Monday, March 30, 2015

Colloidal Gold


Colloidal_Gold
Credit: Aura Canada
Colloidal Gold - Small Microscopic Gold Particles in Liquid

Colloidal gold comprises of small microscopic gold particles suspended in distilled water or any other liquid which is either an intense red colour for particles less than 100nm or blue/purple in the case of larger particles. A colloid is suspension of fine particles in a fluid state.

Another name of colloidal gold is nanogold and due to the unique optical, electronic and molecular recognition assets of gold nanoparticles or crystals, they are the subject of extensive research with application in a variety of areas which include electron, electronics, nanotechnology, microscopy and materials science.

The properties as well as the applications of colloidal gold nanoparticles depend strongly on their shape and size, for instance, the rod-like particles have transvers as well as longitudinal absorption peak and anisotropy of the shape affecting their self-assembly. The benefit of consumption of gold was known to the people of ancient times and they were of the belief that with regular intake of gold it rejuvenates the health condition.
Gold was used to heal skin problems by the ancient Roman people and adequate evidence to support their claim has been found in various research studies carried out. As a consequence, a colloidal gold benefit is widely known and is being utilised as an alternative medicinal use in treating several ailments.

Safe – Internally & Externally

Advantage lies in the fact that the colloidal gold is safe and can be used both internally as well as externally and the tiny gold particles from the colloid enter through the cell membranes with ease and works effectively in providing relief from several health issues some of which are – it brings down the joint pain and the inflammation due to arthritis and works well in cases of rheumatoid arthritis where there is swelling in the joints causing stiffness affecting the joint mobility.

With regular consumption, the pain tends to ease out and normal movement of the joints in restored within a short span of time. For external use, colloidal gold cream is also made available which can be used for joint pain relief. Colloidal gold tends to act as a natural stimulant for the cells of the body and improves the transmission of electrical signals between the nerve cells in the brain thereby increases the mental alertness, improving the concentration of the person.

It has also been found that when taken regularly for a month as supplement, the IQ level of the individual improves a great deal and has proved to be advantageous for those facing problems with concentrations and memory loss, since colloidal gold has the capabilities of increasing mental alertness and restores healthy functioning of the brain.

Soothing Effect on Tensed Nerves 

Besides this, it also has a soothing effect on tensed nerves and when colloidal gold is consumed, people tend to experience calmness which provides relief from any mental stress. Colloidal gold for depression as well as anxiety have provided amazing results.

Its solution is also used in the form of ointment to treat several skin conditions which include eczema, skin rash, fungal infection, skin burns, wounds etc. Moreover it is also used as an ingredient in anti-aging skin care products which regenerates the cells restoring it to their normal elastic properties thereby improves the skin condition. According to Natural News reports, the research has shown IQ is boosted with colloidal gold.

It improves dysfunction like mental fog and forgetfulness, insomnia and inability to relax, chills and or night sweats, glandular issue and dysfunctions, hot flashes, which include those from hormonal imbalances, obesity, digestive disorders, alcohol and drug addictions, arthritis and any other joint inflammations, depression, seasonal effective disorder and chronic, irregular heart rhythms, cancer and lower libido and or sexual dysfunction.

Non-Toxic in Nature – No Side Effects

When taken by people suffering from life threatening condition, it has been found to prolong their life span since it energizes the body cells and makes them healthy. Other uses comprise of treating certain types of cancer like prostate cancer and ovarian cancer in alternative therapies wherein in these condition a tiny amount of gold is injected in the person’s body to control growth of cancerous cells.

Colloidal gold is non-toxic in nature and does not have any side effects though excessive intake could result in gold poisoning which could be harmful for health.Colloidal gold health benefit is its positive influence on the body, most important biological functions and it is known to rejuvenate the glands affecting the bodies’ warmth mechanism in a positive manner.

