The Universe - Biggest Blasts

Today on Discovery Enterprise we exam the most powerful explosions and blasts in the universe. Today’s video selection looks at the Mexico's Yucatán peninsula and the impact which caused the Chicxulub crater. We will also investigate Super Novae and finally the greatest explosion ever that gave rise to our Cosmos.

The Universe - Biggest Blasts

Death Stars and Gamma Ray Bursts

Today on Discovery Enterprise we explore a very real cosmic danger and a devastating Extinction Level Event Facing (E.L.E.) from the depths of deep space that could potentially wipe out humanity and our entire biosphere. Namely, Death Stars and the Gamma Ray Bursts associated with them.

Gamma ray bursts are the most luminous electromagnetic events in the universe since the Big Bang.

They are flashes of gamma rays emanating from seemingly random places in deep space at random times. The duration of a gamma-ray burst is typically a few seconds, but can range from a few milliseconds to several minutes, and the initial burst is usually followed by a longer-lived "afterglow" emitting at longer wavelengths (X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, infrared, and radio). Gamma-ray bursts are detected by orbiting satellites about two to three times per week, but the number of GRBs that could be observed from Earth is about three times this and is currently limited by the efficiency of the instruments.

Most observed GRBs appear to be collimated emissions caused by the collapse of the core of a rapidly spinning, massive star into a black hole. All known Gamma Ray Bursts originate from outside our own galaxy; though a related class of phenomena, SGR flares, are associated with Galactic magnetars. Thus the sources of most GRBs are billions of light years away.

It was reported in March, 2008 that our planet currently lies in the line of sight of such a star designated WR-104, a mere 8,000 light years away in the constellation of Sagittarius, roughly a quarter of the way to the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Even whole galaxies may be a source of potentially lethal gamma blasts. The discovery of Death Star Galaxy in the binary galaxy system known as 3C321 was announced by NASA back in December 18, 2007. In this system two galaxies are in orbit around one another. A supermassive black hole at the core of the system's larger galaxy is spewing a jet in the direction of its smaller companion.

If such an event happen in our corner of the Milky Way the gamma ray blast would strip away the ozone layer and generate chemical smog, producing a widespread chill that grips the Earth. And the associated electromagnetic pulse will zap all of our electronics.

How would humankind and the entire biosphere hold up in the face of such a global catastrophe and how can we hope to defend ourselves in the face of such a devastating danger? Today’s feature videos highlight these awesome but, potentially deadly phenomena.

The Universe - Death Stars

Death stars are in the final stage of life before they explode into a supernova and, occasionally, the biggest blast in the universe--the gamma ray burst (GRB). One death star, named WR104, lurks 8,000 light-years from Earth and some believe its GRB arrow is aimed directly at us. A death star galaxy named 3C321 is a terrifying vision of what could one day befall the Milky Way galaxy: a companion galaxy's black hole is hammering it with a constant blast of high-energy particles, wreaking havoc with its celestial bodies.

Mega Disasters - Gamma Ray Burst

Scientists believe gamma ray bursts were responsible for a mass extinction 450 million years ago. The gamma rays strip away the ozone layer and generate chemical smog, producing a widespread chill that grips the Earth. An expected electromagnetic pulse will zap all of our electronics. How will our modern cities hold up in the face of a such a global catastrophe?

Miracle Planet - Episode 1: The Violent Past

Our planetary home the Earth was born out of chaos and disaster. Today’s documentary is part of the five part series the “Miracle Planet” co-produced by Japan's NHK and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), and narrated by Christopher Plummer.

This series transports us back through time to the breathtaking genesis of our planetary abode - the Earth. Today’s instalment, “The Violent Past” explores the stupendous Cosmic forces that created and shaped our world and made possible the fragile conditions for life itself to come into being and flourish . This series features some of the most astounding high-definition visuals ever conceived in a documentary series and interviews with pre-eminent scientists in the fields of Astronomy, Geology and Biology, Today’s episode reveals the startling earliest history of life on Earth - its microscopic manifestations and the unimaginable challenges to its survival.

Miracle Planet - Episode 1: The Violent Past

Hubble: The Ultimate Telescope

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present an outstanding documentary about the Hubble Space Telescope which is proving to be quite a hit with the critics. It is fascinating look at one of the most advanced space telescopes ever conceived. Positioned outside of the Earth’s atmosphere, the Hubble Space Telescope has probed the depths of our universe, out over billions of light years, to the far-reaching corners of the Cosmos. It is regarded as one of the most important scientific instruments ever built, deepening our understanding of the cosmos. Today we will meet the scientists and engineers who put the telescope into space, the astronauts who fixed its faulty eyesight and the astronomers who use Hubble to unlock the secrets of the Cosmos which we call home.

Hubble: The Ultimate Telescope

Eye on the Universe

Imagine looking up into the night sky and seeing so clearly you could spot an astronaut walking on the moon. Imagine peering back to the beginning of time and seeing stars form before your very eyes or black holes in galaxies billion of light years away. Imagine being able to look into other solar systems and finding Earth like planets that hold the possibility of life.

