2012" End Of The Earth " Does Mayan Calendar True?

A new book argues that the conversions of Mayan dates may be off by as much as 100 years.

If so then the concept of the end of the world being in 2012 is also inaccurate, even if we were to accept that something will happen the exact date could be out by almost a century and might have already passed.


Here is the news about this (source from yahoo) :
End of the Earth Postponed

It's a good news/bad news situation for believers in the 2012 Mayan apocalypse. The good news is that the Mayan "Long Count" calendar may not end on Dec. 21, 2012 (and, by extension, the world may not end along with it). The bad news for prophecy believers? If the calendar doesn't end in December 2012, no one knows when it actually will - or if it has already.

A new critique, published as a chapter in the new textbook "Calendars and Years II: Astronomy and Time in the Ancient and Medieval World" (Oxbow Books, 2010), argues that the accepted conversions of dates from Mayan to the modern calendar may be off by as much as 50 or 100 years. That would throw the supposed and overhyped 2012 apocalypse off by decades and cast into doubt the dates of historical Mayan events. (The doomsday worries are based on the fact that the Mayan calendar ends in 2012, much as our year ends on Dec. 31.)

The Mayan calendar was converted to today's Gregorian calendar using a calculation called the GMT constant, named for the last initials of three early Mayanist researchers. Much of the work emphasized dates recovered from colonial documents that were written in the Mayan language in the Latin alphabet, according to the chapter's author, Gerardo Aldana, University of California, Santa Barbara professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies. Later, the GMT constant was bolstered by American linguist and anthropologist Floyd Lounsbury, who used data in the Dresden Codex Venus Table, a Mayan calendar and almanac that charts dates relative to the movements of Venus.

"He took the position that his work removed the last obstacle to fully accepting the GMT constant," Aldana said in a statement. "Others took his work even further, suggesting that he had proven the GMT constant to be correct."

But according to Aldana, Lounsbury's evidence is far from irrefutable.

"If the Venus Table cannot be used to prove the FMT as Lounsbury suggests, its acceptance depends on the reliability of the corroborating data," he said. That historical data, he said, is less reliable than the Table itself, causing the argument for the GMT constant to fall "like a stack of cards."

Aldana doesn't have any answers as to what the correct calendar conversion might be, preferring to focus on why the current interpretation may be wrong. Looks like end-of-the-world theorists may need to find another ancient calendar on which to pin their apocalyptic hopes.

White Desert 'Sahara el Beyda' in Egypt, Farfara

Egypt is really wonderful touristic destination with many attraction for tourists. We all know about Egypt’s main features like pyramids and other historical monuments. But Egypt is not only rich with historical monuments it also has many valuable natural features which deserve to be placed in touristic guides. One of such places is the White Desert which is also known by its original name "Sahara el Beyda".
It is placed near the smallest oasis in Egypt, Farfara. As most of us know, sand in deserts is yellow, however, the sand in White Desert is surprisingly white and that is how this place got its name. At the nights, this place looks like some snowy landscape.This place has became pretty popular in several last years. The fact that it is not far away from Black Desert and Crystal Mountain has made significant contribution to its popularity amongst tourists. It is known as a place where unusual chalk rocks can be found. Such rocks are shaped by low-level wind erosion. One of the most famous rocks which can be found here is so-called Mushroom Rock which incredibly reminds to giant mushroom. Despite the fact this place is protected nature reserve, visitors from different parts of the world are not so careful while staying there and they often make huge damage to those rocks.

Source : Here

If You Can See Perfect Storm from Space Part II

Picture from the core of Ivan Storm with Wind speeds reached 135 mph. Taken on September 15, 2004 by ISS in Alabama beach - USA


Wilma Storm, taken by Nasa space station on October 19, 2005. Wilma Storm as the strongest storm in Atlantic with wind speed reached 175 mph. Wilma Strom look at Caribbean sea



Core of the Isabel Storm on Sept 13, 2003 with wind speed 160 mph

If You Can See Perfect Storm from Space Part I

Tropical Ike storm, these picture taken by International Space Station(ISS) on September 4, 2008

