170 results found.
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 64: Jul-Aug 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Halley: a young, combusting, alien interloper Can this be the comet Halley of the textbooks? Comets are supposed to be as old as the solar system itself (4 .6 billion years), born of solar-system stuff when a gaseous cloud condensed. Above all, comets do not "burn" or combust! The vision of a "burning" comet was advanced by recent observations that the velocity and temperature of the gases escaping from Halley are higher than one would expect from the sublimation of ices under solar radiation. Also, the concentration of expelled material in large, hypersonic jets carrying large quantities of fine dust further undermine the sublimation model. E.M . Drobyshevski has concluded "The new observations, together with some earlier data still poorly understood (e .g ., the appearance in the coma of large amounts of C3 ) can be accounted for by assuming the cometary ices to contain, apart from the hydrocarbons, nitrogen-containing compounds, etc., also of free oxygen (about 15 wt. %) . Under these conditions, burning should occur in the products of sublimation under deficiency of oxidizer accompanied by the production of 'soot,' 'smoke,' etc. The burning should propagate under the surface crust and localize at a few sites. "The presence of oxygen in cometary ices follows from a new eruption theory assuming the minor bodies of the Solar System to have formed ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 59: Sep-Oct 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Lightningless thunder?August 22, 1987. Wotton-under-Edge, England. "There had been thunder about, but the clouds were high, and there was intermittent sunshine. I was at work with a friend of mine, sawing logs, in one part of the garden. My wife was picking beans, about 80 yards away. Without any kind of warning, there was a violent detonation overhead, at what might have been tree-height. Service in war enables one to describe an explosion better than those whose experience is limited to Guy Fawkes' Day. This seemed to me about the same as an air-burst from a German 88 mm high velocity gun. My friend and I took it to be lightning; but neither of us saw any flash -- perhaps because we were both looking downwards at the time. "Shortly afterwards, my wife appeared, dazed and shaken. The explosion had evidently been closer to her, for she (having served in the WRNS) was reminded of an ammunition ship blowing up 'whoosh,' suggestive of a very high speed aircraft flying very low. That is what she momentarily thought it was, coming from the ridge of the Cotswold escarpment, under which this house lies; and she instinctively ducked. Immediately before the detonation, there seemed to her to be a sound not unlike machine-gun fire; and there was a movement of the air ...
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... taken by the Voyager-2 spacecraft, David A. Godfrey (National Optical Astronomy Observatories) has discovered an unusual feature in the planet's atmosphere. His mosaics reveal a hexagon centered on the north pole. Since neither probe flew directly over the pole, the complete scene has to be created by 'stretching' a series of photographs taken from the side as Saturn rotated, then fitting them into a polar projection." The straight sides of the hexagon are each about 13,800 kilometers long. The entire structure rotates with a period of 10h 39m 24s, the same period as that of the planet's radio emissions, which is assumed to be equal to the period of rotation of Saturn's interior. The hexagonal feature does not shift in longitude like the other clouds in the visible atmosphere. The pattern's origin is a matter of much speculation. Most astronomers seem to favor some sort of standing-wave pattern in the atmosphere; but the hexagon might be a novel sort of aurora. More extreme speculation has Saturn's radio emissions emanating from the hexagon (something we can see and which has the right rotation period) rather than from the planet's interior (something we cannot see). (Anonymous; "A Hex on Saturn," Sky and Telescope, 77:246, 1989.) Comment. Note the similarities between the hexagon and the radial spoke structure sometimes seen in the atmosphere of Venus, as described in AVO6 in our catalog: The Moon and the Planets. Ordering details for this book are here . ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 52: Jul-Aug 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Meteorites Also Transport Organic Payloads Excerpts from the Abstract of a paper printed in Nature: "Much effort has been directed to analyses of organic compounds in carbonaceous chondrites because of their implications for orgainc chemical evolution and the origin of life. We have determined the isotopic composition of hydrogen, nitrogen and carbon in amino acid and monocarboxylic extracts from the Murchison meteorite. .. .. . "These results confirm the extraterrestrial origin of both classes of compounds, and provide the first evidence suggesting a direct relationship between the massive organo-synthesis occurring in interstellar clouds and the presence of pre-biotic compounds in primitive planetary bodies." (Epstein, S., et al; "Unusual Stable Isotope Ratios in Amino Acid and Carboxylic Acid Extracts from the Murchison Meteorite," Nature, 326:477, 1987.) From Science Frontiers #52, JUL-AUG 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... in diameter. Now, we have a long list of craters or astroblemes (star wounds), some of which measure hundreds of miles across. In fact, there are enough large dated crters so that some scientists have taken up a time-honored human pastime: Looking for cycles or periodicities in the data. (Humans can find cyclicities in almost any collection of data!) To be more specific, some have claimed that large meteor craters come in clusters dated 28-31 million years apart. These catastrophic events have been correlated with biological extinctions, magnetic field reversals, and basalt flooding. The astronomical causes of this supposed periodicity range from the solar-system's crossing of the galactic plane, to the perturbations of an unseen solar companion, to regular perturbations of the Oort cloud of comets that is thought to hover at the fringe of the solar system. In short, a large, interlocking edifice of geological and astronomical speculation has been erected upon a foundation of terrestrial crater ages. But how well do we really know the ages of these craters? How complete is the cratering record? The answer to the first question is: "Not well at all." Further, we can be certain that many craters still lie undiscovered beneath sediments. In addition, most meteors/comets splashed into the oceans, leaving no record at all. An updating of the most recent crater data available, such as they are, greatly weakens the case for the popular 28-31 million-year period and strengthens support for a 19-22 million-year period. ...