It stimulates the nerves which results in decreasing the nervous pressure. Regular consumption of colloidal gold has resulted in increased longevity and is a great rejuvenator of mind and body. The best option of taking advantage of gold’s health provision is through tasteless and non-toxic colloidal gold and can be taken by consuming orally, nebulizing into the lungs or sublingually. Most of those who have used colloidal gold as tonic have reported an improvement in their health with increased mental clarity as well as focus.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Patomskiy Crater


Patomskiy_Crater
Patomskiy Crater – Discovered by Vadim Kolpakov, 1949

Patomskiy crater was discovered by Vadim Kolpakov in 1949 and is one of the most scientific mysterious ever discovered. The site is in Irkutsk, Siberia with a huge convex cone having a funnel shaped recess with rounded hill in the middle that looks like an eagle’s nest with an egg nestled in it.

It resembles a lunar crater by size and appearance and at first sight it seems like an artificial mound of waste rock which has been formed usually by underground mining of coal or some other mineral. Its height is 40 meters and when viewed from above it seems to be a perfectly round top of volcano though volcanoes did not appear in these regions during the few millions of year. The crater has a semi-circular dome at its centre with a diameter of 12 meters.

 For many years, scientists have been overwhelmed by the origin of the Patomskiy crater which has been named after a nearby river and the theories of its existence has varied from a nuclear blast to a secret gulag mine and a meteorite strike. Scientists have various presumptions like the trail of a large meteorite fall, the consequence of deep gas discovery or that the crater has volcanic origin.

Presence of High Water at Site 

The presence of high water at the site have been found from the samples taken by astronomers and geologists bringing in new theory that it is cryovolcano that erupts water, methane and ammonia compounds, which rose from the release of ice under the rock, both in liquid as well as in the gaseous state.

The first cryovolvano was discovered on Titan ice moon of Saturn. As per the UK MailOnline, it is presumed that the site could have been created by a meteorite strike though no evidence is available to support the theory. Vadim, responsible in the discovery of the crater, tried though failed to arrange a scientific trip to examine the site.

However, numerous expeditions have taken place since then and samples collected in 2013. According to UK MailOnline, it was reported that `last year, half a ton of sample was taken from the site and removed by helicopter and the samples led scientists to discard ideas of a uranium ore explosion since the background radiation at the site was low with no uranium found in the nearby area’.

Options of Two Main Theories – Volcano/Meteorite

This left them to the presumptions of two main theories, one of a volcano and the other of a meteorite. However according to UK MailOnline report, it was stated that the site had no indication of any meteoritic material and the area was not thought to be a volcanic area.

There were no volcanoes within thousands of kilometres of the Patomskiy crater and more over it seemed to be quite new. UK MailOnline had reported that `scientists presumed that the crater were only 100 to 500 years old and could have been the cause of the Tunguska meteorite that had fallen in the Krasnoyarsk region in 1908. However the crater was never discovered.

It is believed that the meteorite was seen just 70 km away from the `eagle’s nest, the distance of which is around 10 to 15 seconds of flight’.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Leonardo Da Vinci’s Flying Machine


flyingmachine model

Leonard da Vinci – Flying Machine 


Leonardo da Vinci was a genius and besides being a remarkable artist, he was also an inspired inventor, who was the first European interested in a practical solution to flight and designed several mechanical devices which comprised of parachutes. He studied the flight of birds and their structure. His design for the invention is an indication that he was inspired by the flight of winged birds which he intended to imitate and in his notes he had made a mention of bats, kites and birds as sources with regards to his inspiration.

Probably the bat seems to be his foremost inspiration as the two wings of the device feature pointed, ends associated with the winged creature. His flying machine had a wingspan which was over 33 feet and the frame made of pine covered in raw silk for a light though sturdy membrane. In 1485, he came up with detailed plans for a human powered orhithopter or a wing flapping device for flying. He sketched out his ideas on notepads and most of which have been preserved since his death in 1519.

Inspiration of Invention – Winged Bird 


Though the image he presented was a powerful one and showed that some of his ideas were revolutionary, there does not seem to be any evidence of his attempt to build a device. From his various journal entries on human as well as avian flight, it indicated that he longed to soar like a bird in the sky and his designs which was called `flying machine’ and sketched in his notebooks, modelled on the anatomy of bats and birds that featured a pair of huge wings and were connected to a wooden frame the interior of which an intrepid pilot could lie face down and to power the wings, the pilot had to move the wings up and down by turning a crank moving in a series of rods and pulleys with his hands and legs enabling the wings of the machine to flap. The inspiration of nature in the invention is obvious in the way the wings were designed to twist as they flapped.

flying machine

Incorrect Conclusions – Major Flaw in Leonardo Da Vinci’s Flying Machine


Leonard eventually did not built the device and even if he would had done so, it would not have been a success since it did not have an engine and it was not known how it would have taken off the ground. Moreover even if he was successful in flying off high it would be unlikely that he would have landed back to Earth safely.