Core of the Ivan Storm look from the solar panel International Space Station ISS


Felix Storm, Take by ISS on September 3, 2007. The strom see in east Honduras teritory with 165 mph winds


Catarina Storm, taken by ISS expedition crew. This storm see in catarina- South Brazil on March 24,2004

Source Pic : ISS Photo

Herschel Telescope Found A new Star (Embrionic of the New Sun) in the star-forming cloud RCW 120

NOORDWIJK, Netherlands (AFP) – The formation of new stars in galaxies like the Milky Way has declined five-fold in the last three billion years, initial findings of the European Space Agency's Herschel telescope showed Thursday.

While scientists already knew that star formation was more prolific billions of years ago, the Herschel telescope has for the first time been able to start measuring the rate of decline, scientist Steve Eales said at the launch.

Three billion years ago "galaxies were forming stars at ... five times the rate we know today," he told AFP at the agency's offices in Noordwijk in the western Netherlands.

Eales said the Herschel telescope's infrared technology allowed scientists to see galaxies, mainly spiral ones like the Milky Way, that were previously hidden from scientists' view by cosmic dust clouds.

The telescope, launched a year ago to study star formation, is the biggest ever sent into space, orbiting at a distance of 1.5 million kilometres (932,000 miles) from the Earth.

Scientists already knew that 10 billion years ago "there were these galaxies that were forming stars really fast," said Eales, but previous telescopes were unable to see up to a distance of 10 billion light years.

"We haven't been able to fill that gap until today.

"What Herschel has been able to do because of the wave length it is observing at, it can suddenly see lots of galaxies in the nearby universe, up to about the last three or four billion light years. It can fill the gap in cosmic history," Eales said.

The findings suggested, he said, that "at some point stars will stop forming" altogether, unless solar conditions changed.

Scientists did not know the reasons for the decline.

Researchers also told the launch that Herschel had managed to spot an embryonic "massive star" -- a celestial object more than eight times the size of our sun.

"Massive stars are rare and short-lived," said an ESA statement. "To catch one during formation presents a golden opportunity to solve a long-standing paradox in astronomy."

Scientist Annie Zavagno said that radiation emitted by massive stars should destroy them at some point -- instead they continue to grow.

According to accepted scientific principles, stars should not be able to become more than eight times bigger than our sun.

Understanding how these "impossible" stars were formed was critical because they "control the dynamical and chemical evolution of galaxies," said Zavagno.

The ESA's director of science and robotic exploration, David Southwood, said "a new universe" was emerging from Herschel's findings.

"We can look at the complex chemistry that goes on in space that ultimately has created the things that we are made of," he said.

Source : here

Solar Storm Cycle Every 11 years

It will have the peak in late 2011 and mid-2012
Every 11 years, the Sun experiences a period of massive solar storms, when violent solar flares and vast explosions known as Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) have the strongest manifestations of the entire cycle.
When the ejections reach the Earth as an ICME (Interplanetary CME), they may disrupt the Earth's magnetosphere, compressing it on the dayside and extending the nightside tail. When the magnetosphere reconnects on the nightside, it creates trillions of watts of power which is directed back towards the Earth's upper atmosphere.

This process can cause particularly strong aurora also known as the Northern Lights (in the Northern Hemisphere) and the Southern Lights (in the Southern Hemisphere). CME events, along with solar flares, can disrupt radio transmissions, cause power outages (blackouts), and cause damage to satellites, GPSs and electrical transmission lines.

The fact that the solar storms cycle is one year late has troubled some astronomers, and they are wondering if this means that a weak or strong period of solar storms lays ahead, but neither predicts a record-breaker.

They measure the intensity of the solar cycle in maximum number of sunspots (dark blotches on the sun that mark areas of heightened magnetic activity) and the more sunspots there are, the more likely it is that major solar storms will occur.

The effects on human society have to do mostly with the technological advance than to biological threats, although health hazards are not inexistent.

A solar eruption in December disrupted the Global Positioning System, creating radio bursts that traveled to Earth, covering a broad frequency range. In addition to the GPS system, the December solar flare affected satellites and induced unexpected currents in the electrical grid.

