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Astro Earth - August 2007

Early space missions killed Martian microbes ?

August 30th 2007 02:37
Two NASA space probes that visited Mars 30 years ago may have stumbled upon alien bacteria on the Red Planet and accidentally killed them, a scientist theorises. The problem was the Viking space probes of 1976 77 were looking for the wrong kind of life and didn't recognise it.
In the'70s, the Viking mission found no signs of life, but it was looking for Earth like life in which saline water is the internal liquid of living cells. "Given the cold, dry conditions on Mars life could have evolved on Mars with the key internal fluid consisting of a mix of water and hydrogen peroxide," said Dirk SchuIze Maktich, a geology professor at Washington State University and author of the new research. "The Viking experiments of the'70s wouldn't have noticed alien hydrogen peroxide based life and would have killed it by drowning and overheating the microbes," he added.

viking lander 2
The view form Viking second landing site

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Beautiful Helix Nebula

August 29th 2007 10:45
This infrared image taken from the NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Helix Nebula (also known as NGC 7293)
Helix nebula
Helix Nebula
, a must see for amateur astronomers for its vivid colours and eerie resemblance to a giant eye. A breading ground for comets forming and colliding inside the Helix Nebula.



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Lunar eclipse August 28th

August 27th 2007 10:50
Just a reminder to make a date with the best lunar eclipse since 1999 the evening of Tuesday August 28 will see (weather permitting)

the bulk of the eclipse occurs in the early evening so the whole


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Jupiter's new Red spot

August 27th 2007 10:03
Jupiter has a new Red Spot a formed on Jupiter’s northern hemisphere called red junior the official name of this storm is Oval BA
The new spot formed from 3 smaller storms and first appeared in 2000 the 3 spots joined to form a lager red spot.
jupiter's red spot
Jupiter's new red spot

A similar merger many centuries ago may have created the original Great Red Spot, a storm twice as wide as our planet and at least 300 years old and rages at speeds in excess of 400kph (some storm front


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Past Martian Water Flows?

August 24th 2007 05:53
water,hydration
2001 2005 martian images


These of images show the walls of a small crater in Mars’s Terio Sirenurn region. The view on the right, from August 2005, shows a bright streaky deposit that does not appear in the same crater in December 2001, as shown on the left. This 300 metre long feature was possibly curved by a water rich fluid flowing downhill sometime in the past few years


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Searching for Extrasolar planets

August 24th 2007 04:20
The search continues for other worlds in our quest to see if we are the only ones.
Land based visual observation has just about reached its limit given the Earth’s atmospheric aberrations limitations and the growing light pollution. Having dedicated spacecraft to do the search in space where the image resolution will be at its optimum and the spacecraft can monitor changes in stars luminosity continuously without the need to wait for nighttime observation, this is perhaps one of the crucial factor in maximizing the search and detection of distant planets.

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Alien Autopsy Film a Furphy

August 21st 2007 03:55
The said “original” footage of the Roswell crash site in my opinion is a very elaborate hoax.
Before anyone jumps up and down and accuses me of being biased we need to consider the facts.

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Detecting distant planets

August 20th 2007 08:13
We have long gazed at the sky and wondered if there were other worlds like our own Earth in orbit around the distant stars.

For the meantime, we know of Earth-size worlds only exist in our own solar system. In time we may discover that Earths exist elsewhere in our galaxy, circling other Suns. We may find that planets like Earth are not rare, but common. Conversely, if we do not find other Earths, our concept of star and planet formation is open to question. In either case, our understanding of our planet and our place in the universe will change


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Buying your first digital camera

August 17th 2007 14:11
Buying a digital camera can be a frustrating and confusing time for first time buyers, what should I buy, what is a pixel SD card, and image compression all about?

So you need to do some research before venturing into the department store where you will get inundated with all sorts of sales jargon


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Lunar Eclipse this month

August 16th 2007 10:09
Get your telescopes and binoculars out on 28th (weather permitting) of this month to see the total Lunar eclipse. The lunar eclipse will be visible in its entirety for all of Eastern Australia and New Zealand only partially visible in Western Australia, and will be in progress at Moonrise for the remainder of Australia and most of Asia.

A Lunar Eclipse occurs when part or all of the Moon passes into the Earth's shadow usually happens in different parts of the world 2 to 4 times per year. The lunar eclipse is different form a solar eclipse, a solar eclipse occurs when the moon’s orbit crosses the Sun. A lunar eclipse is when the Moon crosses the Earth’s shadow


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Internet filtering an election sweetener?