Leonard himself might have realized that once it was flown up in the air, the person would never have created enough power to get the device off the ground. Most of his investigation into flight has some major flaw since he assumed that man had adequate co-ordination and muscle power to imitate bird flight. He was also mistaken to think that birds flew by beating their wings downwards and backwards though the fact is wing feathers provide thrust on the down stroke while the inner wing provides the lift. Based on these incorrect conclusions, Leonardo experimented with his ideas endlessly with little chance of success.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Ever-Burning Lamps


Ever_Burning_Lamps
The Ever Burning Lamps – Wind/Rain Unable to Put it Off

The Ever Burning Lamps have been documented by writers from several parts of the world at different point of time and in the ancient world, writer Plutarch had made a mention in his work - `De Defectu Oraculorum’ about a lamp which burned over the door of Jupiter’s temple, Ammon in Egypt. According to him the priest of the temple claimed that the lamp stood in the open area and no wind or rain could put it out. There are also similar accounts of the same for the altar of the Temple of Apollo Carneus at Cyrene as well as the great Temple of Aderbain in Armenia.

In ancient times before electricity was introduced, oil lamps were used to illuminate the night and the dark areas where a never ending supply of oil was essential in order to keep the lamp glowing though mysteriously there are incidents of lamps which burned without the need of oil. The miracle of lamps with a day’s worth of oil burning for eight days is celebrated by the Jewish festival of Hanukkah with various stories coming from different areas of the world like Asia, South America, North America, Greece, Italy, Great Britain and France.

Liquid in the Lamp/Unable to Identify 

These ever burning lamps were discovered when a tomb or other enclosed place had been opened and the lamp was found burning though the enclosure had been sealed for several years. Several writers have reported about such lamps for instance in 140 CE a tomb of Pallas, the son of a local Italian king was opened and a lamp had been found burning near the corpse.

Out of fear, the people had made attempts to blow off the lamp but found out that neither water nor blowing off the lamp could extinguish the flame. The lamp was only blown off when the liquid in the base of the lamp which did not seem to be regular oil and unable to identify, had to be completely removed from the basin of the lamp. One will find various other chronicles of similar phenomena elsewhere. During the time of emperor Justinian, some soldiers came upon a lamp and according to its inscription, were lit almost 550 years ago and they could not figure it out how this could take place.

Mechanics of the Lamps -Unsolved Mystery

Ever_Burning_Lamps
Another incident relates that in England, after the separation from the Roman Catholic Church, Kind Henry VIII, established the Church of England and demanded that the Catholic churches together with the communities be incorporated or destroyed in his new church. In a particular incident, the tomb of a wealthy man was opened, who had died around the year 300 CE and it was found to have the lamp which continued to burn. In France, in 1600, a written chronicle of a solider from Switzerland had discovered a long hidden tomb where a single burning lamp was found in it.

He removed the lamp, though it continued to burn without any fuel for several months till it was accidentally broken and the flame extinguished. One of the most mysterious figures of the history of these baffling lamps is a 13th century rabbi, Jechiele where written reports of the time indicate that there was a lamp outside his house which kept burning continuously without any supply of oil in it. When the rabbi was questioned on the working of the lamp, he refrained from disclosing the mechanics of the lamp and thus the history of the lamps continues to remain a mystery.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Story of Tublu By Jahid Akhtar


 







Title: Story of Tublu 

Author: Jahid Akhtar 

Publisher: Lifi Publications, New Delhi, 2015 

Pages: xii + 204 

Price: Rs200 

About the Author: 

Jahid Akhtar is a software developer by profession. He was born and brought up in Assam and resides in Bangalore.




Congratulations on your first published work 'Life of Tublu'. Read it recently. I have my own thoughts about it. Please don't consider them as a review. Being an ardent lover of books coupled with a hidden desire to be a writer myself, it gives me immense pleasure to see a friend following the same path.