An eye this powerful was built and operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) at the Paranal Observatory on Cerro Paranal, a 2,635 m high mountain in the Atacama desert in northern Chile. Each telescope has an 8.2 metre aperture. The V.L.T. - The Very Large Telescope consists of four separate telescopes that act together as one giant eye. The V.L.T. is one of the most powerful telescope arrays on earth. It is one of the most powerful tools in humanity’s scientific arsenal for unlocking the secrets of the cosmos. This is The Eye on the Universe.

Eye on The Universe

Complete Cosmos - The Solar System and Beyond

Today on Discovery Enterprise we will take a journey through the Solar System and beyond. 

In today’s first documentary we will explore the eight planets of our Solar System (nine if you are one of those diehards that still insist on counting Pluto as a major planet). This documentary gives detailed descriptions of each of the planets including what the planet is made of and other interesting facts.

In today’s second video offering “Complete Cosmos-Secrets of the Solar System” we learn how Astronomers measure distance in the Cosmos. And, also learn about the different Stars, Nebulas, and Dark Matter that make up our awesome Cosmos. We will also explore the phenomena of Colliding Galaxies and much, much more.

The Greatest Jupiter Portrait

 From CICLOPS Jupiter as you see it:

This true color mosaic of Jupiter was constructed from images taken by the narrow angle camera onboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft starting at 5:31 Universal time on December 29, 2000, as the spacecraft neared Jupiter during its flyby of the giant planet. It is the most detailed global color portrait of Jupiter ever produced; the smallest visible features are ~ 60 km (37 miles) across. The mosaic is composed of 27 images: nine images were required to cover the entire planet in a tic-tac-toe pattern, and each of those locations was imaged in red, green, and blue to provide true color. Although Cassini's camera can see more colors than humans can, Jupiter here looks the way that the human eye would see it...........

Faces of Earth, Building the Planet

From the Pacific Northwest to the shores of the Atlantic seaboard, the breadth and scope of America’s natural and varied landscape provides us with a very real and a grand Geology textbook writ large like few other place on Earth. The land we see today reveals the tremendous, titanic and power forces which shaped our planet over hundreds of millions of years.

Faces of Earth, Building the Planet

Felix Baumgartner Attemps Near Space Sky Dive

We have reported on Frenchman Michel Fournier efforts to beat Joe Kittinger's 1960  record sky dive of 31,200 meters. But he has competition from Austrian Felix Baumgartner.:

It is 50 years since the American Joe Kittinger made history by leaping from a balloon at 102,800ft (31km).
Many have sought to repeat the feat down the decades but all have failed.

Baumgartner, who is famous for stunts such as jumping off the Petronas Towers, aims to skydive from a balloon sent to at least 120,000 ft (37km).

It is likely that in his long freefall of more than five minutes, he will exceed the speed of sound - the first person to do so without the aid of a machine.

"No-one really knows what that will be like," he said.

The website is here.

Deep Space One

Deep Space 1 (DS1) was a mission of the NASA New Millennium Program and involved a spacecraft dedicated to testing its payload of advanced, high risk technologies. Launched on 24 October 1998, three of twelve technologies on board had to work within a few minutes of separation from the carrier rocket for the mission to continue.

Deep Space 1 succeeded in its primary and secondary objectives including flybys of the asteroid Braille and of Comet Borrelly, returning valuable science data and images. Though on-board communications are still active, DS1's ion engines were shut down on 18 December 2001 at approximately 20:00:00 UTC signalling the end of the mission.

But, Deep Space 1 symbolized a major revolution in the skies above us. Unmanned probes are now hurling through the cosmos in record numbers. Travelling billion of miles from Earth and carrying out longer more complex missions then once ever imagined. The probes of today will spend years in orbit sending back data on the Sun, the planets and the organic compounds that formed our universe. They owe much of this progress to one pioneering mission. Deep Space 1 tested twelve new technologies that had never been used in deep space travel. NASA and the scientific community owe much of there future and recent success to this daring pioneer of space travel.

Deep Space One

How the Earth Was Made - The Deepest Place on Earth

Today on Discovery Enterprise we are going on a voyage into the Abyss into the deepest place on Earth – the Marianas Trench.

The Marianas Trench is the deepest place on earth, deeper than Mt. Everest is high. The trench is where the ocean floor disappears into the centre of the earth. The pressures at this depth are 17 times greater than what it takes to crush a nuclear submarine. Only two men on January 23, 1960, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard aboard the Swiss-designed, Italian-built, United States Navy bathyscaphe Trieste have ever been down the Trench, fewer than have set foot on the moon. Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of that intrepid voyage.

Follow us on this daring mission into the abyss and explore the extraordinary geology that has created this deep scar along the ocean floor.

How the Earth Was Made - The Deepest Place on Earth

Brian Cox - What is Time?

Today on Discovery Enterprise we explore the mystery of time with particle physicist, BBC television popularizer of science and former keyboard player in the UK pop band D:Ream – Brian Cox.

