Applet credit: Ed Hobbs
February 2000
In the News:
Meteor Shakes
the North - An exploding meteor shook the Yukon-Alaska border on Tuesday
January 18th at about 9AM local time. The meteor appeared as a flash of
sheet lightning and a large, green object going across the sky. The explosion
rattled windows in nearby villages and sent snow sliding off roofs. Scientists
believe the object exploded in the sky rather than hitting the ground.
Meteors that explode in the air can be just as dangerous as those the hit the ground. Read about what happened in Siberia in 1908.
Dangerous
Asteroid Number Slashed - Despite the above, scientists have changed
their estimates about how many near-Earth asteroids there are that might
pose a threat of a devastating collision with our planet. Original estimates
placed the number of dangerous asteroids at between 1,000 and 2,000. New
calculations show that the number may be closer to 500 to 1,000. Scientists
hope that 90 percent of these highly dangerous objects will be detected in
the next 20 years.
Unexplained
Ice Fall - Scientists are puzzled by mysterious chunks of ice that
have been falling from the sky in southern Spain. Nobody has been hurt,
but the eight-pound, basketball-sized objects have damaged roofs and smashed
a car. Scientists have wondered if the chunks are from a comet, but the
the period over which they fell, ten days, seems to eliminate that as a
possibility. Sometimes ice can be flushed out of jet liner waste systems,
however
these objects lack the coloration usually associated with such material.
Scientists are also looking to see if unusual weather conditions may have
somehow generated giant hail stones.
Longest Dino
Discovered? - Carlos Munoz, director of the Florentino Ameghino Museum
of Natural Sciences, in Argentina, has reported that scientists in the
Patagonia region of the country have discovered the bones of what may be
one of the longest dinosaurs ever found. The animal, which has yet to be
named or classified, may have stretched some 167 feet from head to tail.
That would put it some 27 feet longer than the Argentinosaurus,
considered by many the longest dinosaur currently known. The
Argentinosaurus, though, might be up to ten times heavier than this
new dinosaur and the Sauroposeidon, which we reported on last December,
would remain the tallest.
King Arthur
on the Web - The British Library, in conjunction with the
Arthurian Heitage Trust, has put the library's oldest and rarest
manuscripts on the legend of King Arthur on the web. The site,
www.kingarthur.co.uk, will display
at least eight frail parchments that were previously only accessible to
scholars with the "high clearance." The legends of King Arthur are thought
to be based on a Celtic king that lived during the fifth century.
Find out if King Arthur's castle, Camelot, really existed!
Galileo Bolsters
Europa Sea - Reports from the Galileo spacecraft, near Jupiter, seem
to bolster theories a liquid ocean may exist beneath Europa's icy surface.
The spacecraft, which passed within 218 miles of Europa on January 3rd,
has detected that the moon's magnetic pole seems to reverse every 5 1/2 hours.
The best explanation for this would be an underground sea of liquid, like
saltwater.
If a liquid sea is under the ice scientists have wondered if primitive life might be able to exist near hot volcanic vents on the moon ocean 's bottom.
Devil's
Footprints - On the night of February 7th, 1855, mysterious footprints
appeared in new snow in the area of Devonshire, England. These marks, called
the "Devil's Footprints" because they appeared to be from a two-footed creature
with hoof-like feet have never been explained. According to the Times
of London the prints were to be seen in all kinds of inaccessible places
- on the tops of houses and narrow walls, in gardens and courtyards enclosed
by high walls and palings, as well as open fields. There was hardly a garden
in Lympstone where the foot-prints were not observed. Reports indicated
that some 100 miles of tracks existed and each hoof-print was exactly 8
1/2 inches apart. Many suggestions have been made as to what common creature
might have made the marks, but none seems to fit the evidence.
Returning
to the Mothership - Roswell2K will commence on June 17th 2000 as thousands
of pods (really VW beetles) arrive at Roswell, New Mexico to greet their
"mothership." Is this a gathering of people interested in aliens? Or a
flock of VW owners celebrating their strange vehicles? Here's their website,
you can figure it out:
www.roswell2k.org.