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... Naturally all of astronomy heaved a sigh of relief over this. Unfortunately, the relief was short-lived, and a second dose of antacid now seems required! Just a few days after the above, researchers reported in the New York Times some discomforting news: "According to Dr. Robert W. Noyes of Harvard-Smithsonian (Center for Astrophysics), the observations gathered by an extraordinarily sensitive camera show that the bright exploding star, or supernova, is actually two points of light, very close together, one about 10 times brighter than its companion. Since neither was present before the explosion, astronomers assume both arose from the same blast, but how this could happen is a mystery. .. .. . "The supernova and its apparent companion lie in the Greater Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way, at a distance of 150,000 light years from earth. The instrument used by the Harvard-Smithsonian group measured the distance between the two supernova elements as about one-twentieth of an arc second. This is about the separation a human eye would see between the headlights of a car some 6,000 miles away "Dr. Noyes said this distance was equivalent to an actual distance between the two bright objects of only about 3,000 Astronomical Units, where one Astronomical Unit is the distance from the sun to the earth, about 93,000,000 miles. This is a tiny distance in astronomcial terms; but if both objects stemmed from the same explosion, Dr. Noyes said, they must have been moving apart ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 54: Nov-Dec 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Toads Fall To Squashy Fate On Route 66, near Gallup, New Mexico, June 1949. "Temperature 104 . Absolute blue sunny skies. No clouds anywhere to be seen, from one horizon to the other for 360 . "Out of nowhere, without warning, it poured extremely hard rain, hail, and toads. The hail balls were maybe the size of grapes to the size of peas. The toads were a medium brown in color and approximately the size of an adult's thumbnail. This whole incident lasted for less than 5 minutes, if my memory is correct. .. .. . "The highway and the desert sands seemed to be one and the same, and the whole area seemed to be alive and moving. By now, we were down to a very slow speed, and under closer observation we noticed that the area was littered with millions of hailstones and those toads hopping all over. "The storm stopped as fast as it started, and the toads disappeared just as fast. I'll never forget how slippery the road was as we drove over those toads, and the popping of their bodies under the tires of my automobile." (Schuler, Richard A.; personal communication, July 23, 1987.) Comment. The sudden onset of the violent storm and the huge numbers of toads are both difficult-to-account for. If a whirlwind picked up ...
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... Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Fish And Winkle Showers "Loud slapping sounds disturbed Ron Langton as he settled down to watch late-night television at his home in East Ham in London on 26 May 1984. He thought nothing more of the noises until next morning when he went outside and saw half a dozen fish in the backyard and on his roof. They were flounders and whitings, about 10 to 15 centimetres long. "Two residents of nearby Canning Town also reported between 30 and 40 fish scattered over their gardens. Could a flight of herons returning from the Thames have dropped their catch? The Natural History Museum identified the fish as just what you would expect to find in the lower Thames. Could a waterspout on the Thames have lifted the fish up to cloud level, carried them a few kilometres north, and dropped them on Canning Town and East Ham? .. .. . "On 16 June 1984, a month after the fish falls in London, the owner of a service station near Thirsk in north Yorkshire found winkles and starfish covering the forecourt of his garage and the top of its high canopy. The winkles were salty and many were still alive. Thirsk is 45 kilometres from the sea, and the garage owner thought that this collection of marine life arrived with the torrential thunderstorms during the night. Though proof remains elusive, the winkles and starfish were probably lifted by a waterspout along the east coast and carried aloft for an hour or more within the powerful updrafts of the thunderstorms." Several more anecdotes of a similar nature ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 49: Jan-Feb 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mystery Plumes And Clouds Over Soviet Territory Following the famous mystery cloud of April 9, 1984 (SF#38), the authors of the original article in Science collected additional observations and now have this to say: "Our conclusion is that original estimated positions were in error. Additional data, primarily from Van den Berg, place the event between the Kuriles and Sakhalin. The altitude of the center of the halo at the maximum observed size is estimated to have been greater than 200 miles, and the diameter of the halo is estimated to have been at least 380 miles. It seems unlikely that a groundbased explosion could produce this kind of effect. It is surprising to us that no official data have been provided by government agencies and that such a significant observation from a region of demonstrated military sensitivity was, and still remains, a mystery." (McKenna, Daniel L., and Walker, Daniel A.; "Mystery Cloud: Additional Observations," Science, 234:412, 1986.) Evidently the mystery cloud mentioned above is only one in a long series: "Large icy clouds, similar to plumes of gas that rise over volcanoes, have appeared over islands along the coast of the Soviet Union during the past several years, baffling experts, who cannot explain what they are or what causes them. "The clouds dissipate in a few hours vanishing as mysteriously as they appear. "Among the ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 38: Mar-Apr 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Still Another Mystery Cloud April 9, 1984. Western Pacific. The crews of three airliners en route from Tokyo to Anchorage observed a gigantic mushroom cloud about 180 miles east of Japan. The cloud was moving rapidly up and away from a cloud layer at 14,000 feet. It eventually reached a maximum altitude of about 60,000 feet, at which time its maximum diameter was about 200 miles. No fireball or flash was seen by anyone. A nuclear explosion, possibly on a submarine was suspected. One pilot issued a Mayday alert and ordered his crew to don oxygen masks. However, when an F-4 Phantom dispatched from Japan arrived at the scene, it detected no abnormal levels of radioactivity. Wake Island hydrophones, to the southeast, detected some submarine volcanic activity far south of the cloud, but no detonations in the area the cloud was spotted. The distance of the volcanic disturbances and the prevailing winds ruled out volcanic sources of smoke. In the absence of any hydrophonic evidence, the authors concluded that the mysterious cloud came either from a man-made atmospheric explosion (a huge one!) or some as yet unknown natural phenomenon. (Walker, Daniel A., et al; "Kaitoku Seamount and the Mystery Cloud of 9 April 1984," Science, 227:607, 1985.) From Science Frontiers #38, MAR-APR 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 38: Mar-Apr 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects GREEN CLOUD WITH LIGHT RAYS "An account of a mysterious 'green cloud' sending out powerful shafts of light and flying in tandem with an airliner appeared in a Soviet newspaper today. The strange cloud was seen over Byelorussia by passengers and crew of a flight from Georgia to Tallinn, and by the crew of an airliner from Leningrad, passing 10 miles away according to Trud. Nikolai Zheltukhin, a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences, said the object was certainly very big. He rejected the idea that the green cloud was an image caused by far-off atmospheric changes because the airman had fixed its location from the shafts of light it sent to the ground." (Anonymous; "Mysterious 'Green Cloud' Appears near Airliner," Baltimore Sun, January 31, 1985, p. 4A.) From Science Frontiers #38, MAR-APR 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 44: Mar-Apr 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Of Dust Clouds And Ice Ages Ice cores from the polar ice at Camp Century, in Greenland, have been analyzed for the presence of cosmic dust. "It is concluded that on five