November 2026.
While BepiColombo will go into orbit 11 months later than planned, ESA said the change wonât affect overall mission science.
During the upcoming flyby 10 of the spacecraftâs instruments will collect data, allowing science teams to test the performance of those instruments while also collecting data from regions of the planet and the magnetosphere that wonât be studied once the spacecraft is in orbit.
âWe get to fly our world-class science laboratory through diverse and unexplored parts of Mercuryâs environment that we wonât have access to once in orbit, while also getting a head start on preparations to make sure we will transition into the main science mission as quickly and smoothly as possible,â said the missionâs project scientist, Johannes Benkhoff, in a statement.
BepiColomboâs main camera will not operate during the flyby since its view is blocked while in cruise mode.
However, three engineering cameras will take images of Mercury during the flyby, including the first views of the planetâs south pole.
https://spacenews.com/esa-delays-bepicolombo-orbital-insertion-because-of-thruster-problem/
The Flying Forties
Musk to Celebrate Meloni as Italy Eyes Space Sector Investment
September 2, 2024
When Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visits New York later this month to receive a global citizenship award, Elon Musk will be the one to hand her the prize.
The Tesla Inc. chief executive and X owner will present Meloni with the Atlantic Councilâs Global Citizen Award at a ceremony on Sept. 23, according to people familiar with the matter.
Previous recipients include Ukraineâs President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
In a post on the Atlantic Councilâs website in February, fellows Kaush Arha and Paolo Messa credited Meloni with being âinstrumental in ensuring much-needed European aid to Ukraine.â
Since taking office, they added, âthe Italian leader has emerged as a powerful interlocutor across Europe and the world stage.â
Musk and Meloni have met on a number of occasions, including at a political festival last December thrown by the prime ministerâs right-wing Brothers of Italy party.
Appearing on stage, Musk discussed Italyâs demographic crisis â the country has one of the lowest birth rates in Europe â and exhorted the crowd to âmake more Italians.â
âAs simple as it sounds, if people do not have children there is no new generation,â Musk told the audience, echoing a prominent concern of Meloniâs.
The billionaire also warned of the dangers of the âwoke mind virusâ â a favorite talking point â and unchecked migration.
The Atlantic Council event wonât be the only meeting this month between Meloni and the worldâs richest man.
Theyâre also scheduling a closed-door conversation to discuss investment opportunities in Italyâs space and artificial intelligence sectors, the people said.
Italy approved a new regulatory framework in June that grants foreign space companies permission to operate in the country, according to a statement by the minister of industry. Italy expects to generate âŹ7.3 billion ($8.1 billion) of investment in the space sector by 2026.
Musk, whoâs also CEO of Space Exploration Technologies Corp., already has a head start. Italy is among the countries serviced by Starlink, which delivers broadband Internet through a global network of more than 6,000 SpaceX satellites.
Last April, Starlink claimed that Telecom Italia SpA, the countryâs largest telecom provider, was obstructing the rollout of its high-speed internet services.
Representatives for SpaceX declined to comment, as did a spokesperson for the Italian government.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/musk-to-celebrate-meloni-as-italy-eyes-space-sector-investment/ar-AA1pRWGZ?ocid=BingNewsVerp
Donald Trump Interview | Lex Fridman Podcast #442
Sep 3, 2024
OUTLINE:
0:00 - Introduction
1:09 - Psychology of winning and losing
3:51 - Politics is a dirty game
5:28 - Business vs politics
8:04 - War in Ukraine
9:53 - Kamala Harris interview on CNN
10:36 - Trump-Harris debate
13:33 - China
15:47 - 2020 election
24:03 - Project 2025
24:52 - Marijuana
27:13 - Joe Rogan
30:54 - Division
38:00 - Communism and fascism
41:36 - Power
43:36 - UFOs & JFK
44:16 - Jeffrey Epstein
45:55 - Mortality and religion
47:25 - Lex AMA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCbfTN-caFI
UFOs over Fort Smith are rapidly identified
September 3, 2024 at 5:45am MT
Drones. Chinese lanterns. Weather balloons. âVisitors.â Not the kind you break out the good cookies for, either.