Many government and private institutions have demanded a forecast of the Sun's activity during the storm cycle to help them prevent damage to their infrastructures and business activities, for more than a year, so the NOAA Space Environment Center led the prediction panel and issued the forecast at its annual Space Weather Workshop in Boulder, Colorado.

source : here

Phenomena, measurement, and causes
Spots from multiple cycles can co-exist for some time and since it was discovered the sun reverses magnetic polarity one solar half cycle to the next, spots from different cycles can be told apart. However it takes some months before a definite decision to be made on the true date of solar minimum, which is announced by the relevant expert authorities.

One of the main authorities is SIDAC (the Solar Influences Data Analysis Center) which is located in Belgium, and works with agencies such as NASA and ESA.

The most important information today comes from SOHO (a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA), such as the MDI magnetogram, where the solar "surface" magnetic field can be seen.

It has been noticed that sunspots from a dying solar cycle tend to appear near the solar equator whereas spots from a new cycle tend to appear at mid-latitudes. The basic causes of the solar variability and solar cycles are still under debate, with some researchers suggesting a link with the tidal forces due to the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn or due to the solar inertial motion. Another cause of sun spots can be solar jet stream "torsional oscillation".

Solar Storm Effects on Earth
The impact of Solar cycle on living organisms has been investigated (see chronobiology). Some researchers claim to have found connections with human health.
The amount of UVB light at 300 nm reaching the Earth varies by as much as 400% over the solar cycle due to variations in the protective ozone layer. In the stratosphere, ozone is continuously regenerated by the splitting of O2 molecules by ultraviolet light. During a solar minimum, the decrease in ultraviolet light received from the Sun leads to a decrease in the concentration of ozone, allowing increased UVB to penetrate to the Earth's surface.
The sunspot cycle has been implicated in having effects on climate, and may play a part in determining global temperature.
(wikipedia.org)

Some effect of Solar Storm in 2012

2012 Solar Storm attack may cause the Great Disaster
According to British website reports “New Scientist”, the purpose of the storm the sun or solar storm activity cycle is powerful explosions from the top of the sunspots activity (sunspot), usually every 11 years will be entering a period of solar storm activity. American scientists recently warned that by 2012 the earth will experience a powerful solar storm (Solar Blast), rusakanya power would be much greater than the wind storm “Katrina”, and almost all people on earth will not be able to escape from the impact of disasters.

Strong storms in 2012 the Sun will Attacking
22 September 2012 at midnight, the sky of New York, Manhattan United States will be covered by a shaft of light color screen-warni.Di southern region of New York is, very few people can see this aurora phenomenon. However, the feeling of enjoying the beauty of this landscape will not last long. After a few seconds, all electric light bulbs in the region was getting dark and blinking erratically, then the light rays in an instant suddenly grew brighter, and light bulbs become incredibly bright. Furthermore, all the lights went out. 90 seconds later, the entire eastern United States will experience a power cut. A year later, millions of Americans begin to die, the state of infrastructure will become a heap of ruins. The World Bank will announce the U.S. turned into a developing country. At the same time, Europe, China and Japan and other regions or countries will also be the same as the United States, struggling in this time of disaster. This disaster comes from the sun or solar storms terrible storm, occurred on the surface of the sun is 150 million km from Earth.

American Detection Tool Successfully Taking Photos Storm Sun
Perhaps the story sounds impossible, in normal circumstances would not the sun can cause major disaster like that on Earth. However, a special report issued by the National Academy of Sciences, the United States in January 2009 stated that a disaster like this is likely to occur. The study was sponsored by NASA. In a few decades, the development of human societies, Western civilization has been planted the seeds for their own destruction. The way in excess of modern life which is highly dependent on science and technology, accidentally makes us more trapped in a super-dangerous conditions. Plasma balls are emitted in the eruption of the sun’s surface may be destroying our electricity network, resulting in terrible disaster. Daniel Becker of the University of Colorado, an expert on space weather is the originator of a special report from the Academy of Sciences of the United States, “Right now we are getting closer to the possibility of this disaster. If people can not prepare the mature deng disaster solar storm that will hit this. These solar storms may decide mankind electricity supply, cell phone signals, even including the water supply system. ”

