People in Asia have seen the longest total solar eclipse this century, with large areas of India and China plunged into darkness.
Amateur stargazers and scientists travelled far to see the eclipse, which lasted six minutes and 39 seconds at its maximum point.
The eclipse could first be seen early on Wednesday in eastern India.
It then moved east across India, Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Japan and the Pacific.
The eclipse first became total over India at 0053GMT, and was last visible from land at Nikumaroro Island in the South Pacific nation of Kiribati. It ended at 0418GMT.
Elsewhere, a partial eclipse was visible across much of Asia.
Scientists find first conclusive signature for uranium on Moon
A team of scientists has found the first conclusive signature for the presence of uranium on the lunar surface, an element not seen in previous Moon-mapping efforts.
The uranium signatures were detected by Robert C Reedy, a senior scientist at the Tucson-based Planetary Science Institute, who is mapping the Moon’s surface elements using data gathered by an advanced gamma-ray spectrometer (GRS) that rode aboard the Japanese Kaguya spacecraft.
Kaguya was launched in September 2007 and crashed into the Moon at the end of its mission on June 10 of this year.
Earlier gamma-ray spectrometer maps from the Apollo and Lunar Prospector missions show a few of the Moon’s chemical elements.
But, the maps constructed by Reedy and the Kaguya GRS team, using data gathered by state-of-the-art, high-energy-resolution germanium detectors, are extending the earlier results and improving our understanding of the Moon’s surface composition.
In addition to uranium, the Kaguya GRS data also is showing clear signatures for thorium, potassium, oxygen, magnesium, silicon, calcium, titanium and iron.
1) Archaeological discovery enormous foot-shaped enclosures in Jordan
“The ‘foot’ structures that we found in the Jordan valley are the first sites that the People of Israel built upon entering Canaan and they testify to the biblical concept of ownership of the land with the foot,” said archaeologist Prof. Adam Zertal.
On the eve of the Passover holiday, researchers from the University of Haifa reveal an exceptional and exciting archaeological discovery that dates back to the time of the People of Israel’s settlement in the country Read the full story here >>>
2) American made UFO spotted in Afghanistan
An unidentified, jet propelled UAV has been spotted operating from an American airbase in Afghanistan. It’s a flying wing design, similar to the X-45s and X-47s built as development aircraft for the U.S. Air Force and Navy. Read the full story here >>>
3) Ring shaped UFO filed near Los Angeles Airport
An interesting video of a Ring-Shaped UFO that first appeared on Youtube in December 2008 has started doing the usual rounds, but before you dismiss it, have a look as it does look intriguing. Watch the video here >>>
Duffus Castle big Cat
4) Big Cat photographed near Duffus Castle, Scotland
Two very intreging photos of a what looks like a large black cat near Duffus Castle, Scotland on Easter Sunday 2009. See the pictures and read the full story here >>>
5) Betty & Barney Hill Alien Abduction exhibition
The case of Betty and Barney Hill is perhaps one of the most famous alleged UFO abductions cases from the early days of Flying Saucers and UFOs, now a major exhibition has opened with thousands of items belonging to the Hills – from the torn dress Betty wore that night, to tapes of the Hills recounting their experience under hypnosis. Read and watch the full story here >>>
7) Milk and Feces found in preserved baby Mammoth
Fecal residue and traces of prehistoric milk have been found in the digestive track of an almost perfectly preserved baby mammoth, according to a new analysis. Read the whole story here >>>
8 ) Mystery animal photographed in New Zealand
A mysterious creature, about the size of a large dog has been photographed by tourists in New Zealand. Read the full story here >>>
9) Gum Hill Beast (Bigfoot) Video?
Humm, questionable footage of Bigfoot type creatures are always cropping up. The latest video to do the rounds is this, the Beast of Gum Hill. Watch the video here >>>
10) Collection of NASA Anomalies – aka UFOs
A great compilation of NASA footage showing unknown objects. Some just happen to pass by the field of view, while others appear to be purposly tracked and discussed by NASA. Watch the video here >>>
This is a great compilation of NASA footage showing unknown objects. Some just happen to pass by the field of view, while others appear to be purposly tracked and discussed by NASA.
What are they? Does NASA know? The answer is probably yes. Are they extraterrestrial? Maybe a few, but I suspect the majority are terrestrial in origin… aka secret project stuff!
1) O’Hare UFO video surfaces – is it real?
After two years, a video has surfaced and is claimed to be the actual UFO from O’Hare! Watch the Video here >>>
2) Another UFO filmed by NASA?