Those lights in the sky over Fort Smith on Monday? Anyoneâs guess, until the Northwest Territoriesâ wildfire agency stepped in and ruined it.
Beneath video shared to the townâs community Facebook discussion group, residents described the hovering, flashing pattern made by the lights and speculated wildly on the source of the pattern.
âI believe there are beings way more advanced than we are,â one resident declared.
This turns out to be accurate, since Cabin Radio canât fly an aircraft or control a wildfire, but air tanker pilots can.
And NWT Fire would have you believe those lights are nothing more than air tankers making their way home to their Fort Smith base.
Stepping into the conversation at multiple points where it looked like Mulder and Scully might be summoned, NWT Fireâs Facebook page stated:
âThese are FireBoss 802s returning from missions last night helping work SS048 at Kakisa Lake.â
SS048 is a long-lasting wildfire that has been going through bursts of activity on the south and west sides of Kakisa Lake.
So far, the small community of Kakisa itself has not been threatened.
âWhile video from far away may suggest they are not moving, they are,â NWT Fire concluded.
âNo invasion evacuations impending â just firefighters doing their jobs.â
https://cabinradio.ca/199392/news/south-slave/fort-smith/ufos-over-fort-smith-are-rapidly-identified/
Did You See The UFOs Over The Spirit of Boise Balloon Classic?
September 3, 2024
The Spirit of Boise Balloon Classic is a Treasure Valley staple.
For five days, hot air balloons set up shop in Ann Morrison Park for a visual spectacle unlike any other.
It's almost impossible to miss (unless they don't go up due to weather conditions) and it's so prominent, that visitors to Earth might have noticed.
Are aliens fans of The Spirit of Boise Balloon Classic?
In case you forgot, last year's Spirit of Boise Balloon Classic was the site of an unusual phenomenon.
A woman named Tabitha D. visited the Spirit of Boise Balloon Classic last year and caught what appeared to be "UFOs" or UAPs on camera during the Night Glow.
Now, if you think about it - it makes sense. If you were an alien flying in your super secret aircraft around the Earth and saw large balloons "hovering" over an area on a random planet, you'd check it out too!
There are a lot of people who overlook this kind of thing but we had to at least listen to what people are saying about the incident⌠and trust us, we have some real believers out here in the Treasure Valley.
Someone caught a photo of three unidentified aerial phenomena in the sky after the first day of the Spirit of Boise; here is what people are sayingâŚ
On the day this photo was taken, no hot air balloons were in the sky.
There were a total of THREE unidentified aerial phenomena spotted in the sky⌠is the mothership not far behind?
Our cluster of radio stations is behind the Spirit of Boise Balloon Classic and we can confirm there were no lit-up hot air balloons in the sky when this photo was taken.
Other people saw similar lights in the sky! What was going on up there?
That moment when you realize there were no hot air balloons in the sky
WHAT WAS THAT?!
Believe it or not, that's not the creepiest UFO sighting we've seen. Check out some of the most compelling evidence we have that aliens exist.
cont.
https://1043wowcountry.com/spirit-of-boise-balloon-classic-ufo-2024/
Twenty new 'alien-like' species are discovered 3,000 MILES below sea level on an underwater mountain
Updated: 18:43 EDT, 2 September 2024
Marine probes dispatched to a two-mile-tall undersea mountain deep in the Pacific have uncovered a previously unknown 'pristine ecosystem,' 900 miles off the coast Chile, filled with alien-like life.
The 28-day expedition to this submerged mountain â part of a range called the Nazca Ridge that rests along the Pacific's deep Peru-Chile Trench â has documented 20 brand-new undersea creatures, including a spectral and lanky 'squat lobster,' a new 'scorpionfish' and a rare blue octopus.