Today’s documentary explorers an aspect of our lives that we all take for granted. It is something so familiar you usually do not even give it a second thought. One of the key elements of being a human being is that we can tell the time. It allows us to make sense of the world. The past, present and the future but it is no where near straight forward as you might think. Professor Brian Cox is going to find out what makes time tick. Did Time have a beginning? Why does time tick and does our future already exist? Professor Brian Cox is going to try and answer one of the simplest questions you can ask, What Time is it?

Brian Cox - What is Time?


Watch BBC.Horizon.2008.Do.You.Know.What.Time.It.Is.WS.PDTV.XviD.MP3.MVGroup.org.avi in Educational | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

The Universe - Cosmic Apocalypse

BIG RIP : Dramatic end of our universe

The Year is Twenty Billion AD and there is something gravely wrong with the Universe. The Universe as we know it is condemned to death. Space, matter and even time will one day cease to exist and there's nothing we can do about it. 

  
Harsh realities are revealed about the future of our Universe; it may collapse and burn or it might be gripped by a galactic ice age. Either of these scenarios are a long way off. 

The Universe - Cosmic Collisions

Cosmic collisions. They are among the most violent and life altering phenomena in the universe. From fender benders to high velocity impacts, gravity is constantly moving everything around in space and so things are bound to collide. Asteroids, comets, galaxies and planets are some of the objects involved in these energized events. Yet as violent and destructive as these collisions sound, we may owe our very existence to them.

The Universe - Cosmic Collisions

NASA | BEST: Living on the Moon

NASA | BEST: Living on the Moon

An amazingly simple, yet accurate illustrated depiction of what it'll take to establish life on the moon. Enjoy!

Modern Marvels - Doomsday Tech

Today on Discovery Enterprise we explore the technologies that can either ensure the long term survival of the human species or lead to its ultimate extinction.

Does the human race have the technology to prevent our own extinction from an asteroid? Can we wipe out our own species by a super engineered disease? Cyber terrorism, genetic engineering are just some scenarios for a twenty-first century doomsday.

Modern Marvels - Doomsday Tech




Modern Marvels - More Doomsday Tech

Want to buy a cheap Space Shuttle?

Are you in the markets for second hand space ships? If you are NASA can help:

 CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Here is a recession bargain: the NASA has slashed the price of the 1970s-era spaceships to $28.8 million apiece from $42 million.

The shuttles are for sale once their flying days are over, which is scheduled to be this fall.

When the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in December 2008 put out the call seeking buyers at museums, schools and elsewhere, the agency received about 20 inquiries. An agency spokesman, Mike Curie, said he expected more interest, especially with the discount....

Question: Can anyone think of something useful to do with a used Space Shuttle? Something besides displaying it in a museum?

First to Cross the Ocean

Today on Discovery Enterprise, it brings us great pleasure to present a documentary concerning a subject very dear to our heart – humankind's first major ocean crossing and its pioneering arrival in Australia.

This monumental achievement holds the secret as to how and why modern humans were able to dominate this planet and paved the way for the epic explorations to follow. In this one hour film experts explore the mysteries that surround this historic journey - how and when it was achieved, and explores the questions of whether this was a purposeful mission or simply an accident and exactly what is different about modern humans that give us the capabilities to go where no one has gone before.

In First to Cross the Ocean, scientists from a broad range of specialties come together to study the first prehistoric oceanic explorers, including this researcher's theory on the role of sexes in successfully building new colonies.

First To Cross The Ocean

Oceans – The Red Sea

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present the third instalment of the BBC documentary series Oceans and explore the remote and unexplored Southern Red Sea, teeming with marine life and home to some of the warmest waters on the planet.

With unique access, expedition leader Paul Rose, environmentalist Philippe Cousteau Jr, maritime archaeologist Dr Lucy Blue and marine biologist and oceanographer Tooni Mahto investigate whether the vibrant coral here can help other coral reefs threatened by global warming.

They dive in one of only two places on Earth you can see a new ocean being born; they explore the wreck of an Italian ship, to find her top secret, deadly cargo; and they uncover archaeological evidence of one of early man's first encounters with the sea.

And, Philippe Cousteau Jr has an emotional journey to the remains of an ambitious underwater village established by his grandfather, Jacques Cousteau, in 1963 to discover whether humans could live beneath the waves.

The Red Sea is one of the youngest oceans in the world and one of the warmest. The northern region, with its diverse array of marine life, is one of the most visited dive locations on earth while the southern end remains virtually unexplored. It's a global hotspot for marine biology and an important trade route throughout human history, linking the trade goods of India and the Far East with the markets of Egypt and Europe.

Oceans - The Red Sea


Watch Oceans - Episode 3 - Red Sea.mov in Educational | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Queen of Sheba - Behind the Myth

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present another BBC documentary concerning the legendary Queen of Sheba.