occasions during the interval 20,000-14,000 years BP, cosmic dust mass concentrations in the solar system rose by one and two orders of magnitude above present day levels. Moreover if the particles found in these ice core samples are indicative of the particle size distribution which prevailed in the interplanetary medium at that time, then it may be concluded that the space number density of submicron sized particles must have uncreased by a factor of 105 or more. During these times the light transmission properties of the solar system would have been significantly altered resulting in major adverse effects to the earth's climate. Thus it is quite possible that these dust congestion episodes were responsible for the abrupt climatic variations which occurred toward the end of the last Ice Age." Whence these interplanetary dust clouds? The author of this article ruled out terrestrial volcanism (an insufficient source of iridium) and encounters with asteroids and cometary tails (too infrequent to account for the long periods of high dust levels). Rather, the dust source may have been the same event that created the recently discovered dust ring between Mars and Jupiter, which is believed to be only a few tens of thousands of years old. The nature of the "event" is not ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 42: Nov-Dec 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Speculations from gold The item "Restless Gold" in SF#41 has now been amplified by J.-O . Bovin et al. Using a high-resolution electron microscope, magnification 30,000,000, with a real-time video recorder, this group has obtained startling pictures of gold crystals and their environs. "At this magnification, individual columns of atoms in the gold crystals are clearly revealed; it appears that not only are atoms of the surfaces of small crystals in constant motion, hopping from site to site, but also that the crystals are surrounded by clouds of atoms in constant interchange with atoms on the crystal surface. The clouds of gold atoms extended up to 9A from the crystal surface, continually changing their shape and density." The remarkably dynamic nature of solid surfaces, as now revealed, has many implications. (Bovin, J. -O ., et al; "Imaging of Atomic Clouds Outside the Surfaces of Gold Crystals by Electron Microscopy," Nature, 317:47, 1985.) The problem of snowflake growth (SF#38) is probably solvable in terms of clouds of water molecules surrounding crystal nuclei with electrostatic fields guiding the symmetric deposition of molecules. Biological structures, too, are probably encompassed by clouds of atoms and molecules; viz., the crystal-like, polyhedral viruses. Does the highly ordered DNA structure also possess an aura of molecules constantly ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 50: Mar-Apr 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Too many short-period comets Some comets, such as Halley's , have periods of less than 200 years. Scientists have postulated that these comets, which orbit relatively close to the sun, originally came from the far-distant Oort Cloud on parabolic (non-returning) orbits around the sun. Perturbations by the planets, notably Jupiter, deflected them into the tighter orbits we see today. The problem is that the number of parabolic comets entering the inner solar system from the Oort Cloud of comets (located at the outermost fringes of the solar system) is 100 times too small to account for the existing population of short-period comets. M.E . Bailey believes this discrepancy can be removed if the Oort Cloud possesses a massive inner core of comets. (Bailey, M.E .; "The Near-Parabolic Flux and the Origin of Short-Period Comets," Nature, 324:350, 1986.) Reference. The Oort Cloud of comets is an entrenched part of astronomical dogma. For observations challenging its existence, see our catalog: The Sun and Solar System Debris. A description of this book may be found here . From Science Frontiers #50, MAR-APR 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 44: Mar-Apr 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Tunnelling Towards Life In Outer Space Most books on biology begin the history of life in those apochryphal warm ponds of primordial soup. Leave comfortable earth for a moment and consider the immense, cold clouds of gas and dust swirling between the stars and galaxies. At near-absolute-zero, sunless and waterless, these clouds hardly seem the womb of life. Yet, there may be found the atoms necessary to life -- H, C, O, N, etc -- and in profusion. Collisions of cosmic rays can promote the synthesis of fairly large molecules. We have already detected molecules as complex as formaldehyde in the interstellar medium. But surely the immensely more complicated molecules of biology cannot be synthesized near absolute zero. This may not be true either because at extremely low temperatures the quantum mechanical phenomenon of "tunnelling" becomes important. To achieve molecular synthesis, repulsive barriers must be overcome. The warm temperatures in that terrestrial pond can provide the extra kinetic energy to climb over these barriers. In cold molecular clouds we must look elsewhere. The laws of quantum mechanics state that there is always a very low probability that atoms and molecules can tunnel through repulsive barriers -- no need to climb over them via thermal effects. "Specifically, entire atoms can tunnel through barriers represented by the repulsive forces of other atoms and form complex molecules even though the atoms do not have the energy required by classical chemistry to overcome ...
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... a bit on the short side for the spontaneous generation of life, although no one really knows just how long this process should take (forever?). The apparent rapidity of the onset of terrestrial life has led to a reexamination of the old panspermia hypothesis, in which spores, bacteria, or even nonliving "templates" of life descended on the lifeless but fertile earth from interstellar space. P. Weber and J.M . Greenberg have now tested spores (actually Bacillus subtilis) under temperature and ultraviolet radiation levels expected in interstellar space. They found that 90% of the spores under test would be killed in times on the order of hundreds of years -- far too short for panspermia to work at interstellar distances. However, if the spores are transported in dark, molecular clouds, which are not uncommon between the stars, survival times of tens or hundreds of million years are indicated by the experiments. Under such conditions, the interstellar transportation of life is possible. But perhaps the injection and capture phases of panspermia might be lethal to spores. Weber and Greenberg think not -- under certain conditions. The collision of a large comet or meteorite could inject spores from a life-endowed planet into space safely, particularly if the impacting object glanced off into space pulling ejecta after it. The terminal phase, the capture of spores from a passing molecular cloud by the solar system and then the earth, would be nonlethal if the spores were somehow coated with a thin veneer of ultraviolet absorbing material. In sum, the experiments place limits on panspermia, but do ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 48: Nov-Dec 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Freak Wave Off Spain 1960s. At sea off Spain. ". .. the wind was north-by-west, force 6-7 and the ship was spraying and occasionally shipping water. The weather was not troubling our ship to any extent. The sky was partly cloudy with a full moon in the west. At 0520 hours the moon was blotted out and all turned dark. I looked to port to see what type of cloud could obscure the moon so thoroughly, and was amazed -- horrified, rather, to discover it was no cloud, but an immense wave approaching on our port beam. It stretched far north and south, had no crest, nor white streaks, and as it neared at quite a speed, I could see its front was nearly vertical. I yelled to the lookout man to come into the wheelhouse as he was on the starboard side of the bridge and could not see the wave. "As near as I could judge, about 80 to 100 yards away the wave started to break, and in another few seconds reached our ship and struck us fair abeam with three distinct separate shocks, sweeping our ship for her full length. Fortunately, the vessel rolled away just before the impact and this I am sure saved us from even more serious damage." "The wave was higher than our foremost track -- 85 ft above the water. As this wave approached ...