Valentine
Mercury - While you are watching the sunset with your sweetie on Valentine's
Day hang around for an hour and see if you can spot the planet Mercury.
February 14th is its farthest apparent distance from the Sun, about 18 degrees,
making it the best time to spot our inner-most planet.. Look for it low in
WSW to W sky within an hour of the sun going down.
Police see
UFO - Police in Millstadt, Lebanon, Shiloh and Dupo, Mo. USA, spotted
an arrowhead shaped object in the night sky on January 5th. The object appeared
to move slowly along like a blimp at the height of 1,000 feet and was described
as "two stories high and three times as long" with "star field camouflage."
One officer took a picture with a Polaroid camera, but the image did not
develop well in the cold weather.
Was this object like the famous, triangular Hudson Valley UFO?
Rex for Sale
on Web, Again - Alan Detrich, owner of a 40-foot-long, 25-foot-high
Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton is trying to unload the extinct creature
on the internet one more time. The fossil was originally offered on eBay
in July, but pranksters offering illegitimate bids as high as $8 million
brought the auction to a halt. This time the Rex is being sold through
Millionaire.com which prequalifies bidders by verifying their financial
status. Detrich hopes to recoup the $250,000 he spent digging up the fossil
and make a profit.
UFO: Then
and Now - Look up toward the skies for an examination of our encounters
with the unknown. This four-part world premiere mini-series runs from January
31st to February 3rd on the History Channel. On January 31st, The Innocent
Years; on February 1st Cause of Alarm; on February 2nd,
Nightmare; and on February 3rd Aliens and Contact. Shows air:
Monday-Thursday, January 31-February 3 at 9 pm ET/10 pm PT. Repeats: Sunday,
February 6 from 3 pm-7 pm ET/12 pm-4 pm PT
Ghost Plane
of the Desert "Lady be Good" - Part of the History Channel's Histories
Mysteries series. Airs February 7 and Repeats: Saturday, February 12
at 2 pm ET/11 am PT. On April 4, 1943, a B-24 named the "Lady Be Good" vanished
in the Sahara. Sixteen years later, the plane was found, amazingly preserved
in the desert. Through the diary of two crewmembers, learn the chilling account
of the crew's desperate struggle to reach safety across the harsh desert
without food or water. What other mysteries about this cursed plane remain
buried in the sand?
Secrets of
Lost Empires Series - From the people who give us NOVA this four part
series airs on Tuesdays on PBS at 8PM right before the normal NOVA timeslot.
Episodes are Medieval Siege (February 1st), Pharaoh's Obelisk
(February 8th), Easter Island (February
15th), Roman Bath (February
22nd) and China Bridge (February 29th).
NOVA -
NOVA itself will have several interesting shows this month: The Mystery
of the First Americans airs on February 15, 2000 at 9 pm ET and Lost
Tribes of Israel will be broadcast on Tuesday, February 22, 2000 at 9
pm ET. Ever since their defeat and banishment by the Assyrians in 722 BC.,
the Lost Tribes fate has inspired countless claims to Jewish ancestry by
groups scattered on every continent. But now, surprisingly, new advances
in genetics are dispelling myth and fantasy, and raising a curtain on the
forgotten reality of the dispersal that happened so many centuries ago.
The Iceman's
World - A frozen male mummy found in 1991 in the Alps has revolutionized
knowledge about Middle Europe some 5,000 years ago. Find what scientists
learned when they examined this most unusual of patients. On the Discovery
Channel Feburary 27th, 8PM ET/PT.
Africa's Dinosaur
Giants - Check out National Geographics Explorer as this episode
looks at the recent discoveries of giant dinosaur fossils in Africa. On
CNBC February 11th at 8PM ET/PT.
Science over the Edge Archives
Copyright Lee Krystek 2000. All Rights Reserved.