'Only 26 percent of the seafloor has been mapped to this high resolution,' according to one of the mission's chief scientists, the Schmidt Ocean Institute's executive director Jyotika Virmani.
With this expedition led by the Schmidt Ocean Institute and its research vessel 'Falkor (too),' the institute has now added approximately 200 new species to the 1,019 prior species known to inhabit this part of the Pacific Ocean, in just the past year alone.
'Each expedition on Falkor (too) brings into focus a little more of the unknown seabed and life on our home planet,' Virmani said in a statement.
It may take years, however, to officially add many of these sightings to the World Register of Marine Species, and other databases, as fully fledged and scientifically confirmed new creatures.
Virmani's fellow lead scientists on the project told reporters that they were shocked by how colorful and robust this new mountainous ecosystem proved to be.
'Since so little is known about this region, a lot of what we found out there is new to science,' marine technician Tomer Ketter, another co-chief scientist on the expedition, told Popular Science, 'and these benthic communities are surprisingly diverse and healthy.'
'Benthic' is a marine science term meaning anything along the bottom of a body of water, like the ocean floor.
'As much as it was a surprise,' Ketter added, 'it was also very exciting to come across these oceanic havens, appearing out of the darkness and filling our camera view with vivid color and abundant life.'
Using underwater robots, including the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) 'SuBastian,' the team was able to map the huge mountain, and film some of the life thriving there.
A pristine coral garden was uncovered measuring around 8611 square-feet, the same size as three tennis courts.
These deep-sea corals were found to provide shelter to an array of unusual organisms, including rockfish, brittle stars, and king crabs.
'The discovery of a new seamount almost 2 miles tall, with a vibrant ecosystem was very exciting,' Dr Virmani said.
The team also captured the first ever camera footage of a live Promachoteuthis squid.
This genus of squid is so rare, they noted, that only three species have been described based on only a few collected dead specimens, several of which are from as far back as the late 1800s.
Other unusual creatures filmed by the robot include a 'Casper' octopus, and two 'flying spaghetti monsters'.
This expedition was the third this year conducted in the region, with the previous two expeditions in January and February documenting over 150 new species.
The high-resolution mapping aspect of the expedition was conducted by a team of trained hydrographers, graduates from the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping / Joint Hydrographic Center at the University of New Hampshire.
Their seafloor data, the institute said, will be shared with the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project in an collaborative effort to broaden the international understanding and management of the Nazca and Salas y GĂłmez undersea ridge ecosystems.
'Upon concluding our third expedition to the region, we've explored around 25 seamounts on the Nazca and Salas y GĂłmez Ridges,' Ketter explained.
Professor Alex David Rogers, a science director with Ocean Census, who collaborated on this project, noted that his team is already confident that many of these seemingly new species will one day be fully confirmed by the scientific community.
The Ocean Census is an international alliance led by the Nippon Foundation and the Nekton Foundation to hasten the discovery, documentation and ultimately the protection of marine life in the world's oceans.
'The seamounts of the Southeastern Pacific host remarkable biological diversity,' Professor Rogers said, 'with species found nowhere else to date.'
'The work our taxonomists have conducted aboard Falkor (too), supported by Schmidt Ocean Institute team, will significantly enhance our understanding of the distribution of remarkable life forms on these underwater mountains, including several that have never before been mapped or seen by human eyes,' he opined.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13805935/Nazca-Ridge-alien-like-species-discovered-3000-MILES-underwater-mountain-ocean.html
Couple Thinks They Found a 'Head' in Riverbed, Then They Look Closer
Sep 01, 2024 at 7:30 PM EDT
Apost about a mysterious statue found in Switzerland has gone viral on Reddit.
An image of the unusual finding was shared by u/kirkbot, with a caption saying, "found an alien statue head in a riverbed."
The post has received 61,000 upvotes since it was shared on August 26.
The picture shows the head of an alien-type figure with large eyes sticking out of a riverbed at the foot of a person standing next to it.
The 35-year-old Reddit user, who did not share his name or location, told Newsweek:
"We were going to collect and skip rocks on the bank of the Linth River in Switzerland.