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... oozing from the noses and mouths; the bodies were rigid; first-degree chemical burns were present. Also, animals and plants along the shore had been killed. On August 17, the lake turned reddish brown, indicating that it had been stirred up somehow. Although Lake Monoun is in a volcanic crater, chemical analysis of the water found little of the sulphur and halogens normally associated with volcanic action. However, the analysis did find a tremendously high level of bicarbonate ions, which form from the dissociation of carbon dioxide. One theory is that an earthquake disturbed the carbonate-rich deep water of the lake, which as it rose to the surface and lower pressures, released huge volumes of carbon dioxide -- something like opening a soda bottle. The resulting wave of water and cloud of gas caused the deaths and devastation. If there had been some nitric acid in the cloud, the burns could be accounted for. (Weisburd, S.; "The 'Killer Lake' of Cameroon," Science News, 128:356, 1985.) Comment. The article states that this event is unique, but in our Catalogs similar phenomena are reported. For example, Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana, "explodes" at irregular intervals, changing color, killing fish, and releasing gases (GSD2-X17). We also have the sudden whitening of the Dead Sea (GHC4). Both of these phenomena are to be found in the Catalog Earthquakes, Tides, Unidentified Sounds. To order, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #45, MAY- ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 47: Sep-Oct 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Oceans from outer space?Back in SF#44, we related how L.A . Frank, at the University of Iowa, had detected dark spots on satellite images of the earth's dayglow. Frank thought that the spots might be due to clouds of water vapor released as small, icy comets hit the atmosphere. P. Huyghe has recently written more about Frank's discovery, his theory, and its reception by the scientific community. "These comets are not occasional visitors, he [Frank] says, like the one that comes by every 76 years and -- lucky for us -- never actually drops in. No, these are very small, cometlike objects that enter our atmosphere at a rate of 20 per minute, he says. These comets, which he believes must contain about 100 tons of water apiece, vaporize on impact with the atmosphere and fall as rain or snow. Now that may seem like one sizeable cold shower, but on a yearly basis he says it's actually only a tiny fraction of the annual preciptation. Then again, over a span of 4.5 billion years, which is about how old the earth is, that's enough water, he says -- trumpets blaring -- to create the oceans." Naturally, such a theory is very disturbing because it runs counter to the widely accepted idea that the oceans were created by the ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 38: Mar-Apr 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Two Snowflake Anomalies Rarely is there anything in the scientific literature suggesting that anything about snowflakes could possibly be mysterious. Surprisingly, two articles on snowflake anomalies have appeared recently. To form at all above -40 F, snowflakes supposedly require a solid seed or nucleus around which ice can crystallize -- or so scientists have assumed for many years. It was long believed that airborne dust, perhaps augmented by extraterrestrial micrometeoroids, served as the necessary nuclei. But cloud studies prove that there are about a thousand times more ice crystals than dust nuclei. Now, some are convinced that bacteria blown off plants and flung into the air by ocean waves are the true nuclei of atmospheric ice crystals. Remember this the next time you tast a handful of snow! (Carey, John; "Crystallizing the Truth," National Wildlife, 23:43, December/ January 1985.) Comment. The possibility that the fall of snow and all other forms of precipitation is largely dependent upon bacter-ia brings to mind the Gaia Hypothesis; that is, all life forms work in unison to further the goals of life. The second item is from Nature and is naturally more technical. After reviewing the great difficulties scientists are having in mathematically describing the growth of even the simplest crystal, the author homes in on one of the fascinating puzzles of snowflake growth: "The aggregation of particles into a growing surface will be determined exclusively by local ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 50: Mar-Apr 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Sympathetic Lightning "Video recordings made from the space shuttle at night show large areas of lightning activity in clouds and some flashes that appear to be sympathetic with other flashes. Nearly simultaneous appearances of lightning as far apart as 100 km suggest that widely separated discharges may somehow be related." (Ahmadjian, Mark, et al; "Video Pictures of Lightning Discharges Taken from the Space Shuttle," Eos, 67:891, 1986.) From Science Frontiers #50, MAR-APR 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 49: Jan-Feb 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Radar glories on jupiter's moons "Three ice-covered moons of Jupiter, in comparison with rocky planets and the Earth's moon, produce radar echoes of astounding strengths and bizarre polarizations. Scattering from buried craters can explain these and other anomalous properties of the echoes. The role of such craters is analogous to that of the water droplets that create the apparition known as 'the glory,' the optically bright region surrounding an observer's shadow on a cloud." Eshleman, Von R.; "Radar Glory from Buried Craters on Icy Moons," Science, 234:587, 1986.) From Science Frontiers #49, JAN-FEB 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 41: Sep-Oct 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Green Sky Flashes March 25, 1984. Indian Ocean. "Two successive 'green flashes' were observed. The first, at 2100 Ship's Time or 1530 GMT, was a bright green and bore 240 at an altitude of 75 ; it moved vertically downwards to an altitude of approximately 20 over a period lasting about 3 seconds. The second flash was observed at 2250 Ship's Time. It was green/white and was first observed at an altitude of 40 , bearing approximately 340 .It moved diagonally across the sky before disappearing behind low cloud at an altitude of 30 , bearing 310 . This time the duration was 1-2 seconds. In both cases the ship's radars were turned on but nothing was observed other than rain showers between 4 and 12 n. mile from the ship, mainly forward of the beam. Both flashes were of about the same brightness as that of lightning, the first being brighter than the second. In both cases it was difficult to judge the distance. The phenomenon was thought to have possibly been some form of lightning as its appearance was unlike that of any flare and in both cases the distance from the ship did not appear great enough to be compatible with a meteor or other object entering the earth's atmosphere." (Aston, A.; "' Green Flashes'"; Marine Observer, 55:30, 1985.) Comment. ...
