Island Crisis » Astronomy

Total Lunar Eclipse June 2011 Mauritius | Photos

Kurt Avish — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 07:48:42 +0000

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Read full article on Island Crisis: Total Lunar Eclipse June 2011 Mauritius | Photos. Preview: The total lunar eclipse of last night (15 June 2011) amazed many of us and many in Mauritius were there to watch this wonder of nature. Our reader Thierry Alan who previously contributed many nice eclipse snaps has sent us some more photos this time too. Below are some of the best shots of the Lunar Eclipse as seen at Quatre Bornes last night. Enjoy and share this article if you like it. Related: Solar Eclipse January 2010 Photos (Mauritius)

Discovery Shuttle Final Landing

Kurt Avish — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 20:21:29 +0000

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Read full article on Island Crisis: Discovery Shuttle Final Landing. Preview: And it’s the final Shuttle Landing for Discovery on this Wednesday 9th of March 2011. Space shuttle Discovery landed for the last time on earth after its final mission which lasted 13 days and consisted of more than 5 millions miles of travel. This special landing today concludes an illustrious 27-year career of the space craft. The last mission of Discovery was commanded by Steve Lindsey and was joined by Pilot Eric Boe and Mission Specialists Alvin Drew, Michael Barratt, Steve Bowen and Nicole Stott. The shuttle’s crew last mission which consisted both of spacewalks and indoor mission was to deliver an outside storage platform, a robot astronaut prototype, a new pressurized storage module and tons of cargo. “Discovery is an amazing spacecraft and she has served her country well,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. Bolden said that the success of this mission and those that came before it is a testament to the diligence and determination of everyone who has worked on Discovery and the Space Shuttle Program, over these many years. Since 1984, Discovery flew 39 missions, spent 365 days in space, orbited Earth 5,830 times and traveled 148,221,675 miles. Discovery was the shuttle that launched the Hubble Space Telescope. The second and third Hubble service missions were also conducted by Discovery. It has also launched the Ulysses probe and three TDRS satellites. Discovery is also remembered to have carried the oldest human being (Project Mercury ...

Two Suns In Our Sky – Betelgeuse To Become a Supernova

Kurt Avish — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:55:02 +0000

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Read full article on Island Crisis: Two Suns In Our Sky – Betelgeuse To Become a Supernova. Preview: Two Suns in our sky, does it sound too fake? Yet it will soon occur! You will soon be witnessing a rare of the rare cosmic phenomenon probably with in this year. Yes, our 2nd Sun is going to appear soon. Betelgeuse is one of the brightest stars of the night sky and it is going to explode into a supernova to create this spectacular light show in the cosmic history. Betelgeuse is the ninth brightest star in the night sky and the second brightest in the constellation of Orion. It has a distinct orange-red color that makes it easy to spot in the night sky. We, the inhabitants of earth, will be watching the dying red super-giant star Betelgeuse exploding in to a very bright fireball. Though this star of the Orion constellation is 640 light-years away, it’s brightness is going to be so intense that it will turn night in to day and for few weeks it would appear that there are two Suns in the sky! The physicist’s explanation of this phenomenon says that the fuel in the center of Betelgeuse, which keeps it bright and supported, is coming to an end. When the fuel finishes, this star will collapse and explode in to a fireball of great intensity. After about a couple of weeks, its brightness will start fading and after few months it will become invisible. The ...

Earth Magnetic Pole Shifting And 2012 Related?