The Queen of Sheba is one of the most alluring names in history, synonymous with the exotic and erotic, but until now her real story has remained elusive. Who was she? Did she have a child by King Solomon of Israel? And how did her nation grow so powerful, only to vanish beneath the sands of time? Produced to accompany a major British Museum exhibition, the film gained exclusive access to the excavation of the Queen of Sheba's temple in the arid heartland of Yemen, to unveil the enigmatic riddle of this mysterious queen.

Queen of Sheba - Behind the Myth

Cheat Sheet with Michio Kaku - Mysteries of The Universe

Suppose you are out with a group of friends gazing at the night sky and someone says, did you know that they just found a black hole at the centre of our galaxy and someone else mentions dark matter or the whole universe was smaller then an atom the instant before the big bang.. No your friends are not Astrophysicists, they probable just have a good cheat sheet and now it’s your turn.

Cheat Sheet with Michio Kaku - Mysteries of The Universe

Brilliant Minds

They were the misfits and arrogant rebels. They flouted conventional wisdom and each conceived a radical new vision of the cosmos. Galileo Galilee, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawkin all had tumultuous lives filled with great triumphs and humbling failures. Who were these brilliant rebels and what secrets of there minds allowed them to think the unthinkable and reveal the beauty and strangeness of the universe.

Brilliant Minds

In Search of the Queen of Sheba

Today on Discovery Enterprise we join acclaimed BBC journalist Michael Wood in the third instalment of his documentary series “In Search of Myths and Heroes” as we go in search of the legendary Queen of Sheba.

The story of the Queen of Sheba appears in religious texts sacred to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Described in the Bible as simply a Queen of the East, modern scholars believe she came from the Kingdom of Axum in Ethiopia, the Kingdom of Saba in Yemen, or both. Their main clue is that she brought bales of incense with her as a gift; frankincense only grows in these two areas. Both countries claim her as theirs. Given that they are separated by only 25 kilometers of water, both could be right.

In these tales the Queen of Sheba is a seeker of truth and wisdom and she has heard that King Solomon of Israel is a very wise man. She travels on camel to Jerusalem to meet him and test his knowledge with questions and riddles. With her she brings frankincense, myrrh, gold and precious jewels.

King Solomon has heard of Sheba and her great kingdom. He has also heard that she has a strange feature, a left foot that is cloven like that of a goat and a hairy leg. Eager to see if the story is true, he has the floor of his court polished until it is like glass. When the Queen of Sheba walks across the floor, Solomon sees the reflection of her cloven foot. Right in front of his eyes, it transforms and becomes normal.

The Queen of Sheba tests Solomon's wisdom, asking him many questions and giving him riddles to solve. He answers to her satisfaction and then he teaches her about his god Yahweh and she becomes a follower. This is how some Ethiopians believe Christianity came to their county. The Queen agrees to stay with King Solomon as a guest. An unmarried woman, she warns the King not to touch her. He replies that in exchange she should not take anything of his. He has tricked her, however. In the middle of her first night she is thirsty and she takes a glass of water. He confronts her and tells her that by breaking her agreement she has released him from his. They spend the night together and when she returns home from his kingdom, she is pregnant with a son.

She raises her son Menelik on her own. When he grows up, Menelik decides that he wants to meet his father and travels to Israel to meet King Solomon. When he returns, he takes with him the Ark of the Covenant, the sacred container that contained the Ten Commandments. In Ethiopian legend, the Ark has remained in Ethiopia ever since and Ethiopians see Menelik as the first in an unbroken line of Ethiopian kings that stretches into the twentieth century.

In Search of Myths and Heroes - The Queen of Sheba

Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s The Silent World

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present two Jacques-Yves Cousteau documentary classics “The Silent World” and “The Silent World Revisited.”

The Silent World (French: Le Monde du silence) is a French documentary film released in 1956, co-directed by the famed French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau and a young Louis Malle. The Silent World is noted as one of the first films to use underwater cinematography to show the ocean depths in colour. Its title derives from Cousteau's 1953 book The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and Adventure.

The film was shot aboard the ship Calypso. Cousteau and his team of divers shot 25 kilometers of film over two years in the Mediterranean Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, of which 2.5 kilometers were included in the finished documentary.

The film later faced criticism for environmental damage done during the filmmaking. In one scene, the crew of Calypso massacre a school of sharks that were drawn to a whale's carcass. In another, Cousteau uses dynamite near a coral reef in order to make a more complete census of the marine life in its vicinity. Cousteau later became more environmentally conscious, involved in marine conservation, and was even called "the father of the environmental movement" by Ted Turner.

The Silent World was the first of Cousteau's two documentary films to win an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, the other being World Without Sun in 1964. The film also won the Palme d'Or award at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival, being the only documentary film to win the award until Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 repeated the feat in 2004.

In 2004, the Cousteau Society returned to the Red Sea with the Cousteau ship Alcyone to explore again the sites where Jacques Cousteau shot the films "Silent World" and "World without Sun" and pay homage fifty years later. This extraordinary expedition entitled Le Monde du Silence Revisité (Silent World Revisited) has been filled with adventure, emotions. The documentary "World Without Sun" chronicles Jacques Cousteau's work on Continental Shelf Station Two, or "Conshelf Two", the first ambitious attempt to create an environment in which men could live and work on the sea floor.