Towards the end of our trip, I pointed out this rock that had a hint of blue shine that I haven't seen in other rocks.
"My girlfriend joked that it almost looked like an alien. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to indeed be the head of what looked like a life-sized alien statue," he said.
The Redditor said the couple later discovered that the statue head was a sculpture made by some students who lived in an old home nearby many years ago.
Redditor u/kirkbot told Newsweek that the unusual statue head was discovered on Sunday around noon. "It was just the head, as seen in the image," he said.
The couple initially left it where it was found "because it was heavy and cumbersome, but because of all the comments [in the Reddit post], I asked my girlfriend to go back and retrieve it."
His girlfriend later found out through her father that the riverbank where the statue head was found is close to an old house that students used as a community home many years ago.
Her father had bought and renovated this old house for their family.
The Redditor said his girlfriend's father saw that they had retrieved this statue head, and "that is when he remembered and told us about the students that lived there before him."
According to the father, "One of those students used silicone molds to cast concrete sculptures, and they made this alien head.
It was always just a head with no body, and it used to be painted with glow-in-the-dark fluorescent paint," the Redditor said.
"This house was so old that eventually they [the students] had to move out, and it was sold to a private citizen [his girlfriend's father] who renovated the house completely.
Sometime between the students living there and the renovation, the head seems to have been lost or thrown into the river, where it remained until I found it.
Because of its heavy concrete, it was never washed much further from there," the poster said.
https://www.newsweek.com/couple-discovers-alien-head-statue-riverbed-1945725
The Scottish town just outside Glasgow home to Alien 'Xenomorph' gargoyle
16:10, 2 SEP 2024
It is hardly a secret that Scotland features countless weird and wonderful things to see.
One thing you may not expect to find in the country, though, is a gargoyle based on the Alien movies.
With Scots around the country getting spooked by the newly released Alien: Romulus, now is the perfect time to delve into the mystery of Paisley Abbey's xenomorph gargoyle.
Situated along the east bank of the White Cart Water in the centre of the Renfrewshire town of Paisley, Paisley Abbey dates back all the way to 1163.
It is known as the cradle of the Royal House of Stewart, while William Wallace was reportedly educated at the abbey by its monks.
There is plenty to see at Paisley Abbey if you are a history buff, but it is one of its gargoyles in particular that we are interested in.
If you venture to the church yourself, you will notice that one of the stone sculptures on the outside of the building looks remarkably similar to the xenomorph creature from the Alien franchise.
First seen in Ridley Scott's 1979 film Alien, the monster has since been seen in various movies and video games.
It is regarded as one of the most recognisable monsters in film history.
You may be wondering why a centuries-old abbey is home to a gargoyle modelled after a fictional alien from the 1970s.
To learn the answer, we need to journey back in time to 1991.
At this time, all of the gargoyles that had been at Paisley Abbey for hundreds of years except had to be replaced because they were in poor condition and posed a safety hazard.
An Edinburgh-based stonemason was contracted to create the new statues.
Traditionally no two gargoyles should look the same, and so each of the new creations had a unique design.
For one of the sculptures, the artists decided to have a bit of fun.
Clearly taking inspiration from the original xenomorph, designed by Swiss surrealist and artist H. R. Giger, the gargoyle features an elongated and cylindrical skull. It also has the monster's iconic biomechanical aesthetic, with tube-like structures protruding from its head.
While gargoyles are believed to ward off evil, the xenomorph is anything but a friendly face.
However, if you feel like after stepping out of the latest Alien movie, the one-of-a-kind gargoyle at Paisley Abbey might just give you some good luck.
The abbey is around five minutes on foot from the nearby Paisley Gilmour Street station.
It is open to the public between Tuesday and Saturday from 10.30am to 3.30pm.
More information about Paisley Abbey can be found on https://www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/paisley-abbey-p247591
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/scotland-now/scottish-town-just-outside-glasgow-33584486