However, there are some experts who express different views, they consider the impact of solar storms mainly concentrated in the outer space, and because the barrier effect of the earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere, interference effects will not be too real to life on earth. Experts say, when the active solar storm activity, would occur continuously burning and explosion in sunspot, when a large amount of ultraviolet light causes the release layer density in the ionosphere above the earth the sky suddenly increased, absorbing short wave energy out, so the short-wave radio signals upset. But the phone is used in everyday life, including the transmission of radio signals through the ionosphere layer, so that in general the impact of solar storms on communications in the earth’s surface would not be significant. In theory, in general the intensity of solar storms will not be able to break through the protection of the atmosphere and Earth’s magnetic field, so fatally threatened species in the earth. But for the year 2012 solar storm experts fear may be an exception.

Maybe Disaster Brings Big Impact on Earth
United States scientists have warned that, in 2012 a strong solar storms on the earth will bring great disaster to human beings, which will affect every aspect of modern society. The experts who issued a warning to atakan, the impact of solar storms on the Earth is probably the “domino effect”. Just think, if the electricity network to be fragile and unstable, things related to electricity supply businesses also will be a victim: refrigeration equipment stops, food and medicines are stored in refrigerated space in a large number will lose the storage conditions and damaged; pump suddenly stopped working, drinking water to the society will be a problem. In addition, because the interference with satellite signals, GPS positioning system will be garbage. Actually at the beginning of 1859 had similar cases, solar storms blasting the moment even their cable network ngakibatkan fire damage. Of course now the earth is covered by cable and wireless facilities, but the facility is difficult to hold the test solar storms.

When a strong solar storm strikes, the human race on earth will face two major problems. First, is about a modern electricity network problems now. Modern electricity networks typically use high voltage to cover a wider area, this will allow electricity network operations more efficient, you can reduce electricity losses during transmission, as well as electrical losses due to excessive production. However, he also collectively more vulnerable to space weather attack. transmission network will become very vulnerable and unstable, or possibly even causing a total halt. and this is only the first domino effect, then may also cause a “paralyzed traffic, communication is lost, the financial industry collapsed and chaotic public facilities; pump stopped causing drinking water supplies cut off, the lack of cooling facilities, food and medicine are hard to keep effective. Scientists have predicted when there is a strong solar storm intensity may lead to social and economic losses of human, only the first year alone the losses reach U.S. $ 1-2 trillion, while the recovery and reconstruction is required at least 4-10 years

The second issue is about the problem of electricity network system interdependencies that support our modern life, such as problems of water and waste management, logistics infrastructure problems supermarkets, electrical relay station control issues, financial and other markets that depend on electricity. If the two issues combined into one, we can clearly see that the incident appeared likely return Carrington solar storms is likely to cause a rare major disasters. Adviser special report from the National Academy of Sciences of the United States and the electric power industry analyst John Kappenman considered “Disasters such as this disaster compared to what we usually imagine the total opposite. usually less developed areas prone to disasters attack, but in this disaster, the region’s growing more vulnerable to disasters. ”

Preparing Not Human
Facing the possibility of a serious disaster that would have befallen the United States and the whole human race did not immediately respond to a job well prepared to face the next solar storm cycle. Becker says that because the likelihood of large-scale solar storms is very small, “The whole society does not even respond, but only noticed the problem before the eyes”. Of weather on Earth, scientists can track weather the storm that will happen over the next few days, and issue appropriate warnings to local residents, but the storm the sun or space weather is completely different. Backer said that today we still can not accurately predict the time and the power of solar storms, which can be predicted by me and my partner only if a large solar storm strikes, we are absolutely not able to handle it. ”

