Research team claims to have found evidence Lake Cheko is impact crater for Tunguska Event
Early on the morning of June 30th, 1908, a huge explosion occurred in a remote part of Siberia near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River. So great was the blast that trees were knocked down in neat rows for nearly a thousand square miles and the sky lit up from parts of Asia to Great Britain. What caused that explosion has never been firmly settled. Most researchers agree that it was the result of either a comet or meteoroid, with most leaning towards the former due to the lack of both an impact crater and meteoroid fragments. Now however, a research team from Italy says that they have found proof that it was in fact a meteorite that struck the Earth and that a nearby lake is the impact crater. They have published the results of their findings in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.
For years, amateurs and professionals alike have debated the cause of the Tunguska Event, as it’s come to be known as. Some suggest it was the work of extraterrestrials while others say it was god’s way of getting our attention. Serious scientists, on the other hand, have suggested its most likely cause was a comet melting and then vaporizing as it hit, leaving no real evidence behind. Unfortunately, that theory doesn’t hold up very well in light of the fact that scientists have found differences in the levels of carbon, nitrogen and isotopes of hydrogen and iridium, from the surrounding area which are similar in some respects to those found with certain asteroids. Also, tiny particles that sort of resemble meteorite components have been found in the wood of the fallen trees. None of this evidence can rule anything out however as it could mean there was a comet that had some rocks in it or a meteorite that vaporized due to a soft composition.
The Italian teams says it was a meteorite and claim they have proof of their assertion in the form of an as yet uncovered piece of something tangible beneath the sediment at the bottom of Lake Cheko; a shallow funnel shaped lake approximately five miles from where most believe was ground zero for the explosion.
The team came to this conclusion after performing seismic measurements on the lake bottom in 1999 which showed that sentiment had been building for just about a hundred years, which would of course put it close to the Tunguska Event and also gave evidence of something dense near the middle of the lake.
Further evidence came to light they say in 2009 when they returned to the lake and performed a magnetic survey, which they say showed an anomaly in the same location as their seismic measurements had detected. Now, after three more years of studying evidence they collected from the site, they’ve concluded that Lake Cheko is indeed an impact crater and that the dense object beneath the lakebed is the smoking gun.
Others of course aren’t so sure, and likely will remain pessimistic until someone digs up the object and studies it, proving it to be nothing more than a regular rock, or an object from space that left an impact crater as it struck over a century ago, finally solving the mystery.
The Tungus Event or The Great Siberian Meteorite
Investigating the Anomalies: Mysteries from Behind the Former Iron Curtain
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Man Becomes 3rd To Survive Plunge At Niagara Falls...During Suicide Attempt
A man survived a plunge of at least 180 feet over Niagara Falls in an apparent suicide attempt Monday – only the third person known to have lived after going over the falls without a safety device.
Niagara Parks Police said witnesses reported seeing the man climb over a railing 20 to 30 feet out over the Horseshoe Falls at 10:20 a.m. and "deliberately jump" into the Niagara River. Seriously injured, he surfaced in the lower Niagara River basin near the Journey Behind the Falls observation platform and managed to make it to shore on his own.
"He waded ashore," said Platoon Chief Dan Orescanin of the Niagara Falls, Ontario, Fire Department. "He must have gotten swept into an eddy, floated over there and was able to get out on his own.
"That's another stroke of luck," Orescanin said. "If he was in the main current, he would have been swept down river."
Orescanin said the man was conscious and talking at first but got quiet. He appeared to have chest injuries, including broken ribs and a collapsed lung, Orescanin said.
The man was airlifted to Hamilton General Hospital with what police initially said were life-threatening injuries. Hospital spokeswoman Agnes Bongers said later that the man was critically injured but was expected to survive.
Authorities did not release the man's name.
Horseshoe Falls, on the Canadian side of the river, is the tallest of the three main falls, higher than the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls.
The man, believed to be in his 30s or 40s, was rescued about two hours later after fire department rescuers rappelled down the steep and rocky gorge and pulled him in a basket back up the cliff.
"It was very difficult. Between the shale and the boulders, and everything is wet and slick. It's slimy," Orescanin said.
About seven rescuers struggled to carry the basket up to a point where it could be lifted with ropes suspended from an aerial truck.
"We had to basically hand carry him back up, a foot at a time, up the rope," the chief said.
The rescue came weeks before daredevil Nik Wallenda plans to walk over Niagara Falls on a tightrope after convincing United States and Canadian officials to grant an exception to laws prohibiting stunting.
Although several daredevils have survived trips over the falls in barrels or other contraptions, beginning with Annie Edison Taylor in 1901, few have survived unprotected. In 1960, 7-year-old Roger Woodward was swept over the falls wearing a life jacket and survived.