The Silent World and The Silent World Revisited

The following play list contains both film classics.

Avatar

I think just about everyone would have seen the movie Avatar by now, so lets discuss it. Its a topic in our FORUM so lets discuss it! Did you like it? Dit you like the 3D special effects? How about the story? The science? What about the message.? I'm interested in what people think.

Mystery Object approaches Earth

Image of asteroid 2010 AL30 taken on Jan 12 at 15h 46m GMT with a 35cm Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope - Credit: Dave Herald

 

Theres a strange object called 2010 AL30 approaching Earth. What is it? Is it a small asteroid? Or is it a man made object? Perhaps space junk? Opinion is still divided but we should know soon.:

ASTRONOMERS will tonight get their best look at a "mystery object" orbiting the Earth just a third of the distance out to the moon.

Named 2010 AL30, the object will pass within 130,000km of the Earth at 12:48 GMT (22:48 AEDT).

It is between 10-15m long, meaning there is no chance it could ever have an impact on the planet, but it is certainly causing plenty of discussion in scientific circles.

Experts are divided over whether the object is man-made or a small asteroid.

Italian scientists Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero told Ria Novosti it had an orbital period of almost exactly one year and might be a spent rocket booster.

But Alan Harris at the US Space Science Institute said the object had a "perfectly ordinary Earth-crossing orbit".

"Unlikely to be artificial, its orbit doesn't resemble any useful spacecraft trajectory, and its encounter velocity with Earth is not unusually low," he posted to The Minor Planet Mailing List.

Expert astronomers will be able to see it shining with a brightness of a 14th-magnitude star similar to that of Pluto.

It will appear moving through the constellations of Orion, Taurus and Pisces, according to NASA's Solar System Dynamics website.

Heres an animation of the flyby by Gerhard Dangl :



For more information try these two links.

ATOM - Illusion of Reality

Today on Discovery Enterprise we present the last instalment of the acclaimed series Atom presented by Professor Jim Al-Khalili. Today we join the good professor as he explores how studying the atom forced us to rethink the nature of reality itself. He discovers that there might be parallel universes in which different versions of us exist, finds out that empty space isn't empty at all, and investigates the differences in our perception of the world in the universe and the its underlying reality.

ATOM - Illusion of Reality

The Bible's Greatest Secrets

Today on Discovery Enterprise we explore the history of the field of Biblical Archaeology. Today's instalment is part of the documentary series "Mysteries of the Bible" which aired on A&E Television from 1994-1998. This episode looks at the work of archaeologists in the Holy Land, as they look for physical artefacts and seek to corroborate the stories reported in the Bible. The results provide an interesting look at the Bible and the stories involving the walls of Jericho and the parting of the Red Sea. Re-enactments, computer imagery, and on-location photography are used to illustrate the points made in the film.

Mysteries of the Bible - The Bible's Greatest Secrets

How to Travel to a Parallel Universe

Today on Discovery Enterprise we are going to travel with physicist Dr. Michio Kaku on one of the greatest Sci-Fi expeditions ever conceived and design a gateway to a parallel universe where the alternate realities of our imagination come alive and Doppelganger versions of ourselves are manifest.

MIT cosmologist Alan Guth explains his recipe for creating your own universe in the lab and physicist Neil Turok explains how a parallel universe is only an atom's length away from us.

So join us as we take a plunge down the Cosmic Rabbit Hole into the ultimate Cosmic Wonderland.

The first and second seasons of Sci Fi Science, hosted by Dr. Michio Kaku is a available on DVD from the Discovery Channel’s online store.

Sci Fi Science - How to Travel to a Parallel Universe

The Greatest Discoveries in Astronomy

For most of human history, the only light we knew came from the sky. By day, the sun. By night, an uncountable number of stars. From the beginning, our ancestors believed that the sun and the stars were heavenly - out of this world - and they were right. We've been watching the sky for thousands of years, but until recently we couldn't see well enough to understand our connection to the cosmos. But now, our astronomical vision has sharpened; we can see farther and clearer. We can observe objects that are invisible to human eyes. Our increasingly improving vision has allowed us to make great discoveries revealing an astonishing and wonderful universe. What follows are 13 of the greatest discoveries of astronomy.

The Greatest Discoveries in Astronomy

The 100 Greatest Discoveries In Physics

Physics is the study of the world around us. Asking some of the most profound questions in human history. How the Universe works? What holds matter together and what is this strange force, gently enough to make an apple fall yet powerful enough to lock the moon in captive orbit? Our need to understand has inspired humankinds greatest discoveries. From unleashing the fearsome power of the atom. To uncovering the nature of light itself. To revealing the forces that hold our entire universe together. These are the greatest discoveries in Physics.

The 100 Greatest Discoveries In Physics

Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett

This is just a wonderful story:

In 1925 the British explorer Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett plunged into the Amazon forest in search of a lost civilisation he had named the City of Z. He was never seen again.