Kurt Avish — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:26:39 +0000

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Read full article on Island Crisis: Earth Magnetic Pole Shifting And 2012 Related?. Preview: Is the Earth Magnetic pole shifting and 2012 related? Following the interesting turn of events involving the movement of the Earth’s northern magnetic pole, there have been raised concerns about navigation for the pilots at the Tampa International Airport which has been closed temporarily to readjust its airstrip. The runway will reopen after Jan. 13 with new signs and bearings. According to the reports from the Federal Aviation Administration (US) – a computer simulation has shown that the Earth’s magnetic field lines have drifted towards Russia and has caused the planes from Florida to be thrown of their designated flight path. The information on magnetic field lines helps the pilots on navigation purposes. The new findings have thus changed the forces that drive the navigation readings. The compass readings for navigation have to be accurate and the level of precision required has made the authorities revamp the airstrip at Tampa. The magnetic poles of the earth are generated by the movements of the Earth’s inner and outer cores. Not much is properly known about these movements. From the past many years it is believed that the poles are constantly moving a few degrees every year but only when they change more than three degrees, they can affect runway numbers. But during the prior periods, the changes recorded were not so abrupt and intense as they are now. The effect of the magnetic field lines shows up ...

Nibiru Collision and 2012 Theory Explained

Kurt Avish — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 15:17:20 +0000

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Read full article on Island Crisis: Nibiru Collision and 2012 Theory Explained. Preview: The Nibiru collision with Earth in 2012 is becoming the topic of discussion of more and more people with each passing day toward 2012. Doomsday has been a subject of immense interest and curiosity to most of us. After all who remains unfazed when they get to know of the time fixed for the ultimate demolition of earth and all life surviving on it. One such recent theory that has been doing rounds for quite some time is about the impending collision between Earth and a planet called Nibiru sometime in 2012. Just like any other theory or hypothesis, this one too has its fair share of believers, followers and of course people who out-rightly reject it from the start. The idea or the theory was set in motion by a Wisconsin woman Nancy Lieder who says that as a young girl she was contacted by extra terrestrials called Zeta’s who had set up a communication device in her brain and sent out messages to her, that she disseminates through her website. According to her, she has been chosen to warn mankind regarding the impending doom. Though she had predicted the year of doom as 2003, however it has been linked with the year 2012 after the interpretations with Sumerian and Mayan calendars. According to the interpretation recorded by astronaut writer Zecharia Sitchin, it is said that a planet that crosses Earth once in 3600 years and ...

Asteroid 1999 RQ36 To Hit Earth in 2182

Kurt Avish — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:23:34 +0000

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Read full article on Island Crisis: Asteroid 1999 RQ36 To Hit Earth in 2182. Preview: Asteroid 1999 RQ36 is likely to hit our planet Earth in 2182. A new astronomical study suggests that the asteroid 1999 RQ36 has about 1 on 1000 chances of hitting our planet but nearly half of that risk corresponds to potential impacts in 2182. Well, here we start. When I was a kid, I heard it was going to in 2000 but we actually spent a really nice 2000 new year eve. In 2010, we hear it is going to be 2012. And now, if the Mayans are wrong, then we have another story to amaze our cataclysm fans till 2182. Mar Eugenia Sansaturio of the Universidad de Valladolid in Spain and her team used mathematical models to calculate the impact risk of the asteroid. Two high potential opportunities were found for the year 2182. Hopefully by then, NASA will already have a laser asteroid beam missile? 1999 RQ36 is an asteroid discovered in 1999 and the big baby is about 560 meters across. To talk in simple words, we can conclude that if such a little baby of space hit our tiny planet, then we can expect a widespread devastation of Earth! According to the researchers, if we are to deflect the path of this asteroid, the work must be done before 2080 as after this, it would be more difficult to deflect the asteroid from an impact to Earth. 2080…. at times I ...