This is similar to early warning and hurricane disaster man on earth, today’s human race depends mainly on the prediction of the sunspot cycle to monitor the intensity of solar storms and their impact on the earth. What is meant by sunspot is a process of improvement and significant reduction in the number of sunspot every 11 years. Cycle is calculated starting from the lowest sunspot activity on the sun. In the active period will be increased sunspot, solar storms that occur will be more. When solar storms occur, high-speed particles and the flow of ions formed by electrically charged particles emitted largely by the sun will affect the earth’s magnetic field layer, ionosphere and neutral atmosphere conditions. In this issue of the impact of solar storms hazards, more than a century, people continue to monitor sunspot activity.

source : here
picture : here

Solar Storm Effect on U.S Power
Darkness Falls

Electric currents in the ionosphere induce electric currents in the ground and in pipelines. These currents surge into transformers and can fry them. It would take weeks or longer for workers to fix them all.






Off the Grid

The entire East Coast and much of the rest of the country would lose power. This map (below) shows the blacked-out regions expected from a severe storm like that of 1921, which would induce ground fields of about 20 volts per kilometer. Scientists have yet to model the effects of a full-blown 1859-like storm on the power grid.

Carefully for 2012 Solar Storm Effect, All System Down

Scientists have forecast a solar storm may occur sometime in 2012 and reportedly its impact can include power outages and mobile phone malfunction.
Clara Y Yatini, of the National of Aeronautics and Space’s (LAPAN) Solar and Space Division, said activity on the sun’s surface might increase in 2012, causing magnetic storms to hurl energy particles toward earth.
“The energy released from a flare is equal to 100 million hydrogen bombs,” Clara said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

She explained that flares would likely affect satellites, telecommunication towers, power grids and global positioning system (GPS) equipment.
“You should not trust your GPS device during the storm,” Clara said. The solar flare may disrupt data transfer via electronic devices, she said, adding that it could also cause blackouts as large as those that occurred in Sweden, Denmark and Italy in 2003.

“A blackout in one region can have a global impact.
“This may impact businesses such as those in the finance industry, for example.”

Satellites will suffer the most, she said. “Flares can reduce a satellite’s age by 50 percent if they are strong enough.”

Astronaut and spaceship safety may also be threatened by powerful geomagnetic storms, the scientist added.

The magnetic storms, a 11-year cycle in sun activity, will last for about one or two hours, but their impact can last for about one or two days.

Nevertheless, researchers cannot tell the exact day the infernal storm will occur.

“The latest release from NASA said it can only predict the storm a week before,” Clara said.

Elly Kuntjahyowati, from the Communications Bureau of LAPAN, said her agency had intensely monitored the sun’s activity to detect explosions or storms.

“We will inform companies about possible explosions, such as [state electricity company] PLN, that may be affected by solar activity,” she said.

LAPAN is currently building a warning system to inform institutions such as the military and PLN about potentially harmful sun storms.

Scientists say the sun’s surface is constantly unstable because of its unequal magnetic rotations.

The earth is protected by a magnetosphere from space “weather”, but the effects from several solar phenomena may go beyond protective layers, given certain interplanetary magnetic fields positions, Clara said.

In March 1989, a power outage due to sun storms occurred in Quebec, Canada.

In April 2001, sun storms harmed several military and communication satellites.

Suwono, head of the post sales division at telecommunication company Indosat, was not worried about the scientists’ prediction, saying the solar storm would only affect certain parts of the company’s coverage areas, which use satellites.

“We mostly use [underground] fiber optic cables,” he said.

But there were possibilities sun storms may affect data transfer through fiber optic cables, he added.
Suwono said Indosat had deployed special disaster data recovery systems to deal with possible data loss due to natural phenomena.
Indosat said signal disruption due to solar activity was nothing new to the industry.
“Often we experience sun interference when the sun’s signals overpower satellite’s.
“Such interference could cause signal disruption lasting one or two minutes.”

Source : The Jakarta Post online

Amazing Phenomena Occultation Every 40 years Cycle Venus was eclipsed by the crescent moon

Occultation: Venus appears on the other side of the moon having just been eclipsed by the satellite

The stunning moment Venus peeps out from behind crescent Moon after eclipse.
A rare celestial show unfolded this evening as Venus was eclipsed by the crescent Moon. Known to astronomers as planetary occultation, the phenomenon was observed in the twilight sky when the Moon came between Venus and the Earth.