This Book proves My friend and fellow blogger have the great potential of a good writer.

Those who opt for a romantic, more emotional, sensational and sweet story should definitely go for 'Life of Tublu'. The characters are well built and I especially love the charter of Tublu

A lucid narrative style and close to the heart instances make the book an easy read. Almost all the characters are someone or the other I can relate to. There is a bit of a struggle during the initial chapters but things get better during the final chapters. The cover page deserves special mention here.

If a few printing mistakes, a couple of preachy paras from the author's point of view, too fast scenario changes and some 'oh yeah' in between are overlooked, the book is a good read for one coming from a first timer.

Expecting more novels from you and wishing you the very best.

Thanks for writing a book that has its heart in the right place.


Friday, March 20, 2015

The Great Hedge of India


Great_Hedge_of_India
The Great Hedge of India – Largest Fences in History of the World

One of the historical achievements which still stands today and is very popular is the Great Wall of China. We also have something that can be compared to it, which is the Grand Hedge, though not popular. It may not be well known but it starts from Maharashtra’s Barhanpur which passes through Madhya Pradesh through Uttar Pradesh via Punjab, Sindh provinceof Pakistan ending almost in the border of Kashmir.It is considered to be a living fence which is grown from shrubs that are tied together to prevent anybody from crossing it and is almost 12 feet in height. It is one of the largest fences ever in the history of the world which runs across a 4000 km of vacant space of land, villages, cities, agricultural land and desserts. In 1872, at its height, it had 14000 full time British officers who guarded and maintained this fence and it became a symbol of British-Indian Government’s authority for about three fourths of a century, though none have mentioned much regarding this structure. There does not seem to be any record regarding it in the official records of independent India and no sociologist or economist had heard about it till the year 1995.

Details of `Great Hedge’ by Roy Moxham 

Mr Roy Moxham, a travel writer as well as a record keeper of the London Library had bought some of Major General W. H. Sleeman’s -`Memoirs of a British Soldier’ from an old book shop in London which was published in 1993. Sleeman, who had travelled across India as a British Army officer in 1850s,had several records and descriptions of kings, chieftains, holy, cities, temples, robbers and taxation system of the British Indian Government at that time where a mention of the great living fence is found.

He had examined the British records most of which were from post 1870s and there was no information about the great fence. Being a librarian for historical document by profession, Moxham searched in the well- maintained British Library in London for information on the survey details of the fence with regards to its establishment and maintenance. Thinking of it as insanity initially on the part of the British, Moxham gradually got to know of the horrible exploitation behind it all. With further research, he has described it in his book known as `The Great Hedge of India’. It was also known as the Customs Hedge.

Object – Control Salt Trade 

The object of the fence was to control the salt trade within the country. Custom duty being the major source of revenue for the British Government at that time, they started building this to bring about the salt distribution under their control and levy taxes and since then gained ground in India, in 1803. It got completed in various stages within 40 years and in 1843, it was completed and was under the control of the Inland Customs department. Salt was produced the most in Gujarat’s Kutch peninsula and in this region there were no major rivers that met the sea with abundance of sun for most part of the year, hence the salt was in plenty there. Salt lakes like the Sambar dried up naturally into salt beds in summer and salt from Gujarat went to the northern states. Long salt trade routes for this purpose were made.

Besides Gujarat, Maharashtra as well as Orissa coast also produced salt which also went to the northern states and the Himalayan regions via land route. In present day Pakistan, the Himalayan regions have the largest salt mountains in the world and for the Himalayan regions which included Tibet, it was this salt that was being transported and to block the same, the hedge was created.

Clive – Established comprehensive System of Taxation 

Salt trade was also under the control of the Mughals though their taxes were nominal and they did not attempt to control the distribution of salt and the British tried to accomplish it through the Custom Hedge. At first, the British annexed Bengal since it was difficult to produce salt there due to the inflow of the Ganges and salt was scarce there.
People here extracted salt by evaporating it and then by boiling it with the use of firewood which was done by people living at the lowest sections of the society which was also very costly for them. The Bengali Brahmins were unable to consume it since it had been boiled which was similar to cooked food and hence they obtained the sun dried salt from Orissa.