Fawcett’s disappearance remains an enduring and intriguing mystery. A former spy and veteran of the Somme, he became convinced, based on a combination of serious research, intensive fieldwork, wishful thinking and clairvoyance, that the Amazon had once been the cradle of a mighty civilisation. He was widely dismissed as a crackpot.

Fawcett had a tremendous moustache on his stiff upper-lip, and a self-belief that was almost idolatrous. He was fearless and tough as teak, reciting Romantic poetry as he waded through the fly-infested Mato Grosso. He was slightly mad. But, astonishingly, he was also right.

Recent archaeological research, using satellite imagery and radar, has uncovered convincing proof of large pre-Columbian settlements in the very places where Fawcett searched and vanished: not merely houses, but moats, roads, bridges, avenues and squares laid out with geometric precision. ..

The latest discovery, reported in the journal Antiquity, has found more than 200 earthworks in the upper Amazon basin, some built in the 13th century but others dating back two centuries before Christ.

The discoveries not only vindicate Fawcett, one of the great doomed heroes of the age of exploration; they also suggest that the legend of El Dorado was based in reality. But more than that, the discovery of this lost civilisation, perhaps rivalling the Aztecs and Mayans, overturns attitudes towards the Amazon ingrained for centuries....

UPDATE: Brad Pitt is making a movie on the life of the explorer.

The First Five Worlds of Kepler

On January 4th, 2010, the Kepler Science Team announced the first five worlds discovered by the Kepler Space Telescope.

These planets are larger, Jupiter-sized ones, instead of the smaller Earth-sized planets it was designed to detect, but these discoveries pave the way by assuring that the systems all work and that the science goals will be met.

This announcement was made at the Meeting of the American Astronomical Society being held this week in Washington DC.

The First Five Worlds of Kepler

The Universe - Cosmic Phenomena

A variety of cosmic events have both helpful and harmful effects on life on Earth. From the beauty of the Aurora Borealis and rainbows to the dangers of UV radiation and cosmic rays, from the miracle of photosynthesis to the thrill of a meteor shower, this episode explores how the effects generated by the sun and other extra-solar sources can literally get under our skin, scramble our technology, make life possible and threaten our existence all at the same time.

The Universe - Cosmic Phenomena

The Universe - Strange Things

Today on Discovery Enterprise we are going to explore the mysterious, exotic and the downright strange things that inhabit in our enigmatic universe. We will investigate pulsar planets, the possibility of a planet beyond Neptune, and dark matter.

The Universe - Strange Things

Welcome to Michael Lombardi

We at Discovery Enterprise are proud to welcome diver-explorer Michael Lombardi to our blogger team! Michael's bio:

Michael's undersea career has taken him from his home waters of New England, to as far as Antarctica. Leveraging a unique mix of undersea expertise, an inventive mind, an affinity for writing, and an attraction for the arts, Michael finds himself involved in projects spanning all of the humanities. His creation of 'Ocean Opportunity', a 501(c)3 not for profit organization, has provided the catalyst for much of this work. One recent success includes 'Diving a Dream' from 2004-2007 which was aired on NBC's Today Show in January 2007. Michael has focused his field expertise on advancements in scientific diving. This work spans academia and the private sector, including DoD contracts. Michael is the former Diving Safety Officer for NOAA's Caribbean Marine Research Center. He serves on the Membership Committee for the American Academy of Underwater Sciences, and is an elected Board Member (2007-2010) to the Society for Human Performance in Extreme Environments. In 2007, his work earned recognition as one of Rhode Island's '40 Under 40' by the Providence Business News. In 2007, he earned membership in the prestigious Explorers Club.

Unidentified Submarine Objects

Planet Earth's attraction is its oceans, and there is a good chance that alien visitors would have the same perception given that the majority of our resources lie beneath the waves. Have aliens visited the deep?


Just yesterday, I became enthralled by an episode of UFO Hunters which focused on Underwater Submarine Objects (USOs). Interestingly, most UFO sightings are considered to be over areas of desert or mountains - areas with unobstructed views and little light pollution - allowing for the nighttime observer to catch anomalies in his/her field of view. However this is not always the case. There is a growing batch of evidence, dating back more than a century, of UFO sightings out to sea, with some breaking the surface - making them 'USOs'.

To learn more about USOs on the History Channel:



I have spent thousands and thousands of hours out on and underwater, and I can't say I've encountered an extraterrestrial USO per se, but there are always anomalies that keep the curiosities looming; out of place water movements or disturbances, odd creatures, mass strandings, and so on. This is part of humans' attraction to the oceans - the ongoing pool of questions that remain so mysterious. This is what fuels our imaginations, and justifies our exploratory pursuits.



The interaction between humanity, the seas, and the promise of hope, has never been conveyed better than in James Cameron's film, 'the Abyss'. The film takes us on a journey through humans exploration and exploitation of the seafloor, demonstrates the power of the ocean to respond to human greed and selfishness, and unveils the promise of discovery and hope that the ocean very likely holds in affording global peace and balance. Every mariner has seen it, and every mariner can identify with it. Rather than for us to ask 'why?', the film asks 'why not?'.

