Sometime around the age of thirteen, I decided that I wanted to be an astronomer. (Thank you, Carl Sagan, for your inspiring character in Ellie Arroway.) If getting to explore the universe isn't enough of a job perk, I've also had the opportunity to travel quite a bit to collaborate with other astronomers and to present at conferences. In June, my reach extended even further as I took a three-week trip to South Africa to help build one of the most exciting astronomical experiments to date.
Thursday 4 August 2011
UNIDENTIFIED SUNKEN OBJECT: PROBABLY NOT ALIEN
A team of Swedish researchers has found what some are calling a UFO under about 300 feet of water between Finland and Sweden. According to a piece in the Vancouver Sun,
"While using sonar to survey the Gulf of Bothnia last month, Ocean Explorer commander Peter Lindberg noticed an unusual 60-foot round object. According to the Ocean Explorer website, Lindberg said he had "never seen anything like it" even though has "spent hundreds of hours watching sonar images of the sea floor." While the object seems unusual, it's entirely possible that it could have occurred naturally. Lindberg refused to speculate on the object's origins, but in doing so he may have generated even more conjecture, making reference to one of the most famous and mysterious sites in the world "Since it might be nothing we cannot afford spending funds just to have a look at it," he adds. "Even if it might be a 'new' Stonehenge standing on the bottom."
Top 5 Volcanic Eruptions
Most of us don't live near enough to volcanoes to think about them on a regular basis, but some scientists have spent a lot of time studying them and trying to understand their fickle ways. These days, we can often see the bad news coming, since most volcanoes send off a few warning shots before they erupt. That's a good thing, too, because when they blow go ... get out of the way!
No. 1 - Unzen, Japan
Mount Unzen's biggest eruption happened way back in 1792, when, along with a related tsunami, it killed 15,000 people. The Japanese volcano was largely quiet for the next 200 years or so. And then Unzen began to rumble. It started to ooze lava a couple weeks before it violently erupted in 1991, killing 43 people, including a group of scientists and reporters, and forcing the evacuation of thousands of homes. It remained active, releasing lava and ash until about 1995. Since then, it's been getting some much-needed rest.
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