August 15th 2007 01:31
Internet filtering is a case of too little too late the Federal government was going to regulate the internet 10 years ago and has yet achieved very little and their thinking is out of date and a waste of taxpayer’s money.

Now suddenly the panic is on (oh yes we have an election later this year) we must do something! The lackluster internet service in Australia is well below world standards with poor service low internet speed and inefficient technology. Although it is getting better but it should have been better years ago


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Say goodnight to Venus

August 13th 2007 01:38
Say goodnight to Venus as evening cycle ends on August 19th.Venus descends below our horizon and becomes the “morning Star”
Venus will not be visible in the southern hemisphere as the "evening star" for another 11 months.

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Killer Meteor Impact in Earth's Past

August 11th 2007 02:59
A group of scientists have found evidence of a mega meteor impact crater much larger and earlier than the one that killed the dinosaurs an impact that they believe caused the biggest mass extinction in Earth's history.
The 480 Kilometers-wide crater lies hidden more than a Kilometer beneath the East Antarctic Ice Shelf. Satellite data confirming gravity measurements that reveal its existence suggest that it could date back about 250 million years when almost all animal life on Earth died out.
Approximately 100 million years ago, Australia split from the ancient Gondwana supercontinent and began drifting north, pushed away by the expansion of a rift valley into the eastern Indian Ocean. The rift cuts directly through the crater, so the impact may have helped the rift to form.
Satellite image showing bed rock topography

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Kecksberg the new Roswell?

August 8th 2007 06:57
The year is 1965 it`s an usually warm December evening an event was about to take place that evening in a small country town in America called Kecksberg that would divided a township.
The controversy started that evening about 5 pm near sunset when a bright light appeared in the sky. The light was bright and exhibiting various colours bright blue orange and silver. The object appeared to streak across the sky in an erratic fashion some people claimed the object moved slow and seemed to twist and turn much like a remote control model aero plane. Needless to say there where a lot of conflicting stories as to what actually occurred.
The object continued across the sky and witnesses say it glided like a conventional aircraft until it hit some trees on the outskirts of town near a farm. People started calling the local radio station. The radio station dispatched a news reporter who proceeded to try and find the fallen object. He interviewed several witnesses on tape and the interviews where broadcast by the local FM radio station, soon more people started arriving. Then events became more bizarre the military arrived and the so called men in black where also there


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Space Shuttle Jitters

August 6th 2007 09:31
The national aeronautics and space administration (NASA) gained media attention in the early 60s with the then mercury program.

NASA’s image has certainly taken a beating over the last few weeks with allegations of alcohol consumption in the workplace and the pending trail by another astronaut for alleged kidnapping and the tragic loss of two space craft and 14 personnel


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The Mars Email hoax

August 6th 2007 03:17
It’s back so beware of the Mars hoax. ( there was a similar email posted a few years ago)

There are a number of blogs and emails floating in cyber-space saying that the planet mars will be spectacular….. Well this part is true planet Mars will be at closest to Earth on 30 October 2007 at a distance of 70 million Kilometers. The hoax part is that it will NOT be as big as the moon


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Why do marine mammals “beach” themselves?

August 4th 2007 11:54
There are many reasons why this behavior occurs some of the reasons are perhaps the animals are sick confused or just lost, or they may become aware when they’re dying and like elephants seek a place for them to die. Whales and dolphins beach themselves in many parts of the world so there must be some trigger to cause this phenomenon.

Are these creatures committing mass suicide or are they making a protest because some countries are intent on eating them


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Unusual Cloud Formations

August 2nd 2007 11:10
Clouds are mostly water vapor and appear in all shapes and sizes, but occasionally they surprise us with some unusual formations although we pretty much take clouds for granted it’s nice to take some time out appreciate them just for their artistry.

On Wednesday August 1 2007 I was a passenger driving south west from Brisbane City I happen to gaze up to see what looked like pillow shaped clouds, 6 almost equally spaced clouds I call them “pillows” or perhaps snow balls would be a better description


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Fuel pricing "Rip Off"?

August 2nd 2007 02:15
Back when I was a lad (during the 1950s) there where 3 types of fuel available, Super, standard and diesel and of course kerosene.

Comparatively speaking only marginally cheaper than today’s fuel prices. But there wasn’t the constant see- saw- pricing scam where the price of fuel mysteriously goes up in price in just a few hours, in Queensland when driving past a petrol station in the morning the price will say $1.10 by late afternoon it is not uncommon to see a 10- 12 cent price hike especially on Friday. (I know the fuel companies have the interest of road users at heart they are trying to keep the road toll down by jacking up the fuel price just before the week-end YEH RIGHT) So why are we as consumer being constantly ripped off” every week


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