I'd be going way out on limb to say that there is an Abyss-like alien civilization deep in our oceans, and I am not willing to do so without some hard evidence. But I do believe in the promise of discovery...and you cannot discover without taking that first step out the door.

Practically speaking, anyone/thing viewing Planet Earth from a distance sees 'blue', hence our 'Blue Planet' that has been discussed here before. Just as we do when proposing to visit the moon and beyond, a visitor would seek out Earth to explore, exploit, and manage the resources that dominate and create rich value in the environment. I would not think it far fetched to believe that if we are indeed visited from elsewhere, that the ocean is a logical place to greet these new friends.

Now consider the expense that a visitor from another world would undertake to examine our oceans...its beyond comprehension. If we would only make the investment ourselves, and find an appreciation for what we have in our backyard - powerful energy providing processes, disease curing biological and chemical diversity, mineral wealth - perhaps our selfish interests would be put in perspective, and we would find that the Blue Planet that we are responsible for has more to offer humanity, and in a relatively short time frame, than we ever could have imagined.

For more on USOs, visit:
http://www.ufoevidence.org/topics/watersightings.htm

Physics of the Impossible with Dr. Michio Kaku

Today on Discovery Enterprise we will attend a lecture entitled "Physics of the Impossible" delivered by theoretical physicist, best-selling author, and popularizer of science - Dr. Michio Kaku.

Physics of the Impossible with Dr. Michio Kaku

Our Incredible Space Station Luna

"If God wanted man to become a spacefaring species, He would have given man a moon." - Krafft Ehricke

Last November, the dream of colonizing the Moon and solar system, came a step closer to reality with the exciting discovery of substantial amounts of water ice in the permanently shadowed Cabeus crater near the Moon’s South Pole. The LCROSS spacecraft and a companion rocket stage made twin impacts in the Cabeus crater on October 9th, 2009 that created a plume of material from the bottom of a crater that has not seen sunlight in billions of years. This important discovery justifies our returning to the Moon before the end of the next decade.

The Moon will play an important role in humanity’s future expansion into space. A revitalized manned lunar exploration program over the next ten years is the only next logical step if our planetary culture is truly going to evolve into a spacefaring civilization.

Today’s video selection takes a closer look at our nearest neighbour in space in all its majesty and mystery and the role it played in shaping the geological and biological development of our own world. We will also glimpse the brave new era of lunar exploration and the incredible potential of using lunar resources in jump starting the second phase of the Space Age with the goal of establishing a permanent human presence in the high frontier of space.

This second era of lunar exploration will be much more exciting and inspiring for it will help to create a new branch of human civilization out amongst the stars.

A Cinematic Celebration of Exploration and Discovery

Today on Discovery Enterprise we inaugurate this New Year of 2010 with a cinematic celebration of Exploration and Discovery which are the central themes of this blog site and its founders.

So we like to make the following dedication:

To All Explorers of every Age and every epoch and in all fields of human endeavor may we follow in your footsteps and make further discoveries that further human knowledge and expand the scope and dimensions of humanity’s collective spirit.

IMAX - The Discoverers



IMAX - The Living Sea

Vezi mai multe peTeava.ro

IMAX - Search for Alien Planets

The Year Ahead: The Future Frontiers of Sea and Space

“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time” - T.S. Eliot

The New Year of 2010 promises to be as exhilarating as the previous year for those of us on Discovery Enterprise and the Atlantica Expeditions as we continue to work towards the exploration and settlement of the exciting new future frontiers of sea and space.

The Atlantica Expeditions is a project sponsored and supported by the League of New Worlds.

The League of the New Worlds is a non-profit research foundation committed to the permanent human settlement of the ocean and space frontiers. The League is primarily an expeditions and explorations based group. It is our express purpose to plan, design, launch and permanently occupy the unsettled regions of the world’s oceans and space. We approach our purpose with an incremental development of off-the-shelf technologies integrated with intelligence and purposeful synergy, fusing the goals of ocean and space settlement into a single enterprise called the League of the New Worlds.

Humanity in the last fifty years has made great strides in the exploration of space and has all but completed its preliminary reconnaissance of the solar system.

The scientific field of comparative planetology was born during the height of our exploration of the solar system over the past half century. And, what we learned has greatly enhanced our understanding and appreciation of the Earth.

But, In the course of explorations we have overlooked three quarters of our own world. We have left a great yawning gap in the map of our own planet and a fuller understanding of our own world. We know almost nothing about the world’s oceans. The time has come to fill in this great unknown.

The realm of Poseidon would comprise a planet more than three times greater in size than humanity's present domain. It is a world at once integral yet, separate from our own. A world we have aptly named Aquatica.

The debate as to whether to fund space exploration at the expense of undersea exploration or vice versa in our minds is a very artificial one. In a greater context exploring the oceans of our world is part and parcel of the planetary exploration of our entire solar system. But, it is a very vital one because it concerns a very large portion of our home world about which we know very little.