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... vegetable food in the polar night is about as incongruous as imagining them trekking down to the Lower 481 Scientists are now maintaining that these dinosaurs did prosper on the shore of the Arctic Ocean, even in the dark, because the climate then was semitropical or temperate. This was because the earth's climate was more equable or uniform. They are, however, surprised by the lack of mineral deposition in the dinosaur bones, which look rather "mode m". (Anderson, Ian; "Alaskan Dinosaurs Confound Catastrophe Theorists, " New Scientist, p. 18, August 22, 1985. ) (The apparent survival of dinosaurs during two months of darkness is being used as an argument against asteroidal catastrophism, which it is claimed wiped out the dinosaurs with a long-lived dust cloud that blocked the sun. WRC) From Science Frontiers #42, NOV-DEC 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... England. Unusual features of a spectacular thunderstorm. Some recently reviewed records of a great thunderstorm mention two interesting anomalies: Hailstones 2 inches long shaped like cigarettes Three successive balls of lightning corkscrewing down from the sky. (Meaden, George T.; "Cigarette-Shaped Hailstones and Spiral Descent of Ball Lightning," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 10:332, 1985.) Reference. The foregoing anomalies are discussed in our Catalog of Anomalies. See GWT2 in Tornados, Dark Days for tornado burning and dehydration and GWP for oddly shaped hailstones in the same volume. Ball lightning is cataloged in GLB in Lightning, Auroras. Both books are described more fully here . The funnel of the 1955 tornado at Blackwell, Oklahoma, was lit up like a neon tube. Cloud-to-earth electrical currents could be the cuase of the scorching reported above. From Science Frontiers #45, MAY-JUN 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 39: May-Jun 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The message of aluminum-26 "Our solar system may be inside the cloud of debris from a star that exploded 10,000 to 1,000,000 years ago. This startling conclusion was reached by Donald Clayton of Rice University after studying observations of the amount of aluminum-26 (26Al) in the interstellar medium." Instruments on satellites (gamma-ray spectrometers) have detected so much aluminum-26 that radical hypotheses seem required. The problem is that aluminum26 is radioactive with a half-life of only about 1 million years -- a very short time astronomically speaking. The aluminum-26 cannot be primordial solar-system stuff; it cannot even be 10 million years old. It had to be created somewhere nearby recently. The best aluminum-26 factory conceived so far is a nova in our vicinity. (Anonymous; "Are We inside a Supernova Remnant?" Sky and Telescope, 69:13, 1985.) Comment. A nova close enough to engulf the earth with its debris must have had a profound effect on the earth and its cargo of life -- perhaps on Saturn's rings, too. See next item . From Science Frontiers #39, MAY-JUN 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 49: Jan-Feb 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Sailing Through A Waterspout Sailing on the Pagan in the mid-Pacific, One July morning J. Caldwell spotted a tropic waterspout. Having heard that spouts had hurricane force winds in-side, whirlpools at their bases that could suck a ship under, and a solid wall of water being sucked up into the clouds, Caldwell threw caution to the winds and headed directly for the spout. "Pagan was swallowed by a cold wet fog and whirring wind. The decks tilted. A volley of spray swept across the decks. The rigging howled. Suddenly it was dark as night. My hair whipped my eyes, I breathed wet air, and the hard cold wind wet me through. Pagan's gunwales were under and she pitched into the choppy seaway. There was no solid trunk of water being sucked from the sea; no hurricane winds to blow down sails and masts; and no whirlpool to gulp me out of sight. Instead, I sailed into a high dark column from 75 to 100 feet wide, inside of which was a damp circular wind of 30 knots, if it was that strong. As suddenly as I had entered the waterspout I rode out into bright free air. The high dark wall of singing wind ran away. For me another mystery of the sea was solved." (Caldwell, John; "On Sailing through a Waterspout," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 39: May-Jun 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects LDE PROBLEM STILL UNSOLVED LDEs (Long-Delayed Radio Echoes) have been known for over 50 years. Radio hams, in particular, will on rare occasions hear their transmissions repeated several seconds later. Various theories have been proposed, including: roundthe-world propagation; trapping in ionospheric ducts; reflections from distant plasma clouds; and beam-plasma interactions. R.J . Vidmar and F.W . Crawford, at Stanford, have been studying the LDE problem experimentally and theoretically and conclude that we still don't know which of the proposed mechanisms are valid. (Vidmar, F.R ., and Crawford, F.W .; "Long-Delayed Radio Echoes: Mechanisms and Observations," Journal of Geophysical Research, 90:1523, 1985.) From Science Frontiers #39, MAY-JUN 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 33: May-Jun 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mystery cloud of ad 536 "Dry fogs appear in the atmosphere when large volcanic eruptions inject massive quantities of fine silicate ash and aerosol-forming sulphur gases into the troposphere and stratosphere. Although the ash gravitationally settles out within weeks, the aerosols spread around the globe and can remain suspended in the stratosphere for years. Because solar radiation is easily absorbed and backscattered by the volcanic particles, a haziness in the sky and a dimming of the Sun and Moon are produced. Very dense and widespread dry fogs occur, on the average, once every few centuries. The sizes and intensities of some of the largest of them before the modern scientific era have been estimated by several indirect methods. The densest and most persistent dry fog on record was observed in Europe and the Middle East during AD 536 and 537. Despite the earliness of the date, there is sufficient detailed information to estimate the optical depth and mass of this remarkable stratospheric dust cloud. The importance of this cloud resides in the fact that its mass and its climatic consequences appear to exceed those of any other volcanic cloud observed during the past three millenia. Although the volcano responsible remains a mystery, a tropical location (perhaps the volcano Rabaul on the island of New Britain, Papua, New Guinea) can be tentatively inferred." (Stothers, R.B .; "Mystery Cloud of AD 536," Nature, 307:344, 1984.) Comment ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 33: May-Jun 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Comet Puffs A Smoke Ring When the periodic comet Kopff was photographed on August 13, 1983, using the 4-meter Mayall reflector at Kitt Peak, the black-and-white photo showed nothing out-of-the-ordinary. But digitization and computer enhancement revealed a previously unnoticed cloud of matter -million miles long trailing the nucleus. Curiously, the cloud resembled a huge smoke ring -- a distinct departure from the long, flowing tails shown in the textbooks. (Anonymous; "The Unusual Dust Cloud of Comet Kopff," Sky and Telescope, 67:226, 1984.) Comment. Obviously forces other than the solar wind were at work here. From Science Frontiers #33, MAY-JUN 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 35: Sep-Oct 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Monster Star Lurks Nearby Astrophysicists have long believed that the upper limit for stellar masses was 100 times that of the sun. This rule seems to be violated right on our doorstep -- in the Large Cloud of Magellan. The nonconforming object is designated R136; and it resides in the southern constellation Doradus. The central part of R136 radiates about a million times more visible light than our sun, and 50 million times more if the ultraviolet wavelengths are included. If R136 is a single object, its mass may be 1,000 times that of the sun. (Mathis, John S., et al; "A Superluminous Object in the Large Cloud of Magellan," Scientific American, 251:52, August 1984.) From Science Frontiers #35, SEP-OCT 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 24: Nov-Dec 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Islands Of Hope For Life Eternal Frautschi examines expanding "causal" regions in the universe, where entropy (disorder) does not increase as fast as the maximum predicted by Thermodynamics. The conclusion of this highly theoretical paper is that, even in these "islands of hope," life and the order it requires cannot survive indefinitely if it is restricted to solid substances. But, ". .. it stands as a challenge for the future to find dematerialized modes of organization (based on dust clouds or an e- e+ plasma?) capable of self-replication. If radiant energy production continues without limit, there remains hope that life capable of using it forever can be created." (Frautschi, Steven; "Entropy in an Expanding Universe," Science, 217:593, 1982.) Comment. Who said Science was a conservative journal? This smacks of scifi tales of electrolife and Hoyle's Black Cloud. From Science Frontiers #24, NOV-DEC 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 38: Mar-Apr 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Unidentified Object April 9, 1983. North Atlantic Ocean. From the n.v . Dorsetshire. "At 2304 GMT, Mr. Haney pointed out a bright white object in the sky. It was bearing approximately 360 (T ) at an elevation of about 40 . It was moving rapidly southwards across the sky, leaving a bright trail behind it, like an afterglow. Also trailing astern of the object was a light trail of sparks (possibly large solid particles). The object disappeared behind clouds, bearing about 170 (T ) at an elevation of approximately 35 , and lighting the edges of the clouds. The time taken for the passage was around 20 seconds. It was obviously a very large object, judging from its apparent size as seen from sea level. The impression given was that of an object within the atmosphere, easily showing around a one-penny piece held at arm's length." (Edwards, R.A .F .; "Unidentified Flying Object," Marine Observer, 54:82, 1984) Comment. This seems to be a description of a large fireball, but the direction of flight (north-south) is unusual and the time of passage (20 seconds) extremely long for a meteor. Large, very sluggish fireball trailing sparks over the North Atlantic. From Science Frontiers #38, MAR-APR 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 35: Sep-Oct 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Infrared Atmospheric Waves When the night sky is photographed in the infrared portion of the spectrum, luminous wave-like structures appear in the upper atmosphere. The wave crests are about 50 kilometers apart; lengthwise, they stretch up to 1.000 kilometers; altitude, about 85 kilometers. As many as ten waves may be seen at the same time. Morphologically, these waves resemble noctilucent clouds, which are sun-illumined, high-altitude clouds. The infrared waves, however, appear when the sun is well below the horizon. Since these waves are seen only at low angles over the horizon, some geophysicists propose they are the result of a geometric effect produced by viewing a rippled layer of weakly emitting gases in the upper atmosphere. When one looks at this rippled layer just above the horizon, one sees alternating thick and thin sections due to the perspective. The thick portions will appear brighter than the thin sections. As for the origin of this postulated rippled layer; no one is sure. Gravity waves may be involved. (Herse, M.; "Waves in the OH Emissive Layer," Science, 225:172, 1984.) Comment. As described in our Catalog Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights. luminous atmospheric waves are, on rare occasions, visible to the naked eye. It is possible that the bandedsky phenomenon is related to the infrared waves. For more information on the book just ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 29: Sep-Oct 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Sedimentary rocks on venus?The Soviet spacecraft Veneras-13 and 14 took photos of the hot surface of Venus from their landing spots beneath the planet's thick cloud cover. The rocky debris surrounding the spacecraft shows, to nearly everyone's surprise, strong evidence of sedimentary, layered structure. The rock formations display ripple marks, thin layering, differential erosion, and even hints of cross-bedding. The vision of ancient seas on Venus leaps to the mind, but according to the Russian scientists, it is far more likely that the sediments were created by winds, episodic volcanism, or repeated meteor strikes. (Florensky, C.P ., et al; "Venera 13 and Venera 14: Sedimentary Rocks on Venus?" Science, 221:57, 1983.) Reference, Venus harbors many anomalies. See our Catalog: The Moon and the Planets. This book is described here . Two pictures of the surface of Venus taken by the Russian space probe Venera 14. From Science Frontiers #29, SEP-OCT 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 31: Jan-Feb 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects There are cold anomalies "out there"As data from the IRAS (Infrared Astronomy Satellite) pile up (at 700 million bits per day), astronomers are seeing a new universe -- one consisting of cold gas, dust, and debris that emit little or no visible light. Here are just four of the new enigmas revealed: (1 ) Infrared "cirrus clouds." A network of faint wisps of cold matter that cover the whole sky. (2 ) Galactic matter of an unknown nature. This material has been observed only on one of the 100-micrometer IRAS scans. (3 ) A ring of solid particles around the star Vega. (4 ) "Blank fields." IRAS scans have found infrared sources where no visible object exist. (Waldrop, M. Mitchell, and Kerr, Richard A.; "IRAS Science Briefing," Science, 222:916, 1983.) From Science Frontiers #31, JAN-FEB 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 33: May-Jun 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Crab Fall At Brighton June 5, 1983. Brighton, England. A large spider crab dropped out of a storm cloud in front of Julian Cowan. The crab measured 25 centimeters across and had a 7-8 centimeter shell. It was dead and lacked two legs and one claw. The fall was followed almost immediately by wind-driven hailstones. (Meaden, G.T .; "The Remarkable 'Fall' of a Crab at Brighton, 5 June 1983," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 9:56, 1984.) Reference. A broad spectrum of falling animals is described at GWF10-14 in our Catalog: Tornados, Dark Days. Information on this book is located here . From Science Frontiers #33, MAY-JUN 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 30: Nov-Dec 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Weak Missing Link Evolutionists have always