More and more strange objects are being seen in the video footage of NASA missions. Watch the NASA flashlight here >>>
4) Rare Octopuses Fossil Found
It’s hard enough to find fossils of hard things like dinosaur bones. Now scientists have found evidence of 95 million-year-old octopuses. Read the full story here >>>
5) UFO seen and photographed by Chinese officials
A number of journalists, government officials and plane passengers reported and photographed a UFO in February 2009. Read the whole story here >>>
7) Pink Dolphin spotted in US lake
A rare Pink Bottlenose dolphin which was discovered in an inland lake in Louisiana, USA, has become such an attraction that conservationists have warned tourists to leave it alone. Read whole story here >>>
8 ) Orange UFO filmed over Japan’s Osaka Airport
Not much info on this, but it is interesting footage, although the fading out part sounds a bit lantern-ish to me. Watch the video here >>>
9) 4 new Thylacine sightings in 3 months!
Still bouncing around – this old Tasmanian Tiger story from 2006. Read the whole story here >>>
10) More Isle of Purbeck Big Cat sighting
Cryptoworld’s current local project – several Big Cats have been seen in the Isle of Purbeck over the last few months. Read full story >>>
Scientists return this week to the world’s deepest known sinkhole, Cenote Zacatn in Mexico, to resume tests of a NASA-funded robot called DEPTHX, designed to survey and explore for life in one of Earth’s most extreme regions and potentially in outer space.
If all goes well with this second round of testing and exploration, the team will return in May for a full-scale exploration of the Zacatn system.
Sinking more than 1,000 feet, Zacatn has only been partially mapped and its true depth remains unknown.
During eight years of research, doctoral student Marcus Gary and hydrogeology professor Jack Sharp from The University of Texas at Austin’s Jackson School of Geosciences, discovered the system’s unusual hydrothermal nature is analogous to liquid oceans under the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa.
Cenote Zacaton, the world’s deepest known sinkhole
Technology developed to explore the sinkholes could be applied to future space probes of Europa, where scientists believe that deep cracks and holes in the ice offer a chance of finding extraterrestrial life.
The technology could also be used to explore Earth’s ice-bound polar lakes, which hold clues to the origins of life on Earth.
Microbes which appear to be new to science have been discovered floating in deep water and lining rocks in Zacatn. Far below sunlight’s ability to penetrate, they may get their energy from nutrients welling up from hot springs. Gary and others speculate that previously undocumented life may await discovery in the murky depths.
Archeologists from Yale and the University of Leicester have identified an ancient solar observatory at Chankillo, Peru as the oldest in the Americas with alignments covering the entire solar year, according to an article in the March 2 issue of Science.Recorded accounts from the 16th century A.D. detail practices of state-regulated sun worship during Inca times, and related social and cosmological beliefs. These speak of towers being used to mark the rising or setting position of the sun at certain times in the year, but no trace of the towers has ever been found.
At Chankillo, not only were there towers marking the sun’s position throughout the year, but they remain in place, and the site was constructed much earlier – in approximately the 4th century B.C.
Chankillo Fort, Peru
“Archaeological research in Peru is constantly pushing back the origins of civilization in the Americas,” said Ivan Ghezzi, a graduate student in the department of Anthropology at Yale University and lead author of the paper. “In this case, the 2,300 year old solar observatory at Chankillo is the earliest such structure identified and unlike all other sites contains alignments that cover the entire solar year. It predates the European conquests by 1,800 years and even precedes, by about 500 years, the monuments of similar purpose constructed by the Mayans in Central America.”
So NASA hasn’t surprised us with evidence of monuments or alien artefacts on Mars, but it does believe it has evidence of ‘recent’ flowing liquid water on its surface. See our earlier story NASA to Announce Significant Find on Mars!
In a press conference this afternoon, NASA spokesmen told journalists that they believed light coloured streaks on the surface of Mars is water rising from below the surface and spilling down the slopes of craters and valleys to form gullies.
NASA believes the water flows in a similar way to that of a mudslides here on earth. Then as the water evaporates away from the sediment, it freezes on the top to form a kind of frost, giving it its lighter colour.
At 1pm (EST) (6pm GMT), NASA plans to announce some Significant news regarding Mars!
Speculation on just what this news is or will be is rife, and a quick search on the internet reveals all manor of theories – Life, Alien Artifacts, Monuments and believe it or not ‘Elvis’ to name but a few!
But the most talked about and probably most plausible is the discovery of free-flowing water on or just underneath the surface.
The significance of such a find would open up all manor of possibilities for the existence of (primitive?) life on Mars, either in the red planets distant past or more excitingly – now!
We will let you know just what NASA has to say, when they say!
