26th February 2007

Mummies Found in Saqqara!

Two 4,000-year-old wooden statues have been found, that depict some divine scribe records and his wife were the primary finds made from a recently excavated mud-brick tomb near the ancient Egyptian necropolis of Saqqara, according to the archaeologists.

The discovery was a part of many other discoveries that were made recently in a cemetery that is south of Cairo, including the tomb of a royal cupbearer to the pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled before the famous boy king Tutankhamen.

That tomb revealed colorful reliefs that show different artistic features that belong to Akhenaten’s reign.

posted in Amazing Facts, Archaeology | 0 Comments

22nd February 2007

Colossal Squid Caught!

New Zealand officials announced today that in Antarctica’s Ross Sea, a fishing boat has caught what can be called the world’s biggest known colossal squid.

These animals are heavier than any giant squid, colossal squids have eyes that are as wide as dinner plates and have sharp hooks on some of the suckers. The new specimen weighs in at an estimated 990 pounds (450 kilograms).

This huge squid was found entangled when feeding a Patagonian tooth fish caught on long lines of hooks. The crew then moved the squid into a net and got it aboard in a two hour long process.

The animal was frozen and placed in a massive freezer below the decks. The carcass is now in New Zealand and is awaiting scientific analysis. The new specimen is probably the first intact male that has ever been recovered.

posted in Amazing Facts, Animal Species, Latest News | 0 Comments

19th February 2007

Ancient Tree Frog in an Amber Grave!

A miner who comes from Mexico’s Chiapas state has made a find of a lifetime—a small tree frog that got preserved in amber which is 25 million years old. A block of amber, or fossilized tree resin, that contained the 0.4-inch (1-centimeter) frog was brought out in 2005 and sold to a private collector.

The specimen appears to belong to the genus Craugastor, said Gerardo Carbot, of the Chiapas Natural History and Ecology Institute, who has been studying the find. This genus includes many modern frogs that are native to Central America.

The frog’s age has not yet to be authenticated. It was recovered from earthen deposits that can be dated back to 25 million years. Now Carbot hopes to make “Jurassic Park” a reality by drilling a small hole into the amber and attempting to extract DNA from this specimen.

posted in Amazing Facts, Animal Species, Archaeology | 0 Comments

17th February 2007

Latest Picture of Helix Nebula!

The dust from the comets that survived the death of their star is clouding the “eye” of the distant Helix nebula, reveals this image released by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. The nebula, which is places around 700 light-years from Earth, is the colorful remnant of a dying sun like star that left off its outer layers to become a white dwarf.

Many such nebulae litter our galaxy, but the Helix nebula is among a few known to show evidence of cosmic survivors. There is a haze of red formed around the dead star at the center of the formation and is most probably caused by dust that comes from colliding comets, According to NASA scientists.

Before the star died, the comets that were present around it were orbiting in an orderly fashion. As the dying star increased in size, it blew the comets into each other’s paths, so that they now just are around and send dust moving around the white dwarf.

posted in Amazing Facts, Latest News, Outer Space | 0 Comments

16th February 2007

Massive Cloud covers Titan’s Pole!

An image released shows a huge moving cloud almost half the size of United States over Titan’s northern pole. This cloud is made up of ethane, methane, and other organic material which could be a source of methane lakes spotted near the pole last summer.

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft captured this image of the 1,490-mile-diameter (2,400-kilometer-diameter) cloud on December 29, 2006. The cloud’s presence fits predictions that the Titan has a “methane cycle” which is similar to Earth’s water cycle, with bodies of liquid methane evaporating and forming clouds that causes rain.

The cloud system changes position according to the moon’s seasons, experts predict, and it will eventually migrate from the north pole to the south pole.

Ground-based observations suggest that the total cloud activity on Titan will last for about 25 years, then vanishes for a 4- to 5-year period. The massive cloud over the pole should be around for some more years before it disappears.

posted in Amazing Facts, Dark Secrets, Outer Space | 0 Comments

15th February 2007

Hubble Catches the Death of a Star!


The Hubble Space Telescope is still proving helpful, they are capturing a new round of amazing pictures with its camera. NASA released new pictures of a dying star a white dwarf that is shown in the form of a bright dot at the center of nebula NGC 2440—that was once similar to the sun.

Low- to medium-size stars like the sun usually end their life as white dwarfs. Once most of a star’s hydrogen gets converted to helium, the star enters the red giant phase, finally throwing the outer material to form a nebula of stellar debris. The hot core left behind is called a white dwarf.

Spied by the telescope’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, this white dwarf is 4,000 light-years away from the Earth. It is also one of the hottest known, with a surface temperature of around 400,000°F (200,000°C).

Ultraviolet light that comes from the dying star is what light’s up the gaseous matter that gets cast off from the star’s core. Our sun will also burn out and become a white dwarf surrounded by a vivid nebula but this will not happen for another five billion years.

posted in Amazing Facts, Outer Space | 0 Comments