pointed to the Archaeopteryx as a most convincing missing link between the reptiles and birds. The modern study of some really excellent fossil specimens of Archaeopteryx have clouded this issue. The feathers of Archaeopteryx, as preserved in fine limestone, are found to be asymmetrical as required for efficient flight. (Flightless birds have symmetric feathers) The skull is more birdlike than previously thought. In fact, some aspects of Archaeopteryx are like those in "advanced" birds; others are "primitive" There are now three strongly held views among scientists: Archaeopteryx is related to: (1 ) crocodiles; (2 ) theropod dinosaurs; and (3 ) thecodontians (other reptiles). (Benton, Michael J.; "No Consensus on Archaeopteryx," Nature, 305:99, 1983.) From Science Frontiers #30, NOV-DEC 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... semi-rural area. Fog made visibility poor. It began to rain -- a brown jelly-like slime that smeared the windshield. A rotten-egg odor pervaded the area. The car engine stopped, and the two began to walk to find assistance. After 50 yards, they encountered millions of small rays of "lightning" flashing everywhere. They were 2-3 feet long and reached high into the sky. Looking back toward the car, they saw a reddish fluorescent glow with streams of light coming down from the sky to the glowing region. Grass and weeds along the roadside were standing straight up and glowing. Deep-red lines of light were seen dancing on the road. They returned to the car, and it felt hot to the touch! Soon, clouds moved in and the display was over. The authors of this article personally investigated this event within a few days of its occurrence. They found the two witnesses obviously very shaken, but believe that the accounts are fresh and unadulterated. Also pertinent is the fact that a large solar flare had just occurred, and intense auroral displays had been predicted. Also, the two women were apparently the only witnesses of this phenomenon. (Swords, Michael D., and Curtis, Edward G.; "Atmospheric Light Show," Pursuit, 16:116, 1983.) Comment. The article also contains the authors' analysis in some depth. Basically, they thought the phenomenon to be auroral with coincidental rainfall containing organic debris. Reference. Many other low-level auroras are described ...
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... the fireball as resembling rolling orange smoke. The ball then ceased to increase in size, giving the impression that it had stopped. Its orange colour rapidly gave way to rainbow colours which gradually gave way to white and faded in brilliance until all that remained were several patches of luminous white light, although these were impressive in their own right." A similar phenomenon was noted the following night, although the ship was 7 farther south. September 18, 1982. South Atlantic Ocean. From a different ship in the same area as the one above. "The altitude of the first sighting was approximately 24 , level with the planet Jupiter and offset to its right. The six subsequent bursts were above the first, and slightly to the right, leaving a fantail of purple/white lenticular clouds which leaned to the right as shown in the sketch. Although they all kept their lenticular shape, the final burst did break up, giving the appearance of being in a gaseous state. Each burst commenced as a pinprick of bright, white light expanding rapidly to at least 2 times the diameter of the sun (No. 1)...." (Anonymous; "Unidentified Phenomena," Marine Observer, 53:132, 1983.) Comment. The above observations were made aboard ships 300-400 miles off Brazil. The only event correlated with the phenomena was a meteorological rocket said to have been launched on September 18. Rocket launches do pro-vide spectacular luminous phenomena offshore from Cape Kennedy, but the above phenomena do not seem consistent with small meteorological rockets ...
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... precision. At its altitude of 3700 miles, the earth's atmosphere is supposed to be so thin that friction will bring the satellite only 1/250th of an inch closer to the earth each day. The trouble is that Lageos actually falls at ten times this rate. In 1979 it descended 60% faster than it does now. Lageos will stay in orbit several hundred thou-sand years, but space scientists are understandably concerned about their theories about the upper atmosphere. Many suggestions have been made to explain this anomaly. Some say the atmosphere is thicker than expected; others prefer to think there is more helium than predicted; but the "plasma drag" effect seems to fit the situation the best. Lageos may, in fact, be electrically charged and interacting with the surrounding cloud of electrically charged particles and is ever so slightly braked by the electrical forces. (Maran, Stephen P.; "Fall from Space," Natural History, 91:74, December 1982.) From Science Frontiers #25, JAN-FEB 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 's recent observation that terrestrial impact craters 10kilometer-diameter and up have been blasted out episodically -- every 28.4 million years on the average. This figure is close enough to 26 million years to impel some astronomers to search for a periodic source of cosmic projectiles. R.A . Muller and M. Davis, at Berkeley, think they have found one. They postulate that the solar system is really a double-star system. Our sun's companion star has only about 0.1 solar mass and is so faintly luminous that we have not found it visually. It does, however, now cruise along its orbit some 2.4 light years away. But it will be back! In fact, it returns every 26 million years to jostle the Oord Cloud of comets that hovers on the fringe of the solar system. This nudging periodically sends a large shower of comets careening around the inner solar system. The earth intercepts one or more of these projectiles each visit and -- bang -- we have new craters and another biological catastrophe. (Anonymous; "A Star Named George," Scientific American, 250:66, April 1984.) Comment, Ho hum! Still another cometary impact scenario. Ignatius Donnelly was pretty convincing in this matter a century ago. From Science Frontiers #33, MAY-JUN 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 33: May-Jun 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Bad Spin Split Astronomers have long realized that the angular momentum of the sun is only 1/180th that of the solar system as a whole. The overwhelming majority of the angular momentum is tied up in planetary motion. To make matters even more puzzling, the angular-momentum vectors of the sun and the planetary system are 7 apart. The implication is that the sun and planets could not have been formed by the rapid condensation of a molecular cloud -- the present theory. Rapid condensation requires that the sun get a much bigger share of the angular momentum. These anomalies have led T. Gold to propose a slow-condensation model, in which several hundred million years are required rather than the tens of thousands of years in the current scenario. Another unexpected feature of Gold's model makes the sun a degenerate object, perhaps a neutron star. As the author of this article states: "Gold has stood the conventional view of the origin of the solar system on its head." (Maddox, John; "Origin of Solar System Redefined," Nature, 308:223, 1984.) Reference. The above "spin-split" enigma is discussed more thoroughly in ABB3 in our Catalog: The Sun and Solar System Debris. See description of this book at here . From Science Frontiers #33, MAY-JUN 