Authorities don't believe Monday's plunge, on a warm and sunny Victoria Day holiday in Canada, was a stunt.
"Based on witness statements and surveillance video, it doesn't appear in any way, shape, or form that this was anything other than a suicide attempt," Niagara Parks Police Sgt. Chris Gallagher told WIVB in Buffalo.
More than 6 million cubic feet of water go over the brink of the falls every minute during peak daytime tourist hours, according to the Niagara Parks Commission.
The last person to go over the falls unaided and live was a 30-year-old Canadian man in March 2009. In October 2003, Kirk Jones, an out-of-work auto parts salesman from Michigan survived his plunge over the falls.
After getting the call Monday, rescuers didn't immediately know whether the man at the bottom of the gorge had gone over the brink or entered the water at the base.
"When we heard that he had gone over the falls we were shocked," Orescanin said. - THP
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UFO alarm sounds around New Zealand's North Island
There have been an "unprecedented" number of UFO sightings reported in the North Island over the past two months, UFO watchers say.
And aliens may even have visited Northland in the past five weeks, with one man reporting seeing a UFO land in the region, Suzanne Hansen, director from Ufocus NZ research network said.
She said: "He's a very credible source. He saw an object that had landed and said it was definitely not an aircraft or like anything else he had seen.
"I've got 30 (UFO/UAP) reports on my desk at the moment from the upper North Island and Northland from the past couple of weeks that we're yet to process [on top of the many others] ... It's unprecedented."
Maungakaramea resident Charles Gillard reported seeing strange lights hovering above the Tangihua ranges just after 4am yesterday.
Mr Gillard said the white and blueish lights were definitely not a helicopter or plane and darted about at speed for several minutes before simply vanishing.
"I've never seen anything like it before, but it definitely wasn't somebody with a torch or vehicles as it was above the skyline, not on the hills," he said.
Inquiries could not find any helicopters or planes operating in the area at that time yesterday morning.
Ms Hansen said Mr Gillard's sighting was similar to others reported recently in Northland and Ufocus would be looking into all such reports made to its website www.ufocusnz.org.nz.
"Researchers we work with in Australia have reported the same things happening there with what we call a "UFO Flap" [an outbreak of UFO sightings] there as well," Ms Hansen said.
However, the NZ Skeptics (New Zealand Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal) says UFO sightings can be easily explained, usually by natural phenomena.
NZ Skeptics spokeswoman Vicki Hyde said despite the "unprecedented" number of UFO sightings recently this was the first the public had heard of the situation.
"The problem with UFO sightings is that there are a such a huge number of possible explanations for them.
"Something like 80-90 per cent are people mistaking things like Venus for UFOs." - bayofplenty
Ufo's & Alien Contact: Two Centuries of Mystery
Ufos: The Public Deceived
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Invisible art?
London's Hayward Gallery will gather together 50 ''invisible'' works by leading figures such as Andy Warhol, Yves Klein and Yoko Ono for its display of works you cannot actually see.
It is thought to be the first such exhibition staged at a major institution in the UK.
Invisible: Art about the Unseen 1957 - 2012 opens on June 12 and includes an empty plinth, a canvas of invisible ink and an unseen labyrinth.
It includes work and documents from French artist Klein who pioneered invisible works in the late 1950s with his concept of the ''architecture of air''.
Also in the exhibition will be Warhol's work Invisible Sculpture - dating from 1985 - which consists of an empty plinth, on which he had once briefly stepped, one of many explorations of the nature of celebrity.
Another, 1000 Hours of Staring is a blank piece of paper at which artist Tom Friedman has stared repeatedly over the space of five years, and another by the same artist Untitled (A Curse) is an empty space which has been cursed by a witch.
Ralph Rugoff, director of the Hayward Gallery, said: ''I think visitors will find that there is plenty to see and experience in this exhibition of invisible art. From the amusing to the philosophical, you will be able to explore an invisible labyrinth that only materialises as you move around it, see an artwork that has been created by the artist staring at it for 1000 hours, walk through an installation designed to evoke the afterlife, and be in the presence of Andy Warhol's celebrity aura.
''This exhibition highlights that art isn't about material objects, it's about setting our imaginations alight, and that's what the artists in this show do in many varied ways.''
The exhibition forms part of the Southbank Centre's summer-long Festival Of The World with MasterCard.
Also featured among the exhibits will be a series of typed instructions by Ono, encouraging viewers to conjure up an artworkin their minds, Jeppe Heine's Invisible Labyrinth in which visitors negotiate their way around a maze wearing digital headphones activated by infra-red beams. - telegraph