We do not view the debate as an “either or proposition”. We support both exploratory endeavours and view them as vital to the long term survival and well being of the human species. Both undertakings stand on their own merits and they also compliment one another. The same applies for the eventual colonization goals of both enterprises.

Many of the members of the League of New Worlds have a tremendous interest in both enterprises. And. are actively engaged and employed in both exploratory programs. We feel that the goals of exploring and eventually inhabiting both sea and space enhance humanity’s long term survival here on Earth and on countless worlds throughout the solar system and beyond. The experienced gained during the course of exploring and settling the undersea realm of Aquatica will give us the skills necessary to bravely go forth an explore the countless worlds that will one day become the future abodes of humanity.

The League's Symbol represents the new worlds of sea and space together in the same frame. Shown in the image are two manned habitats - one undersea and one in orbital space. Both habitats depicted are identical, representing the sharing of research, technology and innovation between them.

If we have learned anything during the past fifty years of space exploration its that "good planets" are hard to find and its high time we fully understand and take better care of the one, which for now at least, we can truly call home.

The dream of permanently settling Aquatica has begun, with the immediate, global commitment to long term ocean monitoring and the sustainable development of its vast wealth. We also seek to venture there to teach every culture innovative and powerful systems of thought, carved from a profound visionary philosophy – to preserve and protect this vast ocean realm. It is a philosophy vital to our long term survival on this planet and out in the vast frontier of outer space.

We must also commit our global civilization to the long term goal of maintaining the health and vitality of this planet in all its realms – land, air and sea. All of which are integral to the long term habitability of our world. Vital in meeting that end is our commitment to the continual monitoring of the health of our planetary ocean - Aquatica.

Last November Dennis Chamberland, his wife Claudia, and other members of the Atlantica Expeditions team spent two days in the Florida Keys filming a documentary for a web based site called Motherboard. TV. The interviews were all filmed underwater in the Jules Undersea Habitat. Discovery Enterprise will definitely keep you informed of the announced release date probably sometime in February. The producer said that she believed it was going to be their best project ever.

Even throughout last year’s economic slow down the Atlantica Expeditions have not faltered or stopped by any means and the year ahead promises to be an exciting one for us.

The New Worlds Explorer (NWE) will be nearing completion and in the months ahead the Atlantica Expeditions team will be field testing the crucial elements of the innovative life support technologies which will be used on all our future habitats. Visit the Atlantica Expeditions web site and learn more about this exciting vision of exploration and discovery.

On a more personal note, April of last year was very thrilling for me because I had the opportunity to meet and appear on Maltese television with Apollo 17 Astronaut Harrison Schmitt during his visit to the island of Malta.

Senator Schmitt was invited by the Department of Physics of the University of Malta in collaboration with the International Year of Astronomy 2009 Malta Committee and the United States Embassy to deliver two public lectures entitled “A SCIENTIST ON THE MOON - APOLLO 17” and “SPACE EXPLORATION AND EXPLOITATION” on the 22nd and 23rd of April 2009 as part of series of activities to mark the International Year of Astronomy and to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing.

Senator Schmitt is an advocate of returning to the moon and envisions using the energy and mineral resources of Earth’s nearest neighbour to create a spacefaring civilization.

Last November, the dream of colonizing the Moon and solar system came closer to reality with the exciting discovery of substantial amounts of water ice in the permanently shadowed Cabeus crater about 100 km (62 miles) from the south pole of the Moon. At this location the crater is seen obliquely from Earth, and it is almost perpetually in deep shadow due to lack of sunlight. Hence, not much detail can be seen of this crater, even from orbit. Through a telescope, this crater appears near the southern limb of the Moon, to the west of the crater Malapert and to the south-southwest of Newton.

The LCROSS spacecraft and a companion rocket stage made twin impacts in the Cabeus crater on October 9 that created a plume of material from the bottom of a crater that has not seen sunlight in billions of years. The plume travelled at a high angle beyond the rim of Cabeus and into sunlight, while an additional curtain of debris was ejected more laterally. Preliminary data from NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, indicates the mission successfully uncovered water in the permanently shadowed lunar crater. The discovery opens a new chapter in our understanding of the Moon and its future exploration and settlement.

So if the last year is any indication stay with us dear readers and join us on new voyages of exploration and discovery in the realms of sea during the exciting year ahead of 2010 when humanity makes contact with these new frontiers.

At Discovery Enterprise we are looking forward to a very active year with guest posts by other League members, more Science Fiction related articles (for we feel that this genre of literature expresses the highest aspirations, goals and fears of our global civilization’s collective future) and also look forward to the greater active participation on the part of our readers in forum section of our blog site. Discovery Enterprise is all about exploration, so on behalf of my co-bloggers Dennis Chamberland and Ralph Buttigieg I invite you, dear readers to explore the wonderful year ahead of 2010 together!

Atlantic Undersea Colony Project Video