In the Battle of Plassey, Clive had won over the Nawab of Bengal and had established a comprehensive system of taxation over the whole of Bengal and multiplied the taxes on salt factories which became an important source of revenue. This gave rise to the salt being expensive from that coming from Orissa and it became essential to tax heavily on the salt coming from Orissa. Thus the British enabled to establish custom check post along the banks of the Mahanadhi in the Orissa-Bengal border where the first check post was in Orissa’s Sonapur and from here the customs fence was created till Chandrapur

Living Fence – Thorny Bushes

Gradually, British authority spread towards Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and hence extended their check posts till Burhanpur. The British realized the profit through custom duty on salt and were prepared to invest a lot on it. It became difficult to keep the vast region of Madhya Pradesh’s plain under customs control and hence the development of a massive fence in the form of the customs hedge was formed till Burhanpur. In 1923, at the same time, George Saunders, the customs commissioner of Agra established a hedge from Mirzapur till Allahabad through the banks to the Ganges as well as the Yamuna.

 In 1842, G. H. Smith established a hedge from Allahabad till Nepal and from there till the Sindh and went on setting up customs checkpoints all along the roads as well as connecting the checkpoint with this hedge . Thus the development of the hedge was established. The hedge at first was made of dried wood and bamboo and deep trenches had been dug up on each side of the hedge though it became difficult to protect the hedge where each year they were either destroyed by rotting or catching fire. It became an expensive affair for its maintenance.

When Hume came to power as Commissioner of Customs and during his tenure of three years, he analysed the cost of maintenance of the hedge and discovered that converting it into a living fence would be expensive, it would also be unnecessary to maintain it within a few years. He thus created a living fence by locating thorny bushes which tend to grow easily to a height and then planted them which gave rise to `The Great Hedge of India.

Friday, March 13, 2015

The Disappearance of the USS Cyclops


USS_Cyclops
Disappearance of USS Cyclops – 306 Crew/Passengers

The USS Cyclops was one of the four Proteus class collier’sships which was commissioned during the World War I and was launched on May 1, 1917 with Lieutenant Commander G.W. Worly in command of the ship. It was named for the Cyclops, a primordial race of giants from Greek mythology and was the second U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.

The disappearance of the ship together with 306 crew and passengers on board without any trace within the area of the Bermuda Triangle around 4 March 1918 was the largest loss of life in U.S. Naval history which did not directly involve any battle. At the time of its disappearance it was the largest collier in the United States Navy’s fleet with a cargo capacity of over 10,000 tons. It is left to the imagination to consider the destruction of a massive ship of that size to disappear so rapidly without even a distress call.

Since the incident occurred during wartime, it was presumed that she could have been captured or sunk by German raider or submarine since the ship was known to be carrying 10,800 long tons of manganese ore which was used to produce munitions though German authorities had denied any knowledge at that time regarding the same and there is no German record of an attack on the ship.

No Trace of Any Distress Call

According to the Naval History and Heritage Command it was stated that the ship could have probably sunk in an unexpected storm though the cause was unknown. Her first known journey was during wartime service, a trip to St. Nazaire, France in June 1917 and had returned to the east coast of United State the following month and operated there till January 1918 besides a short trip to Nova Scotia.

The collier ship was assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service on January 9, 1917 and was thereafter sent to Brazil to help in the refuelling of British ship there. The ship had left Brazil on February 16, 1918 and on March 3 and 4, was considered to be in the Barbados which was the last of what was seen or heard of the ship. There was no trace of any distress call at that time nor debris, wreckage or any evidence nor was the ship found.

Mystery - Unsolved

With 306 passengers as well as crewmen on board the ship, it was presumed that all had been dead. The area where the USS Cyclops had disappeared is known to be the infamous Bermuda Triangle and USS Cyclops is one of the several ships which have been reported missing in that area. Besides this, other issues have also been reported with regards to the Bermuda Triangle which includes the malfunctioning of navigational equipment.

Some were of the belief that there could have been alien activity or other paranormal phenomena happening in the area. However it was a known fact that the stretch of ocean had at times unpredictable weather conditions as well as turbulent waters and whatever could have occurred at that time could have been related to nature.