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 20: Mar-Apr 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Most Peculiar Cloud Arch July 12, 1980. Strait of Gibraltar. "At 1825 GMT whilst the vessel was transiting the Strait of Gibraltar, a line of low cloud was observed in an otherwise cloudless sky, see sketch. The cloud was in the form of an arc in an east-west line, reaching the surface approximately 2 n. mile ahead and astern of the vessel. Visibility under the cloud was about 10 n. mile in the north-south direction and 2 n. mile to the east and west. Once the vessel reached the point where the cloud touched the surface, the visibility was reduced to approximately 1.5 n. mile. Whilst the vessel was passing the cloud, the barograph trace fell almost vertically and both the air and sea temperatures dropped several degrees." (Shepherd, F.; "Cloud," Marine Observer, 51:107, 1981.) Comment. This is just one more mysterious cloud arch, but on a very small scale. What bizarre meteorological conditions create such strange structures? Reference. Other unusual cloud phenomena may be found in Section GWC in our Catalog: Tornados, Dark Days. For more information on this book, visit: here . A curious cloud arch in the Strait of Gibralta. The ends terminated in the ocean at points 4 miles apart. From Science Frontiers #20, MAR-APR 1982 . 1982-2000 William R ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 17: Fall 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mysteries Around Uranus August 15, 1980. European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Chile. Using the 3.6 -meter reflector and a photoelectric detector, astronomers recorded the occultation of a star by Uranus. The currently recognized rings of Uranus were duly noted as they dimmed the star's light, but so did seven other "objects." Observers at Las Campanas and Cerro Tololo, who were also monitoring the occultations, did see the seven extra occultations of the star. Clouds and faulty equipment have been ruled out. No one knows what caused the anomalies, (Anonymous; "More Mysteries of Uranus' Rings," Solar System Today, 3:56, 1981.) From Science Frontiers #17, Fall 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 8: Fall 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects An oasis on mars -- no palm trees but...Most of the data returned from the Viking Landers and Orbiters confirm a highly desiccated surface for Mars. Life-as-we-know-it would seem to be impossible in such an ultra-dry environment. The Solis Lacus region is an exception. On occasion, Orbiter photos of this region have revealed heavy frosts and fogs. Further, the clouds here have more moisture in them than elsewhere on Mars. Conclusion: Considerably more water exists near the surface of the Solis Lacus region than elsewhere. Since this area was the source of the great 1971 Martian dust storm, one wonders whether the unusual concentration of water has been revealed only because winds have stripped off the normally dry surface layer. (Huguenin, R.L ., et al; "Mars: An Oasis in Solis Lacus," Eos, 60:306, 1979.) Comment. Close-up photos of Mars show many signs of fluid erosion. Abundant water may still remain well below the planet's surface. Reference. Probable wet areas on Mars are cataloged at AME16 in The Moon and the Planets. Ordering information for this book is located here . From Science Frontiers #8 , Fall 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 8: Fall 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Chicken-plucking by tornados In the early 1840s, Professor Loomis of Western Reserve College stuffed dead chickens into an eight pounder and fired the cannon vertically. Object: to see if high velocities would deplume the chickens. It seems that Loomis didn't know whether to believe all those stories about tornados tearing the feathers off chickens. Unfortunately, his experiments were inconclusive because the cannon disgorged clouds of feathers plus well-shredded chickens. He recommended that other scientists try lower muzzle velocities! Since those more innocent days, science has accumulated many eye-witness accounts of this incredible phenomenon, including actual photographs that do not appear to have been tampered with in the darkroom. There can no longer be any reasonable doubt, tornados do deplume chickens. (Galway, Joseph G., and Schaefer, Joseph T.; "Fowl Play," Weatherwise, 32:116, 1979.) From Science Frontiers #8 , Fall 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 13: Winter 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Tidal Wave Of Gammas Sweeps Solar System On March 5, 1979, a colossal burst of gamma rays swept through the solar system, triggering radiation detectors on nine different spacecraft. By comparing the times of arrival of the burst, the direction of the source was narrowed down to a "box" a couple of arc minutes across. Gamma-ray bursts have never before been correlated with visible sources, but this time the box contained the remnants of a supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way. The anomaly that arises involves the immense distance of the supposed source and the strength of the burst when it reached the solar system. The power level of the supernova remnant gamma flash would have had to be about 1037 watts -- a stupendous figure. If the supernova remnant is a neutron star, as current theories suggest, the neutron star would have to be 10 to 100 times the size of the usual neutron stars. (Anonymous; "Gamma-Ray Burst Comes from Outside the Galaxy," New Scientist, 87:776, 1980.) From Science Frontiers #13, Winter 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 7: June 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects More Milky Seas Seen August 4, 1977. Indian Ocean. The s.s . British Renown enetered a large area of milky sea. The intensity of light was so great that the deck appeared to be just a dark shadow. During the display, humidity seemed to increase and the radio operator reported a decrease in signal strengths at HF and MF frequencies. September 6, 1977. Indian Ocean. An area of bioluminescence resembling white sea fog was spotted near the m.v . Wild Curlew. Entering the area, the milky light seemed to hover above the sea's surface. So strong was the light that the clouds above were illuminated. (Anonymous; "Bioluminescence," Marine Observer, 48:118, 1978.) Reference. Section GLW9 in our Catalog: Lightning, Auroras collects many more observations of milky seas. For more information on this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #7 , June 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... stream beds and have been attributed to water action. The ancient Spokane Flood that carved our Washington State's channeled scablands is seen as an apt terrestrial analogy. The Martian channels, however, are much larger than the water-eroded terrestrial analogs. The authors of the subject paper suggest that ice rather than water created the Martian channels, pointing out that terrestrial ice-stream and glacier landforms are much closer to the Martian features in terms of scale. (Lucchitta, Baerbel K., et al; "Did Ice Streams Carve Martian Outflow Channels?" Nature, 290:759, 1981.) Comment. This suggests the possibility that earth and Mars may have had synchronous Ice Ages due to solar variations or, perhaps, the envelopment of the entire solar system by a huge cloud of absorbing matter. From Science Frontiers #16, Summer 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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