Skywatch-Media News & Entertainment

Mystery boom rattles buildings and residents in Channel Islands

services@earthfrenzyradio.com (Skywatch Media) — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:28:34 +0000

AN investigation has been launched into the cause of a mysterious boom which shook buildings across the Island on Saturday afternoon.

Hundreds of Islanders reported hearing a loud bang – similar to a sonic boom – at 1.04 pm.

The boom was so loud it rattled doors and windows from Gorey to St Ouen and even measured on the Island’s seismograph in St Aubin.

But despite speculation that the noise was caused by a military jet travelling faster than the speed of sound, Jersey Airport has confirmed that no aircraft capable of causing such a noise was in the Island’s airspace at the time.

And Jersey Met Office has confirmed that it is unlikely that any meteorological phenomenon could have caused the noise.

Source: This is Jersey

The 2012 Transit of Venus

services@earthfrenzyradio.com (Skywatch Media) — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:22:17 +0000

On June 5th, 2012, Venus will pass across the face of the sun, producing a silhouette that no one alive today will likely see again.

Transits of Venus are very rare, coming in pairs separated by more than a hundred years. This June's transit, the bookend of a 2004-2012 pair, won't be repeated until the year 2117. Fortunately, the event is widely visible. Observers on seven continents, even a sliver of Antarctica, will be in position to see it.

The nearly 7-hour transit begins at 3:09 pm Pacific Daylight Time (22:09 UT) on June 5th. The timing favors observers in the mid-Pacific where the sun is high overhead during the crossing. In the USA, the transit will at its best around sunset. That's good, too. Creative photographers will have a field day imaging the swollen red sun "punctured" by the circular disk of Venus.

Observing tip: Do not stare at the sun. Venus covers too little of the solar disk to block the blinding glare. Instead, use some type of projection technique or a solar filter. A #14 welder's glass is a good choice. Many astronomy clubs will have solar telescopes set up to observe the event; contact your local club for details.

Mystery earthquake puzzles scientists

services@earthfrenzyradio.com (Skywatch Media) — Fri, 18 May 2012 22:09:10 +0000

MCCALL, Idaho -- You could call it a mystery earthquake, a sonic boom, or maybe nothing at all.

Several witnesses report waking up to what they say was a small earthquake south of McCall early Thursday around 4:30 a.m. However, those shaky claims have employees at Idaho's U.S. Geological Survey scratching their heads in disbelief.

How Recent Solar Flares Are Affecting Humans

services@earthfrenzyradio.com (Skywatch Media) — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:01:44 +0000

Recently we are experiencing an intensive amount of solar activity on the Sun which is affecting both the Earth and Humans.

Exactly what is a solar flare and how does it affect us?

A solar flare is a magnetic storm on the Sun which appears to be a very bright spot and a gaseous surface eruption such as in the above photograph. Solar flares release huge amounts of high-energy particles and gases that are tremendously hot. They are ejected thousands of miles from the surface of the Sun.

2 Years After the BP Oil Spill, Is the Gulf Ecosystem Collapsing?

services@earthfrenzyradio.com (Skywatch Media) — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:35:05 +0000

The Gulf Ecosystem Is Being Decimated

The BP oil spill started on April 20, 2010.

Since then, there are numerous signs that the worst-case scenario may be playing out.

Dozens Killed in Chinese Hailstorm

services@earthfrenzyradio.com (Skywatch Media) — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:07:21 +0000

Forty people were killed when a brief but violent hailstorm and torrential rain swept through a mountainous region of northwest China.

Eighteen others remained missing in Min county, a disaster-prone area of Gansu province, while 87 had been sent to hospital, the local government said.

Officials said 29,300 people were evacuated after rain and hail battered the county for just an hour late on Thursday afternoon.

Rise and Fall of an Underwater Volcano

services@earthfrenzyradio.com (Skywatch Media) — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:34:36 +0000

The violent rise and collapse of an underwater volcano in the Pacific Ocean is captured in startling clarity for the first time.

Researchers studying the Monowai volcano, near Tonga, recorded huge changes in height in just two weeks.

The images, gathered by sonar from a research ship, shed new light on the turbulent fate of submarine mountains.

Published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the findings were made during a seabed survey last year.

Is Extreme Weather on the Rise?

services@earthfrenzyradio.com (Skywatch Media) — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:34:46 +0000

A fascinating video posted to YouTube poses the question: Are extreme weather wind events on the rise around the world? A sampling of the many, widespread TV news reports and amateur video, compiled from just the first week of May 2012, seems to say yes.

In an extremely unscientific, but nonetheless compelling manner, the video, posted by SheilaAliens, a prolific commentator on the unusual, strings eight minutes worth of video clips gathered from all corners of the US, and the world, mostly broadcast on local news channels over the last 8 days.

Stars of the Apocalypse

services@earthfrenzyradio.com (Skywatch Media) — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:29:29 +0000

The Mayans weren't the only ones to believe that time is rapidly runing out for the human race. Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix and Michael Jackson all believed in doomsday, according to rock guru Michael C. Luckman, founder of the Cosmic Majority and director of the New York Center for Extraterrestrial Research.

Scientists Discover Instability in West Antarctic Ice Sheet

services@earthfrenzyradio.com (Skywatch Media) — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:11:26 +0000

AUSTIN, Texas — Using ice-penetrating radar instruments flown on aircraft, a team of scientists from the U.S. and U.K. have uncovered a previously unknown sub-glacial basin nearly the size of New Jersey beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) near the Weddell Sea. The location, shape and texture of the mile-deep basin suggest that this region of the ice sheet is at a greater risk of collapse than previously thought.

Team members at The University of Texas at Austin compared data about the newly discovered basin to data they previously collected from other parts of the WAIS that also appear highly vulnerable, including Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites Glacier. Although the amount of ice stored in the new basin is less than the ice stored in previously studied areas, it might be closer to a tipping point.

"If we were to invent a set of conditions conducive to retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, this would be it,” said Don Blankenship, senior research scientist at The University of Texas at Austin's Institute for Geophysics and co-author on the new paper. "With its smooth bed that slopes steeply toward the interior, we could find no other region in West Antarctica more poised for change than this newly discovered basin at the head of the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. The only saving grace is that losing the ice over this new basin would only raise sea level by a small percentage of the several meters that would result if the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet destabilized."

The study's co-authors also included Duncan Young, research scientist associate at the Institute for Geophysics.

The study, published this week in the journal Nature Geoscience, was carried out in a collaboration led by the University of Edinburgh with the British Antarctic Survey and the Universities of Aberdeen, Exeter and York, as well as The University of Texas at Austin.

"This is a significant discovery in a region of Antarctica that at present we know little about," said Professor Martin Siegert of the University of Edinburgh, who led the project. "The area is on the brink of change, but it is impossible to predict what the impact of this change might be without further work enabling better understanding of how the West Antarctic Ice Sheet behaves."