Several theories have come up though none have proved it with real facts and evidence and even after some 15,000 page report from the US Navy research, most of the explanations remain a mystery and till date the disappearance is considered as one of the greatest mysteries of the ocean.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

The Man in the Iron Mask


Iron_Mask
The Man in the Iron Mask – Famous Prisoner in French History 

A tomb in the Bastille’s Saint Paul Cemetery on November 19, 1703, had a corpse of a man who had spent most of the last four decades of his life in various prisons in France and was considered to be the most famous prisoner in French history.

Nobody is aware of why he had to spend more than thirty years in prison in perfect isolation and very often having his face covered. His first known record dates back to July of 1669 wherein Marquis de Louvois in a letter to the governor of Pignerol prison, Benigne Dauvergne de Saint-Mars informed that a prisoner called Eustache Dauger, a valet would be arriving and this man would go on to be the `man in the iron mask’.

There is no historical evidence stating that the mask was made of anything rather than black velvet and it was only later on that the legend converted its material to iron. He was imprisoned first at Pignerol in Piedmont before 1681 and later on at other prisons before he was eventually transferred on September 18, 1698, to the Bastille in Paris. On November 19, 1703, he died and was buried the following day in the parish cemetery of Saint Paul.

Registered under the Name - `Matthioli’

He was registered under the name of `Marchioly’ and his age seemed to be around 45 years. Many of his moves during his lifetime related with the successive postings of the prison governor Benigne d’Auvergne de Saint-Mars under whose charge he was committed.

Various suggestions came up with regards to the man with the iron mask. Matthioli, a minister of Ferdinand Charles, Duke of Mantua who was entrusted with secret negotiation of the treaty of 1678 which the impoverished duke had to deliver the stronghold of Casale over to France in exchange for 100,000 ecus, nullified its effect by betraying the secret to many foreign courts, on signing of the agreement.

Louis XIV was furious for being tricked and had him quietly abducted and imprisoned at Pinerolo in 1679. It was agreed that Matthioli had died in Iles Sainte-Marguerite in April 1694 and the prisoner in the mask seemed to be Eustache Dauger. Louise XIV’s minister Louvois correspondence portrays that Dauger who was a valet was arrested for unknown reason, on his orders near Dunkirk in July 1669 and at Pinerolo, he served as a valet to another prisoner by the name of Nicolas Fouquet.

Kept in High Security Prisons

The order beside various other things mentioned that Dauger should be kept in high security prisons and was not to come in contact with anyone with the exception of a few of them.

He was warned that should he ever dare to speak of anything besides his immediate requirements, he would be executed immediately. After the demise of Fouquet in 1680, Dauger was confined with another prisoner who had also served Fouquet and from Pinerolo; Saint-Mark took him to Exilles in 1681 while Matthioli was left behind.

There could have been a possibility that Louvois, who was the enemy of Fouquet wanted these prisoners to be kept in custody should they divulge secrets about Fouquet and it could be this reason rather than his criminal crime which led to the absolute secrecy to which Dauger could have been condemned and the need of the precaution of the mask.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

The Tunguska Explosion


Tunguska_Explosion
Tunguska Explosion – A Mysterious Explosion

A mysterious explosion had taken place on June 30, 1908, several miles in the air over a piece of land known as Middle of Nowhere in Siberia. According to eyewitnesses it had been reported that the skies had lit up like the Fourth of July and thereafter this awesome event of the Tunguska explosion had raised countless queries in the mind of people with thousands of hypotheses offered with regards to this phenomenon. The culprits of suspects ranged from natural gas to a natural H-bomb explosion, meteorites, antimatter, black holes, aliens and Nikola Tesla.

The event was the cause of destruction of over 2000 km2 of taiga, globally known pressure as well as seismic waves and bright luminescence in the night skies of Central Asia and Europe together with other unusual phenomena. This event could be related to the impact of a cosmic body with the Earth which exploded about five to ten km above the ground resulting in the release of 10 – 15 Mton of energy in the atmosphere. However the fragments of the impact have not been found. Several of them have been debating on whether its nature, a comet or asteroid could be the cause.