Discovery of the Biggest Star R136a1

Kurt Avish — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:41:35 +0000

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Read full article on Island Crisis: Discovery of the Biggest Star R136a1. Preview: The biggest star ever, R136a1 has been discovered recently by astronomer Paul Crowther and his team. The star R136a1 is reportedly more than 300 times the mass of our Sun! R136a1 is also the most luminous star ever found. The luminosity of Star R136a1 is about 10000000 times the luminosity of our Sun. Paul Crowther, who is a professor of astrophysics at the University of Sheffield, and his team used archive data from the Hubble Space Telescope and ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) to study 2 clusters of stars namely the NGC 3603 and RMC 136a. The largest star ever found, R136a1 is found in the cluster R136 and the star has a current mass of around 265 solar masses and an estimated 320 birthweight solar masses. The star is estimated to be a little over one million years old and is classified under the super-heavyweight stars category. This type of star is only found in the densest star clusters in the universe. According to Paul Crowther, the most amazing mystery and puzzle of these stars is to find out how they were formed. “Either they were born so big or smaller stars merged together to produce them. Owing to the rarity of these monsters, I think it is unlikely that this new record will be broken any time soon” said Paul. Hey God, you’re an amazing engineer!

UFO Over China July 2010

Kurt Avish — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 10:33:20 +0000

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Read full article on Island Crisis: UFO Over China July 2010. Preview: A UFO was seen over China on July 7 2010 which even made the local authorities to shut down the Xiaoshan Airport in Hangzhou. This UFO sighting resulted in a 1 hour shut down of the airport as soon as the airport’s radars picked up the moving object in the sky. While some who believe in aliens will say that it was really something from another world, those who do not believe in extraterrestrial life are thinking that it could have been some Chinese military tests or training. The China UFO was spotted by the airport’s radar at about 21:00 local time. The presence of this object in the Chinese sky resulted in a real panic among the local population and all flights from the airport were grounded. UFO sighting is not so common in China. In 2009, another UFO sighting was reported by Chinese scientists at the Purple Mountain Observatory in Nanjing. Till now, no scientific explanation has been obtained. This UFO sighting of July 2010 is yet another one to further confuse the Chinese and even the population of the world about the existence of aliens.

Total Solar Eclipse 11 July 2010

Kurt Avish — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 14:34:43 +0000

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Read full article on Island Crisis: Total Solar Eclipse 11 July 2010. Preview: July 11 2010 total solar eclipse is nearing. This total solar eclipse will be the 2nd solar eclipse of the year 2010. Unfortunately this eclipse will not be visible to us here in Mauritius. The animated map below shows the locations where this eclipse will be visible. The solar eclipse of July 2010 will be visible over the Southern Pacific Ocean to southern Argentina and Chile. People living in the region of Easter Island and other small islands of the Pacific Ocean will observe the greatest eclipse POV. For the little fact, a total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves between the Earth and the Sun. This obscures part of the Earth view of the Sun and we see a Total Solar Eclipse when the apparent diameter of the Moon is larger than that of the Sun. As a result, this blocks all direct sunlight from the affected point of view on Earth. The dark umbral shadow of the moon is expected to touch the South Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand at about 18:15 Universal Time and then move across the Pacific Ocean until it reaches southern Chile and Argentina. The eclipse will mostly be visible in the open ocean however islands such as Cook Islands, parts of French Polynesia, and Easter Island will enjoy a really good eclipse sight. The eclipse will end as the sun sets in southern Argentina at 20:52 UT.

Space Capsule Hayabusa Back To Earth

Kurt Avish — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:28:50 +0000

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Read full article on Island Crisis: Space Capsule Hayabusa Back To Earth. Preview: The space capsule Hayabusa is back to earth after nearly 7 years spent in space and back from a journey of over 4 billion miles. Hayabusa is the 1st space capsule to have successfully completed its journey get dropped back to earth. The space capsule was projected toward an asteroid in 2003 by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and after a journey of around 7 years, the capsule is back to earth with a lot of valuable information gathered from the asteroid as well as during its journey in space. Hayabusa landed at the Woomera Prohibited Area, in Australia on Monday. It was then airlifted and brought to the town of Woomera. The space capsule will be kept in town for some more days after which it will be transported to Japan where Japanese scientists are expected to start their work on it. The Hayabusa space capsule was supposed to be back to Earth 3 years ago, however due to technical problems encountered, the landing took 3 more years. Scientists are expecting to use the gathered information from the asteroid to learn more about the evolution of the solar system