An occultation is an event that happens when one object is hidden by another object that passes between it and the observer. Venus eclipses are rare and occur only when the Earth, Moon and Venus are in alignment with one another.

During spring time, Venus shines brightly, and as these photos show, Venus appears as a bright object before it disappears behind the moon and then reappears on the other side in a game of celestial hide-and-seek.

Celestial show: Venus eclipses are rare and occur only when the Earth, Moon and Venus are in alignment with one another

'The show begins at sunset when Venus and the moon emerge from the twilight in close proximity to one another,' NASA said in a public advisory.

'The Moon will be exquisitely slender, a five per cent crescent on Saturday, and a slightly fatter 10 per cent crescent on Sunday.

'Between the horns of the crescent, a ghostly image of the full Moon can be seen. That's Earthshine, the light of our own planet reflected back toward us by the Moon's dark terrain.

'In conjunction with Venus, a crescent Moon with Earthshine is regarded as one of the most beautiful sights in the heavens.'

The next time Venus passes between us and the Sun will be on 5 June 2012, when it will actually pass directly in front of the Sun as seen from the Earth, in what is called a transit. Venus is gradually getting nearer to the Earth. This week it will be 1.4 astronomical units distant, which is the average distance between the Earth and the Sun (about 93 million miles).

source : here

The New 7 (Seven) Natural Wonders of the World

In 2008, the news agency CNN has published a new version of the 7 Natural Wonders in the World. There is New Version of the 7 natural wonders in the world :

1. Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, one of the first national parks in the United States. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of preservation of the Grand Canyon area, and visited it on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery.




2. The Great Barrier Reef



The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs. and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres (1,600 mi) over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres (133,000 sq mi). The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland in north-east Australia.

3. Mount Everest


Mount Everest – also called Qomolangma Peak (Mount Sagarmāthā) is the world's highest mountain above sea level at 8,848 metres (29,029 ft). Part of the Himalaya range in Asia, it is located on the border between Sagarmatha Zone, Nepal, and Tibet, China. In 1856, the Great Trigonometric Survey of India established the first published height of Everest, then known as Peak XV, at 29,002 ft (8,840 m). In 1865, Everest was given its official English name by the Royal Geographical Society upon recommendation of Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India at the time. Chomolangma had been in common use by Tibetans for centuries, but Waugh was unable to propose an established local name because Nepal and Tibet were closed to foreigners.

4. The Victoria Falls


The Victoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya (the Smoke that Thunders) is a waterfall located in southern Africa on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The falls are some of the largest in the world.

5. Northern Lights / Aurora Borealis


Auroras, also known as northern and southern (polar) lights or aurorae (singular: aurora), are natural light displays in the sky, usually observed at night, particularly in the polar regions. They typically occur in the ionosphere. They are also referred to as polar auroras. This is a misnomer however, because they are commonly visible between 65 to 72 degrees north and south latitudes, which would place it in a ring just within the Arctic and Antarctic circles. Aurorae occur deeper inside the polar regions, but these are infrequent occurrences, and these are often invisible to the naked eye.

6. Parícutin vulcano


Parícutin (or Volcán de Parícutin, also accented Paricutín) is a cinder cone volcano in the Mexican state of Michoacán, close to a lava-covered village of the same name. It appears on many versions of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. Paricutín is part of the Michoacán-Guanajuato Volcanic Field, which covers much of west central Mexico.

7. Harbour of Rio de Janeiro


The Port of Rio de Janeiro is Brazil's third busiest port in terms of cargo volume, and it is the center for cruise vessels. Located on the west coast of the Guanabara Bay, it serves the States of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Espírito Santo. The port is managed by Companhia Docas de Rio de Janeiro. The Port of Rio de Janeiro covers territory from the Mauá Pier in the east to the Wharf of the Cashew in the north. The Port of Rio de Janeiro contains almost seven thousand meters of continuous wharf and an 883-meter pier. The Companhia Docas de Rio de Janeiro administers directly the Wharf of the Gamboa general cargo terminal; the wheat terminal with two warehouses capable of moving 300 tons of grains; General Load Terminal 2 with warehouses covering over 20 thousand square metres; and the Wharves of Are Cristovao with terminals for wheat and liquid bulk.

source : here

Asteroid Blast Reveals Holes in Earth's defences

As the US government ponders a strategy to deal with threatening asteroids, a dramatic explosion over Indonesia has underscored how blind we still are Movie Camera to hurtling space rocks.