Cause – Incoming Meteor/Comet

According to others, the event which was widely known as the Tunguska event was believed to be the cause of incoming meteor or a comet which had not struck the Earth but had exploded in the air resulting in what was known as an air burst, some three to six miles above the surface of the Earth.

The outcome of the explosion resulted in the release of enough energy which killed reindeer as well as flatten trees for several kilometers surrounding the blast site though no crater was ever found. At that point of time it was difficult to visit the remote area of Siberia and it was only in 1927 that the first Soviet research expedition to investigate the Tunguska event led by Leonid Kulik was undertaken.

An initial trip to the region was taken and the local witness were interviewed and the regions were explored in the areas where the trees had been felled and he was convinced that they were all turned from their roots to the centre. He also investigated for any meteorite fragments and meteorite crater though did not find any.

Various Explanations – On Explosion 

Over a period of time, scientists and many others devised various explanations regarding the Tunguska explosion some of which were wild, like the encounter of Earth with an alien space craft, or a particle of antimatter, or a mini-black hole.

It is likely that a small icy comet or stony asteroid could have collided with the Earth’s atmosphere on that fateful day in June and if it was an asteroid, it could have been around a third as big as a football field which moved at 15 km per second.

Since the incident had taken place a long time ago, we could never get to know in all certainty if it was an asteroid or a comet though in recent decades, astronomers have been speculating on the possibility of an asteroid or a comet impact and are observing regular programs to watch for Near Earth Object as they are know, meeting often to discuss on what could have happened if an object was found on a collision course with the Earth.


Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Vela Incident


Vela
Vela Incident – South Atlantic Flash

The Vela Incident is also referred as the South Atlantic Flash which is an unidentified double flash of light that was detected on September 22, 1979, near the Prince Edwards Islands off Antarctica, by American Satellite where several of the people are of the belief that it was of nuclear origin.

Around 3.00 am on that day, a US Atomic Energy Detection System satellite recorded a type of pattern of intense flashes in the remote area of the Indian Ocean and a little while later; an unusual fast moving ionospheric disturbance was spotted by the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico while simultaneously a distant muffled thud was heard by the US Navy’s undersea Sound Surveillance System.

A `double flash’ though is characteristic of a nuclear weapon test, the signal could have been a spurious electronic signal generated by an aging detector of an old satellite or it could be a meteoroid hitting the Vela satellite. Something explosive and violent could have transpired in the ocean towards the southern area of Africa. On examination from the data gathered by satellite Vela 6911, it strongly indicated that the result of these disturbances was the nuclear device.

Vela Satellite Network Established by United States

Patterns of the flashed was said to have matched with those prior to nuclear detections with none of the phenomenon known that could have produced the same millisecond scale signature. However, the US intelligence agencies were speculating on who could be responsible for the detonation and the US governments were reluctant to acknowledge the same.

The Vela satellite network was established by the United States for specific purpose of monitoring compliance with the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty and though the satellites’ lifespan was only eighteen months, the units proceeded to detect detonations for several years thereafter. Before the incident in September, the orbital surveillance system had been successful in recording forty one atomic detonations, out of which twelve were spotted by Vela satellite 6911.

The Vela satellites though bristling with atom-bomb sensing equipment, have their effective apparatus of each unit’s pair named bhang-meters and these photo diode arrays were designed to detect the one millisecond burst of intense light that was created by nuclear fireball while the subsequent secondary light was caused by the hydrodynamic shockwave of ionized air.

Data Indicated Incident – Bouvet Island

The engineers of sensor were not convinced of its potential and they decided to name it after the Indian variation of cannabis known as `bhang’ though the predictable pattern of the flashed seemed to be an effective method in detecting atomic explosion from the orbit. The technicians were not provided with the exact location of nuclear events due to the satellite’s design together with their distant orbit of 70,000 miles and the sensors could only narrow down the area to 3,000 mile radius.

The data that was available indicated that the Vela incident took place near Bouvet Island which was a frozen part of earth popularly known as the most isolated isle in the world. The island was a home to Norwegian automated weather station and an abandoned lifeboat filled with supplies was found there in 1964, the origin of which was not known. With meteorological automations and enigmatic castaways withstanding, it was presumed that at the time of the energetic event, the island was totally uninhabited.