On 8 October 2009 an asteroid detonated high in the atmosphere above South Sulawesi, Indonesia, releasing about as much energy as 50,000 tons of TNT, according to a NASA estimate released on Friday. That's about three times more powerful than the atomic bomb that levelled Hiroshima, making it one of the largest asteroid explosions ever observed. However, the blast caused no damage on the ground because of the high altitude, 15 to 20 kilometres above Earth's surface, says astronomer Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario (UWO), Canada. Brown and Elizabeth Silber, also of UWO, estimated the explosion energy from infrasound waves that rippled halfway around the world and were recorded by an international network of instruments that listens for nuclear explosions.The explosion was heard by witnesses in Indonesia. Video images of the sky following the event show a dust trail characteristic of an exploding asteroid.

Sudden Impact

The amount of energy released suggests the object was about 10 metres across, the researchers say. Such objects are thought to hit Earth about once per decade. No telescope spotted the asteroid ahead of its impact. That is not surprising, given that only a tiny fraction of asteroids smaller than 100 metres across have been catalogued, says Tim Spahr, director of the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Yet objects as small as 20 or 30 metres across may be capable of doing damage on the ground, he says.

"If you want to find the smallest objects you have to build more, larger telescopes," says Spahr. "A survey that finds all of the 20-metre objects will cost probably multiple billions of dollars." The US Office of Science and Technology Policy, which advises the White House, must develop a policy to address the asteroid hazard by October 2010 under a deadline imposed by 2008 legislation. It is likely to be influenced by a report from the National Research Council on the asteroid problem, which is expected by year's end.

By David Shiga

A Halo Phenomena Over Moscow

And you thought rainbows were cool. A few days ago, a mysterious cloud shaped like a halo appeared over Moscow, and the buzz has yet to break.

We're the first to admit that a photograph of the heavenly cloud appears to be photoshopped. It's just so...perfect. But meterologists have spoken up and said the cloud wasn't digitally altered. However, it wasn't exactly what it appeared to be, either.

When the cloud initially formed, some UFO enthusiasts declared it to be a "true mystery." Some even compared it to the giant spaceship hovering over Earth in the movie "Independence Day." Reality quickly dashed any predictions of an alien invasion. An article from the Daily Mail explains that the "luminous ring-shaped cloud" was simply an optical effect.

An official spokesperson for Moscow's weather department said, "Several fronts have been passing through Moscow recently, there was an intrusion of the Arctic air too, the sun was shining from the west — this is how the effect was produced."

The cloud loomed last week, but the searches are still soaring. Lookups on "halo cloud" and "moscow cloud" are both booming, and a video clip has garnered hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube. You can check it out for yourself below...

Source : Buzz

Found, the coldest place on Earth That is Antarctica's Ridge A

The search for the best observatory site in the world has led to the discovery of what is thought to be the coldest, driest, calmest place on Earth, a place where no human is thought to have ever set foot. The finding was detailed on August 31 in the Publications of the Astronomical Society.
Antarctica's Ridge A, world's coldest, driest, calmest place on Earth. To search for the perfect site to take pictures of the heavens, a US-Australian research team combined data from satellites, ground stations and climate models in a study to assess the many factors that affect astronomy — cloud cover, temperature, sky-brightness, water vapour, wind speeds and atmospheric turbulence.

The researchers pinpointed a site, known simply as Ridge A that is 4.053 metres high up on the Antarctic Plateau. The study revealed that Ridge A has an average winter temperature of minus 70 degrees Celsius and an extremely low amount of water in the air.

The site is also extremely calm, which means that there is very little of the atmospheric turbulence that elsewhere makes stars appear to twinkle.

"It's so calm that there's almost no wind or weather there at all" said study leader Will Saunders, of the Anglo-Australian Observatory in Australia.

All these elements combine to make the perfect recipe for an astronomical observation post: "The astronomical images taken at Ridge A should be at least three times sharper than at the best sites currently used by astronomers," Saunders said. "Because the sky there is so much darker and drier, it means that a modestly sized telescope there would be as powerful as the largest telescopes anywhere else on earth."

The site would even be superior to the best existing observatories on high mountain tops in Hawaii and Chile, Saunders said. Researchers assert that a telescope at the site could take images nearly as good as those from the space-based Hubble telescope.

Located within the Antarctic Territory claimed by Australia, the site is 89 miles from an international robotic observatory and the proposed new Chinese "Kunlun" base at Dome A, a higher point on the Antarctic Plateau.

source : google.com

Chernobyl / Chornobyl City The Wost Nuclear Incident

Chernobyl / Chornobyl is a city in Uni Sovyet at the wost nuclear incident, but after the collapse of uni sovyet, this country into Ukraina teritory. Now Chernobyl city in northern Ukraine, in Kiev Oblast (Province), near the border with Belarus.


The city was evacuated in 1986 due to the Chernobyl disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located 14.5 kilometers (9 miles) north-northwest. The power plant is within Chernobyl Raion (District), but the city was not the residence of the power-plant workers. When the power plant was under construction, Pripyat, a city larger and closer to the power plant, had been built as home for the power-plant workers.


Though the city today is mostly uninhabited, a small number of inhabitants reside in houses marked with signs stating that the "Owner of this house lives here". Workers on watch and administrative personnel of the Zone of Alienation are stationed in the city on a long term basis. Prior to its evacuation, the city was inhabited by about 14,000 residents.
The world called Chernobyl city is The Wost Nuclear Incident in History.

7 Big Holes In The World

1. Big hole kimberley Mine - South Africa




The underground Kimberley Mine (located at 28°44′18.86″N 24°45′30.95″W) was mined to a depth of 1097 metres and estimates total have been taken in the mine is 22 millions tons. But the Kimberley mine has been closed since 1914.

2. Bingham canyon mine, SLC, Utah USA




The Bingham Canyon Mine (located at 40°31′13.54″N 112°08′58.09″W) is an open-pit mining operation extracting a large porphyry copper deposit southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, in the Oquirrh Mountains. The mine excavation began in 1863 until now. This Hole has a size : 3/4 mile deep and 2,5 mile across.

3. Great Blue Hole, Belize




The Great Blue Hole is a large underwater sinkhole off the coast of Belize (located at 17°18′56.02″N 87°32′04.20″W). The hole is circular in shape, over 300 metres (984 ft) across and 125 metres (410 ft) deep. A blue hole is a submarine cave or sinkhole. They are also called vertical caves. If you want to diving, you can try The Great Blue Hole.

4. Hole(Spillway) in Monticello dam in california



Hole (Spillway) Monticello Dam is a dam in Napa County, California, United States (located at 38°30′44.15″N 122°06′17.60″W)


5. The Diavik diamond mine, Canada




The Diavik Diamond Mine (located at 64°29′40.88″N 110°16′16.35″W) is a diamond mine in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada, about 300 kilometres (186 miles) north of Yellowknife. It's connected by an ice road and Diavik Airport with a 5,235-foot (1,596 m) gravel runway regularly accommodating Boeing 737 jet aircraft.

6. Mirny diamond mine,Siberia RUSIA




The Mirny Diamond Mine (located at 62°52′94.23″N 133°99′35.38″W) is 525m deep and has a diameter of 1200m. It was the first, and one of the largest, diamond Pipes in the USSR. It's now abandoned. While it was still operational, it would take two hours for trucks to drive from the top to the bottom of the mine.

7. Chuquicamata copper mine - Chile





Chuquicamata or "Chuqui" (located at 22°16′42.38″N 68°54′13.55″W) is an open pit copper mine in Chile. It is the mine with the largest total production of copper in the world - though it is not the largest copper mine. The mine is over 850 meters deep.